CHAPTER TEN: THE QUIET BEFORE THE STORM

The Journey South

The road was long, filled with restless nights and quiet conversations.

Jace drove, his hands steady on the wheel, while Kunle rode on his superbike beside the truck. The world outside was a blur of abandoned towns, wrecked vehicles, and roads overtaken by nature.

Behind Jace, in the back of their modified house truck, Jace's wife, Mosun, sat with their son Ayanfe. Miss Okafor and her two daughters huddled near them, exchanging quiet reassurances.

They had been on the road for months.

Nights were spent parked in abandoned lots, with Kunle standing watch while Jace stole a few hours of sleep.

It was exhausting.

But they had no choice.

One morning, Jace woke up not to find Kunle and his superbike, he thought he had left them, then a few minutes later he heard his Superbike from a far distance. "I've found something!" Kunle cried out as he got closer to their parking spot. 

"There's an abandoned open farmland, down that route." Then Jace says "That's great."

After weeks of driving, they've found a new home.

An open farmland, stretching wide under the sun. A farmhouse stood near the edge of the field, weathered but intact. A wooden fence surrounded the property, though parts of it had collapsed. Cornfields stretched far, and a small barn stood nearby.

It looked... livable.

But as Jace and Reed approached, the stench hit them.

The rotting odor led them inside the farmhouse.

And there, sitting in a chair, was the old man.

There was a hole in his head, showing he took his own life. A shotgun clutched loosely in his lifeless hand.

Jace checked around the room. "Suicide."

Reed nodded grimly. "Probably saw no way out."

They cleared the house, removed the corpse, and buried the old man under an Oak tree near the barn.

Then, they got to work.

Jace and Reed reinforced the fences, making sure the farm was secure. The chickens still laid eggs and a lone cow provided milk. 

The cornfield was thriving, offering them food and a reason to stay. Hunting trips in the woods became a routine and Kunle was good at this.

For the first time in a long while, they felt... safe.

It was on one of these hunting trips that Jace saved Bayo and his younger sister.

They had been trapped, cornered by a horde. Jace and Reed fought through the undead, grabbing the siblings and bringing them back.

Bayo, a teenager with fire in his eyes, swore to repay the favor.

And for five months, life at the farm felt normal.

One evening, as the crickets hummed and the stars shone above, Jace sat with Mosun outside the farmhouse.

She leaned her head on his shoulder. "We've never stayed in one place this long since it all began."

Jace exhaled, watching the fire crackle in the distance, "It almost feels real."

She turned to him, her voice softer, "Do you think Ayanfe will ever know what it's like to live in a world without fear?"

Jace looked at their son, playing in the field with Bayo's little sister. A part of him wanted to believe.

But he couldn't lie."I don't know."

She reached for his hand, squeezing it. "We'll make it real for him. For as long as we can."

He kissed her forehead. "Then we fight to keep this."

But even as he said it, a shadow loomed over them.

The horde came without warning.

Hundreds of them poured toward the farm like a sea of death.

But at the center of it all... he stood.

Pale skin. Sunken eyes. A body that should be dead, but wasn't. 

He moved with purpose, unlike the walkers. He commanded them.

The LIFESEEKER.

A name whispered in fear by those who had seen him before.

Before the fall, he had been a prisoner. A test subject.

The government had been experimenting on inmates-trying to create immunity.

They injected him with something. Something that was supposed to protect him.

Then, the outbreak happened.

When he was bitten, he didn't turn. His body changed- paler, stronger he never died.

He was trapped with the infected for days, weeks. Watching. Learning.

And when he walked among them, they didn't attack.

Now, he had become something else.

And he was coming for them.

Kunle sounded the alarm, yelling for everyone to get inside.

Jace grabbed his rifle, his heart pounding. "Get the kids underground! Now!"

Mosun pulled Ayanfe toward the barn, while Miss Okafor ushered her daughters behind her.

Bayo gripped a machete, fear and determination in his eyes.

Then, the first wave of Walkers hit the fences.

And the fight for the farm began.

TO BE CONTINUED...