Seventy Four |

We rested in the town house for the night before rising with the sun and eating breakfast. Breakfast consisted of adding two cans of peaches to a large bowl long with one can of mixed fruit and a can of baby carrots. The taste was certainly odd but it was all we could find. After eating our fill and drinking the odd tasting concoction we were good to go.

That's where our problems lie.

The hospital was almost five streets up, which normally wouldn't be a problem. Unfortunately, considering the amount of infected...this would be a huge problem. Not to mention both Jax and Sebastian think I'm too unwell to move.

After a large amount of arguing, we finally agreed to climb back onto the roof and decide a plan from there. At least then we could see our possible route. With our backs to the rest of the roof, we looked far into the distance. It sat there mocking us, looming over the street.

"We could fight our way through," I muttered.

Jax rolled his eyes, "That's stupid. One bite and we're fucked."

"What about a distraction," Lisa piped up, "Draw them away from the path then run."

I shook my head, "We can't distract six streets."

"Then you come up with an idea," Jax snapped.

Beside me, Sebastian suddenly paused, then turned around. I paid no attention to it until he was elbowing my side. It was then we all grew quiet, and behind us was the clear sound of a gun cocking. My eyes widened as I spun. My heart hammering in my chest as I looked across the roof to where a young boy stood. A Glock in his shaking hands, tears dripping down his face.

"Hey, hey," Jax said slowly to him, "easy. Who are you? What do you want?"

The boy sniffled, "P-Put your hands up!"

We all obeyed except Sebastian, "Not happening kiddo. You gonna shoot me then make sure you don't miss. Cause if I catch you first, my foot's going up your ass."

His eyes widened in shock, "S-Shut up!"

Meanwhile, my eyes rolled, "Sebastian shut up before you get us all killed."

"Relax love," he snorted, taking a step towards the kid, "He's not going to shoot us."

The poor kid shook the gun, "S-Stop! Don't come any closer!"

The gun went off, into the air and Sebastian froze. I muttered under my breath; he was such an idiot. After letting my eyes linger on Sebastian for one more moment, I then turned to the boy. He was scrawny and short. His clothing dirty and his dark locks greasy. However, that wasn't all I noticed. I noticed the exhaustion and desperation behind his eyes.

He was scared.

But not for himself.

"We won't hurt you," Jax said softly, slowly lowering his hands, "We can help you."

I nodded, "My name is Mira. This is Sebastian, Jax and Lisa. We come from a town near here, with food, water, protection and other kids. You're safe in our care."

He didn't lower his gun, "Why are you here then?"

"We were sent for supplies," Jax told him honestly, "But we can take you back with us."

This seemed to anger the young boy, "No! I'm not going with you!"

My eyes drifted to Lisa who seemed to be staring at me. She tilted her head as if to send me a secret message. Once that I couldn't seem to understand. I frowned slightly, staring back at the boy when I noticed it. Peaking out of his pocket was a small, pink toy unicorn.

It made me realize he wasn't alone.

"Why are you here?" I asked him, "Where did you come from?"

This seemed to stutter him, "W-What? I-I uh I came from near here."

I glanced at the town house attached to the one we had slept in, "Is your sister in that house?"

Just like that he paused, his bottom lip trembling before the gun slipped from his hand. He began to cry, fat tears falling from his face as he sobbed into his arm. I sighed softly realizing he wouldn't be hostile towards us any longer. He was just trying to be the best brother he could.

"Hell," Sebastian sighed, "Kid you should have started with that."

Jax stepped forward, crouching to his level, "It'll be ok."

As he consulted the kid, I moved over to Lisa curiously, "How did you know?"

She shrugged, "A sibling bond is like nothing else. Just like what Junior and I had, it made us stronger, it made us inseparable. Broke my heart when I realized it couldn't save him."

I grabbed her hand and squeezed it tightly. I didn't know what to say, the pain in her voice echoed. All I could do was remind her that I was here. For when the pain got too much, I'd help her carry it. A solemn moment went by until it was broken by Jax.

We moved to the townhouse we thought to be unoccupied before slowly and carefully dripping down to the lower windowsill. From there, we entered the second-floor bedroom, where on the bed was a smaller child. I paused near the bed, she looked awful. Her skin was so pale, with a greenish hue and she was soaked with sweat.

Jax moved forward without hesitation to check her out. As he did, I looked over to see the boy standing, his fingers gripping the gun as Jax moved. It was understandable, he didn't trust us and certainly not with his sick sister.

"What's your name?" Lisa asked him, trying to distract him I was sure.

He glanced at her with pretty brown eyes, "I-I'm Alexander, that's Summer."

Sebastian sighed, sitting against the window, "And how'd all this happen?"

