DAY 4


Dallen gave a wave back to Erin, as Lucy took him to the side with a stressed look on her face.  The two hadn't spoken to each other much, and things felt like they were going a little too fast.  She felt she knew Dallen enough to know that he was just keeping himself busy.  She knew he was defeated inside and was just wearing a mask to the others.

"You should stay," Lucy told him.  "You just lost your daughter Dallen, you need time to grieve.  Stop putting others before yourself, let me go instead.  I can hold my own with these runners."

[color=steelblue] "It's been four days since this all started," [/color] Dallen began.  [color=steelblue] "In four days, Mecha city was destroyed.  If the dead come here, everyone will die.  The only chance any of us have is to gather what we need now, that way we can be better prepared.  There's no time to grieve." [/color]

Kenjen and Gwen set a large sheet of paper down on the hood of the van they were going to take.  Gwen drew a rough outline of the hospital she spotted a few days ago, marking the entrances.  

"Mercy hospital, four stories high and built like a fort," Gwen stated.  "It's surrounded by trees, no other large buildings around it.  When this all started, the news said people were being evacuated from there, as well as the county it belongs to.  Trumble county."

"I've been there before," Blake added.  "Just a normal hospital.  It's a small residential area."

"If it was evacuated, that would have been just a few days ago," Kenjen said.  "There's a good chance it's still stocked with supplies.  Everyone gets a backpack, fill it with as much as you can carry.  If you have any questions out there, Gwen's a doctor!"

"-Nurse," she corrected him.  "And I was still in school, but I'll help if I can."

"We have two teams, team A and team B," Kenjen said.  "I will control team A, Elizabeth and Lucy, you're with me.  We enter here." He pointed it out on the map.  "Gwen, Dallen, and Blake, you enter here.  Go in, stay together, and clear as much as you can.  We meet back here."  Again, he pointed it out.  It's 18 miles out, so we should get started."

They all entered the van together, with Gwen driving and Kenjen in the passenger seat.  The rest piled into the back, and they were off. 

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The drive was relatively quiet.  Some were busy with their own thoughts, while others just didn't want to speak out with all to hear.  Lucy sat next to Dallen, but she said no more to him.  Instead she just stared out the window at the farms and the trees pass by.

"There's a lot of places out here we still can check out," Kenjen said as they passed a small town.  "Those places might have to be another day, though."  

They were still on the mountain, driving away from the ranger station.  The mountains in this area were massive and had many open areas.  So large that little towns and businesses were built amongst them.  The farms were off in the distance, down the slopes and closer to the flat grounds.  The view was beautiful, but the sun was at its peak in the sky and the harshness of its heat reigned down on them all.  

When they arrived, the van was parked atop a hill overlooking Mercy hospital.  It was eerily quiet and the building appeared to be empty, with only few abandoned vehicles still left in the parking lot.  The group all got together with their team of three, and they headed out.  The plan was to scavenge for thirty minutes, then head back to the van.  

Kenjen led Elizabeth and Lucy down toward the back entrance where the emergency room was.  The double doors were wide open, and inside was dark and dank.  Lucy took to the rear, she carried a handgun and stepped carefully as they approached.  Kenjen also held a gun in his hands, going slow as to avoid any unnecessary mistakes.  He hadn't dealt with the undead yet, but he knew how fast they were.  He knew how one could turn into many in just a few moments, as was seen on the news broadcasts early on.

"So, Elizabeth, is it?" Kenjen asked.  "That little girl, Erin, is she yours or...I mean, regardless, she completely trusts you.  I can tell."

They entered the hospital emergency room, keeping their voices at a whisper and their toes quiet.  They could see that the initial room was completely emptied, and so were the hallways the branched out from it.  Lucy jumped behind the counter and started opening up some medical cabinets, tossing a few things into her backpack as Kenjen talked with Elizabeth.