I wasn't sure where I was exactly, but, I had pretty good system going for myself. I was somewhere in the woods and back roads of Georgia. Maybe. It had been about 2 years since the sickness or plague broke out. I lost my family and my group. So I survived alone. I don't know if you could really call it "surviving" but I was alive. I was almost certain I had gone insane and talked to myself frequently, but, things were o.k. considering my circumstances. I kept myself somewhat cheerful during the day by singing songs to myself, trying to remember every word. I figured the walkers couldn't get me at night if I just slept in a tree. So every night, I worked on making my tree-house-hut-thing bigger - adding planks of wood and attempting to put a roof on it. It was poorly built. I will admit that. But it provided me safety to sleep soundly at night. I was no hunter. I could only scavenge and catch frogs, birds, and insects when I was lucky. I had even mustered up enough courage to kill the dead things more efficiently. I had 2 machetes and a re curve bow with 5 arrows. I could kill walkers pretty well with the machetes, but, I was a horrible shot with the bow and arrow. How I had managed to keep myself alive for these years I'll never know. It was dumb luck.
Most of my food, but most importantly, my water, came from stealing. I was a common thief. That was one thing I was excellent at. Sneaking in and running away. I was a coward, but a fast one. I had decided that most people were not to be trusted. So I stayed away from "communities." The first community I found - The Hilltop - provided me fresh vegetables twice a week, when I would sneak under the fence when one of the guards took a nap and didn't notice me. The second community didn't have a name that I knew of, but they lived in a bunch of giant piles of garbage. I got my pillows and wood boards from them. They also talked really weird and actually got on my nerves quite a bit, so I didn't visit them often. The third, Alexandria, was like a completely preserved Suburban heaven. Very difficult to get into, and very tough to steal from. They kept tabs on everything, they were close knit, and they always had guards around their giant walls. But I scored some cool clothes from there.
It was the day I discovered the fourth community, that my life never went back to normal. It was a compound surrounded in fences, dead people, angry looking men, trucks, and barbed wire. At first glance it looked impossible to break into. But I was curious. I didn't have anything to lose. Why not check the place out? And that's what I did. I watched and listened for days. "The Saviors" is what they called themselves. "The Sanctuary" was the place. It didn't take long for me to figure out that they possessed the largest amount of stuff. Edible stuff, drinkable stuff, fun stuff, neat stuff, - stuff I kinda wanted to steal. Although, they looked like the scariest group I had encountered so far, they were also the dumbest. The majority of the community were men. Men not of the brightest background. It wasn't long before I found a way in at the right hour on the right day, and made it out with no worries.
This went on for about 3 months. Inside the compound, they never seemed to be running out of anything. In fact, it was almost like they had more and more stuff whenever I would sneak inside. To put it bluntly, the people in charge of the Sanctuary were assholes, and I didn't feel guilty. My tree house was soon filled with delicious water bottles, granola bars, and soft blankets. I was living like a queen - sleeping in and reading books and eating expired candy. I snuck in during the middle of the night, and as it often goes with thieves, I got a little too greedy. I took two guns, a walkie-talkie, and very cool baseball bat that was resting on the base of a staircase. It was a little risky for me to grab it, but what can I say. I liked shiny things. With everything stuffed inside my backpack I raced back to my safe tree, letting the adrenaline settle, and then slept soundly.
I woke up suddenly to the sound of the walkie talkie buzzing on. A voice spoke - agitated.
"Has anyone seen Lucille?" it asked impatiently.
Who? I thought to myself. I picked up the walkie and listened with intrigue.
"Dwight had her last," it buzzed.
A moment passed. It buzzed on again, "Now how in the hell am I going to beat someone's brains out for losing Lucille, if I don't have Lucille?"
I was so confused.
"DWIGHT?!" I jumped at the angry yell that came from the box. Then I giggled. I couldn't help it. I was like a 10 year old. I was listening to their whole conversation and they didn't even know.
Another voice entered the conversation, "S-sir, Dwight's walkie is missing."
A woman's voice buzzed in next, "And two guns are missing from the armory inventory. Two of the nicer ones."
The grin on my face melted off. Shit. Shit, shit. I looked around my dragon's horde of a tree house. I held the walkie in my hand, waiting for a response.
A low voice, calm and gristly, softly said, "Could everyone, do me a favor? Everyone, if you could just get your heads out of your asses, I would be SO grateful."
It sent a shiver down my spine.
He spoke again.
"Find D a new walkie. Do that first. Find Lucille. Find those guns. I want EVERYTHING back by the end of the day."
"Yes sir." They all replied.
Part of me wanted to say "yes sir" into the walkie and laugh, but I composed myself before I could. I wasn't worried. It wasn't my problem. They weren't going to find me. Not even the dead things found me that often. I was too deep into the woods. That same night, I should've stayed in my hut. I should've just gone to sleep. I should've just stayed hidden. But listening to the man on the walkie get more and more upset about his missing stuff just made my ego puff up too big. I started to get too self confident. I couldn't help but think, "What else could I get my hands on?" I couldn't sleep. My heart was pumped. I had to go back, and take something else. Liquor maybe. That must've been something they wanted - not stolen. I laced up my boots and zipped up my black jacket. I was stupid, but I didn't realize it at the time.
The 2 guards who were supposed to be watching the back fence were gone - as usual. I slipped in through a cut in the fence I had made months ago, and covered it with grass. I wasn't familiar with the layout of the building, but I didn't care. I was Tom Cruise on mission impossible. I could hear the soundtrack playing in my head. I turned a few corners and opened a closet door - cleaning supplies. Next. I ran down some empty halls with locked handles. Until finally, one door was open. And on a table, in the corner of the room, there it was. Something I didn't even know I wanted. A giant jar of pickles. I confidently walked in, picked it up and walked out. I had almost made it to the end of the hall, when a voice made me jump.
"Hey!"
The jar of pickles dropped with a loud smash, as glasses scattered everywhere, echoing through the empty hall.
I turned. Before me stood the dumbest savior I had seen yet. A stout man, with a horrendous mullet.
"Those are mine! My pickles!" he said in dismay. "Who the hell are you?"
I threw my hood over my hair, turned on my heel and began to run. I could hear angry boots running after me.
"Catch him around the corner!" I heard one of them yell.
"Corner? What corner?" I thought. But it was too late. Boom! I turned a corner and my face collided into someone's chest at full speed. I was surrounded. I had no pickles. I had nothing shiny. I was caught.
I was suddenly thrown to the ground, face first, feeling my nose hit the ground. One of them grabbed a fistful of my jacket and propped me up to my feet like a ragdoll. I could feel blood running down from my nose.
"Oh shit, it's a girl," one of them laughed.
One of them stepped forward. An ugly guy, bald with a pervy mustache. He grabbed my wrists and tied them with rope. "Guy or gal - we don't tolerate robbers 'round here." He smiled at me and marched me down the hall.
"Come on man, it was just pickles," I said, blood still dripping down my lips.
He laughed and opened a door to a small concrete room and shoved me inside.
"Make yourself comfortable," he chuckled. He shut the door, locked it and walked away.