Page 98 of What Remains

Outside, snow continued to fall, covering their tire tracks, covering the blood from yesterday's ambush, covering the broken world one flake at a time.

Inside, surrounded by enough supplies to keep dozens of people alive through many many winters, Seth couldn't shake the certainty that somewhere beyond those silent streets, someone was watching.

The last of the supplies had been loaded into Beast and the Suburban, the trailer and the horse trailer they borrowed from the ranch. Jay slammed the tailgate shut with a satisfied grin.

"If the cabin can't make it through winter now, we're doing something wrong."

Cara made a final, decisive slash across her notebook. "That's it. Everything we came for."

Jay patted the side of the Suburban, the sound a punctuation mark on their success. "And then some."

Cara looked over the mountain of supplies and let out a slow breath. "We've done more in five hours than I thought we'd manage all week." She smiled at Seth. "You picked a good first stop."

Seth didn't answer. He stood at the edge of the loading dock, his gaze sweeping the empty parking lot where the only movement was snow blowing across the asphalt.

Cade walked up beside him, his voice flat and certain. "You feel it too."

Seth nodded almost imperceptibly. "It's wrong."

The younger Marine folded his arms against the cold. "We've made too much noise."

Jay climbed down from the truck. "We haven't fired a shot."

"No," Seth said. "But we've had engines running. Doors opening. Five hours of loading supplies." He looked toward the highway. "If there are people nearby, they know someone's here."

Silence settled over the group. Even Jay's grin faded.

Cara closed her notebook. "So what do we do?"

"We don't assume we're alone."

Seth scanned the rooftops across the shopping center, and suddenly every dark window looked capable of hiding someone, every parked vehicle turned suspicious. He glanced toward Cade. "What do you see?"

Cade didn't answer immediately, sweeping the district slowly with his eyes before speaking. "When's the last time you heard an infected?"

Jay frowned. "...What?"

"The last growl. The last moan. The last one wandering into view.”

No one answered—they couldn't remember. The entire shopping district had gone completely still.

Josie looked toward the street, understanding arriving cold and sudden. "They're gone."

"No," Seth said. "They moved."

The realization settled over everyone at once. Infected didn't disappear. They were drawn by sound, by movement, by them. The silence wasn't an absence of threat—it was a relocation.

Cara's whisper was barely audible. "They know we're here."

A metallic clang echoed somewhere beyond the neighboring buildings.

Everyone froze. The sound wasn't theirs. It came from farther down the block. Another clang. Then silence.

Seth shouldered his rifle. "Cade."

The other Marine had already begun moving. Without a word, the two men crossed the loading dock and slipped between the buildings, rifles raised.

Jay watched them disappear. "They don't even have to talk."