Chapter Forty-Eight

It took two days of traveling over what they considered treacherous ground to reach Hope. Between keeping their eyes open for newly made alien and amazon zombies and the wild beasts- many of which were prehistoric- their nerves were completely spent by the time they stumbled into Arthur’s house.

Alice was sitting on the porch when she spotted them coming down the hill toward the village.  Racing into the house, she frantically prepared him for their arrival.

Although Arthur was relieved that his love had returned to him and eager to hold her in his arms again, he dreaded having to give the group the news of Ari’s demise. He’d struggled for days to think of the right way to tell them and had yet to come up with it.

Pete’s absence was immediately noticed.  Although Arthur was saddened, he wasn’t surprised by the news that his friend had succumbed to the virus.  Pete wasn’t immune to it and, therefore, was taking a