New Tomorrow/Part 4

This is Part 4 of New Tomorrow, entitled Parked Cars.

Click here for the previous part.

Part 4 - Parked Cars
The plan was straight-forward. The soldier, Jen, goes around the back of the building. Up front, Liam and Alice have to get the biters’ attention, so that Jen has enough room to slip right through.

The building wasn’t too big to begin with; it had two floors at most. Liam was expecting this to be quick. He wasn’t expecting a lot of biters coming out.

He can hear all of the sounds the biters were making inside. Even Alice, who stood near the entrance, didn’t want to stand close to it. He stood there, machete drawn out in hand, waiting for the go-ahead on Alice’s part; she had to count to fifteen seconds before opening the door, as per Jen's request. He looks over his shoulder behind him to see Elaine, standing from the distance, the old couple behind her. The people they had to protect.

“… three, two…” Alice’s counting grows louder, and it catches Liam’s attention. She looks at him, and walks up to the entrance carefully. In one swift motion, Alice swings the sledgehammer at the entrance door, and shatters its glass covering. She steps closer to the door and reaches for something inside the opening where the glass once stood.

Liam’s guard shoots up as the sounds of biters become louder. Alice continues to fidget her hand on the other side of the door, accompanying it with repetitive cursing. She peeks her head a few times at the direction of where the biters will be coming from.

“You need help?” Liam asks, loudly from his distance, growing more concerned of Alice’s struggle. She answers it by pushing the door open and scurrying toward Liam’s direction.

Alice stops beside Liam, both hands holding the sledgehammer tight. Liam’s eyes were focused at the dark-enveloped inside of the entrance.

One biter shuffles out, slowly, and it is soon pushed down as more and more come out. Their amount upon exit seemed so overwhelming, but Liam stood his ground. Alice, on the other hand, was taking a few steps back.

“There’s too many!” she says, but Liam ignores it. He jogs up to the first biter he sees and swings his machete onto its forehead. He takes one step back to create some room, and he swipes two other biters in quick succession. He takes even more steps back once more of them replace the ones he had just taken down. He looks left and right, surveying which one to swing at next, when Alice appears beside him, swinging downward at an on-coming biter.

They both jog back, putting all of the biters in front of them. Their sheer amount was stopping Liam from doing a quick head count, since taking them down was much more important. Liam takes a quick look at Alice, noticing her panicked distraction, and steps into the fray.

With little effort, Liam takes down two more. His role was clear; keep the biters company while Jen performs her rescue mission on the other side. He was far too focused to notice Alice occasionally stepping in and taking down one biter at a time with a fierce swing.

Liam wasn’t even counting, but he’s already formed a small pile below his feet. He can sense the biters thinning down, calming his alarmed state. He was doing a number on these things.

His short-lived confidence soon makes way to exhaustion. Liam suddenly feels his chest flaring, his forearm aching from all the swinging. The biters that were left somehow grow in numbers, at least in Liam’s eyes. He looks to his right and sees Alice, just about in the same position she was last time, blood in the lower half of her shirt. They were both wondering where Jen was.

Liam retreats a few steps back, edging closer to where Elaine and the old couple stood. It looks like their jobs were going to change from distraction to defense.

“You guys okay?” Liam asks, briefly glancing at them. Elaine could already see the spilled blood mixing in with the sweat from Liam’s forehead. They, too, take a few steps back.

Liam swings at yet another biter when he finally sees a different form of movement emerging from the entrance. Jen appears, her gun holstered, combat knife at the ready. She keeps looking behind her and soon sprints at the nearest biter, stabbing it at its head and pushing it aside. “Go! I’ll cover!” she shouts, looking at the nothingness behind her while she motioned at her front.

A woman with blonde hair soon runs past Jen. A little boy with similar hair color follows her, holding her hand. Liam takes down yet another biter and waves at them to head toward his direction. The woman, distressed, briefly hesitates and runs past Liam. Alice steps up just in the nick of time and bashes a nearby biter down to pave a safe exit.

“We gotta go!” Jen exclaims, as she soon follows the mother and son’s lead, running toward Liam and motioning for them to leave. It surely wasn’t safe there anymore, now that they’ve released more biters than they expected. Liam’s suspicions of biter reinforcements were confirmed when more of them burst out of the entrance. //////////////// They didn’t have time to rest, since Jen urged everyone to keep moving. They all leave that biter-ridden block for good, taking a bit of time to find an empty one. They decide to stop after jogging past three more blocks.

