The Road Ahead

Chapter 1

Authors note: Hey guys…so I'm writing a new story, this one will be The Walking Dead related but for the game instead of the TV series, leave a review of what you think about this first chapter and if I get a fair amount of views/visitors, I'll make another chapter within a week of this being uploaded. I'd also like to add the style of this story is inspired by Malorie Black and her 'Noughts and Crosses' books, check them out, they're worth it.

Thanks – Kayleigh c:

Katie:

I could see the auburn sun in the distance, it was lowering behind the condemned buildings in the high street and it was getting late…it'd be dark soon, I looked down at Duke on the end of the leash who was trotting lightly across the fractured pavement, his dark tinted ears bounced gently with every step and his pink tongue hung outside the left of his mouth. I could see his breath amongst the chillness of the air and he was listening to every adjustment within our surroundings, every whistle through the trees, every step I took, every stick crunching in the distance. I've been told dogs hear ten times better than us humans do, I guess that's why Amanda wanted me to bring him along…ever since last time he always comes with me.

Amanda told me not to get close to the watch dogs or the guard dogs, because they might not be here forever and they're only here for one thing – to do their job. Personally I think this is silly and if we all want the dogs on our side in these dark times…we should treat them all with respect regardless of what people intend to do with them, plus, Duke is beautiful, he's a grey Australian Shepherd with black spots all over, except his chest, his chest was white and his paws were black along with the tips of his ears, he was truly a beautiful dog and as a child, I'd always wanted one…he seemed perfect.

"Let's rest over there boy…we've been walking for hours" I stared ahead, looking at a mossy bench in the distance, it was at the side of the broken road continuing all the way through the town and it looked like the perfect place to rest our legs.

I always talked to animals…more than I do people, I feel like they understand me more…I know it sounds silly but believe it or not I'm hated by most of the people in my group and I don't really have any friends, I have a sister…but I don't really count her as one of the people I like…she's kind of a jerk. She's changed, yeah the apocalypse changes everyone but I never thought it would be Amanda, she was always so reserved and sweet, but ever since that day…the day where…the day…I can't I'm sorry, let's just put it into terms where an event happened which changed her…for the worse and I'm on the receiving end.

We reached the bench and I tied Duke to the armrest, I looked at the mossy, fragmented wood, it didn't look stable at all. I leant down on it with one hand and bounced lightly, checking if it would stabilize my weight, it didn't crack or crumble so I turned around and lowered myself slowly, eventually I sat down with all my weight and waited. Nothing, it held my weight… that was good, I leant back and got more comfy, I rubbed my head and exhaled deeply. "What a day huh boy?" I said whilst shutting my eyes. I opened them a few seconds later to Dukes' muzzle resting on my knee; his dark eyes glimmered from the ending sunlight and his ears rested gently against both sides of his head, I stared at him blankly and he whimpered faintly.

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot!" I sat forward which made Duke jolt his head backwards and his tail wagged as I took my blue backpack off my back and unzipped it, I saw Duke's tail wag faster as I pulled out a container, I opened it and the smell of dog treats burst into my face, I coughed slightly and rummaged around in search for his favourite treat: bacon biscuits. I found one and took it into my hand, I rested the container on my lap and held the treat, I put it in between my index finger and my thumb and pressed lightly, it felt fairly stale but I don't think Duke would mind it. I put the lid back on the container and put it back into my backpack which I then zipped back up and put to the right of me on the bench.

Duke's tail was now uncontrollably wagging and I saw a tiny bit of drool in the side of his mouth. "Paw" I asked him and he gave me his left paw without hesitation and I shook it. "Good boy!" I said and smiled; I held out my hand and gave him his treat, which he took happily from my hand. He lay down and chewed freely at it whilst I admired my surroundings.

I looked ahead of me and saw several tall buildings; Amanda once told me that they were called 'skyscrapers', office buildings where people sat in small cubicles with computers and a phone which they used to answer calls and write letters all day…definitely not my type of occupation if I were around then, it must've been about nineteen years ago when everything went to shit…I wasn't even born and my sister was about eight…so neither of us knew much unless we asked our dad.

