Escaping the Blind

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Wayne shrugged his shoulders towards Erza’s demands. “Do whatever you want.” He looked at his watch, still keeping up with the time. “It’s still plenty of time to get there…” He mumbled to himself. He ahead back inside and readied himself to sleep. “I’m leaving the first thing this tomorrow. If you guys ain’t up when I leave, that’s that.” Wayne places his backpack on the floor, resting his head on it.
 
"As if I'd let anyone get that close without caving their faces in," Violet muttered under her breath. "I won't complain. It's probably faster than going on foot and hopping houses."

"Then we should get to sleep soon too. I'm tired of having you as a night owl anyway, since you always complain about waking up in the morning." Molly said, making Violet make a rude glare at her before skulking off to their room upstairs with their belongings. Molly turned to Ezra with a concerned look on her face. "If you wake up before we do, try not to overdo it. Violet has a habit of... picking up the closest object next to her and throwing it. It's best not to find out the hard way."
 
"I'll keep that in mind, but I make no promises," Ezra said to Molly. "Get some sleep Doc, I move very early to avoid the sleep patterns of Blinders and be a step ahead of everyone else. I'll leave you if you and your girlfriend don't wake up on time."

Ezra moved over to his backpack, simply pulling out an old blanket and a photo. He placed the blanket over his shoulders and sat on the porch while he closed the door behind him. He made it his job to be the lookout in case any stragglers, thieves, or random Blinders came nearby. He made sure to keep his hands covered underneath the blanket so as to hide the fact that he was holding a combat knife. He occasionally glanced at the photo of his family and whispered to himself.

"I'll be there soon..."

Boris stretched his bulky arms and decided to sleep near the door in case he heard Ezra in trouble. He let out a hearty yawn and drifted to sleep.

=====

As the sun peeked over the horizon, Ezra was already up, doing his usual morning stretches to ease his tense muscles. The sky was still dark but from the east, it was clear that morning was just arriving. He went inside the home only to see Boris preparing and taking anything he can find from the house.

"Find anything useful?" 

"I found some rope and a couple of matchboxes," Boris said. "Better than nothing."

"Good, go wake up the girls while I get the old man."

Boris nodded before heading upstairs to where the girls slept. He knocked on the door, heeding Molly's warning about Violet. His big hands made the knocking sound more like pounds against the door.

"Vake up ladies~!" Boris sang. "It's time to get up!"

Ezra, in the meanwhile, was a ruder awakening. He kicked Wayne's backpack from under his head.

"Wake up old man. We move out in twenty minutes. Get ready to move."

He slammed his fist against the wall to bang against it in hopes of waking up the girls.

"Twenty minutes girls! Let's go!"
 
Wayne's head slammed onto the floor, causing him to bolt up. Before he can even issued out an response, Ezra already left the room. He gotten up, put his backpack on and started to head out without muttering a word. Wanye checked his watch, noticing the time once more. "Just a few hours, top." He talked to himself.

He went outside and look around to see any danger, while waiting for the rest to get ready.
 
Molly jolted awake before rubbing her eyes and stretching. "Ah! Oh. We'll be there in a minute..." Cracking her knuckles, she quickly got off the dusty mattress and collected her belongings, standing at the balcony to let a nice breeze in. 

"Uuurgh... morning already?" Violet grumbled, stretching her limbs and scooping up what little belongings she had; she winced at the movement pulling at her phantom fingers. "Remind me to get myself a backpack later." She muttered before grabbing her spiked bat and slipping on her shoes.

"Get with the program, we only have a little bit of time for you to wake up all the way," Molly stuffed their findings from the previous day into her medical bag and made her way out the door. "Morning," she greeted Boris, with Violet groggily following her out of the room.
 
The morning sun was barely over the horizon as Ezra gathered the last few things they can salvage and headed out the front door. Everything looked calm and there was not a Blinder insight within the area. Ezra held a map of Jacksonville Florida with several marks and dates written on it, and arrows pointing out the many routes they can take to reach their destination. He took a few minutes to examine the map while the others came to the front.