Everyone took a while to catch their breath. Eventually, the old man was the first to speak. “Jesus Christ Lisa—are you okay?” he said, showing his utmost concern at the blonde woman. “You had us worried there all morning!”

“Y-yeah… I’m—I’m okay,” the woman named Lisa replies. It was clear in the old man’s concern that she was his daughter.

“Jen--thank you,” the old man says, and he approaches Jen but hesitates. “You, Alice, and you…” The old man looks around for his daughter’s saviors and finds Liam. He walks toward him quickly grabs his right hand, giving it a firm shake. “We just met you and y-you helped saved my daughter. My grandson. I’m Hank…” He smiles, half-astonished, half-relieved, and he turns around to look for his grandson.

“Don’t ever run off like that again…” he says, crouching down to the boy’s level and embracing him. “You’ll give me a heart attack…”

Being properly thanked. One of Liam’s favorite things. That, and helping someone in need. It wasn’t only Hank; Lisa, and Hank’s wife soon follow in thanking him. He sees Elaine watching the sweet reunion unfold. She notices him, and she smiles. Liam reciprocates it.

“Hey you, Liam,” Jen calls, and she approaches him. “Really selfless thing you did there.” She tries to maintain a serious expression, but she couldn’t help but look relieved. “Thanks.”

Liam responds by smiling, and shaking his head. If he gets thanked for it, it's no problem. //////////////// They eventually had to keep moving, as Jen kept expressing. Liam and Elaine get a brief rundown of their plans; Jen and Alice were looking for a working car to use. If it's a particular car he doesn't know.

Jen and Alice tear away from the rest, discussing something that seemed urgent. They walked at a different spot, while Liam and Elaine were left with the family. This went on for a few other blocks, until the other two spotted some vehicles.

The family had started introducing themselves to Liam and Elaine during that walk. The couple, Hank and Sally, were just as clueless as they were about this pandemic. Before it, they were just living their lives in the lap of retirement.

Once the pandemic hit, they figured that the first thing to do was find their daughter, Lisa, and their grandson, Matt. Lisa was a single mom, and Matt was an ordinary kid. Hank mentioned that Lisa didn’t deserve to be alone, yet he tried to shrug the topic off. It wasn’t the thing they shouldn’t be focusing on.

The family ended up in a temporary refugee camp held by the military. Unable to maintain it, they were eventually forced to evacuate, with the remaining military accompanying them. Their constant moving forced them to scatter one day, and because of that, they ended up running into Jen and Alice. Hank, with only one option left, chooses their protection.

“We wouldn’t have made it far if it wasn’t for Jen…” Sally expressed, as they stop in the middle of the street. “We probably wouldn’t have made it far if they weren’t around.”

Though they were visibly exhausted and dirtied by the apocalypse, Liam could still tell that they haven’t seen the worst. They, Hank and Sally especially, haven’t lost their innocent glow. Liam knows him and Elaine pale in comparison in their appearances alone.

“What about you guys?” Hank says. “How’d you survive this long? Surely it’s not just you two…”

Liam and Elaine look at each other. “We… we just do,” Liam replies. “I do what I can to… keep her safe.” Elaine watched him as he did the talking for the both of them. “We go from—from place to place.” He couldn’t dwell on what happened before that. They’ve already left it behind when they left the day care.

“I see. It only takes a man and his weapon…” Hank stroked his chin while he looked at Liam’s machete. “And the man has to be skilled with it.”

Liam couldn’t tell if it was a compliment, but it did bring his attention back to his machete. He just picked it up one day after finding it during a run in a cutlery. He's been hacking biters with it ever since.

He looks at his weapon, and sees how much they’ve been through together. Hank’s attention shifts to something else.

“Wonder how they’re faring,” Hank says. They see Alice and Jen looking over a dull-colored four-seater, intent on opening it. //////////////// Their efforts to revive the car took longer than expected. Jen and Alice have passed the task off to Hank, who was surveying the engine. Sally sat in the driver seat, offering what help she can.

Liam would occasionally watch as he stood side by side with Elaine, half paying attention to their conversation with Lisa, half interested at what Alice and Jen were discussing. Jen was apparently pointing at the blood stains on Alice’s stomach, with a roll of bandage in her hand. Behind him, he could hear Lisa talking about her fear of enrolling Matt to public schools.

