A Long Walk Chapter 30 It was quickly obvious that Robert had a major advantage in terms of size and strength. His reach was much longer than Jasper's and his hits were incredibly powerful. Jasper was quicker, more agile. It wasn’t obvious to Robert, but Jasper also had a lot more training in unarmed combat. Robert had always relied on being bigger and stronger, and it made him lazy in training. If he could win the combat every time, without having to work too hard, he was clearly doing it right. Jasper on the other hand, while still being a decent sized guy, was not always the biggest, the tallest, the fastest. He made up for it with training and dedication. His shots were precise, and he was more aware, paying more attention to the environment, constantly scanning for any opening, any slight mistake on Robert's part.

A Long Walk Chapter 29 Naomi ran outside, close behind Jasper. She got separated from him in seconds, turned around and isolated. She was in the open, surrounded by zombies, no cover close at hand. She charged, head down. She thought she was running for the building but wasn't sure. It was loud, gunfire going off on all sides, zombies moaning, impeding her vision. Hands grabbed her, trying to bear her to the ground. She lashed out with her machete, catching dead flesh, one of the arms that was grabbing her came away from its body, fell to the ground. It gave her enough momentum to hit the accelerator inside her, she slammed into a wall, hard. At least she could keep her back to it now.

A Long Walk Chapter 28 Robert had his explosives. Not exactly what he wanted, not military grade or anything, but enough to take out that shitty gate. He waited for the cover of darkness. No point in making his life harder and alerting the building. Discipline. No matter how much he wanted to move he had to wait.

A Long Walk Chapter 27 Mona had recognized that Robert had lost his mind a long time ago. She’d been around enough mentally ill people to know what it looked like. This was clearly insanity. Doing something about it was a different matter. He was bigger, stronger, had a mean right hook. A mean temper too. She was good in a fight, but he outweighed her by at least a hundred pounds… she had to go along with him. She was terrified. Everything about herself that had come back while travelling with Jasper had died since that day in the camp. Every time Robert smashed her in the face or the stomach she went back to the little girl she had been, the one in the trailer park whose mother had terrorized her, beaten her randomly because she wanted to. The only thing she had to protect herself was sex. If she fucked Robert, if she did it well, he would be calm, at least briefly.

A Long Walk Chapter 26 Robert saw the settlement as he wandered the city. It was obvious it was there, all the zombies clustered around it. Clearly, there were humans inside. He spotted Jasper about a second later. The snake was being carried over the road on a wire. Fucking bastard, polluting another place with his chaos and anarchy.

A Longe Walk Chapter 25 "Fuck. Days. We are losing days getting around this shit." Jasper was frustrated by the delay once again. It seemed like every time they found a path into the city flooding was stopping them in their tracks. "Nothing we can do. Just keep walking. You know we gonna make it. River don't give a shit you wanna go faster." Naomi was patient. To her, it was all very much the same. She was sticking with Jasper out of loyalty and had no hopes for Charlottetown over any other place. The small city seemed viable, lots of forage around, lots of empty homes, nothing else really to recommend it though. It was a small and poor place, all small buildings.

A Long Walk Chapter 24 Standing in the suburb on the south shore Robert could see the city proper across the river, low buildings and houses. Charlottetown had never been very built up, he guessed it never would be now. In between him and the city was a small island with a shopping complex, nothing else. A couple of zombies wandered between the shops, aimless and confused. Not enough to worry him. The shopping complex was exactly what he was looking for, a place he could ambush Jasper and his people, maybe even find some relative comfort. The river might not be the best water in the world, but he was confident that if he boiled it they would be fine.

A Long Walk Chapter 23 Jasper, Naomi, and Candice hit the barrier on the island side as the first snow began to fall. It was just a few light flurries, but it was cold. The sheer number of bodies dead by the barrier was staggering. It was hundreds, too many to make sense of. All with their heads destroyed. They walked into the town, looking for anywhere they could use for warmth. They looked through windows. Many of the houses still housed undead occupants, but they were looking for someplace with an obvious fireplace or wood stove. The couple of zombies inside wouldn’t be a major concern.

A Long Walk Chapter 22 Robert fled the fire, Mona and his last remaining soldier in tow. There was no way this was going to pass. He was going to find a way to kill Jasper, no matter what. It wouldn’t be now though, there would be a better opportunity. For now, he needed to stay alive, to stay mobile. If your ambush point fails, move to another one, never let your opponent choose the battleground. Jasper had changed the tenor of the conflict with that fire. The far end of the bridge might work… at least he thought so until he got there.

