The Affection

THE CAMPERS

Fawn yawns, a hand covering her mouth as she blearily reads the last sentence in her research book. Finally finished, she snaps the book closed. A small puff of dust flies out as she does, and her eyes flit over to the ticking clock hanging from the wall.

It was almost curfew...

It was hard to tell when night fell, as every window in the Bar Harbor mall was sturdily boarded up. Only a small amount of sunlight managed to sneak through the cracks. The only other light was one florescent in each room, casting shadows over the walls and far too often breaking.

Her dog Pinecone barks, knocking Fawn out of her thoughts for a moment as she smiled down at him. Pinecone was a Rat Terrier, and he was currently busying himself by chewing on a pencil. Fawn laughs, gently tugging the slobber covered pencil out of his mouth and setting it on the table.

“Hurry up!” Reid calls from the door. “I’m tired! If you’re not out of here in five minutes, I’m shutting the light off and locking the door!”

“Okay, okay.” Fawn rolls her eyes at his impatience. “I’m done, just let me put the book back.”

The folding chair pushes back with a squeal as Fawn trudges over to the shelves, putting the book back in its’ proper place. Fawn reads the spine one last time, her head slightly tilted. The Great Depression, 1929-1939.

The Great Depression must have been hard, Fawn thinks to herself as she grabs her notebook and pen. She decided to leave the pencil as a fun surprise for Reid when he closed up. Oh, what I would give to have lived through the Great Depression instead of the Lame Apocalypse.

“Thank you.” Reid mutters sarcastically as she passes, Pinecone at her heels. “Nerd.”

“Love you too Reid.” She smiles. “Good night!”

Fawn begins the walk to bedding, where all the survivors slept. The first-ever settlers to stay in the mall had sectioned it off carefully, making sure it was kept away from any areas of the building where there would be loud noises. It used to be the storage unit/loading docks. It had massive doors that once allowed trucks in with all types of deliveries. Now the large room contained cots, and a massive array of different blankets and pillows.

106 survivors, maybe the last group of survivors period. We’re lucky to have the mall. Fawn reminds herself as she stops by the door.

Rashi, the guard on shift that night, smiles at her and takes a treat out of his pocket. “Hey Fawn! Here ya’ go, Pinecone.”

He tosses the treat to the dog, and Pinecone catches it like a pro, eagerly beginning to gnaw on his prize. Rashi clicks his pen and checks Fawn’s name off on the list. Fawn peers at the list as he does, wondering if she’d been moved a division yet. No such luck, she was still listed in the kid’s grouping.

“Go on in, Fawn.” Rashi smiles, and Fawn shyly smiles back. Rashi was only a few years older than her, and had only just started working with the guards. She had been friends with him since coming to the mall, even though he could never manage to clean the dried blood out from under his fingernails.

She grabs a pair of nightclothes her size from the big table by the door, ducking behind a panel for privacy as she changed. She goes into the bathroom outside bedding first, peering at herself in one of the old, grimey mirrors above the sinks. Dark bags were under her eyes from the lack of sleep while she studied and worked. Her long dark had had knots in it, and was in desperate need of a brush. As she brushed her teeth, using a small amount of water from her water bottle, she began to hum an old song that her father used to sing.

Sun goes down, and we are here together,

Fireflies, glow like a thousand charms...

Walking back into bedding, she tosses her clothes into the makeshift laundry shoot, and moves down the rows to the cot she shared with Gracie-Rose Malloy.

Grace was already asleep, her breathing slow and steady. Sleeping was the only time Fawn could say she looked relaxed.

Fawn watches her breathe for a moment, hovering her hand over Grace’s chest for a moment before pulling it away. Sometimes Fawn thought Grace was beautiful, before she remembered they were friends.

Pinecone goes to his bed under the cot, panting as he laid down and began to snooze.

Crawling under the well-worn out blankets, Fawn tampers with her pillow until she’s comfortable, curling close to Grace.

Slowly, she drifts off.

Fawn wakes as Grace lightly shakes her shoulder. The flickering lights above temporarily blind her, and she winces as she sits up. Pinecone was already up, curled into a small ball in Grace’s lap, her hand idly petting his back.

“Good morning, teacher.” Grace teases softly, smiling at Fawn.

“Don’t make it weird.” Fawn laughs, smacking Grace with her pillow and musing Grace’s already frizzy hair. “I’ve still got some time before they decide where to stick me...I do hope I get teacher though, even though they’re probably going to throw me in with the scientists.”