Dad…

I yawned and looked to the right at a foreign restaurant, I think it was Italian…it had pizza on the side and Antonio told me that pizza originated from Italy, I've never tried pizza…but it sure looks good, beside the restaurant was a hair salon, I figured it was from the objects inside, sinks, towels, swivel chairs and odd electrical objects. I could do with a good haircut, my hair is out of control and that's why I kept it in a side plait…I think that's what Amanda calls it. I brush it at the odd time but we usually fight for the hairbrush, I don't know why we just don't go out and look for more to be honest, I mean, this town is hardly dangerous…if it was, I'd probably be dead right now, you can't do much with a dagger and Amanda won't allow me gun training…ever, stupid really.

I swung my head towards Duke as I heard him bark, he was staring into the distance and I hadn't even realised it'd gotten dark, he was barking and trying to run free of the leash, jolting it forward trying to get loose. I stood up and swung my backpack onto my back and took my dagger out of my pocket, I slowly untied Duke and held his leash in my hand, which he was tugging at violently.

"Okay boy…okay, calm down" I tried desperately to hold him back with two hands but he kept pulling me forward, I followed him reluctantly but he was far stronger than me so I had to do his bidding. I began running into the mist as he took me further and picked up his speed, my wrist was now hurting from the friction of the lead and suddenly it snapped, Duke then ran off into the distance, I couldn't see anything and I held my dagger in front of me. It was dangerous being this close to the city after dark and I clutched it tightly with cold, sweaty hands.

"Duke..?" I called out softly. I could hear rustling from behind me, I turned swiftly and readied myself, I then heard movement from behind me again and spun around, noises were coming from all around me but I couldn't pin point the spot. I heard a soft whimper in the distance and I began running towards it, my heart was thumping and the cold made me shiver.

"Duke! Duke come here boy!" I shouted louder as I ran closer and closer to the whimper. I kept running, as fast as my legs could take me when something made me stop dead in my tracks…literally. I thumped right into a cold, rotten smelling body. "Shit…" I whispered as the walker turned towards me, I stumbled backwards and my dagger felt loose in my hands. It moaned at me loudly as it got closer and swiped at me with its half-rotten hand, which I swerved perfectly and stabbed the walker in the side of its head. It fell to the floor and I yanked out my blade, I looked up and saw nothing but mist. "If there's one…there's another…" I said quietly and readied myself, looking all around and holding my dagger up neck height.

I heard moans all around me and I felt surrounded, suddenly from the corner of my eye a walker threw itself at me, I backed up and bumped into another whilst watching the other fall to the ground, I began to panic and kicked the walker which held me in the leg which made it let go of me, I turned and as I did I impaled it in the side of the head, knocking it to the ground. I saw another one emerge from behind it…and another…and another, there were so many, I turned to find an escape route and saw only the dead around me.

This was it, I was going to die here…I heard a whimper from Duke somewhere ahead of me and I barged my way through the walkers where I found Duke cowered by a brick wall…cornered, great. I looked forward and saw a few dozen walkers running towards me, I lifted my dagger, clenched my eyes and swung, hitting and chopping anything that got near. A walker began to get close and I was still removing my dagger from another's head, I yanked and pulled as it got closer and closer until….

BANG. A bullet went into the back of its head. "Huh?" I said as I opened my eyes slowly and began hearing shots fired from all around.

"Get down!" Someone shouted at me, it sounded like a woman…who were they? But they didn't need to tell me twice…whoever it was, was helping me.

I crouched down, sat next to Duke and held my arms over my head, my dagger still trapped in the immobile walker on the floor. Gun shots fired all around me and I tried to block out the noise with my hands.

Suddenly, the firing stopped, I removed my hands and looked up to see a woman walking towards me, and she had short dark hair, a muddied face and an AK in her hands. "Whoa there sport…what are you doing out in the city all alone?" She smiled and lowered her gun.

I turned and noticed Duke was gone, I began to panic and looked all around me searching for any sign of him. "Duke?" I whispered.

"What ya' looking for there sport?" She frowned.

"Dog…I…I was with a dog" I fumbled for my words as I stood up, I looked around me but saw nothing.

"No use 'looking' in this fog lady, y'all just be tripping over yourself…by the way…you're welcome" She grinned and looked over her shoulder. "Sorry for the sudden plan sport…but we gotta go" She said without turning back toward me.

"Oh no" I looked behind her and glared into the distance. At least a whole town of hidden walkers were heading towards us, one AK and a dagger will not do the trick this time. I bent down and yanked my dagger out of the walkers' head.

"Let's go!" She hurried past me.
"Wait! Who are you!?" I yelled after her but it would be too dangerous to lose her in this state so I kept running, through the fog into nothing.