Chapter 11 -- To Safety.
Anny's bare feet slapped heavily on the hot pavement as she ran; her legs jarring and her skin burning as it came into contact with the ground. She was running for her life. Walkers were all she could see; they were approaching her from all sides of the street. Where was she? There were so many of them... How did she get here? It didn't matter now, she had to escape.
Hungry screams filled her ears as they called for her flesh from all sides; mouths crying out with their harsh demands seeking to end her life. Fear filled her chest as her mind screamed at her legs to pick up the pace...
Someone was ahead of her calling her name, it was John's voice.
"ANNY! ANNY!!!"
One of the Walkers reached her arm and pulled her back violently. She screamed as she was pulled, desperately searching ahead of her in a panicked haze, but couldn't see him.
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"Anny!" John whispered her name again slightly louder, as he gently shook her awake.
Anny woke with a jolt and started desperately to take in her surroundings. John could tell on her face as she realised she must have been having a bad dream, still feeling the fear and panic from the nightmare.
"It's ok, it's ok." John cooed to her. "We're in the cave, we're safe."
Anny started calming down, her breathing returning to normal from its rapid pace; "Oh John, I was having a horrible dream. We were in a town, Walkers were all around me. You were somewhere ahead of me, calling to me; I wasn't going to get away in time..."
John pulled her close into his body, whispering; "It's ok my love. It's alright, you're safe, you're with me. We are going to be just fine."
Anny huddled into him; "It... it was so real..." she whimpered.
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Aside from Anny's nightmare, it had been an uneventful night. Mira had finished a three hour shift on watch, followed by Skye, and finally John. He was just finishing up his shift when Anny had started thrashing about restlessly in response to her dream. Anny had regained her senses and was clinging onto John; the other two women had already woken and were covering the cave passage.
Sitting watch had given John a lot of time to process the information Anny had given him last night; 'Anny's pregnant' had chanted in his head over and over again. They hadn't been using any protection since they met, as there was none around to use, and now he was going to be a father. She wasn't a hundred percent sure that she was pregnant, but she had told him that she was always on time with her period; which was now a week and a half late. This morning John felt a little in awe at the wonder of it all.
After the hours of thinking it through, while he sat watching the candlelight dance shadows across the cave walls, John's heart and mind were now filled with courage; courage and determination to find them a safe place where they could bring up their child. The fire had almost definitely destroyed their home and its protective border walls, but they would have to check if it was a lost cause and deal with that scenario if need be.
For breakfast, they all shared the food they found in the cave; there was no point going through their own supplies if they didn't have to. They ate as much as they wanted, and they needed a big meal for whatever the day would bring. No one spoke over breakfast; John kept Anny close to him as they ate, an arm draped over her leg for comfort. Skye, Anny and John were still recovering from the loss of Tom and Merry, and Mira was apparently the silent type. She was clearly a strong woman; having hunted down and killed the two men that had taken John captive. John was very glad to have her in the group especially now that Tom was gone.
Once they had completed their meals, they packed up their belongings. Their bodies were still sore from the hard trek yesterday, but John roused them all up and took the lead, followed by Anny, Skye, and finally Mira. A silent hour of walking later and they had made it to the mouth of the cave. The smell of smoke and charcoal hung thickly in the air. John left the women in the cave while he did a bit of scouting. He walked out and climbed up onto the closest tall boulder he could scale. The landscape came into view; every inch of the ground was burnt black, and all the trees had been assaulted by flames.
Slowly rising smoke emitted from the larger trees, as they were obviously still on fire deep in their hearts. John had never been this close to the aftermath of a bushfire. The Australian landscape needed fire to release certain seedlings from the flora, so he guessed eventually life would return to this wasteland. At the moment though, it seemed to be one more attempt from Mother Nature to try and rid herself of the infestation of man.
John scoped completely around him with his rifle. Nothing moved. He let out a whistle, letting the girls know it was ok to come out. When they came into view, he jumped down from his perch, and they continued their trek home.
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It took them the morning to make it back to the top of the hill above the homestead. They sighted down to the house below; all they could see left was burnt stumps and scorched sheet metal lying scattered in the yard
.
Parts of the fortress wall were burnt all the way to the ground; others still smoking as the more recently cut timbers were still green.
They headed down to the wreckage to give it a proper investigation. Nothing was salvageable. They pushed around a few timbers, lifted some of the roofing tin to check underneath; but there was nothing left to recover from their home.
"Where are we going to go?" Skye asked quietly, her face distraught.