Pinecone barks, jumping down from Grace’s lap as she and Fawn stand. The two girls hold hands as they walk to the showering area. They got there early as usual, after the guard’s early showers, but before the long lines of the other survivors.

An emotionless guard Fawn didn’t know the name of handed Grace some soap and a bottle of shampoo. Grace awkwardly undresses, and Fawn does her best to cover her from the slowly arriving crowd.

Once Grace was in a shower, Fawn undressed. She grabbed the soap and shampoo, less worried about people seeing her naked. It was just how things were in the apocalypse. There was only five showers, all of which were shoddily made, which was why the guards had to get up earlier. Mainly so they wouldn’t be held from their duties as they waited in the long line.

The only other people that didn’t have to worry about the line was the chefs, who had everything planned out. Rather then showering first thing in the morning, they prepared the breakfast, and then showered while everyone else was eating.

The warm water falls onto Fawn’s hair, and it quickly detangles as she combs it. She tilts her heads towards the spray and enjoys the warmth for a moment, then begins washing her skin and hair.

As Grace showered, she thought about her little sister, Annie. She longed for the days when she and her family still Roamed through the world. Back then in order to survive, they covered doors and windows with blankets to block out the Waves, hiding in the basements of old homes and buildings. When Grace was younger, she found comfort in its’ low, almost soothing hum. It had always felt like a victory when they got through a Wave.

But then it was just Grace, Annie, and their father.

And then it was just Grace.

Tonight was the fist day of the new month. Which meant that today would be the Wave, the 1,200th, to be exact. Some civilians say it should be a celebration, exactly 100 years of surviving and thriving for the camp.

Some say it’s an omen.

Grace and Fawn change behind a curtain, walking to the old school supplies store. It had been fittingly turned into a school for twenty-eight of the twenty-nine children living within the mall. Pinecone goes into his special corner, that had a small basket of toys to keep him occupied, his food and water bowls, and a small pet bed for when he napped.

Grace sits at her chair and opens up her workbook as the other children walk in. Grabbing her pencil, she smiles encouragingly up at Fawn as she sits down at one of the two chairs next to the chalkboard.

“Hey guys!” Fawn starts once everyone was there. “Miss. Lambert isn’t here today because I’m going to be a student-teacher for the day!”

Verity peers around the corner, watching in disgust as Reid, kisses his boyfriend Arlo. Reid was conveniently right in front of the door to the library, or rather, leaning on it as he passionately made out. Her cat, Ollie, nuzzled against her legs.

“Get a room, you two!” Verity calls as she steps out from the corner, making them jump. “Or should I tell Blaine you’ve been slacking off on the job again?” Snickering, she walks up to them, attempting to pass into the library.

“Uh uh!” Reid holds out an arm to stop her. “Nice try squirt. Pay up, or we tell Blaine.”

“My payment is not telling Blaine you were snogging your boyfriend instead of guarding the library. I mean honestly, someone already snuck inside.” Verity tells them cheekily, standing on her tiptoes to peer over their shoulders.

Reid and Arlo both turn to look inside, and Verity ducks down through the gap between the two. “See? One person, already snuck in. And I mean, honestly, you were looking right in.” Verity laughs, smiling deviously.

“Fair.” Arlo sighs. “You win this round, you brat.” Ollie meanders in, tail flicking slowly as he looked around like he owned the place.

“But if Blaine gets pissed at us, it’s your fault!” Reid adds.

Verity hums and peers at the familiar shelves, sighing when no new books suddenly manifested with more stories to cure her seemingly endless boredom. Ollie curled up by a small, lone patch of sunlight on the windowsill.

Pushing a stray black lock of hair behind her ear, Verity grabs an old favourite, plopping down on the floor and beginning to read.

THE ROAMERS

Livia rolls over tiredly. She squints at the harsh sunlight that streamed through the cracked windows and holes in the walls. The abandoned house she and her group was staying in was worse for wear, but it had kept them alive for the past few days.

Her dog Wolf, a big brutish German Shepherd, lets out a loud bark when he sees she was awake. Livia smiles tiredly.

“Hey, boy.” She whispers, holding her arm out from under the ratty blue blanket she had managed to find.

