"Get up!"
She opened her eyes and realized that a fully suited soldier was standing over her. She bolted up and realized that everyone else around her was also in the middle of getting themselves together. She looked up at the sky, it was still dark...it couldn't have even been dawn yet.
"Come on Lauren, we have to get ready." Nuria said picking up their things, which included a bag Nuria took from the house they had hid in. In it were a few canned goods and a pocket knife in a hidden compartment if ever they needed such a thing.
Adrienne walked around holding herself trying to get rid of shivering. It was a cold night and even colder early morning.
The lab suited man with a limp entered the courtyard. "Everyone line up, we're going to load you one by one onto the Cargo Truck and we'll be off to the NIH.
"Isn't it still a bit dark for us to leave?" One woman asked. "Won't the zombies still be outside?"
"We're in for a long trip...we need as much daylight as possible." The man said.
A few of the women looked at each other with questioning eyes.
"Long trip?" Lauren whispered to Nuria. "Isn't the NIH only 4 miles away?"
"I don't know...but if it means getting us there, I don't care WHAT path they take."
They all walked to the Cargo Truck and were helped onto it by a few soldiers. The women all sat against the two long benches that ran on both sides of the vehicle. A mother clutched her young daughter, an elderly woman pulled her blanket tightly around herself and the woman at the rear just kept looking outside with a hardened face and weathered eyes. Adrienne couldn't help but to look at this woman. She seemed older than she probably was...the tanned, leathery skin and the deep set wrinkles made her look beyond her years. The woman caught Adrienne's stare. "What are you looking at blondie?" The mom pulled her daughter in tighter.
Adrienne said nothing but averted her eyes.
"I was talking to you." The woman's voice raised. Still Adrienne didn't say anything, scared. The woman jumped out of her seat and across to Adrienne, grabbing her by the shirt and preparing a blow to the face.
"When I talk to you, you speak!" The woman said. A soldier from the front came over and hit the woman in the back of the head with the butt of his gun. She fell unconscious onto the floor, letting a shocked Adrienne slump back in her seat to catch her breath.
"Are you okay?" Nuria scooted over to check on Adrienne. In the meanwhile, the soldier kicked the back hatch open and accompanied by another soldier, pushed the unconscious woman off the truck.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Lauren jumped up in protest.
"SIT DOWN." The soldier pointed his gun at her. "We need a distraction for the zombies. If you want, you can join her."
Nuria pulled Lauren down to hold her as tears fell down her eyes. Adrienne couldn't even look and just shut her eyes while hiding under a blanket.
Nuria noticed that they were traveling towards the NIH the way she knew how. If that was the case they should be there in no time. She began to feel worried that something was wrong.
"Why would we need all that time to travel? We're almost there..." Nuria said.
A few moments later the perimeter and grounds of the NIH was visible. Adrienne looked out the back and gasped. Nuria and Lauren followed suit. "Shit..." Nuria said. What were once beautiful rolling grasses and glass and bricked government buildings was now burning rubble and bloodied bodies littering the floor. The truck kept going and didn't stop even once they passed the NIH gates.
"WHERE ARE WE GOING?!" Nuria screamed at the soldiers in the front. The soldier gave a little grin. "Didn't we tell you we were going on a nice little trip?" He said.
They could only look in fear as the truck drove further away from the one place they thought they could find sanctuary. Nuria could hear nothing else but her heart jumping out of her chest and the little girl crying as the truck exited onto the Beltway.
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