heavenward | n.scatorccio

The afternoon sun filtered weakly through the overcast sky, its rays struggling to pierce the murky haze that seemed to perpetually hang over Allentown's outskirts. Julianna felt the ache in her legs with each step, her boots scuffing against the cracked asphalt of an abandoned road.

They had been walking for hours, keeping to the outskirts of the city, slipping through alleys and overgrown lots in a desperate bid to stay out of sight. The map from the base had proven useful—so far, they'd avoided crossing directly into marked territories, though they weren't foolish enough to believe they were entirely safe.

Javi trudged behind her, his face pale and strained, though he didn't complain. Julianna glanced over her shoulder at him every few minutes. Natalie led the way, her eyes scanning their surroundings with the practiced ease of someone who had spent far too much time navigating danger.

The silence between them was heavy but necessary. Speaking too much, too loudly, was a risk none of them were willing to take. The occasional rustle of leaves or distant creak of an old building kept their nerves on edge. Every sound could be someone, or something.

They had just crossed into an old residential neighborhood when Natalie paused, her hand shooting up in a silent signal for them to stop. Julianna stopped mid-step, her pulse spiking.

Natalie turned her head just enough to whisper, "Soldiers. Down the street."

Julianna's breath caught. Javi tensed beside her, his wide eyes darting to the street in question. They couldn't see anything yet, but Julianna trusted Natalie's instincts implicitly. If Natalie said there were soldiers, then there were soldiers.

"Come on," Natalie whispered, beckoning them toward the husk of a half-collapsed building nearby. They moved quickly but quietly, slipping through a gap in the wall. Inside, debris littered the ground, and long-abandoned furniture lay in ruins, swallowed by time and decay.

Julianna barely had a moment to take it all in before Natalie's hand suddenly shot out and grabbed hers. She was pulled down, nearly stumbling before Natalie caught her balance and tugged her closer. They dropped behind the shell of what might've once been a counter, the jagged edge of the wood digging into Julianna's side as Natalie pressed them into the shadowed corner.

"Stay still," Natalie hissed, her voice low and tight as she peeked over the edge.

Julianna's heart was pounding so loudly in her ears she was certain the soldiers could hear it. Her free hand instinctively reached out for Javi, who had crouched down beside her, his small body trembling. She pulled him closer, wrapping an arm around his shoulders protectively. She could feel his rapid breathing against her side.

Her gaze flicked to Natalie, who was so close now that their knees brushed against each other, the tips of their shoes nearly overlapping. Natalie's fingers were still loosely wrapped around hers, a fact Julianna became acutely aware of as the seconds stretched on. She didn't pull away, though. Natalie's grip was steady, grounding in a way that felt both unexpected and overwhelming.

Julianna's eyes trailed over Natalie's face as she kept watch, her sharp profile outlined by the dim light filtering through the broken window. There was an intensity in the way Natalie watched the street beyond, her muscles coiled like a spring, ready to move at the first sign of danger. But there was also something softer, something Julianna had seen before in fleeting moments but never this close.

Natalie suddenly turned her head, her clear-cut green eyes locking onto Julianna's with an intensity that made her pause mid-motion. The proximity was startling; their faces were mere inches apart.

Julianna felt a jolt in her chest, her breath hitching as Natalie whispered, "You're squeezing my hand."

Heat crept up Julianna's neck, and she quickly loosened her grip, realizing she'd been holding on tighter than she meant to. "Sorry," she muttered, her voice barely audible.

Natalie's lips twitched, a faint smirk playing at the edges, though her focus quickly returned to the street. "It's fine," she said quietly. "Just don't pass out on me. I need you alert."

Julianna bit the inside of her cheek, her heart still racing, though for reasons that had nothing to do with the soldiers outside. She tightened her hold on Javi instead, grounding herself in the weight of him leaning against her.

"Anything?" Julianna whispered after a long moment, her voice cautious.

Natalie shook her head. "Not yet. I think they're moving farther down the street, but they're sticking close. We need to wait."

And so they waited. The three of them huddled close together in the suffocating quiet of the ruined building, their breaths shallow and their bodies tense. Natalie never let go of Julianna's hand, and Julianna didn't dare mention it. She wasn't sure she wanted to.

The apprehension had been unbearable until the soldiers moved on. Once they were out of earshot, Julianna let out a quiet breath she hadn't realized she was holding. She leaned her head back against the counter they had been hiding behind for a moment, her muscles sore and her nerves still shot.

Natalie let go of her hand first, stretching her arms as she glanced toward the window. "They're gone," she confirmed. "For now."

Javi sat back on his heels, rubbing his eyes and yawning softly.