"Good Mornin' ladies!" Boris smiled brightly at the ladies. "Ezra and Vayne are outside. Ve should get moving before the sun passes the horizon. The Blinders vill begin to vake up."

====

Ezra took a deep breath and waited a few minutes for Boris to leave the house with the girls.

"Have you seen any weird Blinders?" Ezra spoke to Wayne, breaking the silence. "I've read a few reports from fallen Military soldiers... They said that these Blinders are learning fast."
 
"No." Wayne answered him quickly as he shuffled his bag. "If those damn beasts are learning fast, then I don't want to see the results of such. Are you all done preparing, because I'm ready to go." Wayne looked at his watch once again.
 
"Yeah yeah," Violet said with her hand in her jacket pocket and the other carrying her bat. "Hopefully nobody normal is up at this hour."

Molly noticed Ezra had a map and wondered where he managed to nab one. She just relied on whatever roadsigns were nearby. "I guess we got the route planned out already? Hopefully we don't end up having to stop halfway through... spending a night out in the open isn't something I'd like to do."
 
"Vell, you better get used to sleeping in trees!" Boris replied to Molly. "Ezra and I find it more convenient than finding a roof." 

Boris strapped on his large and heavy backpack with ease. He carried most of the supplies and was still able to fight. He turned to Ezra who gazed north, eyeing the horizon.

"Alright, we move quickly, most Blinders are in a state of comatose until the sun is about halfway over the horizon. We have about 2 hours of safety from Blinders." Ezra said. "Now then, we're heading to a boat shop up north, snag a boat to cross the border, and reach Georgia without being detected by the military. After we reach Georgia, we can part ways."

"Yah, in the meanvhile, it would be best to stick with us. Those military goons are very trigger happy..."

"Yeah. We walk twenty miles today if we aren't sidetracked, any objections?"
 
"Negative. I'm going to met a friend around these parts who said to have a running car and some gas." Wayne objected. "Always the military with these guys... the more they talk about them, the gut feeling that it's best to not get too close or I'll end up getting drag for more trouble than its worth." Wayne thought to himself. "I'd planned on meeting him right about now... should've headed out earlier, but things got in the way." He gave a glare towards Ezra. "I ain't changing my plans."
 
"Does he even know where you are? This ain't some tiny podunk town with just a post office and a farmer's market, you know." Violet said brashly. "It's still kind of dark, and I don't hear anything... the sound of a running car would definitely echo around here. You sure he didn't just ditch you? Or maybe something worse..."

"Better hope he isn't tempted to draw you out with the car's horn. These Blinders might be blind, but they certainly aren't deaf. I bet they can pick up the scent of fresh gasoline emissions as well." Molly said. "Listen, I don't care about how long you intend to stay with us," she remarked coldly, "But if there's any other living people around here, they may also want to get their hands on a running car... especially if the driver is alone."

"Not saying we'd try to rob the car, but some people don't have any humanity left in them." Violet added. "If your friend dies, we'll take the car if you don't want it, though." She shrugged casually. "It'd make the trip a lot faster, yeah?"
 
While the group bickered among themselves, Ezra began to walk in the direction he was set on going. Whether the others followed him did not bother him on his path. 



The more north they went, the more Blinders they would come across, all still in the comatose state mentioned earlier. The sun just barely peaked over the horizon, and everything seemed reasonable for the most part. Boris tried to make small talk with the new people while Ezra continued to lead them to their destination. The deeper they went into what looked to be an abandoned mall parking lot, the more scattered Blinders they would see. 

Carefully moving between areas, something caught Ezra's eye. A corpse, woman, lay on the floor. She was dead for a couple of days at this point, making the smell strong and repulsive. However, the corpse told a story of its own. The panties of the woman were clinging to one of her ankles, implying that she had been raped. Her chest was exposed and her hands put behind her head. The possible cause of death was a shot to her head, apparently a suicide. The back of her head resembled that of pudding. She had a bite mark on her forearm, and the infection was seen crawling throughout her entire arm and where it stopped as well. The veins were bloated and very close to the surface.

