That night I didn’t have any nightmares, lucky me. I woke up at the crack of dawn, as usual. Out here we always woke up early, there was too much to do. First priority was always to lift camp and make sure we didn’t leave anything of value behind, just one thing that we forget could spell doom for us.

  My brother had woken up too. He began making breakfast. He made some canned meat we had scavenged the day before. Mary was still asleep, but we decided to let her rest a while longer, we would have preferred her being at her fullest for the journey ahead, and with her bad leg she needed the rest. After I ate a bit and took a piss, I helped my brother with his tent. I was folding the tarp while he gathered the tent poles. His tent was a dark shade of blue, and it was a bit too small for him. He measured in at a staggering meter ninety three, which made it hard for him to find things his size. I wasn’t too shabby myself, I was about fifteen centimetres shorter than him, which for all of you who are too lazy for math, is pretty tall for a girl. But those fifteen centimetres really made a big difference. We both always had hiking backpacks with us, they allowed us to bring basically an entire wardrobe with us everywhere we went, though our backs had not liked the idea at first. As with everything else, give the body enough time and a reason and it will adapt to anything. I decided to put the fire out as I didn’t want to cause a wildfire.

  Mary finally got up. I saw her struggle to get up from her knees and out of the tent, I had to help her. I checked her wound and found that it wasn’t infected and it would heal up well if the wound didn’t reopen. However, thanks to the location of said injury, any harsh movement would probably open it up. I told her that it would be good to sew it shut, but she seemed sceptical about it.

  “Its not that I don’t think we should sew it, its just that I hate needles.” She said. The wound itself was just a gash on the joint of her left thigh, just at the point where it bends when she walked. It wasn’t too deep or wide but in such a mobile area that scar tissue took a long while to appear.

  “Well, if it opens again we are going to have to think of something, probably either staples or thread.” Said my brother. He had begun folding my tent.

  Mary seemed uncomfortable by all the attention she was getting and wanted to change the subject. “Ok, I get it. So what’s our plan?”

  I looked at my brother and he looked at me, we both thought the same thing.

  “We will take you to one of these outposts, and then we go our separate ways. You said it was about a hundred k’s north, right?” Said my brother.

  “Yes. you guys have a compass, right?” She asked worried.

  “You’ve been traveling without one?” We both asked her simultaneously.

  “Yeah” she looked at her feet as if ashamed.

  “Do you at least know which way is north?” Asked my brother.

  “No”

  My brother sighed. “Ayla, we’ll go first.”

  That was his way of saying ‘how are you still alive?’ or at least I thought so.

  My brother always knew which way north was, just by knowing which direction the sun rose from he could orient himself perfectly.

  He set off to the left of where the sun was. And he was right, that was north.

  We treaded through the tall grass, we could have done the distance in two days if we had been alone. But with Mary being in the condition she was in, it would take us at least double that amount. The snail pace we had couldn’t be helped, a car would have been too noisy and all the roads were littered with broken cars or military barricades from when the infection started spreading. In the short two months since then, all government had disappeared and the country was just an endless wasteland, like the rest of the world.

  Mary was holding up pretty well, her leg was stiff and every rock she didn’t expect made her wince slightly, but overall she was doing good.

  It was the break of spring, and the weather was prime for traveling. it wasn’t hot nor cold, and the sun didn’t bite as hard as it would have in just a couple of weeks when July came in. So we barely complained about the weather.

  At one point, we abandoned the tall grass field in turn for a pine forest at the foot of a mountain. The uneven terrain made Mary tire really often and we had to help her get over any root or obstacle we found, which were quite abundant. I could tell she was trying her best. Every time I had to lend her my shoulder as a brace, she seemed embarrassed or ashamed. She was overdoing it, and heavily at that.

  “Mary, do you need us to stop for a bit?” I asked her. She leaned on her bad leg and hissed.

  “No, not at all” she said through her teeth.

  “Donn, lets take a little break, shall we?” I told him.

  He nodded, “yeah, my feet hurt a bit.”

  We sat on a rotting log that had fallen and we stretched our legs. I would use this time to try and change Mary’s mind on continuing with us instead of going to the so called ‘safe haven’.

  “Mary, how’s the leg?” I sat to her left, where the wound was.

  “To be honest id rather it not be injured, but the pain is bearable and it hasn’t reopened, I think. But I’m sure they’ll have medicine at the forward outpost. They’ll be able to treat it proper there.” She really thought it would be as simple as that.

  The path ahead steepened greatly and going around would mean hiking for a couple more days. Safe to say that both ways would feel like a splintering stick up her ass.

