To Ashfield

Being in the driver's seat is unusual as your nerves are on high alert as soon as you leave the pebbled courtyard and the gated fence closes mechanically with a firm rattle. Your hands grip the steering wheel a little tighter, your knuckles whiten and your heart rate spikes. "Michael?" Hina asks in a shaky voice. Snapping your head to her with precision, her wide-eyed stare catches you off-guard. "Why are we not going?"

Scanning the surrounding treeline quickly you chuckle a breath of relief. "Sorry. It's just the first time we've been outside of the walls since this started... I wasn't sure what I was expecting." Her small hand warms your arm as she gently holds the bottom of your hand and wrist.

"It will be fine Michael. I know you will keep us safe." Her confidence in you settles the underlining worries that lingered in the back of your mind. With a new found drive you shift into first gear and set out on the small road that winds down, connecting your house to the main road.

The car slowly pulls to a stop at the empty junction. You look to the left, then the right, then left, right, left... It's empty. You'd predicted it would be but actually seeing it is unnerving. At this time, before the outbreak, there would have been at least one car in the minute you've been sat. Okay maybe not but... You pull out and turn left while picking up speed. The drive home you were distracted so hadn't paid much attention, this time every little detail seems to stand out either by looking slightly weird or oddly new.

Off in the distance the skyscrapers of Ashfield can be seen looming above the trees that shroud the car in shadows. You're getting close. "Hina you know the way right? We're not gonna need a map or anything?" You ask whilst focusing on the road.

"Yes I should know my way once we get deeper. Or if we get to the train station." Your brows furrow in thought as you muse your options. Going further into the city with the will draw the infected in but if we have to get away at least it'll be nearby to leave quickly. "Do you know where Blackburn Technologies tower is?"

"Huh?" Her odd question stops your rambling thoughts.

"The tower is easy to find and I will definitely know where to go from there." You glance over for a second and in that second you see pained eyes forcing a determined look out off the front window followed by a burning in your right palm. The random pain cause the steering wheel to jerk, throwing the car into a swerve. Hina screams. You release that hand from the wheel and use your other to regain control of the car while attempting not to flip it. Straightening up you slow down a little.

"Sorry Hina. Are you okay?" She's breathing deeply with a hand clutching her chest.

"Fine, yes... I'm fine." You look down at your burning palm, the holes have fully healed over leaving seven small scars in their wake. In three days! What?

"I- Uh... I know where that tower is. I'll take us there." You mutter. Breaking from the forest edge, the car speeds across the open road that covers the ring clearing to the edge of Ashfield. Buildings of different shapes and sizes fill and surround every inch of land the can scrounge up. Judging the buildings you're arriving from the south-east road which cuts through the more white collar businesses however not exclusive to them.

The road exiting Ashfield is blocked. A large semi truck is on it's side, crushing two cars and crumpled into a third, that blocks the width of the road. Beyond the blockage is a back log of other empty vehicles that cluster tightly together, most of them having their doors left open. Which way did they all run though? Hina gasps upon spying the scene and curls into a ball, hugging her knees against her large chest.

"Just close you're eyes. I'll let you know when we're passed." You calmly speak, holding down a fresh wave of uncertainty. She cries quietly into her knees. The sound of the engine muffling most of her sobs.

Passing by the crash site a figure further down, in the cluster of cars, flops over the barrier that separates the two sides and slowly picks themselves up. They seem to focus on the car as you shoot towards them.