"What a way to go," Ezra said blankly. "At least she did the honorable thing and killed herself to prevent further spreading."

"Yeesh..." Boris sighed. "No respect these days." 

"Anyways, looks like she left behind a backpack." Ezra stepped over the corpse and lifted the backpack using his machete. "You ladies need a bag, right? Take this one and continue moving."

Ezra tossed the slightly bloody bag to the girls before inspecting the corpse some more. He and Boris eyed the body suspiciously and felt something was off. Ezra took a deep breath and held it before leaning in closer to the body. He noticed a strange substance on her legs that looked to be remotely fresh. Boris leaned in to glance at it before backing up slightly, the smell overwhelming him. Ezra gently rubbed his fingers against her inner thigh and felt the mysterious slime all over. Pulling his hand back he saw the infamous white substance clinging to his fingertips.

This is fresh... Ezra's eyes widen. This person is sick if he's willing to degrade a corpse. And he's nearby...

"Boris, we need to leave, now," Ezra said suddenly, trying not to alert the others. "The corpse has been recently tampered with."
 
Wayne kept a notably huge distance from himself to the rest of the group, consistently checking his watch. “Damn, I should’ve been there by this point, but all this needless drivel keeps getting in the way. I think it’s high time to ditch these jesters, so I can catch up with my friend. It shouldn't be that far off...” He noticed Ezra’s body language, causing him to raise a brow.

“I taught enough children to know something is wrong based on their body movements…guess something happened over there… it seems they aren't going to say anything until the last second...” He griped hard onto the dagger, nearly unsheathed from its holder on his backpack. “Looks like it’s time to leave.” He said out loud for the girls to hear his statements. "Those chumps noticed something wrong, so I suggest to be on your guard."
 
Molly gingerly picked up the bloody backpack with a gloved hand, but did not sling it across her back just yet. She said nothing, but even as hardened as she was by what she had seen before as a doctor, this wasn't something she would ever be able to stomach. Ezra's body language said it all.

Violet was staring off into any direction but the corpse before them, so she didn't understand what was the problem until Wayne called their attention. Even then, Molly forcefully moved her head away from the body as she tried to see.

"Don't look," Molly struggled to keep her voice from cracking. "Just stay close. And... don't touch anything with your bad hand." She beseeched in a whisper, digging her heel into the ground. "It's all filthy." 

Violet gave her a confused look but obeyed and tightened the grip on her bat. "Fine by me?..."
 
Boris moved the group along, Ezra cleaning off his hand on the corpse while he snarled at the disgusting scene before him. Before they can get far, voices would be heard coming to their location. By their accent, they sounded southern, and not the good kind. Ezra pointed Boris to some nearby rubble he could hide behind. There were plenty of debris and cars that the group can hide behind. Erza did not hesitate to slide behind a mount of debris and remain silent as the voices got louder and closer. 

"Yeh, I ain't foun' no one yet. I heard that them Blinder folk are gettin' stronger by the second." One man spoke. He was tall, skinny, and missing a few teeth. On his back, he had two shotguns strapped on tightly. His belt jingled with bullets and coins while he kept a smaller handgun clinging to the side.

"I reckon that we wave our secun' 'mendant and start blastin' these Blinders. Ain't no law protectin' 'em." The second man spoke, just as armed as the first except he held an assault rifle under his arm. Across his chest was the chain of bullets that no doubt belonged to the gun he owned. 

"It's a good thing that them Blinders eat the non-Americans first. It's God's way of savin' the whites."

"Yup, it's makin' America a better place, at least for now..."

Ezra slowly peaked his head over the debris and notice the two men coming directly to them. He looked down the small alleyway they were in and noticed it wasn't far from the parking lot they passed. If they remained quiet, they wouldn't have to fight these two men. He glanced at Boris who nodded back at him, reassuring that he understood what Ezra was thinking. 