Wolf stands and trots over. He happily licks her arm, before moving up to Livia’s face, making her smile and gently push him away. Sitting up, Livia stretches with a small groan and stands. She grabs her jeans off an old, broken rocking chair. Pulling them on, she heads downstairs, Wolf following after her.

Already awake and alert, Jacob sat on the green couch in the living room. He watched out the window attently as Livia walked into the living room.

“Hey.” Livia greets him, letting out a yawn.

“There’s a Wave coming.” He mutters. The smile falls off of Livia’s face and she sighs. Looking down at Wolf, she pats his head. He looks up at her with concern, before licking her hand comfortingly. Wolf trotted into the kitchen, lapping at the small amount of water remaining in his bowl. Sitting, Livia grabs her boots and tugs them on, hurriedly tying the laces.

“I like it here.” Livia shifts. “Couldn’t we find a house nearby to hide out in?”

“No.” Jacob shakes his head and grabs Livia’s backpack. He holds out his hand and pulls her up from the floor, handing her the bag. “All the houses around here are ready to collapse at any minute. We need to find somewhere secure.”

He grabs his own backpack, unzipping it and taking out the map they had been using.

“There’s a mall, nineteen miles away.” He notes. “That looks like the only potentially survivable building. Some of the rooms might still be securable, and there could be supplies. We’ll have to leave in no more than twenty minutes if we’re going to make it.”

Livia nods. “I’ll get the water.”

Heading into the kitchen, she grabbed the dog’s water bottle from where she’d left it on the counter. She refills the bowls on the floor, and Wolf barks in appreciation, eagerly drinking from his.

“Good boy, Wolfie.” Livia praises, patting him on the rump.

She grabs the two milk jugs they used for water storage. Livia had rigged them with two doggie backpacks, so the dogs carried a jug each. Setting them in the sink she began to fill them, her nose wrinkling at the rusty looking, slightly yellow coloured water. She was going to boil the shit out of this before they used it for drinking water.

“Everyone awake!” Jacob yells up the stairs. “There’s a Wave coming!”

As soon as he yelled, the hallway upstairs burst into action. The rest of his group members all came out of the rooms they were staying in, making their way downstairs.

Doll, Barrow’s dog, moves over to the second bowl, lapping up her share of the water. Once finished, she moved over to the box Barrow was setting down by the couch. She curls up, nosing in the box at the eight squirming puppies.

Jacob watches Jordan worriedly as his best friend, and the only boy in the group his age, finally came out of one of the rooms. His hair was wild and his arms wrapped tightly around his skinny torso in a self hug as he shivered.

“Hey, buddy.” Jacob greets softly, running up the stairs as he spoke. “How are you holding up?”

Jordan does his best to smile reassuringly, despite the burning pain in his legs and the freezing cold everywhere else. “I’ll be...F-Fine.” He manages to get out.

Jacob nods and wraps his arm around Jordan protectively. He helps him down the stairs, but tries his best not to seem like Jordan needed any help.

“Hang tight buddy.” Jacob says softly. “We’ll get you fixed up soon.”

The boys finally reach the ground floor. Jordan lays down on the couch while the others frantically pack up all of their belongings, and search the house for supplies one more time.

Melody grins as she finds a sewing kit, and some broken clothes hangers that she could use as arrows. Placing them into her bag, she slings it over her shoulder and heads back into the living room. Her nose wrinkles up at the smell of rotten flesh that was slowly seeping through the front door.

“Affected.” She mutters, pulling out her knife. Opening the door, she looks around wearily, before noticing three Affected a small ways away from the house.

Grinning to herself, Melody sneaks up on them as quietly as she could. Once one of the Affected notices her, she quickly leaps at them, driving her knife into its’ skull. The Affected drops to the ground and Melody quickly stabs the other two.

“Melody!” Tisha calls from the doorway of the house. “Come back, please! We have to leave soon!”

Melody nods and sprints back to the house.

“Save your energy, kid.” Barrow says gruffly as he packed his bag. The forty-nine-year-old man was the oldest in the group, but he rarely gave orders, unless it was serious.

“Why?” Melody asks, bending down to help Livia put the doggie packs on Wolf and Doll. “What’s going on?”

“The next safehouse that we have to get to before the Wave is apparently quite the trek.” Tisha’s hand moves to her stomach, protectively resting on her large baby bump.

Livia nods, collapsing the foldable dog bowls and putting them both in the right pockets.

