Chapter 4 - Reflection I

"Daddy. Could we take a break."

"No Lj, how could you be tired already I just carried you for thirty minutes."

"I'm not but I know you are."

There was a short period of silence.

"No Lj, I'm fine. We need to make it to the town before nightfall, it shouldn't be very far now."

"He's right though honey, you've pushed yourself hard up to this point and I think you could use a break. I think that's a gas station coming up, stopping for five minutes wont hurt us."

".....Fine. But only five minutes I really don't want night to meet us out here. We probably only have three more hours of daylight."

The three approached the gas station, young Lj stood behind his mom while dad took point. Armed with a slightly rusty cutlass he slowly cracked open the doors and peeked inside. The station had been raided clean except for two bottles of water.

"It's clear, come" The dad says while putting away the cutlass. "Lj you thirsty?"

"A little bit, yeah" Lj replied

"Here, drink this." He says while giving Lj one of the water bottles. "Here Seana take this."

"No no no, you sit down and drink it. I'm not thirsty." She replied

"Seana-"

"I don't wanna hear it, you've carried most of our stuff this entire way and have also done a great job protecting us. You deserve a bottle of water."

"Ok." He replied smiling and sitting against a wall.

Five minutes later he fell asleep. Seana sat and laid next to him while Lj ran around exploring the station.

"At the pace we're walking the town should only be an hour away at most." Said Seana to her passed out husband. "I'll wake you up in half an hour." She says as she gets up and kisses the side of his face.

"Mommy the sky is changing." Lj says while staring out the window.

"Hmm, it might rain soon. Maybe we should stay here for the night."

A feint sound of thunder broke silence throughout the area. As gloomy gray clouds flood the sky, a chilling breeze flowed over the land and into the station. The air became heavy and sunlight started to become dim. However as time went by there wasn't any rain that fell.

Seana was sitting on the floor fighting sleep while Lj drew on the windows with a marker. While he was drawing a shadow dashed by the corner of his eye moving towards the back of the station. Curiosity controlling his movements he walked to the back window on the other side of the station. The back door was right next to the window and as Lj couldn't see the shadow he cracked the door open trying to spot what it was. He inched out more and more as he still couldn't see anything, until he was outside completely. He stood there looking around as his shirt waved in the wind. The sound of howling could be heard far off in the distance but a lighter sound of what seemed to be tapping could be heard around the corner of the building. Lj still being moved by his curiosity slowly shuffled over to the corner. The closer he gets the louder the sound gets. He reached the corner and held onto it as he peeked his eyes around to investigate the sound. To his horror he found the carcass of dog being eaten by an infected. He froze for a bit before he started to retreat away to go back inside.

"Lj! What are you doing out here?"

"Mommy no." He whispers while running to hug her.

"What's the matter?" She asked while looking down to him.

Right then goosebumps ran across her skin and her breath stopped for a moment. Time stood still as she and the infected engaged in a stand off, before finally Seana grabbed Lj and ran for the door. With the infected racing after them Seana and Lj made it inside but couldn't close the door before it was able to stuck an arm inside. Lj fell to the ground and Seana fought desperatly trying to close the door. However the infected slowly forced its way in pulling and swinging erratically before taking a bite out of her arm. She screamed at the top of her lungs before falling next to Lj. The infected spat blood on the floor before directing its attention back at Seana and Lj. It crept towards them snarling and twitching. A single tear came down Lj's face and right when the teardrop hit the ground, a cutlass dug into the back of the infected's neck.

"Daddy! Lem!" Seana and Lj shouted simultaneously.

"Why didn't you guys wake me up?" He says as he collpses in front of them and hugging them both. "We need to leave now, your scream probably got the attention of most things near by. Wait, your arm."

"Wrap it up and let's go. We could deal with it later." She said while standing up.

After wrapping up Seana's wound they set back out on the road. The weather had set an ominous mood for the final stretch of their journey. There was hardly any words being said as everyone was high alert of their surroundings. Lj was being carried on his dad's back so they could move at a faster pace.

"After we cross this bridge we should be in out of serious danger." Lem said while pointing at the oncoming bridge.

The bridge connected the land where it had been ripped open by an earthquake about fifteen years ago. Roughly eighty meters across, 5 meters wide and hovering over a four mile drop this bridge has been deteriated over the years due to acidic rain and the fault line still being active.

"You think it's safe to cross?" Asked Seana.

"We don't really have much other choices." Replied Lem. "The next bridge is about 2 miles to the south and we definitly can't risk that."

Just then a flash of lightning illuminated the area which was then followed by the sky detonating and releasing a deafening sound of thunder. The clouds then started to release its pocket of rain upon the land. Right before Lem and his family reached the beginning of the bridge a howl echoed through the canyon below. However the origin of the noise didn't come from inside. They paused and turned their heads to the left to find an unpleasant surprise. Three shadows walking through the mist of the rain towards them. However they didn't look human at all, they were animals.

"They look like...wolves." Said Seana.

As they crept out of the mist they're distorted faces were revealed to the family.

"Daddy why do they look like that?"

"They're infected." Lem whispered to himself. "Honey, run... I said RUN!"

The family took off down the bridge with the pack of wolves in pursuit. The pack were significantly closing the gap with every passing second and then another bolt of lightning flashed the area. Seana got blinded by the light and slipped down. Lem was then met with a horrifying scenario and had to make a quick decision. He put Lj on the ground looked at him and said...

"Get off the bridge and hide okay I'll find you."

"But daddy-"

"What did I say!? Off the bridge now!"

Lj then turn and ran for it while Lem pulled out the cutlass and sprinted to help his wife. She was slow to get up and the wolves had made their way onto the bridge. Then suddenly the entire bridge started to shake.

"Seana are you alright?" Lem asked while helping her up.

"Why did you leave him alone?!" She replied in a tone of anger.

"Here, take the this and let's go." He said while giving her the cutlass and pulling out a knife that's about one foot long.

They started to run again then another lightning bolt struck but this time it seemed to hit near the beginning of the bridge. The bridge then shook and slid down couple inches knocking both Lem and Seana to their knees. The pack was barely phased by it and caught up to the two right after. The first wolf launched at Lem knocking him on his back while another was greeted by Seana's first swing of the cutlass.

"DADDY!!!" Lj shouted as the rain blendid with the tears on his face.

"I SAID RUN!!! Get away from here!" Lem yelled as he fought off the wolf with his knife.

Crying heavily he stumbled to his feet and ran off into the mist. Lem looked back to his wife to find her being mauled to pieces by the two wolves.

"NOOOOO!!!!!!" Lem shouted as his entire field of vision went white.

The sound of thunder covered the noise of everything happening. While another bolt striked nearby. This time the shockwave of the thunder was enough to lose the bridge. As he was falling and floating off the bridge Lem thought to himself.

"I'm sorry family. Seana, I couldn't protect you. Lj... I'm sorry I'm not gonna be able to find you. Please God let him be safe."