Chapter 3

I look behind us to check that no one else is coming, and I hit the accelerator. I stop at the turned-over truck and take a few minutes to find a file book, that might be handy to send off the kid and leave the scene. The roads are bumpy and run down but no signs of zombies, which is good, it means I can keep the accelerator on. We finally stop at the meet-up point, the kid already taking off his seat belt and opening the door to wretch.

“Sorry kid, ain’t used to having kids in the car,” I say.

“Look at the state of him, did you give him some orange juice at least? Poor thing, sorry for my comrade, he ain’t used to rescue missions. By the way, the name is Jess, what’s yours?” Jess says as she joins us.

I had forgotten to give him orange juice, but the situation made it that it’s okay to have forgotten, that was quite a bit of Zombs.

“Hey, you saw the situation, when would I have had time to give it to him, and as you know my driving is terrible, so he would have spilled it everywhere”

“Sure” Jess replies as she hands the kid orange juice. He gulps the orange juice in a second, and there’s already more colour in his face.

“So, what the heck was that? Was this your first rodeo with a cluster? Because I ain’t never seen so many gathered together, including the cars you blasted before I arrived.”

“Ain’t the first, but it’s the first gang who identified me, which ain’t good, maybe I should go around with a mask now” I replied jokingly.

“What did you ask them? Did you ask about the kid abductions? Sorry kid, if you’re still scared stay in the car, what we’re going to talk about ain’t pretty” Jess turns to tell the kid. The kid nods but remains seated. Guess he might have the stomach for this?

“Well, they didn’t say much but they also didn’t reply no to my questions, so my theory from what I’ve gathered so far is that they are trying to create hybrids, since the kids weren’t affected by the contamination, like the adults. Just like we are trying to get rid of them, they are trying to eliminate us too.” I lay out.

“Then, we have to somehow get word to the walled cities, to keep the kids protected and try not to make them move from one city to another. Hey, kid would you be up to that? It’s not easy for us folks to get into those cities because they think we’ll spread the virus. Also, do you know any locations, where they would agree to meet with us?” Jess inquired.

The kid didn’t say anything for a few minutes, guess he was still really scared.

“Look kid, we are just trying to help,” I say, the kid looks at me like I’m a ghost but he still replies.

“My name is Max, I’m from Sector 2, I was being brought to Sector 4, because they had apparently found my sister, but she was sick and needed my blood. This is all way too new for me. They said that these roads were cleared, why were we attacked, and what’s this about hybrids? I don’t understand anything, all I know is I have to get to my sister, she needs my help. Why haven’t us Wallers been told about whatever those were?”

“Well kiddo, we’ve tried to tell your people of the Zombs but they said it didn’t matter to them, because they weren’t outside, like us “infected people”. Also, we’ll try to get you to Sector 4 as soon as possible, but we also need to get them to listen to us and for them to stop using the roads to transport kids, they should use the airs, since they have access to that.”

“Not all sectors have access to air travel, only sectors 4, 8, and 10, have copters. Because that’s where the military is, and since I was coming from sector 2 and I was alone, 4 didn’t think it was necessary for me to come by copter.”

“Well, this is new for us kid, because to be very honest you Wallers aren’t very cooperative with us, we are out here protecting you bums and we get radio silence. Thanks for sharing. But like, will you help us get the message to them? Because we ain’t invincible here. In just our town alone we’ve lost 10 hunters in the last few months since the Zombs have been popping up. Not everyone out here is a Hunter, so we important but our numbers are decreasing plentiful” retorts Jess. Guess, the loss of Harvey is still weighing on her.

“I don’t know if what I’ll say will do anything though. But I’ll try, and if they do listen, I’ll try to get them to meet you guys. I’ll be an outsider in Sector 4, but as a kid, I still have some influence.”

“That’s good enough for us,” I say “Now let’s get out of here and head back to town, for now, I need new ammunition and food. See you tomorrow, Jess. Kid, get in the car, don’t want to waste anymore daylight, it gets even more dangerous at night.”