Anastasia was starting to worry if they would ever find a valid route. Every road they turned to was filled with the infected. It was soon to be dawn, which meant they needed to leave the Apocrabile to recharge soon.
If they couldn't find a way out of Georgia, then they had to at least find a place to hide out for a while. However, there was still a risk to staying in one place for too long. The Apocravirus wouldn't simply stop spreading. Instead, it would only become worse. Infections would increase and the particles would spread through the air. Time was not on their side.
"It's getting pretty uncomfortable in here..." murmured Nick.
"We need to take a break..." agreed Serenity.
"Breakfast too man! My stomach growling like a pack of wolves, yo!" stated Lamar.
Zane groaned, trying to fix himself in a comfortable position. Food was the last thing on his mind. The discomfort he felt was worse than anyone else's. He never thought he would envy the comfort Anastasia felt— sitting alone in the driver's seat.
"Stop shifting! You're making me uncomfortable!" complained Layla who was still sitting in his lap.
"Making you uncomfortable?? I can't feel my legs!"
"I'm not even that heavy!"
"Tell that to my dead feet! They lost all their blood supply over an hour ago!"
Layla gave a cute frown. She was comfortable in Zane's lap— as much as she didn't want to admit it. His complaining only meant her comfort wouldn't last much longer.
"Would you rather me go sit in Nick's lap then?" she teased.
"Knock yourself out! My legs are more important than where you want to sit, woman."
"Hey now! I love my legs too! Layla can stay right where she is!" quickly stated Nick.
"Not to mention Lamar said it's a lap for a life. The man meant what he said!" laughed Deandre.
Hating that Zane didn't even disagree with her, Layla spitefully shifted in his lap. A tingly feeling rocketed through Zane's entire lower body. Zane was almost sure someone was pricking him with a thousand needles. Layla even placed a majority of her weight back into his lap to increase the pain.
"Ohh— My precious children..." squealed Zane.
"Hmph! That's what you get!"
"I swear! If I had enough space, I would have launched you off me long ago!"
"I dare you! I would have an excuse to turn your children into soccer balls!"
"Aye! None of that! There shall be no mass murder up in this! Ya, hear me, man!" interrupted Lamar feeling uncomfortable.
"Guys! Calm down! We need to start looking for a place to camp out for the day. The Apocrabile is almost out of energy and needs to be parked soon. Keep your eyes peeled for a place we can stay." proclaimed Anastasia.
Everyone went silent. Their eyes scanned the outside area. They were situated on a lonely road. It stretched straight ahead— normally a road like this would promote speeding. On either side of the road, were entire fields of freshly cut grass. The grass was bathed in morning dew. It was pleasant scenery to the eyes.
The only issue was that there weren't many buildings present, in which they could camp out. The few buildings they could see were either badly damaged or severely vandalized.
"Wait! What's that?" suddenly exclaimed Serenity.
"Serenity! I said you should stop pointing stuff out! You're going to get us killed!" cried Deandre.
"It's not anything bad! Look!"
They followed the path of Serenity's eyes. Not too far in front of them, was a dirt road that turned off to the right. It seemed lonely and a slightly eerie-vibe radiated from it.
"Um— so are we going or..?" queried Anastasia.
"I mean, it's our only option for now... Let's at least check it out..." declared Layla.
No one objected. Anastasia slowly turned onto the dirt road. The creepy vibe they had felt before was certainly for a reason. On either side of the road, now laid metal fences. On the fences, around fifty dolls were nailed as if they were being crucified. Some had bits of blood present on them, while others were missing feet, arms, or eyeballs. It was surely something that had terrifying written all over it.
"Aye man! Let's not turn this into a horror movie! As soon as you see them signs, you make a run for it, yo!" exclaimed Lamar.
"It's fine. We're just checking things out for now." declared Layla.
Anastasia slowly continued to drive down the dirt road. The wheels of the Apocrabile crunched small pebbles underneath. The area was mostly silent apart from the constant hooting of owls and the chirping of crickets.