Julianna smiled, a moment of tenderness breaking through her exhaustion. "Is everyone okay?" she asked.

Javi nodded, even though his face was taut with anxiety. "Yeah."

"Good," Natalie said, already moving to her feet and scanning their surroundings. "We've got to keep going before they double back."

Julianna pushed herself up, her body protesting every movement. Stretching out her arms, she felt the lingering soreness from days of running, hiding, and fighting. She briefly rolled her shoulder, wincing at the stiffness. Natalie had already slipped toward the door, peering out cautiously.

"It's clear," Natalie whispered, waving them over. Julianna and Javi followed, slipping out into the alleyway. The air was thick and oppressive, carrying a moist, suffocating heat. The faint scent of damp earth and rot clung to the space between the dilapidated buildings.

They hadn't gone far when they stopped again. Ahead, in the alley's shadowed depths, a small group of runners was huddled together. Their movements were erratic, twitchy and unsettling, their growls low and guttural as they tore into what looked like an old deer carcass.

Natalie turned to the others and held up a hand to keep them quiet. "No guns," she mouthed, her eyes darting to Julianna. They all knew that in a place crawling with soldiers, gunfire was a death sentence.

Julianna nodded, her fingers brushing the machete strapped to her hip, the one she had stolen from the base. The serrated blade gleamed faintly in the dim light, a weapon that looked more violent than she cared to think about.

Natalie pulled out her hunting knife, the worn handle fitting snugly in her hand. Without a word, she crouched low and began to move forward, her steps careful and measured. Julianna motioned for Javi to stay close behind her, gripping his arm lightly as she followed Natalie's lead.

The first runner didn't even notice Natalie until her blade was already lodged in its temple. It let out a strangled noise before collapsing, the sound barely registering over the quiet rasp of the others. Julianna moved to the next one, her machete cutting through the air with a sharp whistle. She buried it into the infected's neck, the serrated edge biting deep before she yanked it free, the body crumpling to the ground.

Javi, emboldened by the others, lunged at the last runner with a dagger we had taken from one of the soldiers. His movements were hesitant, the blade catching against the infected's shoulder rather than piercing through its skull. The runner snarled, lunging at him, and Julianna's heart leapt into her throat.

But before she could react, Natalie was there, her hunting knife plunging into the side of its head. The runner fell instantly, and Natalie turned to Javi, her expression fixed but not unkind. "You're getting better," she said, though her tone was laced with urgency. "But don't hesitate like that. They won't."

Javi nodded, his face flushed. "I'll do better next time."

Julianna knelt beside him, her hand brushing his shoulder. "You're doing fine," she said softly. "It takes time. You'll get there."

As they stood, Julianna's eyes flicked to the lifeless runners at their feet. A familiar unease coiled in her stomach. It wasn't the first time she had thought about it, but she couldn't ignore the fact that no one had seen a mimic, not since the night she had been bitten. She'd told the others about it briefly after the first attack, but now, with each passing day, she began to wonder if she had imagined the entire thing. Maybe it had been her mind playing tricks on her in the stress of the moment.

Or maybe not. She remembered too vividly the way the mimic had moved, the intelligence in its gaze as it studied her. The thought made her uneasy. If it was real, and she knew it was, then the silence surrounding that stage of the infection was almost worse than seeing it again.

"Let's keep moving," Natalie said, pulling Julianna out of her thoughts.

The three of them picked their way through the alley and slipped back onto the road. The further they moved from the heart of the city, the less densely packed the ruins became.

The ground beneath their feet was fractured, riddled with cracks that spiderwebbed outward like veins. Tufts of grass and stubborn weeds pushed through the fissures, nature's quiet mutiny against humanity's absence. It felt as if the earth itself had exhaled in relief, reclaiming what had been stolen. The overgrowth was messy and untamed, the kind of wildness that crept in when no one was left to mow lawns or pull weeds, an almost careless beauty that spoke of a world already beginning to forget its caretakers.

As they crossed the city limits, Julianna's eyes caught on a battered road sign leaning at a crooked angle, its edges rusted and bent. Smears of dried blood streaked across the weathered surface, half-obscuring the faded words: 'Reading, Pennsylvania'. The letters, once bold and welcoming, now seemed like a cruel relic of a world that no longer existed. She stared at it for a moment too long, her chest tightening as if the sign itself bore the torment of every life lost on those streets. It felt like a gravestone, one no one had bothered to carve properly.

"Looks like we made it out," Natalie muttered, though her tone carried no relief.

Julianna glanced back at the sprawling ruins of Allentown, the jagged remnants of the city chewing at the horizon like broken teeth. Smoke rose in thin, crooked tendrils from scattered fires, and the eerie silence that followed destruction seemed to hum in her ears.

