We drove deeper into the woods, the city slowly disappearing behind us, the flickering lights of the burning buildings fading into the distance. The trees around us grew thicker, their branches closing in on either side of the road like skeletal fingers. The road was rough, uneven, and every bump made the car rattle, but I kept driving. It felt like the only thing I could control in a world that had gone to hell.
The further we went, the quieter it got. The chaos of the city was behind us, but now we were heading into a different kind of danger. The darkness of the forest loomed ahead, silent and foreboding, but at least there weren't any zombies chasing us. For now.
Ethan leaned forward, staring out the windshield. "Where the hell are we going, man?"
"I don't know," I admitted, gripping the steering wheel tightly. "I just needed to get us away from all that shit back there. I figured the woods might be safer."
Yabe was sitting in the backseat, hugging her backpack to her chest. She hadn't said much since we'd escaped the campus, her face still pale and tense. "Senpai… how long do we stay out here?"
I glanced at her in the rearview mirror, trying to hide the uncertainty in my voice. "I don't know, Kohai. We need to figure something out."
We drove in silence for a while longer until I finally spotted a small clearing off the side of the road. It wasn't much, but it would give us some space to regroup and figure out our next move. I pulled the car to a stop and killed the engine. The quiet that followed was unsettling.
Ethan sighed, rubbing his face with his hands. "Alright, what's the plan now? We can't just keep driving aimlessly. We're low on gas, and we don't have enough supplies to last long."
He was right. The chaotic escape from the campus had cost us a lot. We'd lost most of our food and water in the panic, and the little we had left wasn't going to be enough to keep us going for long.
"We need to eat something," Yabe said quietly, opening her pack and pulling out a small amount of food. It wasn't much—just a couple of granola bars and a half-empty bottle of water. She laid it out in front of us, her face grim. "This is all I have."
I looked down at the food, my stomach twisting with worry. It wasn't enough. Not for the three of us.
"Fk," Ethan muttered, staring at the meager pile of supplies. "That's not gonna last us more than a day. What the hell are we supposed to do?"
I ran a hand through my hair, trying to think. We were in the middle of the woods with no real plan, no outdoor survival skills, and barely any food. It wasn't looking good.
"We're screwed," Ethan continued, his frustration boiling over. "None of us know how to hunt or start a fire or any of that wilderness shit. We're not survivalists. We're just… students."
Yabe looked up at me, her eyes full of uncertainty. "Senpai… what are we going to do?"
I didn't have an answer, not one I was happy with, anyway. But we couldn't stay out here without food. We'd have to make a choice, and fast.
"We'll have to scavenge," I said finally, my voice steady but grim. "We need to find food. If we can't survive in the woods, we're going to have to go back into town and search the stores for supplies."
Ethan let out a bitter laugh. "Scavenge? Are you kidding? The stores are probably already picked clean, or worse, crawling with people trying to kill each other for a can of beans."
"Do you have a better idea?" I snapped, my frustration bubbling up. "We don't have a choice, Ethan. We either find food, or we starve out here. If we don't want to die in these woods, we have to go back into town and take the risk."
Yabe swallowed hard, her eyes darting between me and Ethan. "It's dangerous, but… we can't stay here with nothing. I'll go with you, Senpai. We'll find something."
I looked at her, my heart sinking at the thought of taking her back into the chaos of the city. But she was right. We couldn't stay here and hope for a miracle. We had to do something.
"I'll go, too," Ethan said after a long pause, his voice reluctant. "But we have to be smart about it. We can't just walk into town like idiots and get ourselves killed."
"We'll be careful," I said, though I wasn't sure how careful we could really be. "We'll stick together, move fast, and only take what we need. We're not looking for a fight."
Yabe nodded, clutching her backpack tightly. "We'll be okay, Senpai. We'll figure it out."
I wished I could believe her. But the truth was, I was scared. Scared of what was waiting for us in the city, scared that we wouldn't find anything, scared that we were in way over our heads.
But we didn't have time to be scared. We had to move.
"We'll go in the morning," I said, glancing up at the dark sky. "It's too dangerous to go back at night. We'll rest here for a few hours, and then we'll head into town at first light."
Ethan sighed, leaning back against the car. "Alright, morning it is. Let's just hope we're not walking into a shitstorm."
Yabe looked up at me, her eyes filled with quiet determination. "We'll be okay, Senpai. We've made it this far."
I forced a smile, though I didn't feel it. "Yeah, Kohai. We'll be okay."
We settled down for the night, trying to get some rest in the car. The woods around us were silent, but the weight of what was ahead kept me awake. I couldn't stop thinking about the danger, about the looters and zombies and everything else that could go wrong.
But in the morning, we'd have to face it. Whether we were ready or not.
Q: What would be your next move?