Haven Chapter 26

            Chapter 26

            The path we chose was safe, for the most part. There was one road that made me worry however. It wasn’t a main road like the ones we travelled in the beginning, but it was large enough and was well-travelled enough to make me worry about what we would find there. And I wasn’t the only one, Jacobs and Connor came to me before we left to make sure this was our best chance. There was a safer road we could have travelled, but we would run out of fuel before we made it. This would mean if we ran into trouble we would be too far from the van to make an easy escape, and if we didn’t find any fuel we would have to abandon the vehicle entirely. This didn’t stop me from second guessing myself though, the entire trip I was on edge, but I guess everyone was. My hands were white and sweaty with anxiety when we turning carefully onto the road that made me so afraid.

            There were two possible scenarios that would mean trouble, the first is that abandoned cars would form a roadblock. We almost constantly see empty cars, but most of them are on the side of the road, or at least avoidable. But in heavy traffic when a few cars stop they all do, leading to massive obstacles like we’d seen before. We would have to leave the van, possibly abandon it completely, and if we did who knows if we would find anything road-worthy even if we searched for days. The other scenario is an encounter with the dead, whose threats can go unsaid. But if we found both waiting for us, we could find ourselves exposed, surrounded, and with no hope of escape. It was lucky then, that we only found one.

            From what I could see of the car pile-up a smaller car lost control, Malcolm suggested the driver had an infected passenger judging by the blood and the way the passenger side window was smashed. What caused the rest of the carnage was a truck, about the same size as ours that ploughed into the other cars and flipped over. From there it just piled up, people weren’t concerned with speed limits and road safety during an apocalypse, and if one car stops they all do. We stopped a kilometre from the blockage and Connor scouted about, making noise with a metal pole to see if any of the dead were still moving. After a few minutes of silence we drove up and stopped in front of it.

            “There’s no way through,” Connor stated grimly

            “How far away are we?” I asked Lindsey, keeping my voice calm

            “Not far,” she answered in a similar tone, “we could walk and bring the petrol back in about an hour or two.” I thought about it for a moment, leaving the van behind made us more vulnerable, but I doubted we had enough fuel left to go around. I turned to Jacobs, “what do you think?”

            “It’s risky,” she conceded, but she had already made up her mind, “but we have no other choice”

            “One of us should stay here,”

            “You go,” she nodded at me, “take Lindsey and two others.” I turned to the others who were all hoping out of the van, “Connor” he nodded and walked over to the van “and”- I stopped myself, my mouth had betrayed me, I was about to say Brooke.

            This was exactly the time I’d choose her, trust her to have my back. But I had to remind myself that she was gone now, I had to place my trust in someone else. Monica and Malcolm were strong, they knew what they were doing and I trusted their judgment, but that was also a reason why they should stay here. I didn’t fully trust this resistance yet, although I did trust Jacobs’ decisions. I also had to consider the other reason for our trip, to find Lindsey’s father, I knew who to pick, “Emma.” Her head darted up, surprised, “really?”

            “Yeah,” I said, doubting my decision, “but you don’t get a gun, you’re there to help carry stuff, and as an extra set of eyes. And don’t wander of alone, got it?” She kept nodding enthusiastically as I spoke, making me doubt my choice even more. I wondered whether she was eager to be trusted, or happy to be helpful. Connor and Jacobs gave me odd looks, and I tried to convey confidence as I looked back. From their reactions I doubted it worked. We all grabbed half-empty backpacks from the van, and took half the ammo and weapons we had left, which still wasn’t much. Then we left, once again splitting our group in half and praying that we were making the right choice.

…

            Lindsey was right in the end, it took us about half an hour to get to her father’s house, but I stopped them as we entered the court it was on. “Once we’re inside we’ll be more vulnerable,” I explained quietly, “Connor, you and Emma head inside and see what you can find, Lindsey and I will do a quick sweep in the other house and see what’s there.” I nodded at them to leave, then turned to Lindsey, “don’t stop to gather anything, unless its fuel,” I quickly added, “just keep an eye for the dead… or the living” unfortunately in these situations they can be just as dangerous.

            The part of the suburb was one of the nicer ones, big houses with rich interiors, a lot of good it did them now. As much as I tried to focus I did begin to wonder what it would have been like to live in one of these. Settle down with Jade and a few kids. We had just bought a house before all this but it was nothing compared to these ones. But I guess all those dreams meant nothing know, all my dreams involved both of us surviving. And to do that I had to get this done.

            There was no spare fuel in any of the houses, and I was able to enter a third one when I heard a scream come from Lindsey’s Father’s house, it sounded like Emma, and it was cut off quickly. From the other side of the street I saw Lindsey break into a sprint, she was faster than I gave her credit for, I did the same a second later. We both burst through the door, expecting the worst, guns drawn. It wasn’t as bad as I was expecting, but for Lindsey I assumed it was the worst thing imaginable, to turn a corner and find her father lying on the floor, his head smashed in.