PetrA

Chapter seventy-seven: Ellie

April passed and gave space for May. The days was only getting warmer as they passed and Ellie was by now supposedly eight months along. Although it was quite hard to tell, as they didn't know exactly when she became pregnant and Stella could only guess from the size of her stomach. Getting hold of clothes that fitted her was quite difficult as she wasn't able to go into a store and try them on herself, she had to rely on other people when they left the camp. Several never came back including, Marcus and Juan. Desiree who had gone out to look for them not long after came back with their backpacks and a grim expression. "Did you find them?" Mary asked when she came back into camp with her two group members. "We found them." She said. "Not much to do really." The other girl said, Ellie couldn't remember her name, "They were braindead and hungry for human buffets." Travis said shaking his head. "So we did the only thing we could. We gave them mercy and burned their bodies."

Suddenly Nala came sprinting towards them. She tripped over several things as Ellie turned to face her. "Ellie, Timothy! Come you need to see this." She said breathlessly. She looked like she'd run a marathon. Timothy glanced at Nala and then Ellie. "Come on you really need to see this." She said already hurrying in the direction she came from. Ellie glanced back at Desiree and the others before following. Nala was waiting for them down by the beach area an excited look on her face, not that, that was unusual, but Nala was gesturing for them to follow her again. Frowning they did. "What is it Nala?" Timothy asked as he pushed some branches out of his face. Nala was standing in front of a large shack. "Look at this." She opened the doors revealing two decent sized boats. It looked as though somebody had been preparing them ready for a getaway, as they were in what seemed like perfect condition. "Boats." Ellie said staring. "Have you checked the insides?" Timothy asked slowly approaching the one on the left. "Yes, there's nothing in there besides food, a lot of fuel to the tank, water purification systems, there's even these tank thingies to keep a small stove going for months." Nala said excitedly. "I know we're comfortable here, but we never know when a horde will come our way, seeing as we're probably the only ones alive around here." She said.

Ellie glanced up at the boat a smile taking over her face. "It's perfect Nala. All we need to do now is prepare for take-off." She said. Timothy glanced at Ellie as if he wanted to say something, but he didn't at least not in front of Nala. "We'll discuss what to do and when to leave." Timothy said. Nala beamed at them, "Close the doors after us." Timothy said pulling Ellie along gently. "How are we supposed to get everybody to agree on leaving with the boats?" He asked slowly. Ellie looked up at him, "Tim, we're vulnerable here. All we need to do is point that out, and honestly. If we leave the main land and find somewhere, an island maybe two where there's not that much human activity we have a better chance of surviving." Timothy didn't argue as he looked behind them.

Ellie called for a meeting that same night, after she'd talked out the details with their friends. Marlene, Mary, Kim, Grant, Henrik, Joachim, Cody and Stella sat around the small table in one of the out of bound rooms. Timothy looked at Ellie waiting for her to start talking. "Cody you remember the last conversation we had at school?" She asked looking at Cody. He looked too thin and his eyes were dull, he scowled. "The one about what we'd do in case of a zombie apocalypse?" He asked. Ellie nodded, "Yes that one. Didn't we agree on getting far away from the main land was the best option to stay alive?" Ellie looked at him as Cody tried to remember the conversation fully. It seemed so long ago. "Yeah." Ellie nodded. "Well I still think that's our best bet." She looked at them all in turn. Mary and Marlene was watching Ellie silently. "We're vulnerable here. The next wave of wanderings could happen sooner than we think which I believe it will due to the weather warming up. There hasn't been much dead activity during the winter months." Ellie said. Timothy nodded slowly, "Maybe, but how are we going to get boats?" Grant asked. Timothy leaned forwards and placed his hands on the table. "That's already fixed. All we need to do is prepare the rest for leaving. We'll have to fill the boats with more supplies to ensure that we won't run dry too quickly and that as many as possible will survive the trip." Mary did not look excited, but she nodded her head. "How will we break the news?" She asked. "The meeting tonight. We'll leave as soon as possible." Timothy said firmly.