Battle of Ash

Chapter 19

"While I thought that I was learning how to live,
I have been learning how to die."
Leonardo da Vinci

2017.07.11 11:10
It had been a month and a half of walking, running, and fighting. The expanse of nature had been beautiful and the animals they had seen were amazing. But hunting had been difficult, especially since neither of them were skilled with bleeding out an animal, or gutting it. Or skinning it.

Dillon had read plenty of articles and watched at least a million YouTube videos when he had been bored during class, but none of that information really translated into practical use for him now. The carcasses, when not dealt with promptly, had become nothing more than infected bait and had to be abandoned for fear of contamination.

"I'm sure if we burned the meat well enough, we'd be able to eat it." Ash argued once over a little rabbit they hadn't got to in time.

But in the end they wouldn't risk it. The rabbit was thrown into the wilderness for the wolves, scavengers, or infected to get. Whichever was first to the body.

He looked up through his fingers to the canopy above. The leaves played with the sunlight and shadows, freshly fallen foliage had left gaps of bright, weak sunlight to stream through the canopy above. Autumn had always been his favorite season, but now it was a terrible reminder that if they didn't find a warm place they might not survive the winter. The more north they hovered the worse the cold was. Not that the infected noticed anything different. They still milled about waiting for their prey, nimble and vicious as ever. Dillon shot a glance over to Ash who was rolling up her sleeping bag.

Despite the struggles to hunt and survive, things had been relatively peaceful. No humans had come wandering by to enslave or kill them or be a burden on their supplies. Infected had been scattered throughout the wilderness but the further away from the road they were the less infected to find. They had become more tricky though, more cunning out here in the wilderness. Some hid in the foliage, lying perfectly still until prey was within reach, others fell from the trees they could climb in hopes to trap their prey under their bodies. There was risk with that method, if the infected missed they most likely killed themselves or were paralyzed.

"Where are we headed off to?" He started rolling up the wire they had strung around their campsite, pausing to itch under his mask.

"We'll just keep going that way." She motioned vaguely in the direction of the sun as she zipped her bag back up, groaning as she stood. "I would kill for a real bed." She moaned.

Dillon scoped around for Socks, who was darting around in some fallen leaves. "I would love to take this stupid mask off. It's dumb that we have to be careful like this 'just in case' we might run into something."

Ash sighed, looking at the sky. "Can you believe it's been over a year since people started getting sick?"

Dillon shoved the wire in his bag, securing it neatly to keep it from tangling or cutting something. He stretched deeply, his mind whirling.

A year.

A year ago twenty-five percent of the population became carriers of this illness without being any wiser. A year ago schools were still functioning and his parents had been alive. A year ago his biggest worry had been pop quizzes and getting video game time in on the weekends.

"A lot has changed." Ash broke the silence, moving forward.

Dillon followed silently. The air around them was crisp, the leaves in the trees a beautiful array of colors. Fall was setting in.

"They always show places getting bombed." He finally spoke.

Ash barely looked over her shoulder.