Chapter 4

Hayes awoke to an aching pain in his arm. "Hold still I'm almost done." Hayes heard a familiar voice in his waking daze. Lilith was wrapping a gauze around his badly damaged arm. The pain was unbearable, it took all of his willpower not to remove his arm from her grasp. He looked down at his aching limb. It was a bright red from the bite on his arm down to his hand. A day had passed since the attack, Hayes was laying in Odis' bed. Hayes got up feeling a weakness encumbering his body, he slowly moved to the workshop.

A stench filled the air inside the workshop. On the ground a colossal body could be seen, on it's face was a dreadful bloody grin. Even in death Ronos had that dreadful look. Hayes moved towards the ham radio, checking to see if it was still intact. Fortunately, the radio had remained untouched. He powered it on and found the same broadcast. "Warning to all intelligent life on earth, you have six days to join humanity on the fleet. The fleet will be discontinuing its last outpost on the west coast. Again you have six days, this broadcast will update daily with the remaining time before departure." They had one day left, Hayes had only left the outlands once. That was in search of the medicine for his mother. He had no idea how long the journey would take, but he knew they had to leave immediately.

Hayes found Lilith struggling in her backyard with a shovel in hand. She was digging a grave, a stout body was nearby. She was burying her father. Hayes grabbed a shovel with his bandaged arm. Wincing at the spike in pain he pushed through finishing the burial. Only the shuffling of dirt could be heard, they were both silent. After the burial Lilith went inside her home, she had been silent since she had bandaged him. Lilith was close to her father, Hayes knew this was going to be a heavy loss on her heart. He went inside after her to find her sitting in her room silently. "Lilith, I am sorry about your father." Lilith had her back turned to him, Hayes knew why. He approached from the side to see a red face filled with tears. Hayes hugged her tight. " I was going to leave him... We were going to leave him here." Lilith broke her silence. Lilith broke the hug suddenly and left the room. Hayes sat stunned. He knew it was the right choice at the time but the loss still remained. Despite the weight of the loss, Hayes knew they needed to leave. Emotions would need to take a backseat for now. He gathered his supplies, checked the bike and headed back into the house. Inside the house Lilith was eating toast in the kitchen silently. Hayes approached her. "We need to leave now! I know you're hurting, but we need to leave!" Lilith ignored him. Hayes grabbed each of Lilith's shoulders and shook her. "DO YOU THINK YOUR FATHER WANTED YOU TO DIE HERE? THE SETTLEMENT IS DESTROYED! WE ARE LEAVING!"

The journey to the coast started that afternoon. Hayes rode the bike with Lilith behind him. It took great effort to use his left arm to operate the bike due to his injuries. The pain had subsided but the ache remained. All Hayes could see on this road was sand, not a single sign of life. No buildings or greenery could be found in any direction, he was in an ocean of sand. Six hours into the journey Hayes had to stop, he could feel his arm going numb. He needed to find some kind of shelter, he would not last much longer. Finally Hayes found an old rest stop, the bathrooms would provide great shelter. "We are going to stop here for the night. Ok?" Lilith remained silent. Lilith hopped off the bike, grabbed her pack and went into the women's restroom. Hayes parked the bike inside the men's, put down a tarp and passed out.

In the midst of his rest he squinted his eyes open, he could see a concerned Lilith over him. She had a rag in hand wiping away his sweat. Hayes forced himself up knowing they had limited time to reach the outpost. A dizziness swept over his body, his vision was hazy. "How long have I been asleep?" Hayes asked. Lilith put up two fingers. "Two days! We need to leave!" Lilith waved both hands in a downward motion, as if telling him to calm down. Hayes knew if he tried riding now he would be useless due to his condition. Hayes laid back down reluctantly. Another day would pass before Hayes recovered to a ridable state. Lilith watched over him every day nursing him back to health. Three days remained before the fleet would leave earth forever. Hayes still a bit weak from the last few days, mounted the bike with Lilith and headed down the desert path.

Twelve more hours passed on the road, Hayes was feeling better now. The ache was still there, but it was only the ache. Ahead a couple of old cars sat blocking the road. 'A trap?' Hayes thought. Up until this point the journey had been a smooth ride, nothing slowing them down. Hayes knew how these worked and stopped before getting closer. He and Lilith would walk the bike around the blockage until the road was clear again. It took the both of their combined effort to move the bike through the coarse sand. They were almost there, Hayes could smell the salt in the air. At a distance he could see the raiders behind the cars waiting for some poor soul to make the mistake of trying to move the wreckage. One of them had a shine on their head, it seemed to be as bright as the sun. A reflection. "Shit drop the bike we need to run!" Hayes realized the raider had binoculars.

When the raider noticed the couple running now, he dropped his goggles and signaled the others to give chase. Due to the weight of their supplies the distance between the two decreased rapidly. Hayes knew it would be a fight, he readied his shotgun loading two shells. Lilith did the same loading a bolt into the crossbow. There were four of them, they were approaching quickly. THUNK! Lilith nailed one of the raiders in the forehead with a bolt. Three left. Hayes started moving towards the charging raiders. He knew the crossbow wouldn't be ready in time for the raiders' arrival. BANG! The raider leading the charge had been hit in a chest with a blast leaving a fist sized hole in his chest. The other two hesitated for a moment until they noticed something, Hayes had dropped his weapon. The recoil was too much for Hayes aching arm, causing him to drop the shotgun. They approached him with newfound confidence. The two raiders had a tire iron and a board with nails. Hayes had to keep them at bay just long enough for Lilith to finish. He looked back to see her progress nearly there, but they were right in front of him. WHACK! The tire iron came first striking Hayes on the side. He held on to the tire iron and isolated the raiders arm. He couldn't take another strike like that. Every breath hurt now, just a little bit longer. The board came next, an overhead swing was delivered from the other raider. Just before it could land Hayes used all of his strength to shift the raider still holding the tire iron in front of the incoming board. WHACK! "FUCK" The board struck the raider on the shoulder. The tire iron felt to the ground with the raider. Unfortunately, the raider swinging the board had noticed this and stopped some of the momentum from the swing. The board came horizontally this time too fast for Hayes to react. WHACK! It struck his aching arm. Hayes fell to the ground. The board broke from the second swing. The raider began to beat Hayes punching him in the ribs where the tire iron had struck before. Hayes covered his neck. THUNK! The raider standing over Hayes fell on top of him, his eyes had gone lifeless.

Lilith had finally loaded a second shot into the crossbow. The raider with the tire iron looked at his dead comrade and charged at her with lightning speed. Before he can reach her a hand grabbed his ankle from underneath the body. Tripping the raider. Before the raider can recover Hayes crawls from underneath the body like the undead coming back to life. He crawled over the man, drew his knife and started stabbing the raider in the chest. "AHHHHH" Hayes had a crazy look in his eyes. He was stabbing wildly, the raider had died minutes ago; Hayes hadn't noticed. The fury had overcome him, he would not let her die. She was the only family he had left. "Stop! Stop! He's dead already!" Lilith came from behind hugging Hayes. Only then did he calm himself, feeling her warmth. His heart calmed. With difficulty Hayes stood up from the body. His breathing was ragged, his arm ached, but he was alive.

The couple journeyed for another hour, heading west watching for the outpost light. In the distance a gated tower could be seen with a light at the center. They had reached the outpost. 'Just a bit further' Hayes thought. It was dusk when they reached the entrance, Hayes was disoriented and fell to the ground. A group of guards carried him and Lilith into the outpost.