“Here, you two.” Barrow takes out a bag of chips and a pop tart, holding them out to Livia and Melody. “Eat up.”

“Thanks.” Livia takes the bag of chips, allowing Melody to have the pop tart. They both eat on the floor, tossing their trash into a corner.

“C’mere Doll.” Barrow whistles. His adopted, silver wolf stands and trots over to him. “Atta girl.”

Doll leans into Barrow’s petting eagerly, nuzzling against his chest. Jacob comes into the kitchen, taking a bite of the granola bar he’d grabbed for breakfast. Chewing, he holds the rest out to Tisha.

“Oh, no! Jacob I couldn’t. That’s your breakfast! I already ate.” Tisha shakes her head. “Please, I couldn’t.”

“It’s okay Tish. It’s for the baby.” He insists, pressing it into her hands.

Tisha sighs, pulling him into a side hug and kissing the side of his head. “Thank you, Jacob.”

She finishes the bar and pulls on her backpack. Livia smiles and gives Jacob a soft peck on the cheek.

“How’s our food supply?” Melody asks Barrow, tightening the laces on her shoes. He opens his duffel bag and peers in.

“Low. But we’ll manage. We’re mainly down to the canned foods and granola bars. Oh, and one last bag of chips. Barbeque flavour.” He notes.

Jacob nods, a grave look on his face. “Hopefully we can find something at the mall. Let’s head out.”

Poppy carefully transferred the puppies into the three wheeled pet stroller outside. It had a lot of storage space, and Poppy could tie her and Jordan’s bags to the handle instead of carrying them. It had been a great find when they scavenged in an old pet store.

Livia played with Wolf’s ears, kissing him on the nose. “Hey boy.” She whispers, smoothing down the fur on his head. “We gotta go again. Go stay by Doll.”

Wolf barks and moves to the front door where Doll was sat. She looked outside at the puppies as Poppy jogged back inside.

“Good boy!” Livia praises, pulling her gun out from her holster. She pulls out the magazine and sighs when she realizes it was empty.

Jacob notices and takes the gun from her, putting three bullets from his gun into the chamber and handing it back to her.

“Thanks,” Livia says quietly and Jacob gives her a quick kiss on the cheek.

Poppy looked out the kitchen window with interest as Melody, Tisha, and Barrow all head outside.

“What do you see?” Jacob asks the ten-year-old, placing a hand on her shoulder.

Poppy tries harder to see through the grime coating the windows. “Six unknown things, probably Affected, from the groaning sounds I hear. Are you gonna kill ’em, Jacob?”

“Nah.” Jacob shakes his head, pulling her away from the window. “It’s probably just beds for some Phase 2 Affected. Let’s get moving.”

Livia takes Poppy’s hand and they head outside, Wolf and Doll following after them. Jacob helps Jordan stand and the two walk outside. The group walks down the street, the only sounds being the soft noise of the wheels on the stroller.

Looking out towards the vast land ahead, Jacob takes one step and slashes to his left.

An Affected, its’ pale, thin stature standing out against the bright yellow house, staggers backward at the blow. Jacob stabs his knife into its’ eye, and the Affected stilled.

He stared down at the body for a moment, then turned to the others. “Watch out.”

Livia nods worriedly, keeping her gun clutched tightly in her hands as she follows close behinds her boyfriend. “Yeah, sure. I’ll try.”

Livia shudders a little as she passed the Affected. She was unsure why it still bothered her so much. She sped up to keep up with Jacob, on high alert. Her heart felt like it was pounding out of her chest.

“How long do you think we have until midnight? I’m assuming we have just enough time to get where we’re going.” Melody asks.

Poppy stuck close to the back where Barrow, Doll, and her brother Jordan were walking. Melody was the only one that wasn’t too uneasy, instead focusing on walking. Jacob peers up at the sun, shielding his eyes from the overwhelming brightness.

“Well, it’s about 9:30. So about fourteen hours till midnight.” Jacob took a deep breath, moving one foot in front of the other.

“Nineteen miles in fourteen hours? How the hell-? Never mind-” Tisha picked up the pace, lengthening her stride. “We sure can’t afford to hit any setbacks.”

Barrow follows the group, keeping his usual position at the very back.

Scanning the wasteland, he gives his input. “Given our usual mile speed of two and a half every hour, we theoretically could make nineteen miles in fourteen hours, but that walk is going to be a bitch.”

