Rotten Bait

by Selinaaaaaaaaa

Lonely, lost and fairly useless, Gretel tries to survive in a world that's turning barbaric. She is collected by two brothers, Daryl and Merle Dixon, and is protected and taught how to adapt to a world falling from its pillars due to a catastrophic pandemic. Will Gretel succeed at staying alive and learning the ways of the survival from her protectors?

1. Chapter 1

Rotten Bait

Chapter 1

I walk. Leaves crackle and crunch under my steel cap work boots. Panting as I feel the ridges on my replica swords handle. The blade is blunt as it's only for show but the tip is still shape enough to stab through rotten eye socket. A gargling sound echoes off the cliff face on my right. I stop. Listening for more, the wind whistles through the trees as it whips the cliff face next to me. The sound came from my right, there is only a cliff face there, how could it be? Maybe it rebounded, but something that quite can't rebound off the cliff face. A rock falls on my shoulder and bounces off onto the leaf litter. "What the" I mutter puzzled. I look up and a see a falling black mass head straight for me. I dive out of the way just in time. The mass moves slowly on the leaves for a few seconds then rises to its feet. Fuck, it's a rotten one. The figure moves towards me gasping and limping on its broken ankle. I lift my replica sword out from behind my backpack. Circling the rotten person I try to think of a way to take this one out. Gasping it takes a swing at me. I jump to the side, heart racing, I pull my sword back and go in for a stab. Nothing, I missed. The rotten person is too far away. "Come on, Gretel. Grow some balls" I say to myself. I run closer to it and lodge my replica sword under its jaw bone and out the top of its head. The rotten person lets out a final growl as it loses motion and falls to the ground.

It was a female, maybe 22-23 years old, just a fraction older than myself. Her hair was long and silver blond, at least it was now it was covered in dry blood and dirt. I think this rotten one would have been quite an attractive female setting as side the fact she was rotten now. I thumble through her pockets, apart from the lint I found a single bullet. It's no use to me but I put in my chest pocket anyway. She looks so peaceful now she is not trying eat my brains. I brush her eyes closed. She was not a bad person just an unlucky person. Now how the hell did she fall from the sky? I squint my eyes as I look up the cliff face. The coffee brown rock is lumpy with grooves all along it. I take a few steps back I see the top of a magenta dome comes into view from behind a ledge in the cliff. Walking backwards some more the dome is revealed a little more. It's a tent.

I climb up the cliff, with some difficulty to the magenta haven. The ledge is about 10 Meters up the cliff. I finally reach it, only having scraped my elbow. It's a little camp site. The tent was small, it only had one bed set up inside, a pink sleeping bag, and pink Ugg boots next to it. I think the rotten women's favourite colour was pink...just a guess though. I back out of the tent there were ashes from a camp fire, they were cold, perhaps they were from last night. Beside the tent there was a cooler. "Oh, please have fresh water" I say to myself. The inside of the cooler is still partially cold and to my disbelief there is fresh bottled water. Gulping the liquid life I feel the coolness open up inside my chest, like a wave crashing over my insides cooling me from the inside out. After guzzling half the bottle of water I look through the rest of the cooler. There is three more bottles of water, pink 'vitamin' water, 6 pack of beer, and a bottle of pills reading "oxycodone for Sarah Mckew" - must be the rotten ladies prescription. I move to the back of the ledge and can smell a mortifying scent. It's a dead deer, its guts flopped out spread over the floor. Rotten Sarah's dinners, maybe? I drag it near the edge of my ledge, and roll it off the side. Two thuds then a splat. I don't think I will look over the edge to see that. Lighting a fire in the old fire pit I use logs that Sarah collected for me to fuel it. I watch the sun hit the top of the trees as pink and orange ray brush the fluffy cloud. Today was a good day. I open my journal, and write:

Weather: mildly hot, partly cloudy

Today was good, I found a nice set up on the ledge of a cliff. Hopefully I can stay here for longer, I need a good place to really set up till help comes to find me.

My search for a better weapon has still not improved. So the toy sword it is for a while but it's not that bad I killed a rotten today with it. Her name was Sarah Mckew. I think this was her camp till she died.

I miss my family, it's hard not being able to contact them. I just want to know if they are still alive or even dead - not know is what's killing me (sorry if I am documenting this again I think I have written it on every page now). On the subject of missing people, I cried today over Kevin's death. I guess it's normal to cry over a death but I didn't even know him he just happen to be camping in the same spot as me and Chad he just was a nice guy he saved my life and I never got to thank him. Poor guy.

Well that's all I feel I need to document in today's entry. Good night journal.

Gretel

Shutting my journal I feel the tears line up in my eyes. I miss talking to people. I have been alone too long. I curl up in Sarah's tent, and fade into sleeping.