Day 64 - Wilderness

Jared trudged along on a dirt path. He looked around, trees covered the landscape as he and the others were in a forest. Sunlight poured in through the leaves and the sounds of the stream passed at his side, there was a little cliff leading a few inches down to a stream that was steadily flowing south towards the way he, Dylan, Trinity, Carolina, Jordyne, and Mark had come from. They decided to take a detour from Vernal and head North-west, up and around Kin.

Dylan stayed quiet as they walked, his crowbar at the ready.

Carolina walks along side him, her hand on her machetes handle which was still in his holster.

Mark walks near the center of everyone.

Jared walked, occasionally turning his head to look at the trees as the soft breeze blew. His weapons were holstered onto his pack and his arms were holding onto the straps of his pack as he walked.

Jordyne let out a sigh to break the silence. "Doesn't it seem odd how it's 'too' quiet?" She asked as they walked.

"Yep." Mark said as they walked. It was awfully quiet. Which was odd.

Dylan and Carolina simply nodded in agreement.

"It's early in the morning, correct?" Jared spoke up, he didn't wait for an answer before starting again. "We should be out of this forest by noon, then we'll keep heading Northwest.

Less than a mile away, in the same forest as the others' group, Cass's group was walking more or less in their direction on an old hiking path.

Isaac was in the front of group holding a map and a compass, his Makarov in his backpack and knife in his pocket. He was muttering directions to himself while Cass and Amber walked behind him, talking about books they'd read and suggesting books to read.
The group came across a fork in the road, one path leading towards Jared and Dylan's group, the other lead back to where they started. Isaac stopped the group. "Hold up, let's take a break here. We're about halfway there."
"Thank god," Amber said, sitting down on the foliage. She passed out granola bars to the kids, which was basically their lunch, and they started to plan ahead for what they would do after getting out of the forest.

Dylan stops walking for a minute, and holds his hand up to his mouth to signal everyone to be quiet. He had heard footsteps far off, and then what sounded like talking. "Anyone else hear that?"

The others stayed quiet, all they could hear was the sounds of the stream flowing. Jordyne shook her head. "I hear it very faintly." Jared was up front, he lifted his hand and cupped his ear in the direction they were heading. He could hear mumbling echoing through the trees.

Amber held up a hand to silence them. "Wait, do you hear that?" Quiet footsteps could be heard just out of view. Cass nodded in reply, and reached for her baseball bat. She and Isaac stood up to face where the sound had come from. "Zombies?" Cass whispered. Isaac shrugged.

Jared lifted his hand up to Dylan, he gave a few hand motions and told him to take out a weapon. Jared reached behind his back and slid his hatchet out of it's holster, he held it in his hand and slowly moved forward. The others followed shortly behind.

Dylan took off to the left, walking stealthily away from the group. He was going to try and come up on the side of the group of people, while everyone else went straight.

By now Amber had stood up as well, holding her axe out in front of her. The three stood in a circle in the middle of the path, facing out towards the rest of the forest. All of them were ready for any attack.

Jared lifted his thumb up and flicked it to the right. Jordyne pulled her shotgun out of it's holster and went right from the group, she and Dylan were flanking around on the sides while Jared led the other 4 straight into the middle. Eventually, Jared and the others came into view of Cass and her group, holding their weapons they didn't move, only stood there.

Dylan walked out of the woods. Hands raised in a surrender. He made a last second decision, there was only one way to find out if these people were friendly, and this was it. He didn't say a word, just looked cautiously out the corner of his eye for Jared and the others.

Jared turned his head and noticed Jordyne hiding in a well covered area, her shotgun barrel pointed at the group incase they attacked. She was hidden from these 'hostiles'. Jared watched as Dylan walked, his weapon still in hand, the others behind him were about to do something, although they noticed Jared not moving, and so they did the same.

"Look!  It's just people!" Cass said giddily as she lowered her bat.  Isaac, still skeptical, held his knife out in front of them.  And Amber, well, Amber sided with Isaac and held up her axe, ready to strike.  "They might not be so friendly," Isaac said through gritted teeth.

"Trust me. You would be dead by now if we were not friendly. Come on out guys." He called out to the others.

Jared and the others were already in view, still holding onto their weapons although, they were more on ease. Jordyne hopped out of the leaves in the tree she was hiding in and hopped a few feet down to ground level, she still held her shotgun.

"What do you want from us?" Isaac spat,"We don't have any food."
"Isaac, stop. They're just kids," Amber said, now lowering her weapon as well.

"Who are you?" Jared started, he now held his hatchet at his side.

"Just people," Cass replied,"Who are you?"

"We're 'Just Kids." Jared replied.

"kids" Dylan scoffs as he walls over to join the others.

"Where are you kids headed then?" Isaac asked.

Jared closed his eyes and let a sigh through his nostrils after the kids comment. "No where in particular, we're just heading Northwest until we find a place that suits us."