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Age of Z: A Tale of Survival

Page 26

by T. S. Frost


  “Okay, okay! I'll be good. Scout's honor.” Alexa held up her fingers in a mock salute, and then said hesitantly, almost pleadingly, “You're not gonna tell him about this time, are you LS? Right? Bro? Please?”

  Casey snorted, pretended to consider it for a moment, and then drawled, “I suppose I can forget to tell him this time... so long as you have learned your lesson.”

  “I have learned it so well if they had tests on it I'd be getting straight A's,” Alexa insisted. “We cool?”

  “Alright. Just don't do it again.”

  “Promise.” Alexa looked a little relieved, like something major was off her chest, and then asked more calmly, “So... we've been here for three days. Uh, what do I have to look forward to?” She lifted her arm and stared at the IV line taped to her skin, and then looked back to Casey.

  Casey sighed. “You were pretty bad when we got here. They're honestly shocked you survived at all, but it means you're gonna be in recovery longer than usual too. They're estimating at least two weeks for the antibiotics to take full effect and stabilize you totally, maybe longer. They've been stressing how important it is for you to take it easy in that time–bed rest, light exercise at the most, no traveling. Especially since it'd be easy for you to get sick again for a while.”

  Alexa winced. “Ouch. And it's what... late August by now?”

  Casey nodded, and Alexa's face fell for a moment. She didn't say anything, but Casey could practically see her doing the math in her head. By the time Alexa was fit enough for traveling again, it would be anywhere from early to mid October–too late to venture out towards the mountain range and the potential hidden settlements within that had been the reason for the whole trip in the first place.

  The risk of being caught out in increasingly cold weather and potential snowstorms was just too high, and would be a great way for Alexa to give herself pneumonia all over again–or half a dozen other injuries and illnesses that had nothing at all to do with zombies.

  It meant they would be forced to winter at the Base until spring, meaning Alexa's chances at finding her parents or her aunt and grandpa had just been pushed back half a year at least.

  But Alexa said nothing, and the unhappy expression on her face vanished almost instantly, replaced with a tired smile. “Well,” she said, “That sucks that we're stuck here. Like a lot. But I guess at least I'm alive, right? That's way more than I was expecting. I must be one of the luckiest people ever.”

  Casey got the feeling that Alexa did believe that, at least a little. But he also knew Alexa wasn't quite as enthusiastic as she'd like to pretend. He knew his friend was happy to be alive, but he knew that the delay was also frustrating Alexa to no end.

  He knew, also, that Alexa was trying hard not to voice just how much the news was affecting her, because she didn't want to appear selfish or ungrateful after Casey force-ran himself over a hundred miles carting a nearly dead body just to make sure she lived to begin with.

  It definitely gave Casey something to mull over. But all he said for now was, “Yeah. Sure. It had nothing to do with the fact that you were with me.”

  “Hey, I consider myself lucky to have even found you in the first place. That's like the craziest probability ever, you know?”

  “Sure.” Casey rolled his eyes. “I was supposed to tell a nurse when you woke up. Now shut up and let me do that.”

  After that, things started going a little better for them at the Base. Alexa still spent a lot of time sleeping, but she was awake for longer periods at a time increasingly more often as the days passed. Casey still spent a lot of time with her, especially when she was awake, keeping her company by chatting (or more often being chatted at) and playing cards.

  But increasingly more often Casey found himself leaving the medical facility altogether to familiarize himself with the Base. He didn't really like leaving–much like New Avalon, the Base was crowded and exceptionally busy, and he preferred the solitude and quiet of the medical facility to the crowd of loud and demanding life outside of it.

  However it was necessary, for a number of reasons. Casey felt that he ought to familiarize himself with their location, just in case; he was sure Alexa was familiar with the place, but since Alexa was bedridden, it would be up to Casey to navigate for the time being.

  He also needed to start earning their keep, since his trade supplies would be running low soon. He'd rather have some backed up for emergencies, which meant he needed to find areas of the colony where he could work for food and start stocking up on travel supplies again.

  Casey felt bad about abandoning Alexa in the medical facility all the same, though, and the first time he'd made to leave he'd asked Alexa if she was okay with it. Alexa had only smirked and said, “Hey, with you gone it'll be a lot less awkward for that pretty blond nurse that keeps hitting on me. I think the third wheel thing makes her uncomfortable.”

  “You think she's hitting on you?” Casey asked, giving his friend a flat look.

  “Please. Obviously she's hitting on me. I've been getting the royal treatment, what else could it possibly mean?”

  Casey didn't have the heart to tell Alexa that she was getting the 'royal treatment' because Casey had paid extra in trade to ensure his adopted sister was well taken care of and comfortable, without any slip-ups or mistakes. Instead he rolled his eyes and said, “Uh-huh. Sure. Good luck letting her down gently, then.”