Liam could only deduce that Alice bore an injury of some sort. Possibly a scar she sustained even before their earlier bout with the biters. The conversation ends when Alice receives the bandages from Jen. She looks at something to her right and proceeds to walk toward it. Liam looks away, his attention shifting to Hank, then to the current conversation at hand.

Liam was about to piece together Lisa’s words when someone taps his shoulder. Lisa looks past Liam, behind him, and it prompts him to turn around and see. It was Jen. “Liam,” she says. “Gotta talk to you for a second.” Liam looks at Elaine briefly for her approval. She looked more like she was still caught up with Lisa’s conversation, so he takes it as a yes. Liam nods, and he follows Jen toward the spot from where she and Alice were earlier.

“So…” Jen starts, almost immediately. “Where were you and Elaine headed earlier? Before Alice found you.”

Liam couldn’t exactly sense what was about to unfold, but Jen’s growing seriousness told him it was something urgent. “Uh…” He hadn’t exactly put any thought into it. Their objective, their goals… as far as he can tell, it was just to move from place to place. “We… don’t really know. Wherever the biters can’t reach us.”

“I see.” Jen has made her seriousness more evident by folding her arms, and intently listening. But Liam’s simple, short response was perhaps too brief for her expectations. “That’s all? You guys intend to stay here…?”

Then it hit Liam. “Yeah, but… only for a few days.” He’s discussed leaving this city with Elaine before, but the idea of leaving by foot kept putting that plan on hold. “N-no… actually we might just stay here.”

Jen withholds a response, only nodding in silence. Her deep-thought look was telling Liam something else.

“You guys can’t stay here,” she replies. Her blunt response suddenly blooms doubt in Liam, and he translates this with the look in his eyes. “There’s a lot of military patrolling around here—honestly they’re just adding to the ranks of the walkers—but still… it’s going to become too dangerous here at some point…”

Liam didn’t know what to say. They’ve only ran into a few patrols in those few weeks. There were more biters than soldiers… He thinks of something, anything to object to Jen, but the certainty she was displaying was enough for him to rethink his choices.

“Come with us,” she continues. Her gaze changes to a different direction for a second. “We’re headed to Henderson. And if that doesn’t work out, Portola.”

Henderson. The name takes Liam’s attention away from Jen for a second. That town… he and Elaine used to go to that town about nine years ago. It just drifted away from their minds as they grew up to become busy.

“Henderson…?” Liam says.

“Yeah. Word is the hospital over there’s been turned into a shelter for refugees…” Jen’s attention to Liam vanishes for a second, as she looks at Alice reappearing. “Now, I don’t know if the unit down there is following the protocol but that’s why we’re going there to find out. If not, then… Portola’s Plan B.”

Liam suddenly feels the urge to follow Jen. The group. He realized in her words alone that he had no long-term plan. He and Elaine might’ve stayed here too long and they might’ve suffered in the hands of those soldiers…

What was he thinking? He thought he’s been making all the right decisions. This one might have caught up and it might have cost their lives…

He wanted to beat himself up over it, but he puts it aside for now. He and Elaine are still alive, after all.

“Yeah,” he replies, his volume a tad lower because of his realization. “W-we’ll go with you. I’ll let her know.” //////////////// Jen leaves Liam with a few other words, mostly pertaining to their time of leave; they had to be out of this city before the sun sets, or it’ll be difficult. Liam wondered for a second why Jen is the only one who knows this much. Before parting, he asks her.

It was simple, she said; she looks at Hank and Sally and says that they’re relying on her. That, and she left with a huge batch of intel before “going rogue.” She said she’ll run out of it soon, and it left Liam wondering for a second.

He heads over to Elaine, who was crouched down, talking to Matt. He’s never seen her smile like this for a long time. She’s always different when there are kids around. Or maybe it was her untied hair…

Elaine looks up at Liam as he approaches and stops beside her, smiling and looking at Matt. Elaine brushes a strand of her hair and continues to talk to Matt. “What did you do after the monkey threw the mud at you?”

Matt, who was now feeling timid around Liam, couldn’t help but look up at his towering height and stutter his response. “I—me and my mom went to the bathroom and cleaned me up t-then we—we went home.” He continues to play with his hands as he looks away to look for his mother. Lisa was standing near the car, watching as Jen and Alice combine efforts with Hank to get the car working. Matt absent-mindedly leaves Elaine and Liam and walks over to his mother’s direction.

Elaine briefly chuckles and stands up. “Matt was telling me about his zoo experience,” she says, looking at Liam. “He was pretty talkative until you came along.” Liam nods and smirks, as he watches the car scene unfold. Just by the looks of Hank fidgeting, they were very close to getting that thing to work.

