Caution Is Calling

"We've searched pretty much everywhere," Rian growled, the red marker in his hand losing its ink as he circled different locations on the map. "Unless they got on a boat and sailed away to Canada, I don't see how we missed them. Are either of them smart enough to hotwire a car?"

"They wouldn't need to do that if they made it to Lisa, or the Gaskarth's, or the Barakat's, or anyone else, for that matter."

"I really don't see Isobel and Peter being alive," Rian frowned, his memory slipping back to the night we invaded the Gaskarth's home. The place was, in fact, empty. But it was obvious someone had been there. The canned food had not yet spoiled, but it was left open on the kitchen table. The boards that they'd used to block the world from their home were broken, as was the glass to their windows. "They knew Alex would come back for them. There's no way they would have left unless they had to."

"But they weren't there - Alex must have gotten to them."

"Then what about the Barakat's?" This was a question that I didn't know how to answer. We'd found Jack's older sister murdered in her car. Well, maybe not murdered. There was a gun, there was a bullet in her head, but evidence doesn't show that anyone was around to pull the trigger but her. Her body had been there for a while, but not long enough for us to be unable to tell it was her.


The doors of her car were locked, making sure the monsters roaming the town had no chance of getting her body. We assumed, of course, that May had tried to make it home to her family only to find an empty house. She had no one left by this point, that much was obvious, and with no one to live for and nowhere to go, she ended things before they could end her. What we couldn't figure out is where everyone else was. Even if Jack had gotten to them, his family is too large to keep alive on top of the Gaskarth's. Alex and Jack would have had to go seperate ways - Unless Jack's other siblings had gotten to his family first.


"I have no idea where they are. The only logical thing I can think of is that, Alex's parents probably wanted to get to the rest of their family. But there aren't any planes, no boats, no nothing to get them to England."


"But that's not to say people aren't trying to sneak into Canada from New York, is it?"


"Canada isn't filled with idiots," I countered, rubbing the bridge of my nose, "no doubt they'd have guns ready to blast us away."


"Unless the infection has spread to them."


This was something I hadn't considered. Surely, American's had the common sense to know that if they were slick enough, they could get to Canada in one piece. With that being said, some of them were bound to be infected on the journey, and if they weren't, they were leading the infected to the other country. But the infected can't swim, can't steer a boat..


The whole world was a ball of confusion and I was entirely too close to giving up hope.


"We could search Baltimore again, though after six months I highly doubt that's where they are."


"If they didn't try to get to Canada, they would have attempted to get to California, knowing perfectly well that's where Zack and I would be."


"Not necessarily. Think about it, if you'd found Cass, would you really be worried about finding Jack and Alex again, or would you be fighting to save her?"


A moment of silence passed. Rian was trying to say he'd go looking for his friends, all of them, but he knew in his heart that wasn't true. He would have assumed they were dead, just like they probably assumed for us.


"I'd save Cass, no doubt."


"Right. And we've searched Lisa's old apartment, too."


"Lisa's dead. I just know it."


"Correct," I sighed, recalling the horror show that took place in the halls of her apartment. It took us nearly an hour to get through the roaming infected, and when we'd finally made it to her place, it was a disaster of a trashed home and a bloody mess. "Now, if Alex had seen that, which I'm sure he did, he would have flipped his shit."



"Which meant that Jack would have had to lose his own mind trying to save his best friend. But they got out of there, I know they did. Alex would have went straight to his parents before he completely gave up."



We were running in circles with our words. No matter how we tried to reason, we couldn't figure out where our lost friends would be. At least we had some idea of where they'd been, which is why we were fighting so hard to find them. When it came to Riot and Zack, six months with no sign of them, we were hopeless. Even Tori had started pouring herself into thought of where her sister might be. We all refused to believe that any of them were dead.



"We should go to West Virginia," Tori entered the room, her gun slung around her shoulder. It amazed me how much like Riot she was beginning to look, but also how strong and dangerous she'd become. That child-like life was still in her, but she'd become distant. Instead of waiting for her sister to tell her what to do next, she took reason and logic into her own hands. She refused to die, not without proof that her big sister was dead, too. "We learned about them in school, you know, coal and stuff. They have bomb shelters all over the place, plus, they know how to survive off of what they've got. And I don't need to tell you about the crime rate. Someone there has to be alive, I just know it."



"But it's no one that we're looking for," Rian closed up the map. He was still sensitive to Tori's age, doing his best to protect her from the lost hope. "We didn't even play shows there. The chances of them killing us are higher than them taking us in."



"Do you have a better plan? We're only a few hours out."



I looked to Rian, completely burnt out of ideas. I hadn't slept in a while and the last time I ate was at Tori's party.


"I'm not ready to settle," Rian confessed, "there's more out there. Something we're missing."


"Fine. If you think we'll find something on the road, then let's get moving."


Rian stared at Tori, his eyes blurred with feelings I didn't understand. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that the two of us were close to calling it quits, while the young spitfire in front of us refused to give in. She was definitely the last thing keeping us going.


"Remind me to teach you how to drive next chance we get."


"She's not even tall enough," I joked, avoiding Tori's gaze.


"If a midget can drive, so can she."


Tori flashed me a smile and went back to guarding the windows. Humor was good, like a cure for the pain, but as Rian made his way to the front of the bus to put us in motion again, I knew things were going to be different. Six months with no luck was wearing us down. If we didn't find something, and find it soon, Tori would be on her own. I couldn't allow that, but I couldn't keep killing myself, either.

Notes

Just a little insight to what Rian, Matt and Tori have been up to. Thank you guys so much for the comments and votes - Keep them coming, they make me happy! <3.