As they drove through the thick sheets of darkness, Serenity couldn't help but be curious about Lamar. Since they picked him up, not much was asked about him.
"Lamar," she called.
"Yo!"
"Where are you from?"
Lamar pointed at his yellow Jamaican jacket, "I'm fancy Jamaican, man! Don't ya see the jacket?"
Serenity's eyes began to glisten. She had always wanted to go to a Caribbean island.
"Wow! I've always wanted to go to a Caribbean island!" Her face then slightly dimmed as she remembered her parents, "Well, I guess it's not possible now, is it? My parents had planned for us to go there next summer... Too bad they're no longer here..."
Lamar felt a sudden sympathy for Serenity. The world around them was destroyed and many lives had been lost. She was only just starting to grow into her teens and all this disaster ruined it.
"I know the feeling... I have a family I lost too... Some are dead and others are missing. But it's just how things are, ya know, man?"
Serenity didn't know why, but she felt a slight comfort when speaking to Lamar. Something about his presence just screamed 'Everything's gonna be okay'. Maybe it was his jovial personality or the way he spoke. Either way, she didn't care. She was just glad she was making a new friend.
"Yeah... I think I get you," she smiled.
"Just you wait, man! I promise you that once this is all over, I'll give you a personal tour of the Caribbean!"
Serenity knew better than to hold her hopes too high. Things might not ever be able to come through that way. But she was at least glad someone still had enough hope to make such a promise.
Suddenly, interrupting the two from their conversation, the Apocrabile came to a sudden stop. The engine went dead and the power seemed to shut off.
"Well, crap." cursed Anastasia.
"What is it?" asked Layla looking around.
"We're outta energy. The Apocrabile needs to recharge."
"Don't you have some kind of backup supply or something?"
"Yes... But I would rather not use it, just in case we need it for later."
Nick wiped his eyes around them. Apart from the creepy dolls that lined the fence, everything else seemed perfectly normal. They could probably continue down the path carefully without detection.
"Let's get out here. I don't know about anyone else, but it's painful sitting in here. Especially for Zane..." declared Nick.
"Nah! I'm no longer in pain. I feel legit nothing in my feet. Not even capping."
Layla quickly got herself up and flung the door open. What Zane said had actually concerned her.
Everyone else followed her lead. However, Nick was the one with the rifle, as Layla had to help Zane walk. Zane's feet trembled under his weight. A sensation that felt like there were hundreds of nails being driven into his feet, crippled them.
"You okay?" asked Layla feeling a bit guilty.
"Well, my right arm is useless and my feet are struggling to keep me walking... But apart from that, I'd say I'm fine."
"Sorry, I didn't expect your legs to be this bad..."
"Meh— Compared to all the physical pain I've felt before, this is nothing. Just the fracture that's tingling a bit."
As usual, Layla couldn't help but smile. She completely adored Zane. The only thing that bothered her was if he felt the same way she did. She had teased him countless times and shown many signs, but Zane didn't show any major signs of interest. If anything, he just did them because he was caught in the moment.
Layla took a deep breath. She felt the need to at least ask the question in a teasing way. But before she could ask, Lamar interrupted them.
"Yo, man! I ain't going into that house!"
They looked forward to see a two-story-sized house. It was made mostly of wood and all the windows were darkened. It was surrounded by a spiky, black metal fence. It was the definition of ghostly.
"Is this where we're going to camp out..?" asked Deandre trembling.
"Maybe..." muttered Anastasia.
"Maybe?? Come on, man! We walking straight into a horror movie here! We're smarter than this, man!" complained Lamar.
"It's fine. We have a gun. We just need to be careful." declared Nick.
Everyone agreed apart from Lamar. Slowly, they paced themselves towards the creepy house. Lamar had a dumbfounded look on his face. He couldn't believe they were just marching towards the house.
"What kind of group did I end up with, man! Finna get rasta killed, man!"