  “But what did they say over the radio? Like did they just say they would give shelter to whoever came?” I asked her.

  “They said they were building a new society and that they offered protection and shelter to whoever became an official member. They sounded genuine. You guys should also stay.”

  “We don’t do much staying, we like being nomads.” Lied my brother, for her own protection. We didn’t like being nomads, but there was no other option. All the people we had encountered were either raider gangs or soon to fall outposts.

  It was about midday and we had probably advanced fifteen or twenty kilometres, which was quite impressive, however this mountain in front of us would slow us down heavily, even under normal circumstances.

  Mary shifted and winced in pain. “Man, if only I could mend my wounds in the same way I can make knives.” She sighed.

  “Maybe you can” I said. In the off chance that she could, it would be fantastic for us, we would be able to get there so much faster.

  “Give it a try” my brother urged her on.

  She focused somewhat and something happened. We couldn’t see anything but Mary’s expression told us it was working.

  “Holy shit! It worked! I’m healed!” She laughed and stretched her leg effortlessly and then jumped a couple times and then She did a handstand.

  “This is going to make this so much easier.” Said my brother. Truly his wisdom was boundless and profound.

  “Well then, shall we continue?” I asked. Mary was giddy. She nodded eagerly and we all got up from the log to continue in our perilous voyage to the liar’s abode.

  We topped the mountain in record time. no more did we have to wait for Mary, which was kinda bad for us. I still had to convince her otherwise to stay with us instead of going there.

  All in all, the journey wasn’t really dangerous. There were never any zeds in dense forests or anywhere that wasn’t a town or city. This made it so that we could freely talk about whatever we wanted without worrying about being swarmed. Once we were at the top, we had a clear view of everything in a fifty kilometre distance, which included a couple towns and a few gas stations.

  “We should make it to at least that first little village in the distance today, then we can camp out for the night there.” Said my brother. He had pulled out his binoculars and was scanning the area. Mary was eager to move, she was skipping around like a small child. It stands to reason she would be excited, she just found out she could heal herself almost instantly from big injuries. Her chestnut hair waved in the wind, it caught the sunrays in a way that made it shine like copper, I quite liked it.

  It then hit me that the fact that we would be moving quicker meant I had less time to convince her, much less time. I had grown quite fond of her, she was very friendly. She had the type of attitude that made everyone like her.

  After drinking some water, we began the descent down the mountain. Now we could keep a comfortable pace and we weren’t getting worked up by having to wait for Mary.

  The downhill of the mountain wasn’t as steep as the climb, which made it so much better to walk.

  “Hey Ayla. Why don’t you try practising your powers? You’ll never be able to lift anything heavy without training.” Said Mary as we crossed a meadow.

  “I guess its just very uncomfortable and straining, but you have a point there. Ill try lifting a pine cone.” I answered back.

  This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  I searched and found a couple of them laying on the floor near me. I got ready and focused really hard. I reached with my left hand and one of them began to rise. The pinecones were lighter than I was expecting, which helped greatly. I can’t really describe how it feels to use my telekinesis. It feels as if the weight of the object was added to mine tenfold. It also strained me to use it. I felt like I was running out of air and my heart began racing as if I were actually running. Mary seemed impressed by what I could do. The land was turning yellow as the sun lowered itself in the sky, eventually it would circle all the way around and start the exact same cycle all over again. The first little village that we had spotted from the mountain top was getting closer and closer to us, now it would be dusk when we arrived there instead of dawn if Mary were still slow.

  Eventually, the nice meadow gave way to the more urban landscape of little bisker, the name of the town. We all quietened down the moment we could read that name. Thanks to their dormant state, zeds were nigh undetectable when you were out in the open, but we knew they could be everywhere. The hairs on our napes were on end, we were listening, trying to make out any sound that wasn’t the rustling of the wind with the trees that lined the roads. From where we were standing, there was a tall compound consisting of about three five storey apartment buildings all around an open concept communal park. It felt like the entire buildings were judging us while we crossed said park. The street in front of us was a wide avenue that crossed the entire town. Cars lined the street, though some showed signs of having crashed recently or rather were crashed when the infection first reached the town. We spotted a Chinese bazar across from us on a road that travelled perpendicular to the main avenue, i loved those shops, you could find anything and everything. We had to brainstorm a good place to stay the night. Zeds seemed to get extremely agitated during the night. During the day they were either aimlessly roaming or sleeping, but when the clock hit eight, they became real monsters. They prowled and hunted, sometimes in packs around the place they usually stayed at, which in this case would probably be the streets. We eventually came to the idea to stay on the rooftop of a gas station pump roof. It was one of those that was placed high above on top of the fuel pumps to provide shade to the customers and to hold up the neon sign of the station, which in this case read ‘cespa’. it was really high up but luckily, my brother had a grappling hook he found somewhere. the operation was simple, just tie a rope around the loop at the non pronged end and yeet it over whatever you want to climb. The roof had a thin length sort of lip-barrier-wall thingy that made it seem thicker from the outside. and it was this lip that made it possible to hook onto the roof. my brother went first, he had left his backpack on the ground and climbed the rope. after that, we tied the rope to our packs and he hoisted them up one by one to his height. after that it was Mary’s turn and she was luckily strong enough to make it up the rope. I had developed muscle over the course of these two months, and i too was able to climb the rope.

