[IC] Struggle to Survive

[AHeartlessNobody]

It seemed like forever since the world had turned into this wasteland. The streets were often empty and quiet during dawn and sunset. That was usually what Cassie called 'the in-between time'. These zombie-like creatures were still like humans in some ways, in terms of they somehow still slept. And like human they had different sleep schedules, some sleeping during the day and others sleeping during the night. Usually during sun rise and sun set, they were all either getting ready to sleep or just waking up, meaning not many of them were out on the streets, giving Cassie a moment of having less risk in moving about outside of her makeshift home. If she was quick enough, sometimes she would be able to go out without running into one of those monsters at all.

And right now, that was what she was trying to achieve. She watched outside of the plane's window as the sky took on an orange tint, meaning it was time to head out. She threw her bookbag onto her back and pushed down as hard as she could on the heavily sealed plane door. If one thing was good, it was the safety this plane provided her. If she had a hard time opening that door, then it would be close to impossible for those deteriorating zombies to do so. Once she had it open, she pushing it closed and rushed down the runway, toward the tall gate. She scaled it pretty easily and was on the ground in a flash, running once more.

There were plenty of stores in this area, she found, that still had a lot of supplies in them. She guessed it was because this was a big city. Back when the virus had first started spreading, everyone fled the cities, thinking staying there would make it spread faster. They had all moved to the country or left the nation all together, leaving all these stores abandoned and quite easy to break into. She stood in front of one of the windows and was quick to pick up a rock and bust it out, stepping into the store. Once in, she immediately opened her bag an began to throw anything she needed in there, mainly water and food. Stocking up the way she did usually lasted her a couple of weeks, so this would be her only raid for a while, making the risk of actually going through some of the items in the store worth it.

Once she had her bag filled as much as possible, she hopped out of the window one more and started running again down the street. It was only when she turned a sharp corner that she came face to face with one of them. The zombie gave a roar right in her face and tried to jump at her, to which she dodged with a yelp and started running the other way. She had learned that while the zombies didn't move as slow as old movies depicted them to, they were still slower than normal humans, giving her the advantage. That was, if she hadn't turned another corner and come face to face with another. Soon, she was surrounded by them, which was surprising as normally they were low profile at this time. Something was making them more agitated than normal, meaning they weren't asleep.

And she soon found out what it was, because there was a loud noise that made her cover her ears at first and made the zombies stop their advances to look up at what was making the sound. And then, something strange happened. It was almost as though the zombies feared this thing, because they began to ignore her presence and go into the nearby buildings, as if hiding. She stood there, looking up at the sky, squinting to see what it was, only for her eyes to go wide with fear. Up in the sky, coming down to land, was a type of ship she remembered well and it was a horrifying memory. The last time she had saw that type of ship land here on earth, a day later she had lost her parents.

The aliens.

In an instant she was running, heading back as fast as she could for her airport, scaling the fence and making it back into her plane even faster than she had left. She pushed down on the plane lock as hard as she could, letting it airlock before she took a moment to sit in on of the seats and catch her breath. Cassie had no idea what she was going to do. She was the last human alive as far as she knew, and if those aliens were back, who knew what they would do to her? Kill her? Experiment on her? keep her as some pet? The threats were endless and so were her fears.

After a moment of being glued to her seat, she shakily stood to her feet and began to put her supplies on the shelves above the many seats of the plane, where other supplies had been stacked. Once they were stacked, she moved to the back of the plane were her make shift bed, a bed she had made from unscrewing seats from the floor and stacked the cushions, was and layed down on it, expecting to sleep, though found herself wide awake and ears listening for any signs of what the aliens or zombies might be doing, if they even come close to the abandoned airport she had claimed as her home.

[Toothless]

It seemed that everyone was out for blood.
The infected humans that milled about the streets and his own people that wanted to see them dead- Even in their poor state of mind the zombies seemed to have some sense of self preservation. Like predators that found themselves prey to a greater beast they had skirted out of sight when the ship descended upon their streets. Rax had in turn ducked back into an alley as the armored forms appeared down the ramp, ’armed to the teeth’ as the humans would say. One ill footed zombie decided to rush their emerging ranks and was blasted- bursting apart to a fine powder. He edged further down the alleyway keeping his sights forward until he heard the throb of footsteps from the opposite direction. He turned in time to see a girl speed past the alleyway. It wasn’t with the gaunt that he had accustomed to zombies.

