I looked out over the clear waves as our small boat sped across the open water. Strand, my mom and Ofelia had stayed on the Abigail whilst the rest of us went back to shore on a supply run. We were running low on supplies so we had little choice but to return to the mainland. My mom had stayed to keep an eye on Strand, reluctantly allowing me to go out with the others.
Nick sat at my side with a crowbar in hand, Daniel had his usual rifle slung across his back, and even Chris had his own gun. I was the only one left without a weapon and that really pissed me off.
'I don't see why I can't have a weapon,' I complained, not missing the triumphant smirk that Nick sent my way. He was clearly amused by how our mother still treated me.
'Don't look at me, it was down to your mother' Travis said, his gaze remaining fixed on the land that was growing steadily closer. Madison had insisted that there wouldn't be any need for me to carry a weapon because at the first sign of trouble we were all to get back in the boat and return without delay. I didn't bother to tell her that wasn't how it worked, if things went badly then I didn't want to be left defenseless.
'Mom made me promise to look out for you,' Nick replied, running his hand down the length of the crowbar as he puffed his chest out with a tilted smile.
I scoffed at that, leaning over to give my brother a playful shove but otherwise remaining silent. One day my mom had to realize that in this new world I couldn't be an innocent child who needed protecting. Things were different now, the apocalypse tended to change people.
I had no more time to dwell on my thoughts when Daniel cut off the engine and we all hopped out of the boat to tug it onto the shore. Travis wiped his hands dry once it was high enough and turned to face us all.
'We want this to be quick, we return here in one hour with as many supplies as you can find.'
We all nodded in agreement, Travis and Chris taking the left side of town, Nick and I the right. Daniel was left to his own devices, he could take care of himself and needed no protection other than his rifle.
Nick and I entered the first house we came across not a few minutes walk from the shore, my brother taking the upstairs whilst I searched downstairs. A rucksack lay abandoned in the hallway and I dusted it off quickly before heading straight to the kitchen to gather as many cans as I could find.
Once the kitchen was cleared I was is eager to move on to the next house and shouted up to see how my brother was faring. 'Nick? You ready?'
For a few moments all that could be heard was the thud of items falling to the floor above my head before he called out in response.
'Almost done!'
What the hell was taking him so long? For something to do to pass time I began to search through the many drawers that were located around the kitchen and dining room, stopping short when I opened one to reveal a handgun.
I glanced up quickly to see that my brother was still not ready, items being dropped carelessly every now and again heard thumping through the ceiling above me.
I returned my gaze to the handgun, slowly picking it up to inspect the weapon. After a few moments a large smile formed on my face, my mom didn't need to know and there was no way I was roaming around the walker infected streets without some way of protecting myself.
The gun felt strange in my grip, never having held one before, and I swiftly tucked it into the waist band of my jeans, ignoring the feeling of unease that had built within me at how unnatural the weapon had felt to hold.
I considered shouting up to Nick again but decided that he could catch up. Leaving the house quietly, I moved further down the street, passing the abandoned houses that all seemed to have been ransacked early on. I faintly heard Nick cursing wildly when he discovered that I had gone ahead without him but I didn't bother to look back, knowing that he would follow.
Taking the turning on my left I located a number of shops grouped around a parking area, heading directly for the one that was signed Stumps Family Market Place. I looked over my shoulder to see Nick going between vehicles to check if any worked, and leaving him to it I headed into the store. Glancing around cautiously I saw no signs of walkers and, keeping an eye out for any danger, I moved down the first aisle to find a few tins that had not been looted, shoving them quickly into my bag before moving onto the next aisle.
I almost dropped the can I was holding when I heard my name being called, glancing out of the shop window to see Nick casually strolling through the parking lot as if he weren't in the middle of the zombie apocalypse.
'Alicia,' he called, extended each syllable as he did and I shook my head in annoyance before I saw the ridiculous floppy hat that he wore on his head, unable to stop the smile that grew on my lips.
'You're such an idiot,' I called back, not that he could hear me, laughing softly at the ridiculous image of my brother. The hat was probably the only thing that he had salvaged from the cars I thought with a roll of my eyes. Typical.
Our moment of normality was shattered in a second when a number of low moans filled the air and my amusement quickly turned to horror when I saw a group of walkers dragging themselves out of the building on my left, casting their heads about as they identified their next meal.