  It was a great thing to be there, we didn’t even have to use sleeping tents and we then spent the afternoon hanging out. at one point I noticed how there appeared to have been a metal wire fence around the gas station, which was now all neatly toppled on the floor around it. it was quite odd that it was arranged so regular and almost as if it was planned (wink wink) . I didn’t tell the others as it probably wasn’t anything important.

  Finally, it was sleepy time and we all closed our eyes and rested our now mauled legs, because that mountain was no joke.

  I woke up startled, there had been a really loud sound, then an engine noise. We were all woken up by the commotion. Suddenly, a big armoured truck came skidding through the avenue. Hats off to the driver, he was amazing. The truck came to a halt near one of the pumps of the station. Did I mention it was the middle of the night, which is also the most zed heavy moment of the day? Three people came out of the truck, the driver and two others. The driver ran inside the station and the other two went to opposite ends of the station. Then we heard another roar, not from an engine, but from a mob of undead monsters hungry for flesh and blood.

  “Firstimosa! Get ready!” Screamed one of the two people below us. It was then that I noticed it was a she, but quite the ‘manly’ woman. The other, who I will refer to now as Firstimosa, got near the toppled fence and focused hard. He then shot lightning out of his hands towards the fence, electrifying it. I looked at my brother and he seemed intrigued by him. The man had his powers too. I didn’t know it at the time, but the driver had gone inside the gas station to turn on a generator they had left there previously before. The zeds then came close enough to see. It was a dense swarm of flesh eating putrid beasts and it wasn’t a pleasant sight at all. The zeds then slowly marched on onto the electrified fence, which obviously killed them, because even though it appeared that the fence was grounded, it obviously wasn’t (duh, its a book. of course electricity isn’t going to make a sliver of sense).

  However, they had a problem. The truck must have damaged the thin wires that connected the fencing, so there was one section that wasn’t electrified. The woman saw this and immediately ran towards there. and before any zeds could make their way there, a thick plume of fire shot out of her hands. It was a power like my brothers too, just with a different element. However, the section of fence that wasn’t electrified was too big for her to manage alone. My brother had gotten a bug and decided to hook the grapple to the side, slide down and help them defend themselves, totally out of character for him. His heroic action made our presence known to these absolute mad lads who were fuelling their military vehicle in the middle of the fucking night in a fucking town. Need I explain why its a bad idea? I thought not.

  I couldn’t hear anything of what the woman probably told my brother as the continuous shouts and screams of the zeds and the flamethrower woman made a cacophony of decibels that was rather unpleasant. My brother took action and shot lightning out of his hand to cover the fence. Shortly after, the driver came sprinting back and hooked the hose pump to the vehicle and he stayed there for a couple of minutes until the tank was filled, he then removed the pump, ran back inside and came out a bit later. The woman told my brother something, he then looked in our direction and signalled us to come down.

  I was doubtful at first, because there was no way that they could possibly make it out of there with the sheer amount of zeds in front of them. But they were getting ready to leave, I saw it. Mary acted on her own and began climbing down the rope with her backpack on, which reminded me I also had to carry my brother’s down. I was not going to be left alone, so I womaned up and carried both packs down with relative ease. I then whipped the rope to make the grapple head de-latch from the roof because we would probably use it later.

  I hadn’t been able to see the vehicle they had arrived in properly because of the angle between me and the roof. It was a massive troop transport. It had meter and a half diameter wheels and was armoured to withstand at least twenty millimetre cannon fire.

  The horde was still trying to get through, but they were all getting zapped like flies. My brother was still holding the frontline. The woman came up to me and Mary and told us to get into the truck. We obeyed and shortly after the driver also got in. The inside was rather plain, there were mesh seats made of a rather lax weave of straps. There seemed to be enough space to seat about ten people in the back, adding the pilot and co-pilot that brought the total count to twelve. There was also a hatch on the roof where they could probably mount a machine gun, but I hadn't seen one from the outside. Mary also hopped in with me. The driver then turned on the engine and our ears were close to bursting. The metal frame of the truck made the noise bounce around and amplify to a level that hurt.