Zombies. The humans had named them long before they were a real thing. All over the media, science fiction, horror flicks- it wasn’t a term he had come up with on his own. They were a gruesome sort and that was at the fault of his race who’s virus had not acted in accordance to their studies and instead damaged the mind and contaminated the body. Rax thought it was reversible though (to a certain point) but wasn’t so sure if there would be memory loss… Either way he needed to find humans that were not yet a part of this faction. So he tailed the one that passed him by. She appeared to be in such a tizzy to pay little mind to anything around her.

Over the fence and onto the runway. He caught a glimpse of her disappearing into one of the planes and hurried after. He rattled the outer latch and shoved with his shoulder but it refused to give. He stepped backwards with a wary glance over his shoulder at the zombies gathering upon the pavement- dazed and momentarily oblivious. He knew his kind did not generally appeal to the zombies by scent but then that didn’t mean they wouldn’t rush him if they were desperate. “Hello!” He called, leaning over the ramp to peer into one of the small square windows. Grime had darkened the glass and he could scarcely make out the seats so he could say nothing of the girl. “Hey! Come on!” He shifted impatiently, the racket he was making drawing the sights of several zombies. He banged his palm against the door “Let me in!”

[AHeartlessNobody]

Cassie had been laying there on her make shift bed, trying to sort in her mind what she should do now that the aliens had resurfaced on the planet again. She could run away from the area. Hot-wire a car and make a break for it. If she got far enough away from where they landed it might be a few years until they caught up to her. Maybe. But whatever she did, she sure couldn't fight them. She was only one person and there were sure to be a great number of them out there. She would die in a few short seconds if she tried that. A frown formed on her face as she thought this and she gave a heavy sigh, rolling over and curling up in a ball for a few moments before she jumped, hearing the outer latch began to shake outside and a banging to start as if someone was ramming into the door of the plane.

She sat up quickly and began rummaging through some of her supplies. She hadn't had the need for a gun in a very long time, but apparently now she would need it. With the growing threats all around her, she needed to protect herself if she should ever run into a situation of the dangerous sort. Finally finding the pistol buried beneath some of her clothes, she checked and made sure it was loaded before she moved toward the door, hearing the person on the other side say to open the door and let him in. So, this wasn't a zombie on the other side of the door. She was pretty sure they couldn't even talk anymore. They only two options left were he was an alien or a....no, that was possible...was it? There were no other humans left on the planet, right? At least, that's what she always thought.

But, if it were an alien outside, that meant they already knew where she was, and would get to her anyway, whether she let him in or not. And if this were a human...well...then she wasn't alone like she though and she needed to let him in before he tipped off either the zombies or the aliens that she was there and get them both killed. She placed her hand on the latch and taking a deep breath she pushed down on it hard and threw open the door, her gun at ready as she looked at him. Well, he certainly wasn't an alien. He had no feathers or anything of that sort like they had. And he was no zombie. Her thrill that he was human though was trampled by her need for safety and she pulled him side by her arm, closing the door back as quickly as she had opened it, sliding the latch back into place and waiting quietly for a moment, listening to what was going on outside and when she heard nothing, meaning nothing had noticed them, she let out the breath she had been holding before looking back at the 'human' boy in front of her with cautious eyes, unsure of what to think of all this, "Who are you? And how did you find me?"

[Toothless]

The door came open rather suddenly and the girl stood, dangerous with that human pistol in hand. An awkward second passed but only the briefest of moments before he was pulled through the threshold. Door clunking shut and latch clicking down. He straightened from the sudden off balancing, grumbling: "About time, any longer and I probably would have been mauled." He was under the impression she hadn't been listening to that though as her gaze moved towards him. Wary, not suspicious, he noted. "My name is Rex." It sounded like she expected a more meaningful response. Probably something that explained why, how he was here when she wasn't expecting anything but zombies and aliens- even if he was the later. "I saw you running and realized you weren't a zombie so tailed you." He shrugged his shoulders. "I hadn't really seen any other humans around here and then those ships showed up... today has been a bit of a disaster."