A pit settled in her stomach, painful and unrelenting, as if the city's ghosts were reaching out, tugging at her with unseen hands, begging her to remember. To mourn. To mourn each soul lost to the outbreak, at the hands of people or infected. She swallowed hard, forcing her gaze forward, but the ache lingered.

The streets of Reading were eerily quiet, the kind of silence that pressed against their ears and made every step feel like effort. The Pennsylvanian city was a hollow shell of its former self, its streets lined with abandoned homes and crumbling storefronts. Windows were either hastily boarded up or shattered completely, their sawtoothed edges catching what little light broke through the dreary skies.

Rusting cars sat skewed across the damaged pavement, some with doors hanging open as if their owners had fled mid-escape. Every corner seemed to whisper of lives abruptly interrupted, dreams left unfinished. The air carried the faint tang of rust and rot, intertwining with a suffocating stillness that had settled over the once-bustling city, hollowing it to a haunting emptiness.

But there was no sign of soldiers, no hint of the wannabe military's presence, and for that, Julianna was forever grateful.

Javi trudged ahead, occasionally kicking at loose rocks or bits of debris, while Natalie stayed close to Julianna's side, keeping her eyes on each corner. Her grip on her crossbow was loose, but her body was tense. Julianna tried not to focus too much on her own nerves, the way her heart picked up its pace at the smallest noise, such as a bird taking off, or a creaking roof in the wind.

Then, in the distance, she saw it: a rusted pickup truck parked haphazardly in front of what used to be a hardware store. Julianna's eyes narrowed as she scanned the vehicle. It looked old, but not completely wrecked, and it was tilted slightly to the left like it had a flat.

"Think it works?" Natalie asked, following her gaze.

Julianna tilted her head. "Might. Looks like it's seen better days, though."

The three of them approached cautiously, and Julianna circled the truck, running her fingers over its dented exterior. A faint layer of corrosion coated the edges, but when she checked the gas tank, she found a bit of luck. There was still some fuel sloshing around inside.

"I can work with this," she muttered under her breath.

"Seriously?" Natalie leaned against the hood, eyebrows raised. "You know how to fix this thing?"

Julianna shrugged, as she popped open the hood. The engine was dirty, but intact, and a small part of her felt a flicker of confidence. She pulled off her backpack and began rummaging for tools. "My dad used to show me stuff like this when I was a kid," she said softly, her voice almost drowned out by the wind.

Natalie crouched beside her, resting her elbows on her knees. "Didn't take you for a mechanic."

"I'm not," Julianna said quickly, giving her a small smile. "But after he died, I started teaching myself. Just little things. I guess it was my way of holding on to him, learning what he loved." She paused, her hands steady as she worked through the wires. "And, well, you never know when you'll need to keep a car running."

Her voice dropped slightly, the memory thick in her tone. "He was an engineer, used to say everything could be fixed if you just knew where to start."

For a moment, Natalie didn't say anything. Her green eyes lingered on Julianna's face, her usual barred expression softening slightly. "You surprise me," she finally said.

Julianna glanced up, her cheeks warming under the weight of the comment. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Natalie shrugged, the corner of her mouth lifting in a faint smirk. "You just do."

Julianna felt the heat rise further, but she quickly turned her attention back to the truck. "Well, don't get used to it. I'm just trying to get us out of here."

"Right." Natalie chuckled softly, standing up and glancing at Javi, who was pacing a few feet away, his hands shoved deep in his pockets. "Javi, grab the gear. Looks like Julianna here might actually pull this off."

"On it," Javi said, rushing to collect their bags and supplies.

Julianna stayed focused on the engine, her hands moving quickly but carefully as she made a few adjustments. She chewed on her lip, her father's voice echoing faintly in her mind. 'Slow down, Jules. Machines don't work if you rush 'em.'

After a few more minutes of fiddling, she stepped back, wiping her hands on her jeans. "Okay. Should be good."

Natalie gave her an impressed nod. "Not bad,"

"Don't jinx it," Julianna muttered as she climbed into the driver's seat, her heart pounding slightly as she turned the key in the ignition. For a moment, there was only silence. Then, with a sputter and a loud groan, the engine roared to life.

Javi let out a triumphant cheer, tossing their last bag into the bed of the truck before climbing into the back. Natalie slid into the passenger seat, glancing at Julianna with a small smile. "I knew you could do it."

Julianna let out a shaky breath, a mix of relief and pride settling over her. "Let's just hope it holds."

The truck growled beneath them, its engine a rough and steady heartbeat as they began to move. The hollow streets of Reading receded behind them, swallowed by the haze of distance.