Once the trio returned from their quick trip, Ryan called for Mike and Yuna to come over, for he had news to share. Everyone circled around the table in the lounge as Ryan laid out a map in front of them. He borrowed one of Yuna’s markers and drew on it, crossing out places they’ve already cleaned out, and circling ones they haven’t yet. He explained to the group his ideas on how to proceed in the future, seeing as how they hadn’t planned their schedule for the week yet.
Everyone else listened intensively to his words. Mike crossed his arms and shook his head, not impressed with the idea being laid out.
“Why would we need to do that? We’re perfectly safe here. An electric fence heavily guards this place on all sides so no enemy can enter. We also spend most of our time inside the base, anyway; We don’t go out often to justify that. Even when we do go outside, as long as we don’t do anything reckless, we won’t be in any danger.”
“That may be true,” Ryan said. “But like you said, we must always stay alert, even in an apocalypse. Who’s saying we won’t get ambushed by a zombie appearing out of nowhere? What if we trip and scrape ourselves on the pavement?”
“That doesn’t seem as likely...”
“Avoiding zombie bites is one thing, but leaving ourselves bleeding or bruised could spell a disaster. Its scent could attract them to us. We wouldn’t be able to run away from the danger.”
“He has a point.” Yuna pointed out. “I don’t think we’d be able to carry or walk them to safety.” She wrapped her arms around herself, her gaze downcast. “They’d slow us down, but the idea of abandoning them is...”
“That won’t happen,” Karin assured her. The rest nodded in agreement.
“But how would we know if there’s even any supplies in the hospital?” Taylor pondered.
Ryan sighed reluctantly. It was understandable that they’d be skeptical and ask questions, but nobody seemed fully onboard with the idea like he thought. Then again, nobody said no to it either, which he considered surprising, especially from Mike, of all people, who he was sure would reject it altogether. Still, there was hope and some potential persuading in changing minds. As much as he didn’t want to bring up past trauma, he couldn’t think of a better way of explaining why going to the hospital was important.
“They’d probably have them in cabinets and drawers by the checkout or doctor’s offices. I should know; I’ve been there before. Well, a different one, actually. Not a pleasant experience. Most of the zombies were locked up and could not escape, so we shouldn’t have to worry about that, hopefully. If we encounter a few, we can go around them or put them out of their misery if worse comes to worse.” Moreover, he wanted to check and see if Carl was still alive there, even if he was trapped. But he kept that information to himself for now.
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“And you’re sure there're medical supplies?” Mike inquired, arching an eyebrow. “I’d rather not risk our lives over the possibility of that, maybe. I don’t want to waste precious time, so there better be a guarantee we get something out of the trip.”
“Well, yeah, I know...”
“You look like you got something else on your mind,” Yuna pointed out. “Is something wrong?”
“You know, for someone who was stressed about being in a hospital, you sure seem eager to go back to one.” Karin added.
Ryan bit his lip. It had to come out, eventually. Was it the right time to even speak of this? Then again, some of the group members had no problem talking about their past and loved ones, but they also knew each other for longer. Ryan was still just an outsider to them. Although, would opening up ease their trust between them? He had to know and find out if his buddy was out there, and he was going to, with or without guidance and help. No, he wasn’t going to get anyone’s hopes up. But he wouldn’t give up either.
“I don’t. You’re going to have to trust me on this.” The room fell silent. “I know we haven’t known each other for long, but I promise I won’t lead us into any danger. If things start looking bad, we’ll leave right away.” His fingers traced the edges of the map. “Also, if we gather enough supplies for the road, then we can always leave the base and start exploring outside the...”
Ryan looked up, and his voice faded. From across the table, Mike’s mouth gaped, and his brows furrowed, almost like that suggestion he had made offended him.
“He didn’t mean it like that!” Taylor exclaimed, holding his arm out in front of Ryan. “It was just a joke to lighten up the mood.” He chuckled nervously before calming down. “Still, I think this supply run is worth considering. It’ll be a big payout in the long run if we turn up lucky in there. And like Ryan said, we can always leave straight away if things take a turn for the worse.”
“I also agree,” Yuna added. “I wouldn’t want any of you guys to get hurt. The more supplies we have, the better.”
“I don’t want anything bad to happen to you, either,” Karin said. “But does anyone here even have experience with that?”
Yuna slowly raised her hand, catching everyone’s attention. “I do, well, kind of. My dad was a doctor, and he taught me some basic skills. I know it’s not much...”
“No, that’s a big help.” Ryan told her.
She scratched her cheek and giggled in response.
Mike sighed and held his hands out, quieting the room again. “Alright then, let’s take a vote. All those in favor?” Everyone slowly raised their hands one by one—everyone except for Mike, who sighed again.
“Alright, we’ll set out tomorrow, first thing in the morning.”
Everyone nodded in agreement, all except for Ryan, but he made sure nobody else noticed. Even though things went according to his plan, something didn’t seem right. His shoulders hunched over and his gaze fell to the floor.
He slowly looked around. Although everyone else had high hopes and worries, he couldn’t help but feel the air in the room get more tense. Maybe it was just him? Either way, something bothered him that he couldn’t express. Still, he kept it silent as he sank into the chair, waiting for dinnertime.
