"Excuse me John, but where are we going exactly?" Tahira asked as she was rather confused. John didn't have much of a talk about it. He didn't give much of a proper introduction as well as their plan and object, is what John knew, but remained formly unrecognised with the girls.
They then halted, not because of a break but because John had forgotten about it. He initially thought they were familiar with the surrounding area but he realized that she and family mostly spent their whole lives living in the city. Tahira was the only working member, though poor she managed to make ends meet. So such wants like expensive material and unnecessary items never did cross her minds because of maybe how far her wallet would go.
John got his backpack from his back (the one he took from the station) and placed it down. What he took out was a paper and pen. Again, since John wasn't the most qualified for verbal speaking he did have the ability to use other forms of non-verbal ways such as paper and pen. He wrote on it and then gave it to Tahira.
Tahira was going to read it but she had to put Sweetie down first. She put her down close by asking Liney to look after her. "Fine," Liney said with a prolonged end.
John also gave Tahira the map he was using.
The writing on the paper basically indicated an explanation of a nearby town on the map that they should reach and is the closets. The writing also says that the city is overrun by those monsters so any way of calling for help primarily from the city is useless at this point.
"Wait. Overrun? What do you mean it's overrun?!" Tahira said awkwardly shocked. And she should be because back at the station it seemed as if they were going to go the wrong way - and into their deaths.
John nodded. He was sure of it and why not. He was already through it and if they wanted the truth, then they just needed to visit where helicopter crash site is and see.
As if things couldn't get worse, it did. Tahira didn't know anything up until now, hearing this new information from John. "Your, your lying. Say your lying!" she tried to make John confess, however this only shed John's truth when he remained as stiff as a manican and his head hanging down from his neck.
"NO," Tahira said horrifyingly, "This can't be true?!"
'I don't want to believe this. Is he really telling the truth? It's okay, just breath in.'
Tahira looked on the paper again and read it. She was skeptical but didn't want to make assumptions and instead she'll have to find out at a later time - finding other people who share the same experiences, and finding who is right - because Tahira was still having trust issues especially with their new found friend.
As she read through it again this time wanting real answers, she came across a particular line of sentences.
Me and other folks were saved by a rescue helicopter bound for delivery....however....the helicopter crashed due to an infection and I was the only one who survived.
'A survivor?' She looked at John trying to make sense of his writing. Then she went back to reading.
Tahira was almost done with paper and map when she spotted a highlighted area on the map that she though to be a mistake. "Excuse me, but this place on the map is empty. I don't mean to ask but I hope you aren't purposely planning to move to an unknown location and do something uncalled for."
Being a clueless dud is uncalled for by John's standard, in fact, the marked area he highlighted isn't a place where nothing existed. We'll for the the most part it is now but that was all due to the new maps of the country. He did his research the same he did for everything after entering the country's borders, learning about pretty much everything he could get his hands own at the time, before the actual outbreak began. John wrote on a paper correcting her own assumptions and handed it to her.
John: Today's maps of this country have mistakes that aren't even corrected. I did the research. The map was published by a company that didn't add older places for some reason I'm unable to decode - Yet they are still alive just not put on the map. One of them places is Lossiemouth Town. Yes, it is forgotten and least visited since the 2000s, but it is the only location that is optimal for the nearest town available. Any other town will take longer to travel to unless we can find a car. Other things are exposure to hunger, lack of rest and the night.
"Oh, ah, I'm speechless," Tahira said defeated by John's answer.
Tahira had no idea of how valid the information John presented her, for all she knew it could either be a hoolsk or the truth nonetheless. She wanted the real answers even though John gave her what he knew, her intuition of feeling doubts was immense so much she had a rejection side of her that had no acceptance of that type of information. But as Tahira was about ask John, he literally got his bag on his back and walked.
"H-Hey, where are you going!" She promptly announced.
It was obvious, really.
The more time they spent the more they waste and those things will catch up sooner than expected. "We should go to the town while we still have daylight, the better the safer," John muffled convincing Tahira so and on, which he did.
~~~~~~
The road to Lossiemouth Town could not be more exhausting. Other than being tiring, the group made it to the road that leads to the town. However when they got there, there wasn't a road at all. The new road that is the main road constructed 20 years ago has completely ovisorated the old route. The way to the town was to cross the forest and over to the other side.
"Are we going the right way?" Liney suspiciously asked Tahira, "Like I don't have any blame or anything I just think this is just out of context."
They thought John wasn't listening but he was, like he really was, the distance between them wasn't even that far enough. He really did want to reply. He really did. What stopped him was that he was a patient guy. Take some time and you'll see what he is on about. But to the girls, they were saying other things. Why did they even tour along, he thought.