  My brother entered next, he looked rather happy or excited, one of the two. “They are like us!” He shouted. We could barely hear him over the bloody engine.

  “Yes, like you! Are you sure about this?!” I shouted back. He leaned towards me to hear me better.

  “Yeah, I am!”

  Then the other two got in and the driver began driving. The woman opened the hatch on the roof and poked half her body out, then through the small amount of light that came through the sides of her body I saw that a large amount of orange suddenly came out. It meant she was torching zeds. The vehicle thrashed around. There were no windows I could see through except for the windshield which I didn't have an angle on. I was basically sitting blind there.

  It was quite the experience and also I don't think anyone of us really thought this through. Mary probably thought these guys came from the forward outpost, my brother was too intrigued by them to care if it was a trap, and I didn't really have an excuse other than I was just following my brother. We could only hope and pray they weren't going to turn us slaves. After the woman was done committing war crimes against the undead, she lowered herself off of the hatch, closed it, and sat next to us.

  “You guys were a big help, thank you!” She said. She was shaved on one side of her head and her hair flowed down the other side to the height of her neck, she had also dyed her hair a dark shade of red. She seemed to be ninety percent muscle and ten percent bone, she was strong as fuck and she sounded almost like a man. She was also strangely young looking, like maybe five years older than us. “We haven't been properly introduced yet. I’m commander Sofia Briggs of the scout regime. The guy riding shotgun is lieutenant Firstimosa and the driver is Cooper. We owe you one.” She spoke to my brother.

  “So what were you guys doing in the middle of the night doing a fuelling stop?” I asked her.

  “Its protocol, we were running low on gas and we had to stop by. But you could see we had defences set up beforehand. Only issue is that Cooper must have torn the wires connecting the fences.” She answered.

  “Sorry for her manners. I'm Donovan Tomb, She is Ayla Tomb, my sister. And the other girl is Mary something.” He said. Mary gave him a ‘are you fucking with me bruv?’ look. My brother was strangely interested in these people, which is the complete opposite of how he is normally. My brother is the first one to distrust always, just look at what he did with Mary. This was alien to him. not only did he trust them, but he seemed interested in them.

  To me personally they didn't seem like they were dangerous. Usually, gangs and other dangerous groups wore something to identify them to a group, maybe a red armband or a blue bandana. A yellow stripe painted across the front of the jacket was the symbol that the biggest clan we had encountered used, and we had to trade a lot of shit so that they didn't use us for... Y’know what for. However, this group right here didn't use anything, or at least I couldn't see anything. Sure they used military clothing and camo but that really wasn't a tell-tale sign of anything.

  It was strange that these people didn't tick off our sixth sense of trust (which by the way is really good) and frankly, I quite liked them.

  “Well its a pleasure to meet you all. We are on our way to dongle town, the farthest southern outpost of the First Union of Cody’s Kin (abbreviated to F.U.C.K.) you are all welcome to stay there, but if not then we can just drop you off now.” She said. Mary seemed to react to that info.

  “Aren’t those the guys over the radio that promise a safe haven?” She asked.

  “Indeed”

  Mary’s face lightened up greatly. She looked at me excitedly and I smiled at her. It seemed she was happy, which made me happy. Regardless of what my brother had said the day before, Mary wasn't just going there to have people decide for her. I knew she felt like she was worthless after her brother died, but there was still hope in her. Her chestnut hair and bright smile usually hid her interior thoughts, but I could tell this smile was genuine. God I talk about her like I'm in love or something, weird innit?

  “We were accompanying her there, but we weren't planning on staying.” I told her.

  “Well that's a shame, you’d be very much welcome there. Please, just stay long enough for us to repay your brother, he did save our asses back there.” She argued

  Hell yeah, I wasn't about to turn down free supplies so to hell with it.

  “Oh well i guess we could stay for a day or two, maybe three” i told her. For all of you wondering whether this would be a trap or not, we need to remember that my brother was electrokinetic and Mary could make weapons out of her, if they were going to capture us at any moment, it would not be in the outpost because my brother could light it up like a Christmas tree, and thus it stands to reason that they would have already gagged us and knocked us out.

  The truck then came to a stop, the driver opened the window and stuck his head out of it to talk. I couldn't make out what he was saying through the stupid engine. I swear it took me a couple days to get my hearing back to full after spending that half hour in the ruddy truck.

  The driver came back in and signalled to Briggs to open the back door. She did this and we saw two massive gates closing. We were now in a town. In the town of dongle.