"Um," Alexander sniffled, "Well, we were with mom but one day she left. S-So we stayed on the top of our building. Then a nice man saw us and we went back inside the building. We lived in the building again and he'd take care of us. He'd bring us food and water b-but then the building was on fire so he moved us here. He was helping us but then Summer got sick. So he said he'd go to the hospital. B-But he hasn't been back. It's been so long, I-I thought you were him but you weren't."

I glanced at Sebastian knowingly.

"Look kid," Sebastian whispered softly, "Whoever it was, I don't think he's going to be coming back. It's best if you come with us, we can take you to a town with others."

Alex shook his head, "No! We're waiting for him. He's our friend!"

Jax cleared his throat, "Mira can I speak with you in the hall?"

I nodded, "Seb come with me. Lisa do you mind staying here?"

"Not at all."

So, Jax and Seb followed me out of the room and into the hall. In the hall I could see down to the first floor where the windows had also been boarded up. However, on the stairs was a clearly infected body. I wondered if the mysterious man had cleared this house first before bringing them here. So many questions arose.

Unfortunately, we didn't have the time for answers.

"How was the girl?" Sebastian asked.

He sighed, "Not looking good. I don't know what could be wrong with her but whatever it is she needs proper treatment."

My teeth dug into my lip, "She needs medicine. From the hospital."

Jax nodded, "But we can't just leave them here."

"No we can't," I agreed, "Someone needs to stay with them. Someone capable of doing so and someone who's life isn't so expendable. Someone who belongs to the Town of Roses."

Jax eyes widened, "You want me to stay here?"

I shrugged, "Out of all of us, you need to make it back to the town. Now more than ever."

"No," he argued, "Not happening."

Sebastian snorted, "Too late mate, you've been ditched. Stay with the kids. We'll be back with the list. It'll be better anyways if you stay here. Less people I want to kill."

My eyes rolled, "It's been decided then."

Jax sighed, "Fuck Mira. This isn't what I agreed to."

"Whatever, it doesn't matter if we can't even get there," I replied.

As if on cue the door opened and Lisa stepped out into the hall, "You won't believe what Alex just told me. I think I've figured out our route to the hospital."

My jaw dropped and very quickly we headed back into the room. There, Alex had moved to sit on the bed beside his sister. I paused, my heart melting as he brushed back her hair gently, telling her all would be ok. It made me even more determined to succeed.

"Alex," Jax said softly, "Lisa said you know how the man get to the hospital?"

He looked up with misty brown eyes, "Y-Yes! I can show you, and you can find him?"

Before Jax could break the news that finding a mysterious man wasn't on our list, I stepped forward, my hand on his chest as I nodded with a warm smile. I promised the boy we would try our best because that's all we could do.

For him, it was enough and hope flared in his eyes.

"So it's decided you'll stay here Jax?" I asked.

Lisa cleared her throat, "A-Actually I was thinking I could?"

I was surprised by her announcement.

She bit her lip nervously, "I want to make sure they're safe and I have a bit of medical training with Junior. And if they need food or whatever, I can scavenge around. Jax would be better going with you guys, and being the only person with a gun I should stay."

I knew there was another reason she wanted to stay. I knew she wanted to try and protect the bond the two had, and if Summer died before we got back I also knew she'd blame herself. However, I also knew Lisa had a lot of hurt left over from her brother and her past. If this was something she felt strongly about then who was I to disagree?

"Alright," I smiled, stepping forward to hug her, "Good luck. We'll be back as soon as possible. If you need to leave the house please be careful."

She nodded, "I will. See you soon."

Then it was finally time to go. We followed Alex as he moved down the stairs. Standing in the living room, I was astonished to see the amount of canned food and bottled water was sitting on the counter. Whoever this mysterious stranger was, he wanted the kids to survive and wanted them to survive if he failed.

"This way," he said pointing down to the dark basement, "I-I'm scared of the dark."

I smiled slightly, "I'll go first."

Slowly, using the wall as my railing and gently placing one foot on the stone steps, I made my way down. It was cold in the basement but it was also deadly quite. Which meant it was zombie free, this gave me some comfort. It didn't give Jax any however.

"Alex," he asked, "How did your friend see down here?"

Alex's fingers dug into the back of my shirt, "There's a light down here. But you have to be careful for the hole."

The hole?

"Right," I muttered.

Breathing slowly, the moment my feet reached the solid ground, I stopped completely. Alex's fingers dug deeper into my shirt. He pulled gently which made me tense. Obviously the hole was closer than I thought and whatever the fuck it was I didn't want to fall down it.

"The lights beside it," Alex chirped as if that helped.