'Shit,' I muttered, running back into the food store where I'd left my rucksack as my brother called out desperately from the car park. Picking up the bag, I froze when another groan sounded and this one was not from outside the store. Slowly raising my eyes from the ground I glimpsed a flash of rotting flesh reaching for me before I got the hell out of there.
Bursting out into the not so empty car park, I saw Nick shouting and waving his arms as he shouted at me to follow him, setting off in a sprint away from the oncoming walkers. I followed suit and ran after him, not fast enough though. I stopped short once I got back onto the road, seeing Nick racing ahead of me down the opposite street, followed closely by a large group of walkers. Some of them turned and began to drag themselves back in my direction and a quick glance over my shoulder alerted me to more approaching from the store.
'Shit,' I muttered again, there was no way I could get through the walkers to join my brother and his pace slowed when he realized the same thing. Looking back at me our eyes met, both of us knowing that we were in an impossible situation.
'Run Alicia! Circle back and meet us at the beach,' he shouted, waiting for me to nod in acknowledgement before setting of once more, soon disappearing from view as he took the turning back to the direction of the shore. The moans of the walkers jolted me into action and with the closest ones barely meters away I turned right and ran for my life.
Empty houses whizzed by as I tried to get by bearings, taking the next left which would hopefully take me back to shore. I soon realized my mistake when this merely led me back past the other side of the store where I had previously been, more walkers spilling into the area. Retracing my steps with panicked breaths I darted down a different street, this one thankfully clear of any walkers. Glancing over my shoulder I saw that some of the faster walkers were quickly gaining on me and I had no choice but to set off running again, ignoring the burn in my chest as I struggled to draw in enough oxygen.
Finally after what felt like an age of endless running, I could no longer hear the moans of the dead at my back and my frantic pace slowed before I pressed my back against the wall of the nearest building, giving myself time to recover from the exertion. I could hardly believe this was happening, I needed to get back to the shore as soon as possible before the others left without me.
The low moaning of walkers in the distance left me with a decision, turning slowly to face them I saw that it was only a few and I was sick of running. With only a little difficulty I managed to draw the gun from my jeans and spun to see more of the undead advancing from the other end of the street. It looked like running was out of the question anyway.
Never having used a gun before, it felt awkward in my grip as I leveled it at the nearest walker. I was soon wishing that I had chosen a more suitable weapon that I could just hit the damn thing with. Steeling my nerves, I pulled the trigger sharply only for a muted click to sound at the action. I repeated the movement again and got the same result.
A wave of pure fear overwhelmed me as the walker advanced even closer. A sudden memory resurfaced, Daniel had said something to Chris a few days ago about the safety clip on his gun and thankfully it was one of the few things I had paid any attention to. I desperately searched and managed to flick it off before firing a poorly aimed shot at the oncoming walker. By some miracle it ripped through its right shoulder though it barely held it up for more than a second. I fired a second shot which missed completely this time, the third also not finding a target.
I cursed my inability as my hands began to shake under the pressure, firing the weapon desperately in the hope of driving the creature back. By the time my ammo was gone the walker was riddled with bullet holes all over its torso but still it came ever closer, hunger in its eyes as it advanced with outstretched arms.
Abandoning the weapon entirely, I threw the useless piece of metal on the ground and spun to flee up the street only to see more of the walkers spilling from the surrounding buildings, their low insistent moans merging together to form a nightmarish sound. The shots fired had attracted some unwanted attention. My chances of surviving this didn't look good.
I squeezed my eyes shut as the mass of undead shuffled down the street and I could do nothing but allow my fear to surround me as I readied myself for the end. I was all out of options and there was no way I could get past that many walkers without being overrun. To my confusion a car horn sounded in the distance and I cracked my eyes open to see the walkers pause their advance, a large number of them slowly turning to follow the sound. I watched in terror as those that didn't turn at the unexpected noise continued on without hesitation to where I stood with my back against the wall, unable to do anything to stop them.
It turned out I didn't have to when a figure leapt in front of me without warning, cutting down the closest walker with a pair of already blood spattered blades, one in each hand. She twirled with impressive skill as she cut down the few remaining walkers, her blonde hair whipping around her face as they fell at her feet. My back slid down the wall as I watched the last of the walkers being disposed of, unable to understand where this person had appeared from.
