Where Do We Go From Here?

[chris anderson]

- Where Do We Go From Here? -
chloe madison

Chris sat behind the wheel of his beautiful black mustang, speeding down the road to exit town. He wasn't sure what he-or the girl with him- was going to do but he figured they needed to at least get out of town. The group of zombies had no trouble in getting into his home, which honestly surprised Chris. They didn't get to grab much, he took a blanket, his handgun with 18 bullets, a bottle of whiskey, and his lighter. He probably had some useful things in his trunk, like tools and another blanket. Leaving his home was hard on Chris but the fact that he was running for his life made it easier. There had to be well over twenty of them that gathered around the building and Chris wasn't even sure how they started to get in. The sad thing is Chris knew it was only a matter of time before he was going to be made to leave his home. If it wasn't for the undead, it would of been the lack of supplies.

He let out a soft sigh as he went around a curve in the road. He was quiet, like usual. He and Chloe, the girl sitting in the passenger seat barely knew each other. Hell, they hardly talked but when they did it was about what was going on or small things like "You can use this blanket" and "If you need anything just let me know". Chris felt a great deal of remorse for the young woman, with her boyfriend being turned and trying to take a bite out of her. He kept in mind what she just went through, giving her time to herself and not wanting to pry or push anything.\

After driving down the long road out of town for a moment he pulled off onto the first side road he seen. The rocks from the dirt road hit up against the car as he pulled to the side of the road and put it in park. He let out a deep breath from his nose and leaned his elbows against the steering wheel, pinching the bridge of his nose with his right index finger and thumb.

"I heard Atlanta was where everyone was heading..." He dropped his hand from his face and turned his head over to look at the brunette. "Do you have any family?... Friends that you want to look for?" It was a stupid question, he knew it, most of everyone already lost everyone they cared about. Mothers. Fathers. Sons. Daughters. Siblings. So many were lost to this disease but he believed that the best thing to have is hope, and if she believed there was someone who could be alive... Well, he was going to encourage her to find them.

- Chris Anderson -

[chloe madison]

Chloe sat in the passenger seat, leaned gently against the door, her eyes glued to the window as she watched the scenery go by in a blur.  No, not watched, really.  More... looked at.  Because watching meant she was making a conscious effort and, to be honest, even though the outside world was in her line of vision, she didn't see any of it.  Not really.  She was too busy thinking about how much her life had just come crashing down all around her.

To be honest, she was pretty sure that it hadn't really sunk in the fact that the man sitting behind the wheel next to her had just blown her boyfriend's head off, because if it had, she was pretty sure that she would have mixed feelings towards him.  But all she felt so far was gratitude and in regard to Alex, she just felt... numb.  Maybe it was the fact that their relationship had never really endured a lot of face time, what with him having been in the military.  Maybe it was the fact that over the last month, Alex just wasn't Alex.  Going out every night and coming home looking like he had gone ten rounds with Ali had already been taking its toll on their relationship.  And in the last few days, hiding out and laying low in this stranger's home, she had been questioning whether or not she ever really loved him at all.  Or maybe she did, and her heart just wasn't letting her feel the pain of his loss yet... protecting her.  It would be just as well because right now, she knew they needed to focus on surviving.  She couldn't let mourning cloud her mind.

Chris' words brought her out of her dreadful thoughts.  She looked over at him slowly and blinked, taking a moment to actually process what he had said to her.  "Hmm?  Oh.   Right.  Atlanta...  Sounds good."  She gave him a small smile... not one of happiness or humor, but of appreciation.  Without this man she knew she wouldn't be breathing right now.  "My dad and my brothers... they'd be on their way.  They live about forty miles out of Atlanta.  I've been trying to reach them but I haven't been able to get a signal on my phone since that night..."  She dug into her pocket and pulled out her phone, pushed a couple of buttons and then sighed, tucking it into her pocket again.  "Doesn't matter anyway.  It's dead."

