Hope For Survival
The next morning.
The four youths were sitting on the ground, exhausted from the previous night's chase, luckily, they survived. But now they had to face a far greater danger, surviving until they found a new settlement. Of the four of them, Alan was the only one who had some snack bars in his bag, and there was no way it would last them for a week.
Since the apocalypse, the snack bars made are filled with energy boosters. A single snack bar could keep one person energized for a whole day.
"Come on, we need to start heading east, I heard there's a big settlement there, and they have more awakened." Alan suggested.
"How far is it from our current location?" Ezekiel asked.
This was the most important question, even though they know where they were currently going might ensure their survival, the issue was getting there alive.
Alan brought out a map from his bag, looking at it closely, he made some calculations, "Roughly two hundred kilometers."
"What?!" Ezekiel and the other two exclaimed in disbelief.
How were they going to cover such distance by foot, with Siliks roaming around?
They might have been lucky to escape the previous night, but that was all thanks to Ezekiel's prepared traps. How were they going to escape if seen again?
"It's our only choice, I don't think the smaller settlements will want to add us to their ranks, getting food is already a big issue for small settlements, and adding more mouths to feed is not something some people will want to do." Alan explained.
The others knew this, but the distance was something they weren't confident in being able to cover on foot. It would take days for them to travel, first of all, they would be out of food before then. Other than that, there's also the possibility of encountering Siliks. They might have been lucky in surviving the previous night's attack, but they wouldn't always be lucky.
"We have no choice, we'll walk by day and rest by night." Ezekiel stood up and encouraged the others.
Being the eldest, and also the one who ensured their survival, he was the leader of the group, so they all listened to him.
Everyone nodded, and the group left the building they were hiding in and their journey to salvation began.
….
Four days went by in the blink of an eye, and the group had already traveled a considerable distance. Even with their cautious movements, they'd already gone almost a hundred kilometers, but they were exhausted from the constant walking.
The night's rest doesn't seem to be enough, and their food source was almost finished. One thing that was worth mentioning was that Siliks wasn't the group's only problem, animals were also part of it.
After the invasion, regular animals evolved as well, becoming more brutal and fiercer. There are even cases of them killing Siliks. The only issue was that humans haven't been able to get them under control.
These animals didn't only get fiercer, but they were larger as well, at least eight times their original size. Some even go over ten times their previous size, with multiplied strength and all.
Unfortunately for them, their defenses aren't as strong as Siliks, so humans tend to kill them whenever the chance presents itself. If it could be taken into captivity, then it would be dropped in a zone filled with Siliks so it could fight against them, at least killing a few before getting killed by the Siliks.
The group had encountered these evolved animals but had been able to silently navigate through them without being caught or noticed.
….
Two days later.
In the middle of the night.
"Alan, faster!" Ezekiel yelled as he ran through the woods, gasping for air.
Alan soon ran into view. Of the two other youths who were following them, only one of them was still alive, and he was already injured from an attack they encountered not too long ago.
They ran through the woods, the last youth who was already injured was finding it difficult to keep up with the duo, but he couldn't stop because behind him was a Silik that was already getting close to them.
The reason they managed to get a head start was the fourth youth who was killed. They didn't stay behind to help, it wasn't like there was anything they could do anyway.
This youth was bleeding from his right leg, and it was impeding his speed.
Crash! Thud!
He accidentally tripped on a tree root, falling on the ground. He tried to stand up quickly, but he could already hear the sound of the Silik behind him, standing and watching him.
He turned around shaking from fear, he didn't want to die, yet, he knew his current situation was guaranteed death.
"Ah!" He screamed as he picked up a stick while still lying down.
He used it to hit the Silik, but it didn't even flinch when it was hit by the stick. With a simple swipe of its claws, it tore the young man apart.
Alan and Ezekiel heard the scream of the young man, and they knew his fate. They couldn't help but tense up, if they didn't run faster, that would be their fate as well. But the problem was, how could they outrun a Silik?
They soon came out of the woods, entering the main road. As they ran forward, they caught sight of a light that was coming from a considerable distance away.
They didn't even need to speak to each other, as if they could communicate telepathically, they simultaneously turned in that direction, running as if their life depended on it. Well… it did.
The Silik came out of the woods soon after, blood all over its body. It gave chase after the two youths who were running towards the light.
Some meters away from Alan and Ezekiel.
A van was rushing forward, behind it were four Siliks giving chase. These ones were bigger and faster than the one that was chasing after Alan and Ezekiel.
In the van.
Five people could be seen inside, all worried as they stared at the window at the back. These five were two men and three women, they were all wearing white laboratory coats, with one of the men holding onto a suitcase tightly.
"We have to get this to the main settlement quickly."