He had studied human culture and language (the second wasn't so different than their own) so hoped he wouldn't use inaccurate terms or outdated slang. He thought he had a pretty good grasp. "So, while on introductions, who are you?" He did want a meaningful response, something that explained why she wasn't infected but he knew he didn't word that for more than a name. He turned away from her and moved further into the plane as one of the zombies threw itself against the door with a thud. "Do you live here?" The was some clothes stacked on the seats and a few small personal belongings. "You know people tend to gather at airports, you think you would have chosen somewhere more secluded."

"Mind if I sit down?" He questioned before leaning back in one of the chairs. "I can't believe people use to ride around in these." He pulled the latch and lowered the back of the chair, making himself comfortable. "You ever ride one before?"

[AHeartlessNobody]

Cassie watched as the young man stepped around, answering her questions simply, saying he had tailed her, though she raised her eyebrow at the mention of his name, "Rex? Is that short for something? Because it sounds more like the name your would give a dog. No offense." Okay, so maybe she was a little blunt. Possible even rude. But when you're only company for the majority of your life had been an ex-military man that took no crap and was straight forward himself, one couldn't help but take on some of those qualities. Aside that, she silently cursed herself for not watching where she was going when she made her way back here. She needed to be more careful. If he had seen her running, then anyone out there, alien and zombie alike, could have seen her make her way here, "You saw the alien's land too?" She asked, making her way over to one of the seats and sat down, moving the arms of the seat up so she could pull her feet up and sit cross legged, not look at him for the moment "What do you think they want with us again? They've already killed off about 99 percent of our population. What more can they possibly hope to do to bring us down?"

Sighing she shook her head and looked back to him when he asked her what her name was, "My name is Cassie." She didn't even flinch at the banging on the airplane door. She knew at least the zombies couldn't get in. They had tried before and their simple minds were easily side tracked. After a few moments of throwing themselves at the door they would likely go do something else. And sure enough, within a few moments they stopped, letting Rex ask her if and why she lived here in the airport. She simply shrugged though, speaking nonchalantly, "I live here. It better than were I was before. Besides, an airport is a place most humans stay away from because of its predictability with the aliens. So, because of that, aliens don't tend to look here, knowing humans wouldn't tread somewhere so known. Because of that though, it makes the perfect hiding spot. That, and these planes are pretty strong and keep out a lot of unwanted visitors." She laughed at herself and shrugged, "In this world, what doesn't make sense can turn out to be the most sensible thing you can do."

When asked if he could sit down, she motioned for him to sit, letting him take the seat across the aisle from her. She began to pull her long hair back into a pony tail and thought back to her childhood to answer his question, "A lot actually. My father was really big in engineering. He built robots and weaponry for the government before and in the beginning of the invasion. And since my mother died when I was an infant, his work left me traveling with him a lot. It was fun though. The people on the planes were always so nice. And the view was always so amazing." She sighed and shook her head, "But, he was one of the first to get infected, so that didn't last too long." She looked back at him, "What about you? Did you ever ride in one of these things?"

[Toothless]

"Nope, that's why I wanted your opinion on it." He had no story to tell her about his childhood involving airplanes. He wasn't even human. He supposed he could lie about his past but didn't want to step on his own feet down the road. Assuming that was the right phrase... "I hear it's not all that exciting anyhow. Lots of screaming kids and nothing to eat but cheaply packaged peanuts."

"As for the aliens, well don't you think they are looking to snuff out the remaining one percent. Probably want to take over the world." He finished stuffily "speaking of which we might want to get out of here. Those aliens are out there with guns ablazing and its not just zombies they are aimin' for. You should pack up your things and come with me. I'm heading north." His people weren't to fond of the cold and zombies didn't function to well in it so it was probably a win win. "I hear its safer up that way."