As the blonde felled the last of the walkers that had been surrounding me, I took the opportunity to rise to my feet and set off at a sprint down the now empty street, not wanting to hang around and meet whoever held such skill with wielding blades, dodging in between different roads to throw off whoever may be around before ducking into the closest house, leaning against the closed door at my back as I regained my breath.
No sound was to be heard outside on the street or in the house and, after a rather nerve wracking search of the building, it seemed that the house was empty. I slumped down into one of the chairs in the main sitting room, relieved that there were no walkers in the house to contend with. If there had been I wondered if I would even have the energy left to fight them off.
Closing my eyes briefly I had no intention of falling asleep though I soon felt myself fall into a light slumber and quickly jerked awake, not willing to leave myself so vulnerable in this unknown place. To keep myself occupied as night fell I thought of what I would do the next day, needing to get back to my family as soon as possible. I hoped that Nick had returned to the boat safely with the others, surely they would be waiting there for my arrival. I didn't dare think of what it would mean if they weren't.
The night seemed to stretch on as I jumped at every sound, certain that walkers would burst in at any second though none did. Eventually the first rays of light began to spill through the cracks in the boarded up windows, signalling the beginning of a new day. Not that I was feeling refreshed at all, far from it.
Pulling myself somewhat unsteadily to my feet I was intent on finding my family. Moving towards the door I stopped for a moment when I realized that I had no idea where I was or which direction the boat was in. My hand hovered over the door handle before I pushed it open and stepped cautiously out into the seemingly empty street.
My eyes constantly searched my surroundings for any sign of walkers as I stayed close to the side of buildings, moving through the shadows so as to be less noticeable. Following the road to a junction I turned to right in the hope that it would lead me back to the shore, my panicked rush to get to safety the previous day had left me completely unsure as to my bearings.
The sun slowly began to creep higher in the sky as the hours passed by and I was still no closer to finding any recognizable signs to lead me back to the boat. My fear grew steadily with each unknown sign that I passed, my hopes of ever getting back to my family again rapidly decreasing. I stopped outside a large building to have a brief rest, despair filling me as I realized that I was completely lost.
I jumped in surprise when a dark figure approached from around the far side of the building, what I thought at first was a walker turned out to be another survivor and I felt a new sense of hope.
'Hello?' I called out tentatively as the figure approached, waiting for them to reply but they said nothing. 'Can you help me back to shore?'
I took a step closer to the advancing figure and held up a hand to shield the sun from my eyes, my feeling of dread intensifying when the man clearly came into sight, his bare arms showing a collection of tattoos and scars that ran all the way over his shoulder to disappear beneath the ragged material of his shirt. This did not look like the kind of person I wanted to be associating with.
'I'm afraid not but seeing as you're such a pretty girl, I know what you can do for me,' he replied in a deep voice, nausea rising in my throat when his eyes roamed by body to focus back on my face. Shit.
Spinning quickly in an attempt to escape the man's advances I did not get far when a large pair of hands grasped at my arms and pulled me back with a shriek. His strength was tremendous and there was no way for me to break free of his grip, pulling my head back in disgust as his foul breath washed over me.
'Mmhhm, you'll be perfect. I'll get a ton of supplies with you to trade,' he mumbled, grunting in a mixture of surprise and pain when my head collided sharply with his face, blood trickling down his nose though his grasp did not falter for a second.
'Bitch,' he growled, backhanding me across the face and sending me crashing to the ground. My face ached from the blow but before I could even rise to my feet, the man crouched at my side and rolled me forcefully on my back, enclosing a pair of metal handcuffs around my wrists. I stumbled when he tugged on the chain sharply and threaded it through a nearby metal gate. Now certain that I wouldn't be able to escape, the man took a step back and wiped at his bloody nose with the bottom of his shirt.
With all of my options virtually gone at this point I did the only thing that I could think of, I opened my mouth and screamed as loud as I could, hearing it echo down through the deserted streets. The man winced at the sound and advanced with a growl of warning which effectively turned into whine when my foot rose sharply right between his legs. Hard. My mom had made sure I was prepared for any incidents before I went to college, looks like those lessons did come in handy after all.
