13 Years of Struggle

Chapter 45

" Claire! We're almost back!" Amani shouted as the 4 of us continued running.

I nodded and replied. " I know. Thank god."

We had been running for a few hours and the sun had already started to set. We passed by a sign that told us we were closer to Clinton. God I can't wait to get back. But we would also have to tell of what happened to us and of Senna and Williams deaths. God rest their souls.

I ran beside Noa as we passed by a traffic jam of abandoned cars and a few wandering Rotters. A Rotter tried reaching for me and I stabbed it in its forehead with my knife and I continued to run. Xavier stabbed another Rotter that tried biting his arm.

By now the sun had already gone significantly down over the horizon. It was getting darker and harder to see. We continued running along the street, not stopping for anything.We started coming towards the front gates of Clinton.

We ran even faster at that point. I finally let out a sigh of relief as we reached the gate. I quickly banged on it with my fist. " Open the gate! Open the gate!"

Amani, Noa, and Xavier quickly joined in with me. Shouting, "Open the gate!"

I heard someone yell down. " Guys? Oh my god!" I heard them shout.

I looked up and saw it was Alejandro. He stared down at us with a look of surprise on his face. " I'll get the gate open. Just give me a sec!"

We heard him rush down the ladder and he pulled the gate open with all of his strength. He quickly ran over and hugged Noa. " I'm glad you're alright."

She hugged him back and patted his back with her hand. " We're good. All of us."

He pulled away and then he looked behind us. He then looked back at us with a look of confusion on his face. " Where's Senna and William?"

I sighed and replied to him. " They're dead."

He looked down for a moment and then he spoke. " Okay... well what happened?"

" We'll tell you soon." Amani responded silently.

We started walking inside and Alejandro closed the gate behind us and made sure he locked it. " Guys. I also think you should know that... Janet, James, Kala, Doug, Jesse, and Elijah."

The 4 of us stopped. I stared at him. " They're out there?! When did they leave?"

He gulped and he tried remembering. " Alejandro! When did they leave?" I asked again, sounding more concerned.

" A few hours ago..." He muttered silently.

I looked over at Noa. She stared back at me. I quickly turned back to Alejandro. " Get us any vehicles that are available."

" We don't have any more available vehicles at the moment Claire." Alejandro replied.

" I don't care. Find us some damn vehicles. Anything that works. We have to find them before those fucking crazies get to them." I turned and started running towards the direction of the house.

Amani and Noa ran after me, Xavier stayed back with Alejandro. Soon the house came into view after I ran closer towards it. A few lights were on in the windows downstairs. I quickly ran up the porch steps and pulled open the door.

Anais was sitting in the living room with Kolson and they were both on the couch and looked worried. Both of them looked up when they saw me come through the door. " Claire!" Anais shouted, she rushed towards me and embraced me in a tight hug.

I hugged her back tightly. Kolson came running up to the both of us and he hugged me as well. We were now in a triple hug. We stayed like that for a minute or 2 before pulling away. " You're okay. Where were you?"