[AHeartlessNobody]

The idea of leaving her home she had made here in the airport wasn't something she really wanted to think about. But, she knew that he was right. If they wanted to survive, they had to get moving. She frowned slightly, especially at the comment that the aliens might be wanting to take over the world. The fact that they might really be trying to get rid of the remaining humans, if she and this boy weren't the last of the humans, was scary to her. She hadn't seen an alien since she was seven years old. She knew nothing about them. She didn't know what they could do to stop them. She didn't even know if there was something they could do to stop them. For all she knew, there was no hope for the human race.

She looked down and thought about what he had said for a moment, biting the inside of her cheek as she thought, before she finally took a deep breath and nodded, "We do need to get moving. If they are this close, then we are in danger." Standing up, she went to grab her backpack, going through some of her things. She grabbed a change of clothes, a few hygienic products, and mainly food that they could take on their trip. And, after that was all packed, she went through her clothe again, picking out the warmest clothing she could find, figuring when he said they were heading north, they were heading for the colder weather. She pulled out a sweater, jacket, and boots, throwing them on rather quickly, reminding herself to loot a store of gloves, a scarf, and maybe a hat later on the run to keep herself warmer.

Once she had all this done, she threw her back pack onto her back, looking back to him, placing her pistol at her hip, "Let's head out before those alien get any closer. I would really not be on the receiving ends of those guns you talked about."

[Toothless]

“No, if you’re on that end you’re on the wrong one.” While she had been gathering up her belongings he had been listening for sound of his people closing in on their location. He could vaguely hear them in the distance- zombie flesh scattering like the pop of firecrackers. The zombies were not their target though in this slow sweep. There was still time for them to get clear of here. “If we are lucky we’ll be able to skirt around them.”

Before they stepped out he unfolded a map and smoothed it out against the door. “We are going to try and stick to this general route.” He explained, running his finger down a pre-drawn line. “There’s probably going to be a lot of zombies given the time of day but-” He shrugged his shoulders “just don’t let them bite you, alright? In fact getting out of this airport is going to probably going to be one of the toughest bit. So I propose we do a lap around the runway then jump the fence.”

He paused “well, let me know if I’m over thinking this?” He tucked the map away once more and drew the crowbar from his own back pack. “Anything you need to get off your chest before we step out into that?”

[AHeartlessNobody]

Cassie looked at the map he spread across the door and nodded to his plan, looking at the route they would be taking. It looked like a pretty long way to go, but if they got a good head start, she was fairly sure they would be able to make it there safely. Hopefully anyway. She nodded and tried to mentally memorize the route, string at it a moment before he started to fold the map up again, the sound of shooting the distance being heard by the both of them, "I've managed to out run the zombies this far. I think I can manage to keep that up until we get to our destination." She commented, moving toward the door.

When asked if there was anything she wanted to get off of her chest before they would go out into the runway, she thought a moment before turning to him and nodding, "Yeah. Actually there is." She said, pulling out her gun to show him, her eyes completely serious, "If you betray me and hand me over to those aliens or zombies, I'll make sure I blow your brains out before they even touch me." She knew that one again sounded harsh, but in the early days of the invasion, she had heard so many stories about humans betraying each other in such ways, and she wasn't about to let it happen to her. Not without a fight anyway.

Putting her gun back in its holster again, she nodded and smirked, "But if you truly are trying to help, then you don't have a problem, now do you?" Turning around again, she pushed open the door to the plane and motioned for him to go out onto the runway with her in hopes of getting out of the area before the aliens could spot them.

[Toothless]

“Alrighty then.” That wasn’t exactly what he had meant but now that they had that in the open things were bound to go more smoothly. “Nothing to worry about as long as you don’t have a twitchy trigger finger.” Not really a good way to instill trust but at least he knew where she stood. Even though he was probably the last person on the planet she wanted to point that at right now- given the fact that he wanted to save the human race. Couldn’t blame her for not knowing that.

He followed her down the ramp with their feet ringing against the steel. Almost immediately they gathered the attention of a number of zombies who had sniffed out Cassie the moment she emerged. “Okay, go time.” He whispered to her before hopping over the railing to drop the remainder and land beside her as she turned to run. The zombies stumbled after them, hindering themselves with their sloppy movements mid stride. They got clear of them in no time. When Cassie made to scale the fence Rex weaved his fingers together and thrust them under the girl’s foot, launching her over the top. Then he leapt a portion of the way up and followed her over.

