Isabel had been searching for Lucia for a few hours now. She couldn’t find her anywhere, and the idea that she might’ve died started to creep in her thoughts. Her sister wasn’t the best at fighting, perhaps she was caught in a risky fight and lost her life...I must stop thinking like that... The girl reminded herself, slamming her hand against her forehead, She’s stronger than that. I must keep hoping, the camp is quite vast anyways. She was right, the place was huge, and she wouldn’t give up until she had found her sister- either dead or alive, but she preferred alive.
Even though the place had a lot of vegetation and buildings, the teen didn’t visit every single corner of the place. She didn’t want to lose herself in that messy forest either, considering how she grew up in Massachusetts her whole childhood, and that it was her first in New Hampshire. She would never give up though. Her breathing was heavy, and her throat was dry from the lack of water, but she didn’t stop. Isabel had run in the forest and called Lucia over, never losing hope.
“It’s fine, I’m fine. I'm so exhausted, I’m going to fall asleep soon...” The Italian mumbled, her hair falling in front of her eyes as the sweat was dripping along her forehead, stumbling slightly.
She wasn’t fainting, neither sleeping. Each time she would feel her body aching to reach the floor, she’d hold herself back, keeping her composure. For now. Her gaze was alert, and she watched the sky, the grass, at her eye-level or between three branches. Lucia wouldn’t be there, surely, but she wanted to make sure she didn’t pass her. She was her oldest sister, after all, she was supposed to be taking care of her.
“Mh...My arm..It hurts...” A familiar voice whimpered in pain, right next to her.
Lucia. Isabel’s heart skipped a beat, and she looked around herself, wondering where she was. She then found her, sitting on the ground, holding her right arm as her expression was filled with pain. The teen frowned and kneeled next to her when she realized she hadn’t realized her presence yet.
“I’ve been searching for you everywhere, Lu,” Whispered the eldest, cupping her chin to make Lucia look at her, “How have you been doing? Why are you so deep into the woods?”
As soon as she felt Isabel next to her, the girl’s expression lightened and she grabbed her tightly, burying her head in her chest. Visibly, she was relieved to see someone she knew, someone that cared for her, standing right next to her. She mumbled incoherent words, her eyes flickering as tears streamed along her cheeks.
“Isabel...You’re here...I-I’m too exhausted...I was too weak to fight off, so I ran off. B-But I tripped and hit a rock, my right arm took all the damage...” Lucia sighed, before she whined and whispered “My head’s spinning. How’s the campus doing?”
Isabel frowned, her expression softening as she saw how much pain her sister was in. She slowly picked her up, making her stand up, although she was quite weak. Lucia closed her eyes and tried to calm her breathing, reaching closer to the eldest, seeking protection. Which she received.
“It’s complicated...” She said, helping her get back on her feet properly, then she paused. “You don’t want to know. I was searching for you. I wanted to help those guys, but I wanted to make sure you were doing great as well, you know? I would feel bad if anything bad happened to you. I still feel bad that you’re hurting right now.”
“Those people needed your help as well. You don’t have to feel bad about anything, Isa. I’m doing fine, I'm just grateful you came back for me....”
“You make me feel even worse” Isabel groaned, trying to ignore how much pressure she had-at least the one she gave herself, “There’s no reason I shouldn’t have come back, you know. You’re my sister, I can’t leave you there.”
Lucia smiled warmly, seeming genuinely happy to see her again. She pulled away from her arms and glanced around, inspecting the landscape, and focusing on hearing something-anything. Were there any zombies close to them, or at a higher range? Were they safe out there? Where could they go? She was panicked already-Isabel kept her calm better.
The brown-eyed girl quickly noticed her fear, and so she decided to cope with it. She hated to see Lucia this stressed, this unsafe, this insecure about the situation. Of course, it was justified, but Isabel felt like she was supposed to be helping Lucia, and not the contrary. Her thoughts wandered as she searched for a solution that could help Lucia feel safer. There is always a way. But we need to escape. Where though? We could come back home, but we don’t have any cars right now. Maybe there are some left in the car park.
“How about we come back home? We were safe there. I don’t think we made a wrong decision by getting here, but we would’ve died earlier there. Now, we don’t really have a choice, so how about we try going there?” She suggested with a calm voice.
“H-home?” Repeated Lucia, her eyes flickering as her brows furrowed, “I don’t think we’d be safe there.”
“We’re not safe anywhere, Lu.” The girl sighed, “Come on, let’s go.”
“Fine. This better be a good decision.”
***
The girls were puzzled. In the parking lot, there weren’t any cars. Well, not real cars that they could ride. They didn’t understand why there were golf cars in the parking lot, even though there wasn’t a golf course on the campus. But that didn’t matter for now. They had to escape quickly. Isabel and Lucia didn’t pass by the main place-instead, they ran int the forest non-stop, the fastest they could. They were lucky not to encounter any zombies.
“Why did we have to run? My right arm’s hurting as fuck right now, it banged against my sides. Oh, and how about the golf cars?”