“Elaine.” He wipes his smirk off and turns his attention toward Elaine. “There’s been a slight change of plans…”

All she knows is that he and Liam had a vague plan to stay in the city, until it gets too dangerous. This place was their hometown, after all.

“What is it?”

“We’re going with them. To Henderson. Jen says there’s a lot of military patrolling over here. Might get too dangerous if we stay too long.”

Elaine wasn’t surprised. She was even thinking of persuading Liam to go with them if he thought otherwise. They all seem to be nice people so far, and she might not see this type of company again.

“So… I guess that’s a yes.” He notices her fleeting stare at the car and the people that surrounded it. “Good to know.”

“Wherever you want to go I go with you,” she replies, shifting her attention back to Liam. She accompanies it with a couple of pokes to his stomach. “So… yeah.”

There was something there, at least to Liam. He was expecting a hug, or a kiss, or the three-word sentence. But they’re above that. The best of friends, with some strings attached. That’s what he wanted to believe. He musters a smile, to which Elaine notices, and she returns it.

Liam, hoping to not continue anything right now, looks up, but keeps his smile. He walks beside her and motions toward the car. “C’mon let’s… let’s go help them.” //////////////// The car they’ve invested so much time in has finally worked, after numerous attempts to start it. Liam was so close to suggesting that they move on to another car, but the car’s revving engine made him take it back.

It didn’t take too long until Jen realized that they all won’t fit in this single car. Liam and Elaine offer to find a more spacious one, and Alice chooses to tag along.

The search didn’t take long; they walked to a different block and eyed a black SUV parked on the sidewalk. From the distance, biters could be seen, but they were too far to worry about.

Realizing that they don’t have a lot of time, Alice goes ahead and hotwires it. Unlike the sedan, this one took a single try to start. They waste no time by entering it and driving back to the group.

The sky was starting to become more orange than blue. Jen urges everyone to get a move-on and gathers the family to board the SUV. Liam and Elaine stand by the sedan, seeing as the other car has already been filled. Jen walks over to them to brief them.

“You guys ready, right?” Her eyes scan in between them and Alice, who has positioned herself on the other side of the car, near the back seat.

“Yeah,” Liam replies, looking at Elaine. Elaine nods at Liam then Jen and goes over to the front seat.

“Alright Liam, you guys just trail us. If anything’s wrong wave your hand out. I’ll be keeping an eye on my side mirror.” Jen has never been more apparent at being the leader than now. Liam can just sense it in her voice alone. “Alright?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Liam says. Jen nods and briskly walks over to her car. Liam turns toward the car and enters the driver side.

He does his routine check-up, looking at his mirrors, the meters in the headboard, the windshield, and the overhead mirror last. He notices Alice sitting in the back as he buckles up.

“Hey Alice,” he calls, as he feels the keys on the car and notices that it’s already started. He absent-mindedly passes a glance at Elaine while at it.

Alice hears the call, and looks at Liam with curiousness.

“I’m… I’m sorry about earlier, about me not trusting you.” Liam finally sees the SUV move. He lets it move across the street a few feet and trails it.

“Oh, oh that.” She smirks, and turns to her window. “I… would’ve done the same thing. It’s been crazy out here...”

It was true, Liam thought. He’s grown to only trust Elaine after what’s been happening in the past few weeks.

“So no worries,” Alice follows.

Liam looks forward, strictly keeping a half-car’s length distance on the SUV. They drive through the block and pass a few others while at it, until Jen makes a right.

Their pace continues steadily, enough for Liam to sense the silence inside the car. He was about to spark some form of conversation, perhaps about Alice’s presumable wound, when he sees the SUV abruptly stop. Liam is forced to follow by stomping on the pedal.

“What the…” Elaine and Alice follow Liam’s lead in staring at the SUV. They see Jen’s arm moving out of the window, doing some form of sideways wave.

“W-what—is she telling us to back up?” Liam, Elaine, and Alice look at each other.

Jen soon emerges out of the car and starts shouting “Back up!” repeatedly. Liam furrows his eyebrows and adjusts the gear shift to reverse.

He briskly reverses the car until he starts hearing distant gunshots coming from their front. Sparks suddenly emerge from the top corners of the SUV. Jen covers her head behind the car door briefly before jumping back into the driver’s seat.

It was what they dreaded. What they were leaving the town for.

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