The zombies slammed into the chain link a few moments later and he glanced backwards with a wiry smile as the two of them began to run once more. If they kept this up they shouldn’t run into any ’aliens’.

Of course he spoke to soon as he noticed the clacking footfalls of armored asirans. He slid around a corner and then jerked backwards to grab Cassie yanking her towards him. Shoving her against the wall he held one finger up to his lips in a gesture he knew to mean ’silent’. The group was coming uncomfortably close to their current spot but when they were nearly upon them- something down a different alley must have caught their attention since they turned and footfalls faded rapidly.

[AHeartlessNobody]

Cassie nodded when he said it was go time, hopping over the railing with him following close behind as they began to run toward the fence, the zombies stumbling after them the whole time. When the two of them did finally reach the fence, she went to quickly try and climb over it, only to be pushed over the top of it by Rex, yelping slightly as she caught her footing at the bottom. Rex wasn't too long in landing beside her and soon the two were off again, skirting around corners and down alleyways, when the clanking foot steps of armored aliens could be heard. But, before she could even react, she was suddenly grabbed, jerked backwards, and pushed against the wall, being given a sign by him to keep quiet, which she did.

She was tense, listening to the foot steps as they grew closer, her eyes wide with fear as she stood there, thinking about what might happen when those aliens turned a corner and saw them. Surely they would be annihilated just like all of the zombies these aliens were going after. She stayed there against the wall, her hand on her pistol, when the aliens who were so close to catching them suddenly changed direction, going quickly down another alley to check something else out and when they were finally far enough away, she let out the breath she had been holding and the two of them continued on their way, careful to not get caught be either alien or zombie.

Soon enough, they were at the city limits and she paused, looking back at him, "Should we grab some kind of vehicle for the journey? Or are we doing this all one foot?"

[Toothless]

Once they were near the outskirts they slowed their pace and he stopped. His understanding of cars was sort of vague, though they weren’t nearly as elaborate systems as the crafts his people manned. One was abandoned nearby- partially over the curb, the driver side door open and he made his way over to that promising piece of work. The moment he peered in however, he reeled back because from its depths a zombie lunged. He ducked sideways and the zombie tumbled over him- scrambling upright as it hit the pavement to run at Cassie instead of him (despite him being closer) and he knew it wasn’t because he jumped upon the hood of the car to get away from it. He jumped, kicking the zombie in the head and driving it to the asphalt. “We are taking the car.” He lifted the crow bar and smashed the unfortunate zombie’s head in.

No more appeared upon the death of their comrade and he drew back with a wary air before hurrying to the car. “I hope you know how to operate one of these things.” He commented while getting into the passenger side and shutting the door. Fortunately the key was in the ignition- unfortunately there was a bad smell coming from the back. While he took a quick look the only sign there had been something foul was some dried blood. With a small groan of displeasure he rolled down his window for some fresh air.

[AHeartlessNobody]

After she had asked about taking a vehicle for their long journey, it was long before the car they would be taking was spotted, sitting on the curb. She though was a little more hesitant to run up to it than he was, especially with the door to it being wide open. She followed slowly, standing a little ways back, and soon it was clear this had been a good decision because one of those disgusting creatures had launched itself out of the car and at Rex. She quickly took a few steps back, going to grab her gun as the zombie went to lung at her next, only Rex got to it first, kicking it down and smashing its head in with the crow bar. When she had first saw him with the crowbar, she had though it wasn't a very good weapon. But apparently she had been wrong about that. It was definitely good for close range fighting, that was for sure. She would have to make sure to pick up something like that on their trip to keep when her gun was not an option.

Stepping over the dead zombie, she made it over to the car, sliding into the drivers seat, surprised to find the keys were still in the ignition. Well, at least that would save some time in her now not having to hotwire it. She grinned at him and shrugged, closing the driver side door, "Depends on what you mean by driving. Have I ever driven one? No. But I've seen my uncle do it and I drove a go-cart a lot when I was a kid before the invasion happened. It can't be too different from that." She commented, turning the keys and after a few tries, it finally came to life. It took her a moment to remember, thinking back to her uncle driving the truck he had stolen and always took with them, but she finally put the car into gear and after rolling own her own window, began driving, trying to get out of the city as quick as she could without alerting the aliens to their presence.

