Countd0wn

Chapter 12: The Ambush

The night was a long and seemingly endless one, but I eventually somehow managed to sleep. When I woke up the next morning, the sun was just managing to peek over the horizon. I saw that both Sparrow and Ivy were still asleep, so I moved quietly so I didn't wake them.

I walked out into the store, and started to gather up any materials from the shelves I could find, enough food for the three of us, since I knew that we would never be coming back to this area again. I scooped everything into my bag, occasionally looking out at the road. When I did, I saw something that made me look again.

There was a large black cloud of smoke that was slowly drifting from the east. After grabbing more supplies, I walked out and looked where it was coming from. Just as I thought, it was the aftermath of the literal firefight that had happened in the town last night. Using the binoculars again, I looked at the centre of the small village.

The place where I had seen the black humvees parked was empty, save for a few dead bodies that looked like they had been ripped to shreds then picked clean by the creatures. Their assault rifles were laying by their sides. I wanted to get them, but I knew that some of the creatures might still be in town, trying to scavenge whatever meat was left in the bodies.

I scanned the town square, and saw that the smoke was coming from the wreck of the humvee, the one that had been burning last night. The fire had burned out, but the smoke was still rising, casting the large black cloud that was slowly drifting our way. Other than that, the other black humvees that had been there, along with any other soldiers, were gone.

For some reason, this made my senses perk up a bit. So, some of the soldiers had managed to survive and drive off in the middle of the night. But to me, it didn't seem that simple. If they did, why hadn't I heard them? I stayed up for quite some time, and I would have heard a procession of vehicles moving down the road. Maybe they just went a different way. I thought to myself. Even though this seemed to explain it, I was still on edge.

I turned my attention away from the village and went back inside. I knew that practically everything was fine, but I still really wanted to get out of this place fast and move on. So, I grabbed the bag, and went back into Sparrow and Ivy's room. I gently shook Sparrow until she opened her eyes, and then I did the same to Ivy.

Ivy slowly opened her eyes, and then sat up in the bed, rubbing them. "Morning sleepyhead. We're gonna get going now, ok?" Ivy nodded groggily and picked up her backpack and her teddy bear. 

Sparrow stood up next to me and stretched, then put on her jacket, looking over at me. "What was the village like?" She said in a low voice while Ivy got ready. I told her quickly about the lack of humvees and the smoking wreckage.

She considered this, then nodded. "Alright then. Everything seems fine. If you want, I can run down to that place and go get one of those rifles for you. It could help." I thought about this for a second. Sparrow had a good point, but I didn't want to see her get hurt. But she clearly was fast enough to outrun those things. I trusted her.

I looked up at her then nodded. "Sure. That could work. But hurry back. I want to be out of here soon. How long do you think it'll take you?" Sparrow walked out of the gas station, and looked down the road towards the village.

She turned back to me and shrugged. "It was a couple miles right? Well, with all the cars, and the fact that I'd have to be quiet in the village...about 5 minutes there, 5 minutes back." I sighed. It would be cutting it close, but we could make it work.