"Right," I repeated, "Uh, ok. Alex do you want to hold onto the wall and I'll try to find the light? I don't want you falling with me if I do fall."

He hesitated.

"I got 'im," Sebastian said from behind me.

His fingers skimmed my back as he gently grabbed onto Alex. I thanked him before slowly crouching down to the floor's level. The floor was hard cement, rough under my hands as I slowly crept forward. It occurred to me that maybe Alex was playing a joke on us and that there was no mysterious hole that could somehow get us all the way to the hospital. Just as I gave up and began to push myself back up, my fingers hit something metal and wet. I slid forward, almost falling into a deep abyss. A short scream tore from my lips as I threw myself backward.

"Mira!?" "Love?"

Breathing hard I waved them off before realizing they couldn't see me, "I-I'm fine."

After finding the edge, I moved along the long, circular border before my hands found what felt like a lamp. My wet fingers fumbled to turn it on but when it did, a dim, orange light was casted across the basement. I blinked, squinting to adjust but when I did I looked around.

The basement was almost empty, with construction stuff pushed to one stone wall. In the middle of the room was in fact a large, deep hole. Inside against one wall was a ladder and it seemed there was a door of metal bars on top. Now however, it was pulled wide open. I was sure Alex's friend had done this, sure the boy would never venture into the basement with his fear of the dark. No doubt he was sure he'd be back soon and the door would be too heavy to reopen from underneath.

"Alright," I said brightly, "This could work."

"What is it?" Jax asked and I remembered he had lived in the town forever.

Sebastian hummed, "Looks like an old escape path that was probably changed into a tornado bunker. If a tornado hit, they could use the sewage path to go somewhere else without getting hurt."

Jax frowned, "Sounds disgusting."

I snickered, "So does peeling zombies off a fence."

"Touché."

Sebastian turned to Alex, "Alright kid, you head back upstairs to Lisa ok? No more basement adventures. And tell Lisa to lock that basement door. We'll be back soon."

Alex looked up at him with hope, "And Summer will be saved?"

"And Summer will be fine. Don't worry kid," he chuckled ruffling his head.

Alex sent him a toothy grin, "Ok!"

Then he was running back upstairs, shutting the door behind us.

Jax frowned, "How did he go from threatening the boy to having him idolize him?"

"That's Sebastian for you," I giggled.

The other two walked down the stairs to stand beside me. While Sebastian peered down the hole, Jax moved to the construction stuff with intent. Confusion filled me before Sebastian was elbowing my side. I turned to him.

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

I nodded, "Good. Like I never hit your head."

Those crimson eyes rolled, "Thank your healing abilities for that."

"We should turn off the lamp, so it doesn't burn out," Jax said returning.

"Go down the hole blind?" I gasped.

He shook his head, "Lucky for us, whoever's construction stuff this was had a large number of flashlights. Enough for two each, who knows how long one with last."

I smiled at him, "Thank you."

He handed us the lights and I shoved one into my pocket before turning the second on. As I did, the two men followed suit and the lamp was turned off. Before I could offer to go first, Sebastian however, jump down the fucking hole like an idiot.

"Seb!" I shirked.

I could hear him both land then groan in pain and I was fast to climb down the ladder after him. At the bottom, he was standing and rubbing his knees muttering that the distance was longer than he thought. My eyes rolled as I patted him on the back as I realized he was fine.

While we waited for Jax to climb down, I looked around the large sewage pipe. My eyes widened as I looked at the clear water and metal paths on either side of the water. I had never seen a sewage system however I always thought they'd be much grosser than this.

"I'm guessing years of being untouched with rain washing the water has actually made the sewage system clean," Sebastian whistled, "with this, the sewage systems could actually be a great place to live. Free of zombies."

"Until it storms," Jax replied, "Then the place would get flooded."

Sebastian shrugged, "Not all of it."

While they argued yet again, I scanned my light across the tunnel when a small sign and an arrow for direction caught my eye. It was a bright green cross on the wall with an arrow. Instantly I knew how easy this would be and I laughed loudly.

"You ok?" Jax asked with a frown.

I giggled, "No. Look. We just have to find the signs. It's so easy!"

"Until the hospital," Jax replied.

I stuck my tongue out, "Don't ruin my mood. Come on! Let's get moving."

I was almost skipping with joy. It seemed our luck had turned around.      

Author's note:

I apologize for the long wait BUT this is a longer update than usual as I'm working to tie up some previous details. Please remember to comment, vote and like so I know you guys are enjoying the content! Also, look forward to some throwbacks from previous seasons ;) 

AND QUESTION: would you guys like a contest soon? I was thinking a fun trivia with questions from each season and whoever gets all the questions right will get a shout out! Your thoughts on this?

Thank you so much for your constant love and support <3