[Toothless]

Because he had never rode in a car before he couldn’t say whether or not Cassie was a bad driver but to be fair she hadn’t crashed into anything thus far so he was going to say she was. Now this had seemed like a good plan but the roar of the motor shuddered in the air, alerting nearby zombies and (if their luck didn’t hold up) his own people as well. Accidents had occurred on the roadways in previous days- back when the infection was still early in its swing but far enough along into the chaos that emergency operations had been suspended, this was what was left, the crumple corpses of steel. Vehicles abandoned in masses. Starved for fuel and trapped by road blocks. Rex knew that many of the humans had continued on foot in desperation to escape to the country. They had waited to long for their journey to be reasonable- carrying the virus with them to whatever safe havens were left. He wondered, would they find any other humans out here? Perhaps more that were immune.

His thoughts were interrupted as he caught a glimpse of movement from the corner of his eye. He yanked the steering wheel and a shot of bright plasma intended for them blasted the pavement. For a second steering was out of the question. They veered across the sidewalk- nearly missing a road sign before returning to the street “peddle to the metal Cassie!” He shouted over the sound of more gunfire. With distance they should be in the clear. Two asirans were running across the remaining rooftops though- putting inhuman speed to use. Soon they were clearing that outskirts though and the asirans slowed to a stop. Relief swelled with him for a moment but even if for a moment their drive smoothed it was short lived.

A concentrated shot from a far distance ruptured their tire and the rim ground against the asphalt causing the car to swerve. “Brake! BRAKE!” Or that’s what they’d be doing- breaking. They plowed into the grass, sliding down a steep incline and bumping through some bushes (which thankfully only helped to slow them down). They stopped when they hit a retention pond, the nose of the car sinking into the muck.

[AHeartlessNobody]

At first, Cassie thought they might be in the clear. The zombies that were alerted by the sound of the car roaring to life didn't really scare her. The car could easily out run any of those zombies. Or plow them over if need be. So, she started driving, quickly down the road, when suddenly Rex had reached over and jerked the steering wheel, a bright flash of plasma scorching the pavement where the car would have been if not for him turning the wheel. She struggled to get the car back on the street, jerking the wheel another way to avoid a street sign before pressing her foot sharply on the pedal, the car speeding up in attempt to outrun the aliens. Glancing out the car window as she drove, she could see the aliens running across rooftops with a speed that was definitely alarming. What if they were able to catch up to them. The thought of being caught by those aliens caused fear to swell inside her and made her press on the gas harder, the car speeding up even more until there was a loud sound of a blast, followed by the car suddenly being thrown off balance.

She let out a scream, immediately going for the break as he said and at the same time, trying to turn the car at an angle were they wouldn't go rolling down the hill, which would surely cause too much damage to them to walk away from. Thankfully though, she was able to stay in control of the vehicle, a string of curses leaving her lips as she turned the wheel this way and that until they bumped into some bushes and landed in a pond, where the car began to sink slowly. She knew it best to not open the car door and let the water flood in, and so, she began to climb out of the car window, "Don't open the doors or you'll be trapped for a few minutes by the water until it gets done flooding it." Once she had climbed out of the window, she swam to the shore and looked to him, "Lets get moving. We an get another car later. Now though we have to get out of here before those aliens catch up."

With that, she started running, along side him, keeping her gun in hand now in case those aliens were able to catch up to them. Hopefully not, but if they did she would be ready to fight for her life. Though, she was sure they out did her and would likely kill her anyway, she wouldn't go down with at least trying to defend herself. But, maybe if they got far enough away, or found a good place to hide, she wouldn't have to fight, "Any bright ideas, Rex?" She asked as she ran along side him, glancing back every once a while nervously, waiting to see the aliens in the distance.

