Coming Down The Mountain [Open]

If it weren’t for the tree canopy, he should be able to see the city from here. Unfortunately for Todd, he wouldn’t be able to get a good look of the city unless he was on higher, less-forested ground or almost at the city borders, which meant that he couldn’t know if the area was infested or not until he arrived. He had received a few garbled radio transmissions back in Philly, heard snippets of distorted phrases, and had thought, for one brief, fleeting moment, that he had heard the phrase “Henley Falls” uttered over the radio waves. Now Todd was not very book-smart, and hadn’t listened in geography classes, but since the shit hit the fan he’d found it necessary to study a few maps, and he’d found the area not too far away from the Delaware area. A decent trek, sure, and he’d had to pinch a few vital pieces of equipment on the way, but it was doable. And now he was here he was starting to have second thoughts.

Todd slid down the mountain a few metres on a slick of soft earth and wet leaves, and caught his footing again, glancing around him. He was ever vigilant, forever cautious that the - whatever they were - could be haunting his trail. Thankfully, he hadn’t had an encounter since he’d headed up the opposite face of the mountain, but he wasn’t about to let his guard down now. Not when he was so close.

Fifty feet away, a rabbit caught his scent and shot down into a nearby warren. Squirrels bounced from tree to tree, and the dense fringe of woodland felt more alive than it had ever been, despite the undead that wandered around the foot of the mountain.

Todd hitched his backpack up a little with a roll of his shoulders and began to scale a large tree to his right. His dirty hands scrabbled at the dry bark, flaking away bits that floated down to the snow-dusted leaves below him. He climbed up the tree, ascending branch by branch, and poked his head out of the canopy to peer around at the valley below. There was a chill wind up here that hadn’t existed on the mountain face below, and the cold nipped at his face and neck as he stared down at the lower ground that was shrouded in thin fog. It looked clear, but he couldn’t say for certain whether there were many of the reanimated stalking the streets. It might be the safe haven he had hoped for, or it may be a death trap.