Trying to Survive (Part 2) by C.J. Crowley Read Free Book Online

going to Washington?.. We all know nothing’s there.”
       For a moment, I forgot that my leg was injured. I was leaned up against the wall and putting all of my weight on the other side of my body. When I went to move closer to them, I swung my leg forward like nothing was wrong and gave it all my weight – causing me to groan in pain and almost fall.
       Walt lunged out of his seat and I put my hand up. “I’m good.”
       Walt ignored my pride-driven demand and took my arm. “Take my spot. You need your feet up a lot more than I do… Sorry, I didn’t even think about it.”
       Jessie’s eyes slowly followed us as Walt guided me over to the couch and helped me fall back onto it. I couldn’t tell whether his bleak and questioning expression meant that he felt bad for me, or that he regretted ever picking us up… I wouldn’t blame him…
       He most likely felt the same fear that’s been chewing at the back of my brain since they found us – What if my weakened state gets one of them killed?.. I can already tell they’d be willing to risk their lives for us…
       Once I was done adjusting myself to a comfortable position, he said “We need to check it out because it’s the best place to look for a safe-zone… And yes, we all know it’s probably a waste of our time.”
       Brian brought his right foot up, rested it on his knee and sunk back into the chair. “And we need to find more survivors. It’s a good distance to D.C., so it’ll give us the opportunity to search a lot of different places along the way.”
       “That’s still an unnecessarily long and dangerous journey to make – especially since the main highways are fucked... If we look hard enough, I know we’ll end up finding more than a few people in this area alone.”
      Jessie said “Don’t be so sure about that. We’ve driven across half the state and only run into two other people besides you guys.”
       Brian scoffed “Yeah, and they tried to kill us.”
       Walt pulled over a chair from the dining room table, sat down and leaned forward – showcasing his desire for Brian to continue the story. “What happened?”
       Jessie and Brian’s expressions softened and their eyes glazed over. Brian wiped the sweat from his forehead and stared at the arrangement of fake flowers on the coffee table. Within his first few words, I could sense the tragedy enveloping his drastically altered tone.
       “There were three others with us when we finally escaped the base. Xander, Clark and Rhona… We stopped at an empty Mobil station in Daytona to gather supplies... The second we all stepped out of the van, Clark took a bullet to the stomach. Rhona was dead before she hit the ground.”
       I knew something had happened to them… but that? What the hell is wrong with people?
       Jessie cut in. “The shots were silenced, so we had no idea where they were coming from.”
       When Jenny left the front bay and started to head for the stairs leading to the second floor, Jessie said “Everything alright, Jenny?”
       She came to a stop near the island in the kitchen, and without turning around, she said “I’m going to check on Melanie and the kids. I was there. I don’t need to hear the story too.”
       Brian waited for her to disappear around the corner and quietly remarked “Jenny and Clark were… They were planning on getting married.”
       “All we could do was drag Jenny into the store and hide – listen to Clark suffering as he bled to death… They had us perfectly pinned down. I let my head show in the window for a split second and a bullet came through and missed it by an inch… We couldn’t do a fuckin thing.”
       Jessie got up from the couch and walked over to the French doors that led into back yard. He drew the blinds so he could look outside as he said “After about five minutes, a drone landed by the front door.”
       Walt was clearly stunned. “A drone?” He said with a