I chuckle. “Come on, where’s that positive attitude you had a few minutes ago?”

Suppressing a grin, Dani shakes her head. “I’m just being realistic. We’re on a much tighter schedule now that we know what’s going on. I just want this nightmare to end soon.”

I rest my hand on her shoulder, giving it a squeeze. “I know, Dani. But look on the bright side, because of this fucked up mess, I got to meet you.”

A light blush dusts her cheeks as she rolls her eyes. “God, you’re so corny.”

“Aw, you love it though! We both know it wasn’t my gorgeous face or endless wit that you fell for,” I tease, bumping her shoulder.

She chuckles, bumping my shoulder back as we approach a promising looking vehicle. I peek inside the window to see what’s inside, but quickly jump back into Dani as something slams into the window from the inside. She steadies me, concern on her face as she looks at the Feral trapped inside the vehicle.

“Guess we know what happened to that soldier,” Dani grumbles.

The Feral is sitting in the drivers seat, latched in by the seatbelt, and it slams it’s fists into the window in an attempt to get at us. It wears military fatigues and looks as though it’s been trapped in the car for days, starving and baking in the hot car all this time.

“Well, we have to check it out if we want that battery,” I note, unsheathing my knife as Dani goes after her shotgun. “Ready?” I ask.

She nods, holding her gun at the ready as I open the door. The stench of it’s body washes over me in waves and it takes all my willpower not to vomit all over myself. I grab a fist full of it’s hair as it tries to grab at me, and plunge my knife into it’s skull. It slumps over unmoving, and I wrench the knife out of it’s head.

“Man,” I groan, “it must have been in there for a while to smell like that.”

I unbuckle it’s seatbelt and drag it out of the car, taking it’s place in the drivers seat to pop the hood. Dani goes to the front to see if the battery works while I check out the inside of the car. Bandages are strewn everywhere along with some discarded cans of food and ammunition. In the glove box is a pistol with half a clip left. I pop the trunk and get out to see what’s inside, and I grin.

“Looks like whoever had the car was on their way to a camping trip,” I note to Dani. She circles around to take a look and nods in approval.

“Looks like luck is on our side today,” Dani grins, resting her hand on my shoulder. “The battery is live, too.”

“Perfect. Let’s get this thing over to Josh so he can work his magic,” I say.

I hop back to the drivers side and put the car in neutral ad Dani goes to the passenger side to help me push it. We steer it around, pushing as hard as we can, but the tires are rotted and flat, and with how the car jitters as we push, I would guess that it has a broken axel.

“Need a hand?” Sparrow asks as he and Quentin wander over.

“Sure, but where’s the gas?” I ask, noting their empty hands.

“We already dropped it off with Josh, Matt’s filling it up right now,” Quentin replies.

“There wasn’t much around here, but we at least got most of the can full,” Sparrow adds. “It might be able to get us to another neighborhood where we can get some more fuel.”

“At least it’s something,” Dani grunts, holding her side.

Sparrow and Quentin get to the back and help us push it all the way to Josh, where he’s already taken out the old battery, his hands covered in grit. He sets to work removing the new battery as we load up the truck with the supplies we’ve found.

Dani and I keep watch as we watch the sun rise further in the sky. Birds chirp away in the trees as we watch the streets, and there’s movement further down that catches my eye. I tap Dani’s arm and point down the road, where five figures are rummaging around near the side of a house.

“Think it’s the Widow’s?” Dani whispers.

I squint, trying to get a closer look at them, and the sound of agitated growling reaches my ears.

“No, those are Feral’s,” I whisper back, taking out my knife and looking back to the others. “Looks like we might have some company, guys,” I tell them. “At least five Feral’s down the road, and there might be more around here.”

“We’re almost done here,” Josh replies. “Just one more bolt and we’re out of here.”

“Cass,” Dani calls, her voice hard. I glance back at her where she’s leveled her shotgun in front of her. Six more Feral’s have rounded the street, and they’re staring at us.

“Josh, you better hurry up with that battery,” I warn him as even more Feral’s exit the house across the street from us.

I rejoin Dani at the end of the carport, my bow out and an arrow knocked. The five by the side of the house have noticed us at this point and slowly start to advance. Sparrow and Quentin join us, their weapons at the ready, and the Feral’s across from us have started running towards us. I let loose an arrow, burying it in the neck of the closest one.

“Josh!” I exclaim, taking aim at the next one.

“It’s bolted down! Get in!”

I let another arrow loose as the Feral’s close in on us, Sparrow slams his machete down through the skull of one, and Quentin knocking another aside with the butt of his rifle. Dani pulls me towards the truck as I fire another arrow, and we flee towards the truck as Josh hops in the drivers seat, trying to turn the truck over. Sparrow hops in the back seat as Matt throws himself into the bed of the truck. Dani stands by the passenger’s side, firing her shotgun at the Feral trying to jump her. More Feral’s exit the houses and come running towards the sound as Matt fires his pistol at them. The truck finally roars to life and Quentin, Dani, and I jump into the truck.

Josh throws it in reverse and gasses it, running over an unlucky Feral that got in the way, throwing it into the side of another vehicle. He puts it in drive and slams down the gas pedal, the tires of the truck squealing as it peels off down the road, Matt firing his pistol at the Feral’s as we make our way down the street and turn onto the road. We nearly run over a group of people rounding the corner, but they jump out of the way, and I recognize them as a Widow patrol coming by to check the place out.

“Later, assholes!” Matt shouts at them as the Widow’s shoot at us, shouting and cursing as the Feral’s chasing us spot new prey.

“That should keep them busy for a while,” I pant.

“Next stop, Tennessee,” Josh chuckles.