I can't believe people like these still exist... Ezra thought to himself. Sheesh, how annoying.
 
Wayne decided to take a few moments at the corpse for the moment. “Bastards, even in the times like this, they cannot contained their own evils.” He kicks some dirt over the body to make it a proper burial of sort before resuming following behind the others.

He noticed that Ezra and Boris hiding behind the debris. “We’re not going to stop and look at every single corpse are we?” Before he continued, his ears picked up the two of two men with southern accents talking amongst themselves; it did not take a second for their conversation, reeks of ignorance, to Wayne.

His hand still gripping hard onto his dagger, Wayne reaches for another item from the pockets of his backpack; small knives he carries around as he reaches the debris. He took a glance of the alleyway, but the risk was too much. A single noise, considering that he ran into people who were trigger-happy, is all it takes to for a shootout, especially if the group has a person of color and two women. Moreover, if they managed to take these buffoons out, he will take their weapons.

Without consulting with Ezra and Boris—since he has no obligation to talk with them—Wayne moved to a nearby car away from the group, since it would be problematic if the goons seen them together. After getting a good look at the men, Wayne chuck a large rock he round, aiming straight for back of one of the hillbilly’s head.
 
Molly quickly ducked behind an abandoned car, pulling Violet down with her as the footsteps approached. She saw Wayne make a move and grit her teeth anxiously. We aren't armed at all to fight people with heavy artillery like that... How are we gonna disarm them? After all, there was no use bringing a knife to a gun fight. The only options they had were to stay put and keep their noises to a minimum, especially since neither of them had a pistol with them. Molly could easily reach the hood and pound at it with her fist to trigger the car's alarm and force them out by attracting Blinders to their direction, but this was too risky to do right then and there, especially without knowing of a safe way out before any Blinders can close in on them. It's still too early... would they even be awake enough to be drawn to the sound?

Violet stayed behind her in reach of the doors for better cover, using the chance to discreetly feel around the objects inside the backpack they had found. Hopefully it had some object of worth for the emergency, otherwise they were sitting ducks. C'mon dude, I hope you know what you're doin'... Violet thought to herself.
 
The rock Wayne had thrown bonked the taller hillbilly, and both were instantly alerted, drawing their guns and keeping them positioned for the moment they need to fire. Ezra's eyes widen at Wayne's little trick, his heart instantly racing; Boris's skin went cold and knew that he was spotted, they would kill him and take the remainder of their supplies. 

What is he doing?! He's gonna get us all killed! Ezra growled under his breath. He better have a damn good plan to take on these two gun maniacs! There's no way we'll stand a chance against these loons, not when they're armed! 

As Ezra looked around for some way to get out of this situation, one of the Billies aimed his gun towards the direction the rock came from and slowly walked to the car Wayne would be hiding behind, finger ready on the trigger. Ezra watched silently as one of the men left to investigate and he took his chance to think up some way to snatch the gun away from the second one. As he attempted to get closer, his foot kicked an empty bottle, causing it to tink and roll out in the open, catching the attention of the second Hillbilly. Without warning, the man fired off some shots towards the debris Ezra hid behind, barely missing him.

"Come on out!" He yelled. "Unless yew wanna end up lookin' like some swiss cheese!"

Ezra remained perfectly still.

"Alrighty then. I'mma count t' three and if y'aint outta there, I'mma gonn' blast ya' away." The man loaded a new clip in his gun, aiming it directly where Ezra hid. "One... two..."

"Alright! Don't shoot! Don't shoot!" Ezra shouted, holding his hands in the air for the man to see. "I don't want problems, man."



The Shotgun-Billy fired a warning shot towards the car Wayne stayed behind, blasting the tire to pieces. He cocked the gun to reload it and aimed it accordingly. He looked behind him to see his friend holding Ezra at gunpoint and chuckled.

"I ain't as nice as my partner, so y' might as well step out too." He ordered. "You either come out or we shoot yer friend. I reckon you 'splain why yew attacked me, it's the least you can do 'fore I kill you."



