The streets were quiet. Before such a thing would never have been true of New Orleans, the city that seemed like a constant party. But six months of hell could do a lot, to a city as well as people.
Now everything was broken, rundown and bare. Except for a few figures stumbling around.
Walkers. The living dead. The city was full of them. Hence the silence. The creatures that used to be humans were attracted to noise.
Just outside the city was a series of old broken railway cars. Several of the cars were ties together. Those cars made up the entire living of two women.
Lynn pulled opened one of the doors enough to slip inside.
Jessalyn looked up from the beans and canned peaches she was spooning on to plates. She smiled at her friend. "How did it go?"
"Found some more scrap to melt down. Other then that not much. The stores have pretty much been picked clean," Lynn answered. "How's the squirt?"
Jessalyn placed a gentle hand on her stomach. "He's quiet today. Not kicking as much, thank goodness. Ready to eat something?"
The two women sat down to the modest meal. It was difficult, especially with Jessalyn's condition. Lynn tried to make sure the girl got enough food for herself and her little bun in the oven, at times going without food herself.
A sound outside made Lynn jump up.
"What is it?" Jessalyn asked worriedly.
"Stay down," Lynn ordered and grabbed her handgun. Climbing up the makeshift ladder to the hole in the roof, Lynn laid down on the roof and scooped out the area. She had learned the hard way not to trust strangers...
Jessalyn stayed at the bottom of the ladder, looking up and waiting. She covered her stomach protectively. They'd had to deal with scavengers before, men after food, weapons and... other things. Two women alone seemed like easy targets, but they had managed to survive mostly unscathed. So far.
But Jess trusted Lynn. The older woman had taken her on as a younger sister. Lynn wouldn't let anything or anyone hurt Jess or her baby.
Four more months... four more months and she would bring a child, a small life, into this horrible and dangerous world. Where at times the living were more dangerous then the dead...