[Toothless]

It may have not been too jarring for her to hit the water like that but it took Rex a moment to shake off the feeling of the sudden stop- even if he knew it could have been a lot worse. Seeing the water swelling up around the car certainly helped to knock off his daze and thankfully she had said something, since he had immediately reached for the door handle. He climbed out his own window instead after grabbing his pack and dropped down into the pond with shudder at the chill before paddling after her. It took him a little longer than he would have liked since he was attempting to keep his belongings dry but as soon as they touched dry land they ran.

“This way” Rex veered to the right towards a thicket of trees where a sniper would be hard pressed to get a clear shot on them. He lead them through there- kicking up loose leafs and startling small animals. Soon they had reached the other side and the road was in view once more. Rex slowed- catching his breath in great gasps and displaying a crooked smile for her. “You know hu- morously” He had altered the word hastily before he mistakenly said ’humans’ “people tend to get lost in the woods because they believe they are walking in a straight line… when really their primary foot will cause them to always angle one way more than the other.” He pointed out pointlessly before looking ahead “well, we must have at least covered a couple miles.”

[AHeartlessNobody]

Cassie turned and followed him when he suddenly veered in another direction, leading them into the thicket of a forest, the two of them darting between trees, and she couldn't help to think going into the woods both a smart and a not o smart idea. Smart because she guessed it would be harder for the aliens to shoot at them or find them in the woods. Not so smart idea because it was a possibly they could get lost in these woods if they didn't know which direction to head. Thankfully though, he seemed to know where to go because they after a while came out on the other side of the woods, the road in sight. She sighed in relief and looked back at him as he spoke, giving a shrug, "Well, its a good thing you were aware of that and able to keep us in the right direction." Walking forward a little and searching the road for another vehicle they might be able to take, thinking about how glad she was that both of them were pretty quick runners.

She herself had always been faster than her peers, even as a child running about on the playground. And now, that speed was very handy for staying out of harms way. And at least he was fast himself. It was probably that factor that had kept them both alive all this time she supposed. But, putting those thoughts aside for now, she looked about, spotting another car that seemed to be in at least usable condition. She motioned for him to follow and she walked over to it cautiously, taking her gun into her hand just in case it ended up there might be a zombie around this one as well. But fortunately, she approached it, peaking into the windows of the car and looking all around it, there was no creature in or around it.

Nodding to herself, she opened up the car door and got into the drivers seat, only to groan in annoyance when she saw there was no key in the ignition, "I'm going to have to hotwire it. This might take a minute so keep an eye out." Leaning down, she went under the dash and to the wires that were there. She had seen her uncle do this once before and so it was rather easy to pick out which wires were the ones she needed to use. That, and she was already fairly smart, considering her father had been a robotics engineer. Her uncle had told her that her mother had been very smart as well, but because Cassie knew close to nothing about her mother she wasn't sure what her mother had done that made her so smart. But, either way, she supposedly came from two very smart people and that affected her a lot.

Finally, the car came to life and she smirked, "Good." Sitting up, she situated herself in the seat, closing the car door, "Come on Rex. Lets get out of here before those aliens manage to catch up again."

[Toothless]

Rex wasn't really worried about zombies and he was under the impression that this was the same case for Cassie- he wasn't sure why though. Sure she kept an eye out for them but they clearly weren't the main priority on her list. His understanding was that the humans that were immune were only such to the airborne portion of the virus. So she really should be a little more concerned. 'Aliens' weren't their only problem here. Then again the roadway was by all means deserted. It was just them, this abandoned car and a brisk wind.He regarded her actions from the corner of her eye, curious about her intention. Could such a hunk of metal be started up by fiddling under the dashboard? Hotwiring was not something he even recalled hearing about- forget knowing how it was done.

A slight crackle of branches brought his attention back to the forest and he turned his head to look. After a moment he was pretty confident that it was just a wild animal though and so abandoned the thought of it to get in the car, closing the door and looking at Cassie "that's a good idea. Let's get on it." He unfolded the map to look it over "we have one of two choices, take the interstate and risk getting run down by the aliens or get off at the next exit and take the city streets and risk getting mauled by zombies."