'That's it, I've had enough of you,' he spat after a moment of recovery, giving me no warning when his fist collided with my stomach, knocking the air from my lungs and bringing my cries to a stop. A second forceful blow had me almost unable to remain standing as pain coursed through my body.
'Now stay quiet,' he grunted, moving back to his bag to bring out a strip of cloth which he roughly gagged me with. After one last murderous look he backed away and lent against the shop wall, resting his hands on his knees before wiping away the blood that continued to flow from his nose.
It seemed that my screams had the desired effect and as I struggled against the cuffs I heard the sound of moaning getting closer as walkers closed in on our position. My captor heard them too and with a string of curse words he pulled out a deadly looking axe from a bag at his side, turning to face the walkers.
I hadn't anticipated just how many walkers would be drawn from my screams but I hoped that it would be enough to distract my captor. The first one neared him and the great axe swung in an arc through the air before embedding itself deep into the walkers head. The man pulled the blade free with a grunt and threw himself towards the next walker in his path.
I struggled wildly against my restraints, trying desperately to free myself and escape whilst he was distracted. My efforts seemed to be in vain when no solution made itself apparant, the cuffs remaining firmly in place no matter what I did. This was it, I was either going to be sold for supplies or eaten by the horde of walkers. Neither option seemed very appealing. A muffled shriek escaped my lips when a figure appeared out of nowhere, gunshots blasting from mere metres away as three of the walkers dropped in a matter of seconds. I stared in shock as the blonde drew two deadly blades that had been strapped across her back and took down the few walkers closest to me.
I watched in amazement as she twirled with impressive skill, cutting down any remaining walkers with virtually no hesitation. I wasn't the only one taken aback at the sudden appearance, my captor regarding the stranger in confusion, his mouth hanging open at the display.
'What the-' he never got time to finish his sentence when a walker enclosed its teeth around his leg and words turned into furious howling as he tried to free himself from its grip. The blonde turned to look at the commotion, reaching down to grasp another two daggers from a hidden strap on her leg, proceeding to throw them with pinpoint accuracy at first the walker and then the infected man. They both fell lifelessly to the ground at her feet and I stumbled back, tripping over the pavement behind me which sent me sprawling to the ground. The imposing figure turned to face me as I shuffled back as far as the chains would allow, very wary of the dangerous girl.
As she approached I thought for a second that she was going to use those deadly blades on me but rather moved to my side and untied the chain from the railing, threading it down through my handcuffs. I could hardly believe that this was the same girl who had saved me earlier from the walkers, and she looked extremely pissed.
'Are you trying to get yourself killed?' she hissed in annoyance, the Australian accent startling me just as much as the evident anger in her tone did. What had I ever done to her?
I didn't bother trying to reply with the gag still in place, everything about this girl screamed danger and I rose unsteadily to my feet with a muffled groan. The girl sighed and reached up to remove the piece of cloth from my mouth, enabling me to breathe easier. Anger still radiated from the blonde as she regarded me closely, her striking blue eyes seeming to absorb every detail.
I backed away from her piercing gaze but stopped short when a pain in my chest had me doubled over, each breath sending a fresh stab of pain through my body. This didn't deter me from continuing to try to get further away from the girl, I had to go and find my family. I had been delayed too long already. The blonde girl moved swiftly past me, planting herself directly in my path.
'You really are trying to get yourself killed aren't you? You're not going to get far like that,' she told me sharply, ignoring my futile attempts to move around her.
'Go away,' I hissed, my voice barely audible as I tried to ease the pain in my chest by shifting my weight without any result.
'What? No thank you for saving your sorry ass? Twice,' she snapped, crossing her arms over her chest as she looked down at me.
'I need..to go to..' I mumbled, finding it harder to form words as the pain in my chest intensified. I took a small step forwards only for my head to spin wildly, sending me toppling straight into the blonde who grunted in surprise but was quick to raise her arms and steady me.
'I hope you thank me for this later, never damn grateful,' she muttered to herself, guiding one of my arms around her shoulder as she supported my weight and half dragged me through the street to where a rusting car waited by the junction. I was in no way able to protest as I was pushed into the passenger seat, the blonde slamming the door shut before getting into the driver's side, a scowl set firmly in place. The revving of the engine and the lurching movement of the car as it burst into motion was the last thing I was aware of before my vision went dark.