  “Hah. I need no luck!” was the last thing Casey heard Alexa crow arrogantly, as he stepped out of the room and headed for the outside.

  Casey had been truthful enough with Alexa, when he explained his reasons for needing to head out into the colony every day, and a large part of his time was spent working in exchange for trade goods or familiarizing himself with the Base. Much of it was similar to New Avalon, with organized facilities, a veritable swarm of civilians, and a strong feeling of life after so many encounters with the walking dead.

  But things differed here too. The Base was landlocked, obviously, and possessed a lot more houses and apartments. The guard was largely comprised of military members and the youngest among them appeared to be in the early-to-mid twenties, differing vastly from New Avalon's largely volunteer force that ranged anywhere from young teenagers to middle-aged men and women.

  The Base wasn't as well equipped for day-to-day living and lacked the vast quantities of electricity and communication opportunities that New Avalon possessed, but they had a lot more in terms of weaponry and firepower, which was probably what had let them hold off the swarms of undead in the middle of central U.S. for as long as they had.

  All in all, it felt like an enclosed town, similar to the hundreds of towns Casey and Alexa had passed through before, except for the fact that it hadn't yet rotted away.

  It was sort of fascinating, once Casey gradually started getting used to the crowds of people, but after the first few days it wasn't what interested him any longer. By then he was familiar enough with the Base's layout enough to be satisfied, and it was the people he focused on more. Because he had one more goal while he was outside the medical facility, and that was to start searching for some very specific faces.

  Not long after Alexa had arrived at the medical facility she'd been changed into a hospital gown, and the staff had returned her clothing and possessions to Casey–including Alexa's wallet, balanced delicately on the top of the stack. Casey had seen Alexa pull it out on their travels, often when she thought Casey wasn't paying attention, although she did it less and less frequently since Gentech.

  Curious, Casey had poked through its contents while sitting by Alexa's bedside. It was mostly empty, with a few crumpled bills of useless American currency, a torn museum ticket, and a gift card for some fast food restaurant that clearly would never be seeing any use.

  Casey couldn't fathom why Alexa would continue to look at such useless trash from the last generation. Then he flipped open the wallet's second fold and spotted the photographs.

  The first was a family of three t
ogether. A woman with light brown hair sat in a chair, while a heavy-set man with darker brown hair stood behind her with his hand on her shoulder. The man's other arm around the shoulders of what was clearly a much younger Alexa Winters. All three smiled at the camera and Casey got the feeling that, despite it being an obviously styled portrait, those smiles were genuine.

  The second photograph was of a woman with bright red hair that nearly rivaled Alexa's. Casey could tell they were related from both that and the way their grins were the same.

  The final photo looked more casual, and had been folded and refolded to fit into the wallet to the point when it was nearly falling apart. It was of a twelve-year old Alexa grinning and hanging onto the shoulders of a smirking gray-haired man. It took Casey a while to figure out the relation, until he surmised that this was 'grandpa'.

  All of the photos were well-worn, with the colors fading from age, but they were well cared for as well, and it was obvious these people meant a lot to Alexa. Even without the obvious physical hints, it was clear these people were her family, the ones Alexa had struggled for three years to try and find. The ones they were here for. The ones they were forced to stop searching for until next year, due to unfortunate timing and worse luck.

  Casey was stubborn and refused to give up quite so easily as that. So while Alexa was bedridden, Casey took it upon himself to look for the people in the photographs. Blake's intel suggested they were still in that mountain range, if they were anywhere at all, but Casey suspected there was always a possibility that Alexa's family could have made for the safety of a colony too.

  Alexa herself had told Casey at the start of their trip that she hadn't been to the Base in almost two years, and anything could change in two years. So Casey memorized the faces in the photos, and carried the wallet with him in one of his cargo pants pockets to have on hand for identification.

  He made note of every face he passed, paid close attention to every head of brown or bright red or gray hair, and searched for minute details that he'd never seen before in real life but was rapidly becoming intimately familiar with anyway.

  Unfortunately, he found nothing. The Base was huge, but not so huge it would take that long to familiarize himself with the locals. After a week and a half of keeping an eye out Casey was forced to grudgingly admit the Winters were not present. The mountain settlements were rapidly becoming their only option, and while they were only a week into September, it was still painfully clear Alexa would not be making the trip there before next year.

  Casey mused over it for days. He hadn't been lying to Alexa earlier; he really did want to make sure his friend reunited with the rest of her family. His near-scare with Alexa's disappearance, and how his friend–his sister–had come so close to death, had been terrifying–and that had only been a matter of a few hours and a few days.

  He could barely imagine how terrible it must be, to be separated from one's parents or kids or nieces for not a few days, but a few years. To wonder if they were even still alive, or if they were hurt, or if they were wandering the world as mindless, twisted undead aberrations.

