Remains of Humanity - Book 1

Chapter Eighteen

Another hour went by, and the trio were still walking. Jesse been quiet for the most part of the journey, Emilia was following alongside and peering up at him only to be ignored, and Linda was in front, facing forward.

The wind was starting to get to everyone, and evidence was the unison of pocketed hands and shrouded shoulders shivering momentously. Linda would bring our her hands from her pockets to warm them with her breathe, then rubbing them together afterward before sheathing her hands again.

Emilia was shivering the most out of the group, but Jesse was too focused on the walk to even notice it. He was still mad about what Emilia did and made sure his grim silence made the girl aware of this. Jesse was not willing to talk to Linda either, recalling their argument on their way to the power station.

With a minute of continues walking, Linda pulled out a compass to check if the direction they were headed toward was the right one. Jesse would try and take a peek but Linda checked the compass quickly before putting it away.

"We should be at camp soon." Linda said.

Jesse looked ahead to still see nothing but endless trees, "We should have been there already."

"We almost there. I'm sure of it."

There was silence afterward. Emilia looked down at the ground of sand and some grass. She would kick some of the rocks laying around lightly, which caused her to fall behind. Jesse noticed this and looked at Emilia.

"Emilia, stay close." said Jesse in a strict tone. The girl took a few steps faster to walk beside Jesse again, but she did not bother to look back at him.

"Look!" Linda said, "There's the camp."

Jesse's eyes quickly looked up and immediately surveyed the area ahead. At first he still could see nothing but tree's and bushes until Linda pointed a finger more to the east of them. Eventually a tiny pinch of bright red could be seen a few metres away. It had to be Linda and Naomi's tent and everyone was relieved to see only that alone.

The closer the trio were, the more visible the camp was, until a faint but sudden noise echoed from the camp, and through the forest. Emilia was startled and no one could make out what that echoing noise was.

"You hear that?" Jesse asked.

Linda kept walking, "Yeah, I think it came from the camp." she guessed.

Soon, the group could eventually make out the noise to be a voice of someone shouting.

"Must be Melvin. Or Henry depending on whether his done with the scouting."

The faint shouting stopped and after walking for a minute, they were a few metres away from the camp. Linda ducked down and shifted behind a tree upon seeing something in the centre of the camp.

"Fuck!" Linda whispered while forcibly using her arm to push Jesse behind her, who also decided to duck down but out of confusion. Emilia had done the same after seeing what the adults were doing.

"What going on Linda?" Jesse asked.

Linda quickly faced Jesse and dropped Naomi's bag on the ground to ready the rifle with the grip of both hands, "I can't believe this..." she said to herself while pulling the rifles lever and pressing the stock against her shoulder.

Jesse watched Linda holding the weapon in worry, "Linda, what did you see?"

"It's the Vultures." she replied softly.

Jesse paused with widened eyes, while Linda slowly stood up, her back against the tree, and peered around to survey the area.

"Wait..." Jesse stuttered. "The Vultures? Are you serious?"