The Expedition by Chris Babu

Author:Chris Babu
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: N/A
Publisher: Permuted
Published: 2018-10-08T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 19

Drayden studied the cracked asphalt.

The crew followed him down the road, their weapons out. The wet footprints faded with each step. Eventually, the vague hint of a shoe was all that remained before the footprints vanished, as if the Guardians had simply floated away.

He stopped at the end of the trail, squinting down Route 6.

“That’s good, the Guardians are in front of us,” Sidney said. “Right?”

Everyone appealed to Eugene.

He hesitated, clutching his rifle tight. “I’m not sure.”

The Guardians could be monitoring them right now, hunting them, watching from out of sight. They needed to get out of the middle of the street.

“Let’s eat and come up with a plan,” Drayden said. “Off the road.”

Three deer trotted across Route 6, a hundred feet ahead, including one with magnificent antlers.

“Whoa!” Charlie yelled.

Eugene raised his rifle and aimed.

Drayden shoved the barrel down. “What are you doing?”

Eugene flashed him an annoyed look. “There’s our food. Or a little target practice.”

“What? No, man.” The deer disappeared into the forest. “See how delicate they are, how graceful? There are so few living things left in the world, we can’t be killing stuff. Plus, the scientists said not to eat any animals.”

Eugene switched his rifle into safe mode, his expression more amused than irritated now. “Whatever you say, chief; you’re in charge. If you get hungry enough, I think you might change your mind.” He patted Drayden on the shoulder before heading off the road.

Following Eugene into the woods, Drayden made a mental note of the deer so he could report back to Kim on the state of the world outside the walls. He wondered how the insurrection plot was going. Surely the way most similar plots in history went—horribly.

The group sat in a circle, in a narrow clearing beneath some trees. The privates dug soggy food out of their backpacks, though Eugene didn’t have any.

Drayden felt a tinge of anxiety again at the sparse contents of his pack. About seventy miles to Boston.

“We need to ration,” he said. “Let’s each have an apple.” He finally made eye contact with Catrice. “You’ll probably share with Eugene, right?”

Before she could answer, Charlie and Sidney snickered.

Catrice glanced at them, and back at Drayden, a confused expression on her face. “Yeah, sure.”

Drayden tore into his apple, the sweet juice running down his chin. It was so delicious he ate everything except the stem.

Charlie burped. “I don’t know about you guys, but I’m stuffed. I haven’t been this full since I ate that potato yesterday.”

“We clearly need more food,” Drayden said. “We’ll come pretty close to the coast in the next few miles. We could try fishing.”

“With what?” Sidney asked.

“We’ll have to wing it.”

They had little food, and the Guardians had none. Sure, the Guardians had superior survival training, and they were tougher guys, but they didn’t have what the privates did: the ability to improvise. While he couldn’t out-tough them, he could undeniably outsmart them. Particularly with their new secret weapon—a Guardian of their own.

“Eugene, we may have to stop to fish,” Drayden said.

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