Chapter 25

The man and his daughter just stand there, watching our car expectantly and I don't know how I feel about traveling with them. I'm about to object when the man jogs back to the driver's side of his truck and comes over with a piece of paper.

"Now, I know y'all probably have some things to talk about, so I wrote the address down on this paper. If ya feel like joinin' us, you know where we'll be." His southern accent is heavy as he nods his head, handing the paper to Jackson. "We have to get goin' but maybe we'll see y'all soon."

"Thank you, sir. Maybe we will." Jackson's polite response has me hiding a grin. I mean, come on, it's the apocalypse and he's probably the only one left using proper etiquette.

"Names Richard, by the way." He sticks his hand out to Jackson who returns the grip in a manly handshake.

"Jackson. And this is Alexis and Mikayla." He responds, pointing to each of us in turn.

I give the man a swift nod and he returns it before heading back to his truck, his daughter following.

"Let me drive. You can rest for a while." Jackson throws me off guard, shooting a broad grin my way.

I'm thankful for the offer because my back is killing me. I was not made for long road trips. I smile back and climb over to the other seat as he slips in behind me and shuts the door. I stay silent, waiting for him to bring up the paper first and I don't have to wait long. As soon as the truck is out of sight, he turns to me.

"Listen, I think we should give this a shot. We don't have anything else going on and it might be a lucky break." He looks at me with eyes full of hope and I feel bad for disagreeing.

"I'm not fond of trying to add to our little group, we have a good thing going. I don't want to lose it." I trail off, shifting my gaze to my hands in my lap, picking at the skin around my nails as I usually do when I'm anxious.

"For what it's worth, I think we should do it." My eyes snap up to meet Mikayla's and she puts her hands up defensively. "This place might be what we need to stay alive. They might even have showers and hot food. I wouldn't mind taking a chance on that. Would you?"

I grin, the thought of a hot shower and meal does sound tempting. I mull the thought over. On the one hand, it would be nice to not worry as much about staying alive, on the other, being in a large group could be more dangerous.

"Alright," Mikayla and Jackson both stare at me intensely, eager like kids waiting for Christmas. "I don't see why we can't try it as long as we keep our guard up."

I look pointedly at both of them, but they are both beyond excited as Jackson throws the car in drive and heads out in the direction the truck went. They both keep talking about all the things they want to do when we don't have to worry while I sit next to them, worrying. The look on my face must give me away because Jackson brings his hand over to rest on my thigh, squeezing it reassuringly. I don't look up, choosing to pick at my fingers some more. He draws his hand back and grabs the piece of paper that he must have slipped into his pocket before he got in the car. I unfold it and work with Mikayla to find it on the map. It feels like it takes a lifetime considering neither of us had used a paper map before the apocalypse. I should have appreciated google more. Once we get the location locked on, Jackson begins to navigate.

"The place is fairly close by. Maybe another 30 minutes away from where we are now. At this rate, we probably aren't more than twenty minutes behind the others." Jackson says as he speeds up, dodging random reanimated bodies as he flies down the highway.

"That's good, I wish we knew what to expect when we get there though. I don't do well with surprises..."

I chew on my fingernail, wishing I could pull out a cigarette. I haven't had one in so long; I still have some in my bag though. I figured I should save them for desperate times though and this doesn't feel bad enough... yet. My mind is running through millions of worst-case scenarios. This could be an ambush with people waiting to bludgeon us and take our supplies, pilfering our loot like pirates. It could also be a false call, no salvation or hope. Hopefully not the latter though because I sense that Mikayla and Jackson are putting a lot of stock into the words of these strangers.

"We should have asked them how they found out about this place."

"I did." I look at Jackson, eyebrows raised, waiting for clarification which I get when he sees my face. "He said that they heard it on the radio. It was broadcasting on the emergency frequency twice a day and they wrote down the address so that they could try to get there."

I'm feeling a little skeptical about everything, but then again, we haven't had anything but problems lately if you think about it.

"I think we are here."

I look around and we are in a dingy part of some city. Broken asphalt and dirty storefronts are all around us. I recognize the truck that the man was driving parked behind some off-brand home goods store. It's parked up against the building near the back doors. We are quiet as Jackson parks the car a little way back from the building. Hopping out, we walk swiftly over to the back door, no zombies lurking around that we've seen yet.

Jackson knocks and we wait for someone to at least come open the door, but no one does. After a few minutes of waiting, he finds a narrow slat of metal by the dumpster a couple of feet away and uses it to force the door open. It's completely silent as we all enter the building, holding our breaths and listening. If there were people here with good intentions, then surely, they would have answered which brings up doubt on the strangers we just met. I've got butterflies in my stomach and this time it isn't because a cute boy wants to hold my hand.