The Last Marine
Chapter 30: Assessing the Damage

Chapter 30: Assessing the Damage

Dawn broke, not with the warmth of a new day, but with the cold, gray light of a hangover. The first rays filtered through the grimy windows of the auto shop, illuminating the dust in the air and the exhaustion on every face. They had survived the night, but the silence was heavy with the ghosts of the clinic and the fresh, quiet loss of old George.

Quinn was the first to move, his body aching but his mind already calculating, assessing. He did a quiet inventory of their supplies, laying them out on a clean workbench. The sight was sobering. Three bottles of water. Two cans of beans, one of fruit cocktail. The half-eaten bag of crackers. A handful of antibiotics from the clinic, now more precious than gold. It was enough for a day, maybe two if they were careful. It was not enough to live on.

He looked at the riot van. It was their single greatest asset—an armored shell with a full tank of gas. But a vehicle was useless without a destination. They were a ship adrift, their last port of call a smoldering ruin behind them.

Lena, her face pale but her resolve unshaken, began her own assessment. She moved from person to person, a doctor making her rounds in the world’s worst hospital. She checked on Ben and Clara, the two remaining survivors from the clinic. Ben’s arm was healing, but the risk of infection was high. Clara’s concussion had left her dizzy and disoriented. Both were suffering from severe dehydration and psychological shock. They were liabilities, but they were also survivors, and Lena treated them with a fierce, protective care.

She spent the most time with the children. The five other kids from the clinic were huddled together, a small, silent tribe of orphans. They were traumatized, but physically unharmed. Lily’s cough was significantly better, a testament to Lena’s quick action. But the fear had not left her eyes.

Hex, ever the pragmatist, did not rest. He was already at work, salvaging what he could from the auto shop. He found a portable welding torch and a small canister of gas, and began reinforcing the window grates on the riot van. He took apart a dead car radio, looking for components to repair his own damaged shortwave set. He was a man who found comfort in work, in solving problems, in creating order from chaos. His quiet, focused labor was its own form of defiance.

When the assessments were done, the three of them—Quinn, Hex, and Lena—convened near the front of the shop. They were the de facto leaders of this small, broken band.

"We can’t stay here," Quinn said, stating the obvious. "This place is a temporary fix. We’re burning through supplies, and we’re sitting ducks if a horde wanders this way."

"Agreed," Hex said, wiping grease from his hands with a rag. "New Havenburg is a lost cause. The attack on the clinic proved that. The infected aren’t just mindless animals anymore. Something is guiding them. Staying in the city is suicide."

"So we leave," Lena said, her voice firm. "The plan hasn’t changed. We get out."

"The question is how," Quinn said, unfolding the creased city map on the hood of a dusty car. "Every major road will be a nightmare. Choked with cars, crawling with infected."

They pooled their knowledge, their three minds working as one. Hex, with his technical understanding of infrastructure, pointed out the major arteries. "Interstate 95 is the fastest way north, but it’ll be the most congested. A total bottleneck."

Lena, who had worked in the city for a decade, knew the back roads. "What about Route 8? It’s a smaller state highway. Less traffic, but it winds through several dense suburban towns. More places for ambushes."

Quinn, with his military training, looked at the map differently. He saw terrain. Choke points. Fields of fire. "What about the railway lines?" he suggested, tracing a rail corridor that cut straight through the city. "It’s a clear, straight path. We’d have to go on foot, but it avoids the roads completely."

"Too exposed," Hex countered. "And we can’t take the van. The van is our best weapon."

As they debated, a small voice cut through their strategic discussion. "Are we going to find my mommy and daddy now?"

They all turned. Lily was standing a few feet away, her small face filled with a heartbreaking, innocent hope. She had overheard their talk of leaving, and to her, leaving could only mean one thing: going home.

Quinn’s heart felt like it was being squeezed in a vise. He knelt down in front of her, the weight of the world on his shoulders. He had tried to shield her from the worst of the truth, wrapping it in gentle evasions and promises of safety. But he could not lie to her about this.

"Lily," he began, his voice rough with an emotion he could not hide. "Your mommy and daddy... they’re not with us anymore. They’re in a safe place. A place where the monsters can’t get them. It’s... it’s a different kind of safe."

He saw the understanding dawn in her eyes, the last vestiges of a child’s hope crumbling. Tears welled up, silent and devastating. She did not cry out. She just looked at him, her expression one of profound, soul-deep sorrow.

"It’s just us now?" she whispered.

"Yes," Quinn said, his own voice thick. "It’s just us now. And I will always keep you safe. I promise."

He hugged her tight, a fierce, protective embrace against a world that had taken everything from her. The moment solidified his resolve. They were not just running for survival anymore. They were running towards a future, any future, for her.

He stood up, his face set like stone, and turned back to the map. "We take the interstate," he said, his voice hard, decisive. "It’s the most direct route. It will be dangerous, but the van is an armored plow. We go north. We don’t stop until we are out of this city, out of this entire goddamn state if we have to."

Hex and Lena looked at each other, then at Quinn. They saw the fire in his eyes, the absolute certainty of his decision. The debate was over. They had their route. They had their objective.

They would take the highway to hell, hoping it would lead them somewhere else.

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.