[chris anderson]

- Where Do We Go From Here? -
chloe madison

He nodded quietly as she told him about her father and brothers. "I'd say the best thing to do is head to Atlanta then... If they are there you will be able to meet up with them." He shakes his head a bit when she mentions the whole phone and checks it. "Yeah, those are going to be useless now... We're going back to the paper and pen times. We might even end up riding horses..... Well, I guess it actually depends on how Atlanta is."

Chris opened the driver door and slid off his seat to stand. He took a quick look around, making sure that the area is in fact safe for the moment. Without seeing the sign of anything living or... unliving he moved to the trunk and popped it open. He started going through his things and he notices her left his doctor bag and a first aid kit in his trunk, which he was thankful for. He noticed his small tool set and the blanket he thought he had, oh and look a bag of skittles. Awesome! He rubbed his forehead then moved his arm against the trunk and leans his forehead against his arm. He had another problem to think about.... Gas.

- Chris Anderson -

[chloe madison]

She watched out of the corner of her eye as Chris got out of the car, her gaze shifting to the rearview mirror, her eyes locked on him until he lifted the lid of the trunk and blocked himself from her view. She furrowed her brow a bit and waited, thinking about how she could contribute here because she wasn't satisfied with just being a damsel in distress. After a couple of minutes, she got out of the car and walked around to the back, where she found him looking pretty damn stressed.



"My family has a hunting cabin not too far from here. It'll be a little out of the way but it might be worth it to stop... get some weapons and supplies. I can show you where to go," she offered.
 She glanced into the open trunk and could see just from a glance that he was pretty well equipped.  She wished she had been afforded the opportunity to really pack but as it was, she was wearing one of the two changes of clothes she had managed to grab from her house.  That was another reason she was hoping he would agree to make a stop at the cabin.  She had a dresser full of clothes.  Not to mention there was probably some non-perishable food and of course, showers.  "It's kind of in the middle of nowhere so... maybe if we're lucky, it'll at least be a safe place for us to go for a night."


She laid a hand gently on his shoulder, trying to be encouraging for him, which wasn't much considering everything he had already done for her. "I... don't think I ever really took the time to thank you... for saving my life."

[chris anderson]

- Where Do We Go From Here? -
chloe madison

The sound of footsteps broke him out of his little moment and his head snapped up, eyes looking over to the direction they came from... Only to see Chloe appearing from around the corner of the car. Her suggestion causes his brow to furrow in thought. That wasn't a bad idea, problem was he wasn't sure if they had enough gas to get there. He was already getting dangerously low on E and gas was very hard to come by now. If he had to he would take gas from abandoned vehicles.. Which he didn't see any really around here and the road was actually pretty clear out of town.

"The only problem is gas... I don't know if we have enough to make it somewhere like that. I'm almost on E as it is.." He let out a small sigh, mostly in frustration. "Is there any gas there do you think? Vehicles? Gas cans? Atlanta is a good drive so we really need to be prepared to get there... And to get the hell outta there if things are bad."

When her hand touches his shoulder her swallows, dropping his arms to his sides and standing straight. He shook his head and looked at her. "Don't mention it." He gave her a small, faint smile. Real smiles were hard to come by these days. Nothing really to be happy about.

- Chris Anderson -

[chloe madison]

Chloe sighed a little, chewing worriedly on her bottom lip as she contemplated the gas situation.  "I don't know.  I mean it's possible that my Dad's old pickup could be parked there.  And we might come across an abandoned vehicle or two along the way.  Bottom line is that if we're that low on gas, we aren't going to make it to Atlanta anyway.  At least we'll have shelter at the cabin and maybe it'll be safer than the city... away from civilization."  She tried to sound hopeful but the look in her eyes was more desperate.  She took a moment to look around at their surroundings and then back to him.

"Either way, we should probably get going.  Moving targets are harder to catch, right?"  She gave him a light, thin smile and went and got back into the car.  She worried a little about wasting what little gas they had to take a detour to the cabin.. What if she was leading him into an even worse situation?  What if the truck wasn't there... and there was no source of gas.. no food or supplies?  What if this poor guy would have been better off if he had just left her where she was... if he had never saved her life?