Page 7 of Chaos Destiny
Because I couldn’t argue against it.
“I won’t be gone long,” I promised. “Please…just hold on for me. I’ll get you better, and then we’ll find Julien, okay?”
She smiled, eyes closed. “Okay.
I kissed her forehead, carefully removed Thandie from the makeshift crib, and fashioned the baby wrap I’d become an expert in creating over the last few months. With a few twists and turns of the woven scarf we’d had since Alexandria, Thandie was secured against my midsection in a small, colorful pouch.
She’d eaten as recently as an hour ago, but I made a bottle using water I’d boiled on the gas stove earlier, along with a tin of formula down to its last few scoops. Afterward, I tucked the bottle in my pocket, grabbed a gun and ammo, gave Ari another kiss, and left.
The trailer was safeguarded inside, so I secured whatever I could on the outside before setting off. Thandie was asleep, but I’d gotten used to having companions with me, so I spoke as if she was awake and could understand.
“Think we should tackle the new area of the map, T?” I kissed the top of her head. “We won’t be able to get through the whole thing, but we’re getting closer and closer to Columbia. There’s gotta be something there, right? Big city like that?”
There was little to nothing in the capital. Still, there was nothing wrong with hope, especially in situations like these.
We kept to the Congaree River, kept to the trees, for both safety and shade. Temperatures fell at night, but things continued to scorch during the part of the day when the sun was highest. Then, whenever we encountered Infected in places like the woods, they were always stragglers. The large groups were almost always located in more populated metro areas.
Thandie yawned.
I smiled.
Even prior to a world-ending event, I’d never seen myself as being of husband or father cloth, but it wasn’t because I didn’t like babies or marriage. It never fit my lifestyle, and I’d never found anyone worth the effort. Plus, I would never meet anyone I would look at the way Julien looked at Ari.
And, he had to.
If he didn’t treat her like the treasure she was, he knew I would take him to the Outback Regions of Australia and bury him in the golden-orange soil while he was still breathing.
I’d told him so.
Thandie smacked her lips, and her eyelids fluttered before she drifted back to sleep. Still smiling, I kissed her curly head and picked up my pace. The quicker we could get back to her mother, the better.
About an hour into our trek, we came to a bridge littered with abandoned cars. Thandie, now awake, quietly surveyed our surroundings. Although she wouldn’t understand or remember, I made sure she didn’t see what was inside those abandoned cars.
Half-opened luggage.
Seats torn to shreds.
Corpses drier than jerky.
“We’re almost out of here, baby girl,” I said. “Don’t worry. The last time I got this far, I remember seeing a building that could be some sort of hospital or clinic a small ways up ahead.”
She looked up at me.
A smile spread on her face, dimpling her cheek, and I just about melted.
God forbid something happened to me. Ari and Thandie would be sitting ducks, but that wasn’t what weighed most heavily on my mind. If something happened to me, it would be the end of my bloodline—full stop. If Thandie continued on, her Uncle Gage would remain a relic in her memories.
“You’ll see better days, baby girl,” I said, smoothing her hair. “I promise, okay? Even if it takes my last breath, you’ll see this world turn itself over. Hopefully, it’ll come back better than what it was before.”
She continued to smile.
I continued to melt.
Roughly two hours later, I saw the top of a brick building.
“T, I think that’s it.”
From what I could tell, only one Infected seemed to be lurking about, walking in aimless circles near the entrance, waiting for the scent of human flesh and the sound of human footsteps.