[AHeartlessNobody]

Leaning over to look at the map that Rex had in his hands, she thought about the two opens, running them through in her head, biting the inside of her cheek before she sighed and sat up straight, "Well, getting mauled by zombies didn't sound too pleasant. And getting shot by aliens seems to sound equally unappealing. So I guess we're choosing the best of two bads. She sighed, leaning her head back for a moment as she thought to herself, "Well, we seem to at least be a little ahead of those aliens, and the interstate would be a straight shot, so that would probably get us to our destination faster. So, I guess we're go for the interstate." Looking back forward again and straightening up, she put the car into drive and sped off, turning down a few streets, glancing at the map every once and a while to make sure she was going the right way, before they finally made it to the interstate and she was able to speed up, going in a straight line and pretty quickly.

It was silent for a while and with it getting later into the night, she knew in a few more hours the sun would be coming up for morning. If she was honest, she felt kind of drained from all of this. She hadn't slept in close to two days and knew soon she would have to or risk being of little use if they did run into either the aliens or the zombies. So, as she drove, she spoke, keeping her eyes on the road, "In a couple of hours I'm going to need you to take over the wheel so I can get some sleep. That is, unless you want me to fall asleep at the wheel and kill us both." She stated, glancing over it him and then back at the road, "Don't worry, it won't be too hard. Its just a straight shot. No turning or anything needed. But until then, if I were you, I'd get some sleep yourself. We still have another day or two of driving until we get to the north."

After that, she went quiet again, driving some more, and to her surprise, things went without a hitch during her driving. She made it longer than she had thought she would and four hours after letting him know he would have to drive when she had to sleep, she nudged him with her elbow, speaking, "Okay, Rex. I'm going to let you take over." Gradually slowing the car to a smooth stop, she got out and moved over to the passenger side, explaining to him the basics of the car while she did, like where certain things were, what they did, and while she did, it was pretty clear just how tired she was, her words quiet, mixed with yawns, and her movements somewhat sluggish. Once she had explained everything to him, she buckled up and leaned her seat back, giving another yawn as she curled up there the best she could, closing her eyes, not too long after fell asleep.

[Toothless]

While Rex wasn’t sure this was the preferred route (zombies were simpler adversaries), it was a much straighter shot. He watched exit signs slink away behind them as they picked up speed and soon they felt close to untouchable. Or at least this was the perception that Rex had.

His gaze turned wary at the mention of her exhaustion. Well studied on human medicine he understood that sleep depravation can have a number of physiological effects, including but not limited to: confusion, headaches and hallucinations. If he was diagnosing her though he’d say her case was not too extreme but as she stated- she would need some sleep soon. A single earth hour would not cause her much more distress and would allow him necessary rest to be attentive when it was his turn to take over. He thought later that maybe he should have stayed awake so he could have convinced her to sleep sooner.

As it was she nudged him awake and by then he was pretty sure the sun made decent progress in the sky. He rubbed his eyes and then immediately sat up straight as she got out of the car. Waking fully to do the same and come around to the other side. They switched seats and he took note of her instructions- frowning to himself until she settled down. “Don’t worry. I got this.” She was out almost immediately. He was sure it wasn’t due to an abundance of confidence in him but mere fatigue. Even as his driving started out a bit choppy she didn’t stir. Eventually the ride smoothed out as he got the hang of it.

Hours passed like this. There was moments that he thought of how perfect an opportunity this would be to take a blood sample but at the same time- he worried about her waking up and bringing about a bunch of tension. He kept his gaze focused on the road instead. He didn’t mind the car’s meters and didn’t realize they were running out of gas until the vehicle was chugging with protest. Gradually they decelerated until they came to a stop and he sat silently for a moment, unsure of what to make of the delay. A few seconds longer and he got out. Popping the hood and making a face at the primitive engineering. Did this thing still use fossil fuels? He pinched the brim of his nose and looked to their surroundings. There was an interstate exit about a mile ahead of them. Quietly shutting the hood he got back into the car- exhaled- and then gave Cassie a shake by her shoulder. “We’re out of fuel. I’m going to run over to the nearest station and get some more.”

He reached past her, to the space below her seat and picked up the crowbar. “Just stay here. You aren’t going to be much use, as tired as you are.”