#tessacampbell

It was quiet. At least, that's what she was convincing herself of. Rose was shutting herself off from the noises outside. The crack and crunch of skulls being crushed, the metal wall being hit time and time again and oud gunshots over it all. She couldn't quite remember when the group had realized they were under attack. It had been in the morning that was for sure, though technically, the sun hadn't reached its zenith yet. It had felt like hours to her, but she knew that no more than fifteen minutes had passed. Something had been at the window, or perhaps one of the patrols had seen someone, she didn't know. There wasn't much she could do for the group. She had to take care of Noah. Nothing was more important.

Her gun was at her hip, and the weight of the weapon grounded her. If anyone came in through those doors, she would be expected to kill him or her. Just the thought of one of her bullets going through someone's forehead, someone alive, it made her shudder. She was not spared and given her powers to kill.

Rose turned away from the doors and walked along the length of the mess hall. Most of the benches had been pushed to the sides of the room for the people that wished to sleep on the floor, but a few remained on the far side, close to where people had lined up to be served. Her back was towards the main entrance when Noah started to cry. Short and loud wails that seemed fill every single inch of the mess hall and beyond. Her feet stumbled back to one of the benches while she told herself to take deep breaths. The group wouldn't let anyone pass through the walls. They were made of steel, they were impenetrable anyway. 

Thomas cursed under his breath at the growing horde in front of him. The street was more isolated than the others, but the sheer size and population of the country's former capital is overwhelming for a single person. Gettysburg was easier, there weren't as many streets to get lost in, and the move was significantly shorter than this one. Buildings threw shadows over the streets, and though it was still daytime, he was hesitant to leave his car in case he got lost on his way to the group's relocation point. The sound of his car drew the zombies' attention towards the black SUV, making them redirect their path in search of the source of the noise. He had to ditch his car for now, come back for it later if he could. Thomas reached into the backseat, grabbed several knives from the briefcase and put them into his bag, and slung the large dufflebag over his shoulder.

The air wasn't as cold anymore, but the wind still bit harshly at his cheeks while he walked around the car. A few shamblers were still making their way towards him, but they were nothing to be severely worried about for now. His rifle was the only thing he retrieved from the open space of the trunk, along with a few boxes of ammo he shoved into a spare pocket. Going at this alone probably wasn't the best idea he'd ever had, but the few people he could see trying to get around the horde as quickly as possible weren't very viable options.

It was chaos. The entire street that was supposed to lead them safely through Harrisburg was completely swarmed by monsters. Of course, the survivors were holding their own, but they were so outnumbered Thomas didn't really have a good feeling about how they would escape this death trap of a city.

He was almost at the very back of the caravan, watching the action from there since he was hesitant to leave his vehicle in the city. Two or three cars were still idling behind him, but in front there were all sorts of cars strewn about the asphalt, including an overturned truck. The initial swarm had passed, but that meant that all the abandoned cars were left unprotected. Without the vehicles, getting out of Harrisburg would be nearly impossible, and it would leave the group scattered.  Cursing, Thomas carefully maneuvered his way out of the line of cars, planning on getting near the front and forming some kind of protection for the vehicles. Maybe he'd have a better chance of success if he had someone with him, but he hadn't picked anyone up today.

It wasn't easy work, but after a few minutes he'd managed to run over three shamblers, one unidentified monster, and quite a few abandoned stands that littered the sidewalks, In the end, he had left a small path of destruction with his car, certainly enough for another one to get through if they decided to abandon the rest of the group. His black Land Rover screeched to a complete stop, it rested sideways along the street, hopefully to provide some sort of barricade to keep from too many undead walking past him with their heads still attached to their bodies. 

Thomas sighed as he exited his car, slamming the door forcefully behind him and cracking his knuckles as he jumped onto the road. He could already see a curious group of shamblers coming from an adjacent street, wondering if the sound of his car coming to a stop meant that their meal had arrived. He jumped over his car, sliding on the hood so he could meet them head on. His boots were practically silent on the ground as the coming horde started to groan and moan at the smell of his flesh. Suddenly, the cold that been bothering him a few minutes before disappeared. He was filled with a burning desire to rip skin from muscle and muscle from bone until the entire way out of Harrisburg was painted with dark red splatters of rotting blood.