Death's Awakening

Chapter Forty-Eight: Noah

"You have to be more careful."

Noah wasn't sure whether he wanted to hit Karmen or hug her. What was she thinking? Thank God the child had been strapped into a car seat or else he would be facing a very difficult decision right about now. She could have been bitten by that thing.

He shuddered.

"We need to keep moving," he said.

Karmen wiped her eyes and nodded. He felt like a complete ass for being so cold toward her, but what choice did he have? Hadn't he lost everything, too? There simply wasn't time for pity and compassion until they got to a safer place, and Crash's apartment was still six miles away. On foot, they would be lucky to make it before dark.

Noah made his way back over the top of the metal mountain of cars, making sure to find a solid place to set his foot before putting his weight on it. Slowly, the three of them made it through the pileup and back onto the asphalt of the main road.

"It's so eerie out here," Parrish whispered. "So quiet."

She was right. There were none of the sounds you would expect to hear on a busy intersection in Washington D.C. No car horns beeping. No voices or footsteps. The familiar sound of tires on the road as cars zipped by. It was all missing. Instead, the city was silent. Flat.

Dead.

Noah reached over and took Parrish's hand in his own. She looked over at him, a surprised look on her face, and he gave her a gentle squeeze before letting go. He wanted to tell her that everything would be okay, but how could he promise such a ridiculous thing? All he could really promise was that he was there, standing by her side.

"Okay," he said, hesitating before pulling his gaze away from her face. "Let's do this."

The walk toward Crash's was easy at first. Once they made it over the bridge, the three of them moved together from city block to city block barely saying a word. Crash led them on a path that went down Independence Avenue and around the Capitol Reflecting Pool.

Noah had been here many times with his dad and on field trips and stuff. But it was all so different now. They passed the House of Representatives and he couldn't help but wonder what part of the U.S. government even still existed at this point. Was the President still alive?

Karmen told them to turn right on Constitution. The street was piled with bodies. It looked like some kind of bloody march on Washington. Noah and the others had to cover their mouths and noses just to survive the stench of it.

"Is there some other way?" Karmen asked Crash through the radio. "I mean, are you seeing this on your little cameras? Because this is disgusting."

Crash insisted that this was the safest and fastest route. "Wouldn't you rather walk through a few blocks of disgusting dead people than have to try to walk a few blocks through hundreds of walking dead ones?"

"Point taken," Karmen muttered.

When they got to Stanton Park, Noah pulled his gun out, ready for anything. They kept several feet clear of the trees and shadows and luckily made it through without running into anyone. Or anything.

Every once in a while, they saw a rotter shuffling along one of the side streets, but for the most part, they were nowhere to be seen. Packed into buildings until the sun went down, Crash told them.

In the distance, the sun was making its descent, coloring the horizon the slightest bit pink. None of them mentioned it, but Noah knew that they only had about an hour before the sun went down for good. He didn't want to think about what would happen to them if they couldn't find a safe place to hide or settle down before then.