After his piece, he brushes his hand along Doll’s fur, before she darts ahead to check on the group.

“Yes, I know. I don’t doubt we are able to do it, but it might be difficult. Hopefully, the weather stays suitable.” Livia muttered. She crossed her arms, cautiously glancing at Jacob now and then. He seemed so...cold, much more than usual.

Jacob trudges along, shielding his eyes from the blazing sun. He looks at the vultures surrounding animal carcasses that varied through the deserted land. If they didn’t get killed from the Affected, they probably died from the heat.

Jacob’s eyes catch glimpse of a shimmer in the dirt, and he kneels to inspect the glint.

As he digs through the sandy dirt, he finds the source.

A dog tag.

He looks at the metal, the engraving of a name.

Dandy.

He starts to pull the collar out, and jumps back. It was still connected to a skeleton, the remaining bones dirty and brittle. He shakes it off, walking away without a word about it.

Livia watched as Jacob almost pulled a dog skeleton out, but he didn’t say a word to her. Wolf yapped when he saw Livia’s discouraged face, trying to cheer her up. Livia couldn’t help but crack a smile and briefly stop to pat him on the head and scratch behind his ear. Livia sighed and kept walking. She was feeling a little dizzy, but what was eighteen more miles?

Nothing in comparison to the full journey.

Melody takes a sip of her water bottle then looks over at Jacob. “You okay?”

“M’fine,” Jacob mutters. Poppy and Tisha share a look.

THE CAMPERS

Verity finally pulled herself out of the library at noon, walking down to the cafeteria. Reid and Arlo walked slightly in front of her, talking quietly while they ignored her. Getting to the old food court, she pulls her hood up and keeps her head down as she gets in line.

“Holy shit. Is that gravy? Annabelle, you’re a star.” Reid flirts as he grabs a tray. Verity peers at the food for the day. Just like Reid had said, there was mashed potatoes with homemade gravy, and chicken. A side of carrots was plopped on the tray next, and Verity wrinkles her nose.

“Reid, quit flirting and get out of my line. No extra rations for you.” She smiles, nodded towards the table where he and Arlo sat.

Reid pouts, but Arlo takes his hand and leads him away. Verity grabs the tray held out to her, nodding politely. Turning, she scans the room for a seat. The guards were all sat at one long table at the end of the room, which Verity hurriedly turns away from. She could always try sitting at the teens table. There was an open spot next to Grace...

Fawn laughs as Pinecone begs at her feet, rolling her eyes and slipping him another small piece of chicken. “Who’s the bestest boy? You are! Sit!”

The dog does as instructed, his ears perking up as he looked over at Ollie, following close behind Verity.

“Hey, guys.” Verity waves hesitantly. “Mind if I sit here?”

“Uhm-Sure!” Fawn says quickly, patting the open spot on the table. “Did Blaine say you could?”

Verity paused, then finally said, “He didn’t say I couldn’t.”

“That’s nice of him! I’m so glad Annabelle could make the gravy.” Grace says appreciatively. “It’s been so long since she’s cooked something like this.”

“I think Blaine gave her the go-ahead after her son brought back a case of whiskey from the scavenging.” Verity snorts, spooning some of the mashed potatoes into her mouth.

“Damn...Do you remember that winter two years ago? It was when Beth died, and the cooks were struggling trying to find a replacement.”

“And a lot of the gardeners got sick, and it was harder to scavenge during the winter.” Grace continues. “So we ended up losing almost twenty people, and survived solely off of cold beans and stale chips.”

“Man...” Verity looks off into the distance. “That was only two years ago? It feels like forever ago.”

“That’s what happens during the apocalypse. Time goes faster.” Grace comments and the girls finish the rest of their meal in silence.

Grace and Fawn go to return the trays, talking about the stuff Fawn was planning to teach for the afternoon classes. Verity quickly convinces a boy to take her tray for her and rushes off, hoping to get back to the library before Blaine finished eating. Ollie follows close behind her, meowing plaintively.

Verity cautiously peeks her head around a corner to see if Reid was back at the library. Instead, her eyes meet grey fabric, and slowly carried up to meet Blaine’s threatening figure.

“Blaine!” Verity quickly straightens up, hands behind her back. “So nice to see you! Did you have a good lunch?”

Crossing his arms, Blaine stares down at Verity. “You had testing today.”

