Hey! Thanks for reading the first chapter of the story! :D I'd again, like to thank WalkingDeadRox for helping me out so much with the story, and even giving me the idea! Make sure to go check their profile!
Enjoy!
Luke couldn't stop thinking about what he had witnessed, days earlier.
Howe's wasn't the perfect place to stay. Carver was becoming insane, there was a lot of work to do, and all the people he assigned as guards were assholes, but it was a place to stay just the same. When the herd came it was chaos. Bill had been counting on it just passing by and leaving the settlement be. To Luke's knowledge, the only survivors were the people he was walking with. His friends, Nick, his uncle Pete, Alvin, his pregnant wife Rebecca, Doctor Carlos, his daughter Sarah, Vince, Shel and her sister Becca.
The ten survivors walked silently through a vast forest, Luke was leading the group. They had made great distance since they left Howe's during the herd. During the ambush they had managed to find each other on the way out, collecting enough supplies between them to last them the days they had been walking.
After hours of walking in quiet, Pete decided to speak up. "We're not going to get anywhere feeling sorry for ourselves." He sighed. "We've got a day's left of food, and we've run out of water. We need a plan."
"What do you suppose we do?" Rebecca sighed, angrily.
"Being angry won't help anyone," Vince said.
"He's not wrong," Alvin admitted.
"Alvin!" Rebecca scolded.
Alvin carried on walking, staying silent.
"He's right, we all just need to stay calm," Nick mumbled, holding his rifle by his side.
"We need a place to stay, that should be the first priority," Carlos said.
"Okay, we'll just walk into one of those hotels in the middle of a forest, huh?" Becca said, irritably.
"Becca, that's enough," Shel said.
"What?" Becca snapped.
"Just stay quiet, and do as you're told. For once!" Shel growled.
"Everyone! Be quiet, we'll just attract lurkers Carlos is right. We need to find a place to stay, we can't just keep finding random spots to camp. It's dangerous. But we'll make it through this, we just have to take it easy. We've all lost people, we're all hungry, scared and cold, and it's getting dark. So, let's save our energy, and find a place to hold up, instead of yelling at each other." Luke said.
"What's that?" Sarah asked, pointing through the light fog in the forest. There was a corner of some kind of wooden structure peeking out through a gap in the forest.
Luke gazed through the fog with an uncontrollable smile. "Good job, Sarah!" Luke said, walking at a faster pace through the forest.
He pushed through into the gap in the forest. It was a wooden cabin, just big enough for everyone in the group. "This must be one of those hotels," Shel said, with a happy smirk, hugging Becca to her side.
"Don't get your hopes up yet, we need to clear the inside out, just in case there are any lurkers," Carlos said.
"What if there are people in there?" Sarah asked.
"Then we negotiate," Nick said, cocking his rifle.
"If there are people inside…" Luke began, tilting Nick's rifle downwards towards the ground. "Then we talk to them. See if we can't work something out."
Luke took the machete from his back holster and knocked on the door. After waiting and receiving no answer he opened the door slowly. The hinges squeaked at every movement. "Psst…anyone here?" Luke announced.
He opened the nearest door to him, into a kitchen. It was empty. He looked in a nearby cupboard. A couple of flies flew out after he opened the door. There was a few boxes of rotten food, as well as plenty of cans. "Checked the house. Nobody's here." Nick said.
"Nobody's on the top floor either," Pete said.
"How many bedrooms?" Luke asked.
"Four, three upstairs and a small guest room down here. That's not including the three couches." Pete said. "I'm sure we can make enough space if everyone pairs up."
Luke smiled and beckoned the rest of the group inside the cabin through the kitchen window. The rest of the group piled through the door and looked around with hopeful smiles. "I think we should all get some sleep. Rebecca, you and Alvin get the first pick of the rooms. After all that walking you need some rest." Pete said.
"Alright, everyone pair up and let's get some rest," Luke said, tiredly, rubbing his eyes as he leaned against the wall of the cabin.