  It was difficult for him to try and comprehend–he had no concept of 'family' outside of Alexa, and maybe Blake and Lewis–and he still wasn't used to dealing with how he felt, which made it even harder. But he'd seen how much it hurt Alexa to not know, and to wonder, and to be forced to push her search back still further, and Casey wanted to put a stop to that. To fix it. He had to be able to do something, right?

  So he thought over travel plans, read maps, asked the locals quietly about the weather and conditions while playing it off like he was from farther south (and he supposed that last part wasn't a total lie–he had technically been 'born' in D.C.). But nothing seemed to work out.

  Alexa wouldn't even be able to travel until mid October, and according to the locals it would be much colder by then; there was even a possibility that it could snow that early, although apparently it was more common in November.

  The threat of zoms would diminish with the freeze–a rare weakness of their undead state meant they had no body heat to protect them during them colder months, although they would thaw when temperatures grew warmer again. But it also meant animals would be scarce and most edible plant life would be dead.

  Between the severe temperature drop, difficult traveling conditions due to snow and ice, and lack of food, travel would be treacherous and potentially deadly for anybody. And then it became painfully obvious what Casey had been missing the whole time, to the point when he wondered how he'd been to blind to see it: it was potentially deadly for anybody human.

  Casey wasn't human, at least not completely. He'd already proven he could travel in grueling conditions with little food or external support. He also knew he could make the one hundred miles to the mountain range relatively easily, and he wouldn't even have to push himself as hard this time because Alexa's life wouldn't be on the line, so he could take it a little easier on himself.

  He'd never seen snow before, but he knew heat and cold didn't impact him the same way it did normal humans, and he doubted the weather would make much of a difference now. Snowstorms and blizzards might be an inconvenience, if they were anything like the thunderstorms they'd encountered on the way here, but at most they'd just slow his travel; he wouldn't get sick or hurt from them the same way Alexa might.

  The more he thought on the matter, the more he realized that once he got to the mountains he'd have an easier time searching than any pure human would. He'd listened to Blake and Alexa discussing the dangers of mountain searches, when they recalled old stories and news reports about lost hikers or children in the wilderness to try and remember how the mountain rangers and volunteers did it.

  The mountains could be hazardous and deadly–that much Casey understood. But he had advantages that normal humans didn't. Also, he had no fear of zoms, or even opportunistic bandits; the former he could smash easily, and the latter had little hope of stopping him, no matter what weapons they brought into play.

  He could do it, Casey realized. He could be there and back before serious winter even set in. he could find news, search out potential campsites, make the journey there easier on Alexa when they did set out in the future.

  Maybe even give his friend hope, something to look forward to, cheer her up. It would be a viciously rough journey, even with all his numerous advantages, and maybe it was a little crazy, but so what? So maybe he wasn't intended to be a hero for the American people anymore, but that didn't mean he still couldn't do the impossible.

  It was what he was made for, after all.

  Chapter 16

  In the end Casey decided to do it.

  He spent the better part of the next two weeks working overtime, building up enough credit and trade to start collecting necessary supplies for the journey. He wouldn't need too much–food and water, mostly–although he made sure to purchase some warmer clothing just to avoid suspicion.

  The commander might have covered up his unnatural displays, but that didn't mean he needed to advertise them more than necessary. People would definitely start asking questions if he wandered off into a snowstorm in nothing but his–now extremely worn–Washington Redskins t-shirt and cargo pants.

  But most of his work overtime was for Alexa, because his friend would have to be left behind at the Base, and she wouldn't be fit to work for her own trade for a while now. So Casey did much like Alexa had back in New Avalon, establishing a line of 'credit' with the Base's commander directly.

  He worked hard, often taking projects the commander specifically requested of him to utilize his strength, and earned enough in trade in return to ensure Alexa would be able to live at the base comfortably until Casey returned. And he would–there was no way he would abandon his 'sister', not for anything.

  He was also careful not to tell Alexa where he was going, or what his plans were. It felt uncomfortably close to the stunt Alexa had pulled on Casey when she'd tried to run for it, but in this case Casey felt his choice
was justified. He didn't want to raise Alexa's hopes or get her worked up over what could potentially be nothing, after all.

  The mountain settlements might not exist after all, just like Blake repeatedly warned them about, or they might just not be the place where Alexa's family was at. Or they could be dead, or worse–there was no denying that the more gruesome possibilities were still possibilities, and Casey didn't want Alexa getting excited only for him to bring back devastating news.

  He also didn't want Alexa worrying over him, and it wasn't the same as the reasoning Alexa had used before, because Casey knew he wasn't running off to die–he was going to come back, and nothing would stop him from doing so, so there was no reason to worry. Better for Casey to return with confirmed news one way or the other before he let Alexa in on the secret.

  Besides–if he did find something good, it'd be a great surprise, something that would really cheer Alexa up. She could probably use a little cheering up, after everything they'd been through recently. She put on a good show of being excitable and happy, but Casey knew her well enough by now to know his friend was miserable on some level.

 

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