"Come on... let's go... so we can drive around... we need to find Lydia and the others.... I'm sure they can't have got that far, but we need to help them just in case they are found." I said feeling drained from all that had happened recently.
First, Nick gets shot and then Alan dies. Poor Aiden was in pieces over it, but he seemed fine at the moment. I sighed, thinking how much I needed a drink, so as we walked on, I took my rucksack from my back and took out a small bottle of scotch that I had been hiding. Joe gave me a stiff look and so I passed the bottle to him and he amazingly, did not refuse. He passed it to Aiden and he also took a swig from it. When we were finished, we walked to the van and got in.
I drove for a few minutes and then stopped.
"Why are you stopping?" Joe asked.
"I have a feeling Lydia would have waited somewhere for us. I'm just trying to think what she would have done or where she would go." I said hoping I was right.
I looked around in the dark and then I saw a small lane up ahead on the right. I looked to the right, but all I could see were trees, but then something flashed in the distance.
"Hey did you see that?" I asked Joe and Aiden.
"Was that a light flashing?" Joe announced.
"I think it's something like that." I answered feeling sure we were on the right path.
I started to drive further and stopped at the small lane on our right. I wondered if Lydia was down there. It seemed likely, especially as I could see something flashing in the distance. I turned and went further, but there was no flash of light this time. The road was muddy and there was a misty fog beginning to surround us. The night air had gotten icy cold. I turned the heating on to keep us all warm.
"Tim I don't think we should go down there." Aiden said.
"But we have to at least try. We need to find them. For all we know they could be just hiding out down here." I told him.
"Yes, but what if it's someone else flashing a light. It could be a trap to lure us there. It could be those men." Aiden argued, but I had a feeling that someone was signalling at us.
I wasn't sure what to do, but I knew that if we didn't find out we would never know. So, I kept driving slowly. I couldn't see anything and then, we saw a glint of light go off and on for a second.
As I drove nearer, I started to see something. It looked like a building. I moved the van nearer. It seemed to be a cabin or a small cottage of some kind.
"Let's stop here and walk to that building." I said to the others.
We got out of the van and we each took our weapons and torches with us. Joe had his axe attached to his belt on his jeans, so he would never forget it. He had never put it down for a minute since we had tackled the first lot of biters for fear he would lose it. I looked at him for a second. His tall figure looked ready to battle anything that came his way.
We started to walk over a grassy wet area full of mud. My shoes sloshed into it and finally we came to a cabin. It was a small, creepy, wooden lodge.
"Hey... let's all walk around it carefully and quietly. Don't make a sound just in case." I whispered to them.
We silently moved around the back of the cabin and there to our disbelief was the caravan. I ran over to it and opened the door.
"Lydia... Ellie... Janice." I called out. No one answered.
"Where are they Tim?" Joe asked in a panic.
"I don't understand it... why aren't they here?... they shouldn't have left. Surely, Lydia is wise enough not to take the kids out of here." I said as a wave of bad feeling swept over me like a terrible nightmare.
I turned around and saw the cabin thinking that they could be in there.
"Let's look inside the cabin." I said.
We went back around and I knocked on the door. No one came. I knocked again, but still no one came. Then I heard the sound of a car. I shivered in the cold air more from fear than anything else.
"Someone’s coming." I said. "Quick.... get back to the van." We rushed to the van and I started the engine and drove it. I parked it behind the caravan.
I turned the engine and lights off, and we waited patiently in the dark. I had to be sure it was them before I went out there. It might be those men. For all I knew, the others could have been captured, I thought, as I sat there hoping to get a glimpse of who it was out lurking in the dark, misty night.
Of course, I wasn't sure of anything. My nerves were literally on high alert as I panicked, thinking what might happen next.
18. Lydia Brown - Strangers
I had waited patiently with the others whilst sitting quietly in the caravan. I hoped Tim and the others would find us, but I had no way of knowing if they would make it to us or not. A dark dread filled me with panic as I sat hoping for something good to happen. I missed Tim. I realised, that he was the only one who'd been with me through all the bad times