“Did I?” Verity feigns surprise, smiling with a shrug. “Must’ve forgotten.”

Blaine raises an eyebrow. “Because someone who’s forgotten they have testing would sneak around all day like a bandit.”

Verity stares down at the ground sheepishly. Blaine stoops down and picks up Ollie, who hisses in apprehension, his fur standing on end. Blaine grabs Verity’s shoulder with his other hand, leading her back to her private room next to his office. He gently shoves her into the room, and drops Ollie onto her bed.

“You’re grounded.” Blaine tells her as he shuts and locks the door.

Verity sighs glumly, resting her chin in her palm. Ollie curls up at the foot of her bed, gently kneading the blankets.

“Well, that went well, Olls.”

Fawn hums as she re-shelves all the books the school had taken out that day. “You know Reid, this is technically your job.”

“And technically, I was only given this job because I’m too incompetent to be trusted anything.” Reid snarks back.

Arlo was still in the cafeteria, cleaning up after lunch. He worked in the kitchens with Annabelle and the other cooks, but liked to help clean up afterwards.

In the quiet of the library, Fawn felt a pit form in her stomach, her old fears returning as they did every Wave.

The Wave will be here soon.

What if this time something gets in?

What if we don’t make it?

THE ROAMERS

Night had fallen, leaving the group with only the moonlight. They had flashlights, but wanted to save the batteries.

Jacob checks his watch, he had reset it that morning once he had guessed at the time. “Eleven more minutes till the Wave, and we’re a mile out. And we still need to set up camp and secure the doors before it hits.”

“That sounds impossible.” Poppy groans. “We’re never gonna make it.”

“We can make it.” Livia moves to the back of the group and helps the girl push the cart, Wolf staying in the front by Jacob.

Jordan shivers as he walks. His hands wrapped around his arms in a sort of self-given hug as he jerks his head from side to side, almost cracking it.

Barrow speaks up. “We won’t be able to make that, better look for somewhere to wait the Wave out.” With a pat on his thigh, he calls Doll over, his companion coming faithfully.

“No, we can do it.” Jacob snaps, before groaning, “Sorry, it’s just...The mall will come up soon.”

“Are you s-sure you’re all r-right, Jacob?” Jordan asks, pausing to cough afterward.

“Something isn’t right. Too many Affected but none are attacking.” Jacob finally admits, looking to the stars above, taking in the view before they would disappear in a cloud of destruction in ten minutes.

“So Jordan. Excited to finally get some sleep?” He says jokingly to his best friend, though the entire group knows they should’ve killed him long ago.

Melody squinted. “Am I seeing things or are there lights in the distance?” She asks.

“It looks like a survivor camp. We haven’t run into one since Charleston. We’ve got to move fast to beat the Wave.” Tisha realizes excitedly.

Suddenly filled with adrenaline, Poppy and Livia start running, the cart rattling. “If we run we can make it!” Livia yells.

“A camp? I’m in, let’s go!” Melody cheers, breaking into a sprint.

Jacob looked at Jordan, his face turning paler and paler by the minute. It seems hope was almost lost in him. If it was a survivor camp, they may not even let Roamers in, surely not Affected. Their ways of life were already planned out, for them to stay inside with no cure, no hope, nothing.

Jordan was starting to feel faint and he was stumbling more than ever. He kept mumbling the word ‘help’ over and over again.

Then he freezes.

His eyes roll up in the back of his head and he crumples to the ground. His upper body was up on a sidewalk while his bottom half was draped across the street. Barrow sighs and picks him up. Knowing it was bound to happen, he didn’t panic as Wolf, Doll, and Jacob ran to catch up with the rest of the group.

It’s time.

The high-pitch buzzing sounds flood the land.

“Get to the camp!” Jacob screams to the others. “Run!”

He stops to look at the stars one last time before sprinting to the others, falling behind as the cloud of death draws nearer.

Barrow runs as fast as he can with Jordan in his arms, not wanting to leave Poppy’s brother alone yet. He couldn’t bear the thought of being the reason Poppy lost her brother without getting out everything she needed to say to him.

That seemed cruel.

The loud buzzing noises filled the air, and they realized the lights of the camp belonged to the “abandoned” mall they were trying to reach earlier.

“The fucking map was wrong!” Jacob laughs as they got closer to the mall, the buzzing sounds drawing closer. “We’re gonna make it!”