A Long Walk Chapter 21 The weather was bad. Jasper and his group were moving slowly because of it. Every kilometre was a struggle. It had turned cold a few days ago, and then colder still. The pelting rain meant that all of them were soaked to the bone, bundles of sodden misery. The bridge was close though. They had spotted it from a high point a few hours back, before the rain got really, really bad. Now the visibility was terrible, limiting their world to a small sphere, the bridge far outside of it.

A Long Walk Chapter 20 Robert was moving fast. The horses made them so much more efficient. It wasn’t purely the speed boost, they also carried the gear, meaning the soldiers were much, much less tired. They covered miles, occasionally running into a zombie, and once a living human. An old man who lived in a tar shack in the woods. They ignored him and he ignored them. He was so remote that they weren’t even sure he knew the zombie apocalypse had happened.

A Long Walk Chapter 19 The group was moving fast, faster than they had since the world ended. They got a few kilometres on the highway, then had to take smaller roads. Even so, this was passthrough country, no real towns, a few houses by the side of the road with a sign saying "Welcome to..." and then more empty countryside.

A Long Walk Chapter 18 Robert was furious. He had trusted them, let them into his camp, against his better judgement. Should have kept the numbers tight. Now, two of the three were gone, and with them a bunch of his men. The worst part was that they had left things in chaos. Their escape left him with an injured man and a bunch of questions that he didn’t have answers for.

A Long Walk Chapter 17 That night none of them could move. They were all in too much pain, bodies broken, spirits damaged or destroyed. Robert had set one tent aside with two cages in it, apparently foreseeing that he would have to lock people up. Jasper was losing it. Snow was what had kept him together so far. The idea of Taylor of course, but Snow’s solid presence at his side, the reliability of the big dog, the absolute loyalty, that got him through the day to day, kept him fighting when every part of him wanted to give up. He knew that he needed to get it together, to start figuring out how to get the hell out of there. He was sure Robert was going to kill him, probably as soon as he could manage to justify it, but he just didn’t have enough left in him to do what he needed to do. He was tapped.

A Long Walk Chapter 16 Eventually, food ran low again. By this point, they were near Truro. Truro was much larger than Stewiacke, a medium sized town with some suburbs, a central hub in the province. Jasper didn't like the idea of using the same tactics here as they had been in the past. A larger town meant a lot more zombies. Different places should mean different tactics. Jasper took Robert aside, “Look, man, there’s way too many for the Stewiacke plan to work. We’re going to get pinned down, cut off, it’s too many.”

A Long Walk Chapter 15 Jasper had only been in bed for an hour when Naomi shook him awake. Breakfast was first, then Robert wanted to address the group. Apparently, Jasper, Naomi, and Mona were the third group to get to eat. The food was identical to supper, but there was a lot of it and no rationing. After they had finished Robert cleared his throat and started speaking. His voice carried through the room, even though he was barely talking above a whisper.

A Long Walk Chapter 14 They kept walking North West, and the signal kept getting clearer. Jasper was pushing hard, trying to go further every day, trying to make do with less, fewer calories, less sleep, fewer breaks. Finally, after the signal had gotten fairly strong, Mona fell over. She was walking, and then she was lying on the ground, eyes closed. Her breathing was shallow and her pulse was rapid. Jasper tried to remember if he had seen her drink any water that day. He realized that he hadn’t and that he hadn't seen her eat at all either. “Hey, Naomi, did you notice if Mona ate or drank anything, anything at all, today or yesterday?”

A Long Walk Chapter 13 By the next day, Jasper was capable of sitting up. Still not walking, but not on the edge of death. Over the next few days, he recovered strength, until he was finally able to get going again. They were low on food by that point - of course. None of them was willing to go back into Elmsdale though, so they decided to chance it and headed off into the mainland.

A Long Walk Chapter 12 The next few days were a write-off. Jasper was raving, incoherent. He insisted that they walk, that making it to Charlottetown was important, that they couldn't stop, not even for a day. He could barely stand, and threw up often. "You can't walk, idiot." Naomi said, "Lie down, let us take care of you." "Can't. Gotta make it to Taylor, she needs me." "Yeah, we gonna get there. You keep trying to walk you ain't going nowhere. You gonna fall down and die, then Mona and me gotta put a knife through your brain, how that help Taylor?"

A Long Walk Chapter 11 Mona and Naomi waited until the zombies thinned out on the street. "Let's go. Grab us some guns." "Shut. Up." "What the fuck? What's your problem bitch. You don't tell me to shut up." "You talk too loud. Zombies. Don't wanna get eaten." Mona said, low and fast as always. "Alright. You and me gonna have words later though." "K. Quiet now."