John couldn't care less if they disagreed. He just let go of the stress and let his senses take a course to nature. While away in thought, he heard the whistles of smaller birds and the shaking of tree branches by the winds direction. The forest brought a different atmosphere. Not like other typical forests that were totally covered by vegetation surrounding areas, the biome type for trees had a sense of mixture between pine trees and tropical. Vegetation got lesser and lesser like bushes, and replaced by an exposure of controlled plants in the area.
After a while then, the destination peaked at the horizon. When they did arrive, the look on the girls eyes popped, there minds astonished by the place. Although it had no good character because of the years of decay, it still held itself at a considerable level, the old road and the welcoming sign to the town that stood the difference.
~~~~~~
'I guess he was right.'
"Lossiemouth Town. I have never heard of the such a place existing here in the middle of nowhere. Even though it looks old, I dare say the area here doesn't seem vary as described old in terms," Tahira said as she instinctively inspected the welcome sign after crossing the horizontal road.
A radiated feeling also pressed on John as he stood near the welcome sign. He too was amazed. Although he only read it on a news paper and some old text books, the result for having the knowledge of the location of the town was a lucky value to him as he was also new to the country.
When John was done, he moved close to Tahira. Tahira sensed him coming and looked at him, "So I guess this is the part I apologise...," she had no words to say, "I'm, really sorry, I don't have much to say." As if Tahira was going to apologise for her argument from the other time, if it was an argument, John stopped her there and raised one of his hand flat open. He then shaked his hand, the gesture signalling her that he wasn't interested in listenin while also nodding his head left and right.
"W-what? You mean, you don't accept it? What do you mean by that!" Tahira questioned before angrily asking John's gesture.
To smoothen his intentions, he pointed at him and the others to the entrance of the town. John wasn't being rude. He was just not about to get into that type of talk and he simply wanted to make sure they made it to the town as quickly as possible. And so, he repeated it several times to get the clear attention of Tahira as she was kinda lost in what was he trying to convey to her.
Her facial expression then turned from, "huh," to "Oh, okay." When the information finally got to her, she was now thinking that she was the dumb one there.
"Oh, so that's where you want to go. And you don't care about the apology huh," she said ands John gave her a head nod - Yes.
They then made their way to the town. As they walked, they came across a wide range of corpses lying dead on the ground.
"Ah, what is that smell?" Liney asked.
"Cover your noses," Tahira then instructed. They all, covered their noses as they kept on moving forward.
"I can't believe there's a lot of bodies here, the question is, why though," Tahira sadly said her voice sounding funny from her nose being blocked.
At the same time it made John real uneasy. Why were bodies lying aimlessly at the way point to the town entrance. He would soon find out. Bang - the shot of a gun fired the shot hitting the ground of where John was at.
"Who goes there?!" The one who fired the shot asked in a menacing tone.
"...."
"No answer, huh!" The shooter fired again - Bang! "Answer! Why are you here! You've got 5 seconds to act."
John froze in his place. The amount of time that the shooter gave him was a minuscule amount. He couldn't say a word, and if he did, he could risk further injury to his throat. As the timer decreased, John was running out of time. Before the very last second, someone risked their place within the situation and responded for life.
"PLEASE DON'T SHOOT!" Tahira shouted to the shooter within Lossiemouth town, "DON'T FIRE PLEASE I BEG OF YOU!."
John was grateful for her quick thinking, and at that last second, they were lucky they weren't shot. Their time extended as they waited for an answer.
"What do you want! Go away, we don't have anything here!" The shooter shouted, this time his manly voice vouched to be hesitant. Now it was Tahira's chance to take the stage and do something to let them in. What will she do now?
Given the chance to reply, the lives of everyone in the group were in her hands. "Please, we don't mean any disrespect or anything. Me, my brother and sisters were on a trip with our parents.....b-but we got separated, please, we only need help."
'Brother.' John didn't hear that coming. He never thought that the girl would put them in the same boat. It was rather odd. No. It may sound weird, but it surely fits a description at a time like this, he thought. He added, if they were a family, then they would surely be accepted. Being some strange to others, and the consequences are unknown.
"Are you guys hurt, no?" Another person from the town spoke.
"No," Tahira spoke confidently.
Then the moment of response took longer to respond and act. But when they did, it was two men with guns who stood at the entrance of the town, telling them (the family group) to walk to the shooters slowly and calmly.
"Alright then, I want you guys to move here. No funny business, okay," they complied.