The group paired together, Luke, Nick and Vince on the three couches, Carlos and Sarah in one of the bedrooms, Shel and Becca in the small guest room and Pete was voted by the rest of the group to stay in the one remaining upstairs bedroom, him being the oldest in the group.
Luke slammed his head back on the pillow of the couch, before almost instantly falling asleep. He awoke with a smile, as the sun shone through the window onto his face. He looked around, he was alone in the living room. He sat up and clicking his back before standing up, groggily. Shel walked passed him, quickly, with panicked and nervous breaths. "Luke, did you see Becca walk through here? I woke up this morning and she wasn't there, I checked the house and I can't find her! Nobody else has seen her either." Shel asked, desperately.
"It's alright, just calm down, she wouldn't have gone far. She liked to go on walks, remember?" Luke said.
"Walking around a fenced off settlement is one thing, if she's left the cabin she's out there alone. I'm going after her." Shel said.
"She'll come back, besides she has a gun that she knows how to shoot," Luke said, clearly not convincing her. He sighed in defeat. "Alright, fine…we'll go find her. Just try and stay calm."
"Alright…okay." She said, taking deep breaths, following Luke into the kitchen where Carlos, Pete, Nick, and Vince were sitting. "Look, I'll go," Pete said.
"No…you could get hurt!" Nick said.
"I can look after myself," Pete said.
"No! I'm not letting some punk ass kid get you killed. She'll come back!" Nick persisted.
"I would go but I need to keep an eye on Rebecca," Carlos said.
"I will," Luke announced. "I and Shel are going out to look for her. If we can't find her we'll be back in an hour."
"Alright, you sure?" Pete asked.
"Stay safe," Nick said, handing Luke his rifle.
"I will," Luke said, checking the rifle for ammo and then holding it by his side, keeping his finger off the trigger.
Shel and Luke left the cabin, walking down a pathway through the woods. "Becca!" Shel yelled.
"Becca!" Luke repeated.
The two walked for another half an hour, still not finding anyone. "Becca!" Shel cried, her voice echoing through the forest.
"Over here!" A voice said from within the woods.
Luke looked over to Shel, running over to the voice. He stopped in an old run down camp, with a charred, empty fire pit with an uncooked weasel skewered over it. There was a tiny tent nearby with a black backpack leaning by the door of it.
Becca was standing in front of the tent, facing away from Shel and Luke, holding something and looking down at it. "Becca, what is wrong with you?!" Luke said, angrily.
"Don't ever do that again!" Shel commanded.
"Shut up!" Becca whispered.
Luke looked over to Shel and then walked over to Becca, to see what she was holding. His eyes widened at the site in front of him. Becca was holding a baby in her arms, cradling it the best she could with her short arms.
The baby was a tiny little curled up ball as she cuddled up to Becca. She wore a pair of tights and a skirt, as well as a pink t-shirt and a dirty red hoodie over it. She was also wearing an old blue and white baseball cap, only just fitting her loosely around her head.
Shel walked over up next to Luke and gasped. "Where'd you find her?" Shel asked, quietly, not wanting to wake the baby.
"She was inside the tent. I found the camp and I heard her crying from inside the tent. She was just alone." Becca sighed.
"We can't leave her, but we can't just take her, can we? What if someone comes back and their baby's missing?" Shel asked.
"Give her here, let me take a look at her," Luke said, gently taking the baby out of Becca's hands. He held her in one of his arms and used his spare hand to check her heartbeat, it was light but steady. She rolled around uncomfortably in Luke's arms, shivering with every breath.
"What do you think?" Shel asked, pacing back and forth in front of him.
"She's freezing cold…she's been left alone for a while. Luke said, whilst attempting to warm the baby, by pressing her closer to him.
"Yeah…she doesn't smell too good either." Becca added.
"We need to take her back with us." Luke sighed. "If we leave her alone for another hour she'd die. We need to get her to Carlos, she could be sick for all we know. C'mon, let's get her back to the cabin."
So, that's the first chapter guys!
Thanks again to WalkingDeadRox for helping me out with this!
Make sure to leave a review telling me what you think, new chapters will be uploaded regularly!