"I'm hungry."
I looked down and smiled sadly at my young nephew, Ben, throwing an arm around his shoulders as we made our way down a dirt road. It would have been a beautiful walk with the kids in the good days. Nothing to listen for except for the birds and the wind through the trees. Nothing to watch for but maybe a deer. All that had changed the day of the outbreak. Now, even a twig snapping was cause for alarm. We'd been traveling on the road for almost four miles without a damn house in sight, just more forest. All I had left was a small can of peaches, but that was our reserve.
"I know, buddy," I leaned down slightly to gently kiss the top of his head before sighing, "we all are." I gave my niece's hand a little squeeze.
"Aren't we, Sare-bear?" I looked down to her, but she remained silent as ever. I sighed once again, looking to the road in front of me. She hadn't spoken a word since things had taken a turn for the worst. I knew she was hurting and that she was scared, but she needed to be strong.. we all did.
My thoughts and movements halted as I heard a groan come from the trees to my left. A breeze began to come through and the acrid smell of rotting hit me like a ton of bricks.
"Whoawhoawhoa." I whisper, throwing my arms in front of them to stop them as well. Two dead bastards emerged from the trees, limping toward us with their mouths agape. Both of them men, one missing an arm. Neither of them looked very fresh, their putrescent flesh hanging from their bones. They growled at us lowly, gnashing their yellowed teeth as they shuffled closer.
"Ben, turn around and cover your sister's eyes." I said lowly, quickly grabbing my hammer that's always tucked safely into my belt loop. Before they even had a chance to take another step, I drove the claw into the arm-less one's head. Its body fell to the ground and I braced my foot on its shoulder to tug on the hammer. It didn't budge and I could hear the other one's snarls getting louder. I stopped yanking for a moment to kick the nasty thing backwards. It stumbled away, almost losing its footing but quickly regained its balance, coming back for me once more. My foot came down hard onto the dead one's head, effectively crushing it and removing my hammer. Crying out, I threw myself towards the monster, letting the tool find its home in the bastard's third eye. My eyes shut and I cringed at the wet thunk it made. The growling stopped. All that could be heard was my heavy breathing and Sarah's small whimpers. I opened my eyes to look down. A man, and judging by what he was wearing, a fireman. I crouched down. On his dirty, bloodied yellow coat, a name; Jackson. I shook my head. Don't feel bad, Harper. They aren't human anymore. Grasping the handle of the hammer, I pulled as hard as I could. Blood sprayed out around the wound as the claw came loose.
"You guys okay?" I asked, rising to my feet to make my way back to the kids. Ben turned back to look at me, but his blue eyes trailed off to the dead. His face betrayed his fear but he nodded his head. Sarah turned around slowly, tears springing to her eyes.
"Hey, come on now." I pulled her to me tightly, her arms wrapping around my waist and her face buried into my stomach. She was trembling. I sighed. I only wished I could do more for them, so they wouldn't have to go through this.
"It's going to be okay," I started to rub small smoothing circles on her back, but it made no difference. "We're gonna find a place to stay and pretty soon, everything's going to go back to normal." If only I could believe my own words..
"Harper?" Ben's shaky voice startled me. I looked to the treeline where his fearful gaze was centered. Panic coursed through my body and my hold on Sarah tightened instinctively. More of them began to pour out of the trees, at least fifteen of them. I forced myself to let go of her to grab the crowbar sticking out of my bag and quickly handed it to Ben. If anything was going to happen to me, at least they would have a chance.
"We need to run, now!" I grabbed them by their shirts and pushed them ahead of me through the trees. As we ran, I could hear more of them. Their growls echoed through the air and I couldn't pin point where they were coming from. Sarah wasn't moving fast enough and I could tell she was getting tired. I didn't even stop running as I picked her up into my arms but that didn't last long. Sure, over a year of running had done wonders for my figure, but the starvation did nothing for the rest of me. After only a few feet, my knees went weak and I collapsed. Sarah tumbled away from me and my face caught my fall, cracking off of something hard.
I groaned as I rolled onto my back, my hands automatically coming to the open wound on my face.
"Harper!" Ben cried. My eyes snapped open, but my vision was blurry. I could barely make out the shape of the walking corpse above me. I watched as it knelt down in front of me. I tried to crawl backwards on my elbows but they slipped in the dirt and I could feel my head begin to spin.
"Get down!" A strange voice from behind me. The corpse came in for the kill and my mind gave in to the embracing darkness.
Author's Note:Please, please, please leave me a review. Doesn't have to be long. If you love it or hate it, give me some constructive criticism. :D Hope you enjoy the story!
PS: I apologize if I've missed any spelling mistakes. I haven't slept so my mind is a little fuzzy ..