“I don’t think we have much of a choice,” Isabel sighed, grabbing her –left- arm to pull her towards the closest car, “Let’s go, we don’t have much time.”
Lucia hissed, yet she didn’t try to pull away. She was pouting when she sat next to Isabel, holding her arm. She tried to look angry, yet she only looked like a child begging for a new toy. Isabel couldn’t help but chuckle, ruffling her hair, which only made her angrier.
“Do you even know how to drive this?” Lucia asked, raising a brow.
“I’ll figure this out, I guess.”
She started the car, taking a few deep breaths as she looked at the controls. This pedal to speed up, this one to slow down. Easy peasy, this shouldn’t be too difficult, She thought as she slowly pressed her foot against the accelerator.
“Wait up!” A voice called her out, making her stop brutally, her head banging slightly.
Isabel scowled, looking behind her, just to see a group of teenagers, around their age, running towards them. They weren’t infected, but they were badly hurt, and they needed a ride.
“Please, let us come on in. We really need a ride, you guys.”
“Just take another car.” Lucia retorted, glaring at them, “Press the gas, Isa.”
Isabel nodded and agreed, grabbing the wheel as she pressed her foot against the accelerator. The girl was scared for an instant, but then she pressed it even more, wanting to reach the hospital faster. And yet it didn’t go fast, but very, very slowly. She groaned and sighed deeply.
“Aw, come on! That’s going to take forever!”
The group of teens catched up to them, seeming amused. They started riding at the same time, at the same speed. Isabel then paused her ride and stopped the car, giving the driver’s seat to Lucia before she stood next to her and gestured to her seat. The girl’s eyes widened, and she shook her head.
“I’m not sixteen, I can’t drive! I’ll make a mess!”
“Who cares about laws if there’s no one to check if we respect them? Come on, take the wheel, I’ll make sure to shoot any zombies with the bow and arrow, you know?”
***
"Uh, Isa?”
“Yeah?”
“We ain’t got no gas anymore.”
Effectively, the golf cart was just standing there, in the middle of a neglected parking lot. Isabel didn’t recognize where they were, but she knew that they weren’t in Massachusetts yet. The cart with the other survivors was following behind, and it stopped rolling too. Isabel jumped off and scrutinized the area. A huge building. With about three floors. A hospital, goddamn finally!
“You guys bring your weapons. Probably lots of people died there.” Isabel declared, and everybody followed her.
The hallways weren’t silent as she pushed the doors, but silent, very silent. The girls and the other teens went closer to each other, making sure that everybody was safe. They didn’t know each other very well, but they were in survival mode. Isabel was in front, and an older boy guarded the back.
“Hello? Anyone here?” Isabel called out, not lowering her weapon.
“I don’t think there’s anyone here, Fletcher.” Ginny’s voice called out behind her.
The Italian was about to shift to her and spit a reply right in her face, but she didn’t say anything. She was quite surprised that she had survived, with a small gun that barely protected her. Isabel was surely the one with the best items-a bow and an arrow, as well as a gun in her pocket.
“Who knows. Maybe.” Lucia spoke softly, trying to ease the tension.
After a few minutes of calling out and nobody responding, they figured that there wasn’t anyone. The leader guided them to a storage room, finding various sorts of bandages and disinfectants. As if they knew what they were doing, they all searched through the materials, taking care of their wounds.
“Ah, thank God there is something to hold my arm!”
“Woah there!” A boy spoke, holding her back, “If you think you broke your arm, don’t put on a bandage just yet. You’ll have to wait for a real surgery.”
“If that ever happens.” Ginny snickered, rolling her eyes.
“Let’s just search for some bikes and go back home.” Isabel interrupted her, wanting to keep a calm ambiance, not wanting anyone to fight.
“Fuck you.”
***
After a few hours of riding, the teens came back to the girls’ place. They stopped their bikes and went inside, locking the doors to make sure that the zombies couldn’t break them. They even placed wooden planks on the windows, hoping it would hold back. After she had done every window, Isabel asked the group to come over at the living room, then she took a deep breath.
“Guys, what’s the plan? We might be the only survivors left, and I think we should try to save everyone else.”
“This is not a movie, Fletcher.” Ginny replied, though there wasn’t any rudeness, “We’ll just try to survive, then fail, then we might as well rest in peace...”
“You call that resting in peace?”
Everyone started talking all at once, some of them using words as weapons and the others trying to be peacemakers. Lucia, exhausted, remained silent, but she could hear a subtle knock on the door. Not a rough banging. But a small knock. It was a human, thank God.
“Guys...” She trailed off, but everyone ignored her.
“Guys, there’s someone at the door, for God’s sake!”
Everybody stopped talking. Instead of saying anything, Isabel walked towards the door, muttering under her breath as she squinted her eyes, curious. She hesitated-she wanted to open the door, but she knew it could be a zombie as well. Then, her eyes widened, and her face went white. But not from fear.
“Who is it?” Ginny asked intently.
“Jonas. And Blake.”
