Wildfire - A Fanfiction

Chapter Eleven

Georgia leaned against her hand, lazily holding the steering wheel with one hand. After listening to every song an additional five times, Kami quit on the CD and started babbling.

"I would kill for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Kill, I tell you," she said seriously. "If we find a real place to live, I mean, when, I'm going to learn how to make bread. And jelly. And grow my own peanuts if I have to. A whole orchard of peanut trees."

"Peanuts grow underground, Kami," Alex said quietly. "Like potatoes."

Kami scoffed. "I don't think so. Pretty sure I know my peanut butter better than you do. But now that you mention it, I think I'll grow potatoes too. I'm not sure how much longer I could live without french fries, but it's been long enough."

Georgia rubbed her forehead tiredly. "Quit it already. Get a snack if you want it so badly."

She suddenly sat up straight and stomped on the brakes. The others pitched forward, stopped by the seatbelt.

On the side of the road was a man in camo, a peanut butter sandwich halfway to his mouth. He stared at the car while they stared straight back at him.

Georgia got out of the car. "Hi!"

The man set down his sandwich, brushing crumbs from his scruffy chin. "Hi. Where are you coming from?"

Georgia beamed. "Doesn't matter as much as where we're trying to go. Do you know if there's a stronghold anywhere nearby? We've been on the road for the past few days but we haven't seen any other survivors in way longer than that."

"There's a stronghold a few miles away," he jerked his thumb over his shoulder. "But it's a mess. It's probably a better idea to keep moving."

Georgia's face fell. "What kind of mess?"

The man shrugged. "The same kind of mess to expect from a bunch of strangers forced to survive together with virtually no consequences. There was a recent power struggle, most of us suspect that our former leader was murdered. No one has found a body."

"Oh."

"But if you need a hand, I'd be happy to show you the way. I'm sure it would be fine to stay for a few days, enjoy a hot meal and a hot shower, a comfortable bed."

"I guess we haven't been roughing it too badly," Georgia said. "Didn't you say you were leaving? Why would you go back? And wouldn't it be suspicious if you did go back?"

He stood. "I didn't really have a plan beyond lunch, to be completely honest. And it's not a problem, I understand the need to find other people when it seems there are no other people anymore." He put out a hand. "I'm Marc."

Georgia shook it, "George."

"Nice to meet you."

Georgia waved her arm at the others.

Alex closed the door. "Right, so what's the plan?"

"I'm Marc, and there's a stronghold about three miles thataway." He packed up his lunch. "You seem to manage fine on your own and it's not completely safe there with power changing hands, but if you insist, a few days will probably be fine." He shouldered his bag. "First thing's first, your car. If you want to keep it you definitely shouldn't bring it along."

Alex squared his stance. "I'm not leaving this to get stolen by the next person off the side of the road. And what about you?"

"Relax, bud. I'm not stealing your car. In fact, you should probably drive it somewhere off the road and keep it hidden. Good to have an escape route."

"But how do we know that?" Kami asked. "You could be trying to lull us into a false sense of security."

Marc raised a hand. "I swear. You do not want them to get a hold of your vehicle. They won't give it back. And I'm not trying to buy your trust, but if it makes you feel better you can have the rest of this peanut butter." He held out a small, half-empty jar of peanut butter.

Kami looked him up and down before cautiously accepting the jar. "This doesn't mean anything," she assured him, slipping the jar into her bag.

"So, a few days. And maybe we can find where other strongholds are. This can't be the only one left, right?" Without waiting for an answer, Georgia got into the car and started the engine, rolling it slowly off the side of the road and as far into the underbrush as possible. She got off, tucked the key into her pocket. She and the others quickly covered the vehicle with branches and evergreen boughs to blend in with the surroundings. She brushed off her hands. "Which way?"

Marc picked up his things and started walking into the trees. "It's a fair walk, so be warned." They shouldered their bags and followed.

The thick branches soon grew closer together and the ground was even more knotted with sturdy roots twisting every which way. Georgia spent more time staring ahead of her feet than watching her surroundings. About half an hour later, she realized that dirt was replaced with tarmac.

Marc stared at the way they came, then picked up a large stone and set it a few feet away from a rotting stump. "If you get this far down the road, look for that stump, then walk towards this rock to start going the right direction."

"That's so smart," said Georgia.

He shrugged. "When walking out here you need to watch for landmarks. Sometimes you need to make your own landmarks." After waiting for the others to finish a water break, Marc turned to the right and started casually walking down the road.

Only twenty minutes later, the road gave way to a dramatic drop. A river bed sat below, with a large hill up ahead. On the hill was the shell of a town, with burnt trees surrounding the blackened remains of buildings.

"This is it?" Alex asked incredulously.

"We built a fence around the few blocks in the center of town that we managed to protect from the fire early in the epidemic. The perimeter is regularly patrolled and we manage to get a lot of zombies stuck on this riverbed. Once you fall down there, it takes forever to get out, even for a regular person like you or me." He looked sad for a moment. "It's not much, but it was starting to become home before this Matthieu guy took control. No one can really pin down what his motive is but it probably isn't good. Are you sure you want to stay?"

"Not for long, like you said." Georgia said. "And we'll be careful. Thank you for taking us all this way. I really appreciate it."

Marc let out a deep exhale. "Okay then, let's go."