The bag the girls had was mostly full of candy wrappers and empty chip bags. Hidden under all the junk was a handgun, the clip only having about 4 bullets left. In some of the pockets, she had bandages for her general needs and a small pocket knife. The girl was clearly not very prepared, which ultimately lead to her death; however, there were two books hidden in a special zipper, one being a journal of some kind and the other a military agenda. Both books were untouched and completely clean, almost as if the girl risked her life to keep them safe from the wrong hands. The last thing of interest within the bag was a piece of paper with a name, address, and message.

"Meet Sam by the Florida border, she has answers. Find her by the abandoned train station. Building 5, room #29. Write down what you see and give it to Sam...evident of her studies... Leader... Blin... hive...experi...control..." 

The rest of the message was covered by blood and unable to be read.



Boris gasped as Ezra's situation and tried to help out his friend some way. He wasn't as nimble and quick like Ezra and his huge body made him a target. He couldn't risk giving up their supplies knowing they might not escape with their lives. He assumed there was no choice and he would offer a trade in exchange for Ezra's life. Before he got to make his decision, he heard a few cracking and popping noises coming not too far off from their location. Two Blinders stood a few feet away from their location, twitching and gritting their teeth, signs of them slowly waking up from their comatose state.

They're vaking up already? Maybe ve can use them to help us...
 
Wayne remained calm after the man fired a warning shot. “My preference is both of these buffoons to come to my general direction, but this is fine, I guess.” He unzipped his backpack and pulled out a single, small steel container and a gas mask; each had liquids of unknown substances. It is extremely flammable and incredibly toxic.

“Friends…? You can go on ahead and shoot them dead for all I care. They’re nothing more than meat shields anyways.” Wayne mumbled under his breath. It was foolish for him to move from his spot—he was not like Ezra in terms of dealing with these people. He learned a lot time ago that you never trust a person who orders someone to step out of position because at the end, it guarantees death. Considering how they deviled a corpse, he has no interest of negotiating with scum, well, at least in his mind.

Wayne stood up—at first glance, it seems that he was following the orders of the hillbilly, but instead, he instantly threw the container, containing chlorine trifluoride, towards the man. Moments before the initial throw, he had compromised the lid of the container a bit—and after the thrown, he dashed off to another car nearby when the container collided with the man. “I was planning on using that for the damn Blinders, but whatever, it was good riddance anyways carrying that dangerous thing.” Once the lid is exposed, whether touching the man's skin or exposed in the air, it exploded violently, causing him to catch on fire: if someone were to add water, it will make the add more to the fuel than putting it out. It releases an toxic gas, in a single breath, rapidly destroys the lungs and heart.
 
This is getting bad! Really bad! Molly sweated as she turned to keep herself hidden, listening to what was going on around them. 

As the men talked to each other, Violet slowly put her findings back in and quietly zipped the backpack mostly shut, although she decided to keep the gun with her just in case. Just four bullets, she better make them count. Slowly, she motioned for Molly to take her place and let her go near the hood. Violet peeked just in time to see Wayne throw his chemical cocktail at the one wielding the shotgun. She could hear the Blinders start stirring out of their slumber-like state, but did not want to bump their car's hood just yet. I can't shoot the other guy even if his back is turned, he might shoot too if I miss. Violet didn't have many options that would keep the remaining one from having more targets to shoot. Then her eyes widened with an idea. Quickly, Violet began unwinding the thick bandages she freshly received this morning. They still smelled like the isopropyl alcohol Molly dampened them with. That one guy's on fire, but if you add more fuel, the fire should get bigger right? 

Molly was puzzled at what the other was doing, but noticed she had wound up her hand's bandage into a bundle the size of a tennis ball. Violet drew her arm back, quickly chucking the alcohol-soaked bandage ball at the hillbilly Wayne set ablaze before hiding behind the car again. Violet handed Molly the gun before readying her baseball bat in case she had to resort to triggering the car alarm. Please work, goddamit... she thought anxiously.
 
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