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Lilly followed him slowly. Her steps were getting shorter every minute. She was so tired and at this moment, she was just pissed with their whole situation. They were in this bloody woods for days now. At least they found enough food and water and were able to do some hunting. But Lilly couldn't go any further now. " Tommy please. Can we have a little break? I'm tired and sick of walking," Lilly asked her brother. He turned around and felt instantly sorry for his little sister. "Sure, kiddo. Let's rest under that tree over there. It should be save for now." Tom smiled at her. He was proud about her strength and that she normally didn't complain. But he also new that they had to find shelter as soon as possible. They where desperate for sleep.
The two of them sat there for about ten minutes, drinking some water and have some food. They didn't talk much in these days. There was just nothing left to say. Nothing that they already talked about over and over again. A plan for example. They haven't got one anymore. Everything was so messed up now, they didn't now what to do. The only thing that matters now was to survive and stick together, no matter what.
They sat there for another ten minutes before Tom got up and held out a hand to his sister. "Come on, Lilly. We have to keep going. Maybe we will find a house or so for the night". He tried to motivate her even he knew the chances of finding a proper house where slim. "You don't really believe that, do you?" Lilly answered while grabbing his hand and standing up. Tom just shrugged and turned around to lead her again through the woods. "You never know what's behind these trees. Maybe we're lucky."-"Yeah, right. And Santa Clause is coming tomorrow," Lilly said sarcastically. But she still had some hope left that her brother was right. That they finally will find a place to stay for a couple of days. Where they would be able to rest and get some strength back. While following Tom, her mind drifted off, the way it always did when she was so tired. She knew it was dangerous and she should stay alert but she just couldn't help it. She thought about her live before. Before the dead raised and killed all these people. In one way Lilly and Tom where better of than most. They didn't have any family left. So they didn't have to witness the dead of loved ones. Sure, both of them had friends. But they didn't know what happened to them. There was still hope that they made it too. And maybe, if they were really, really lucky, they might will see them again. That last bit gave Lilly some hope although it seemed to fade away slowly. The one thing she was grateful for was that her parents didn't have to see this hole thing. They died five years ago in a terrible car crash. She was only nine then and Tom just just had turned fifteen. Thank god they still had their grandfather. He took care of them until he died only weeks before the outbreak. Lilly and Tom both loved him very much. And they still missed him. He had taught Tom how to hunt, and when Lilly started to show some interest he had bought her a small compound bow because he didn't want his granddaughter running around with a rifle. That where good times. And as it turned out now, it was the best preparation for this life they could have got.
When Tom stopped, Lilly nearly bumped into him. She was so absorbed in her thoughts.
"What's wrong,"she whispered. Tom just pointed so into the trees. But now Lilly could hear it too. It didn't sound like an undead. Maybe an animal? Both siblings grabbed their weapons. Lilly her bow and in Toms case it was a handgun. His other hand grabbed the long hunting-knife. They stood still and waited. Seconds later they could here someone cursing and puffing. Tom exchanged a quick look with his sister to tell her to stay put. He then step forwards a few steps. Lilly could see by the way he was holding the gun and the knife how tense he was. She herself was tens too and aiming into the direction of the noise.
Suddenly a head appeared. A pretty wild looking head. It was a man. He had half dried blood around his mouth and as Lilly looked closer she could see some ears hanging around his neck. 'What the hell,' she thought as she took a few steps back to get a better angle. She shot a quick glance at Tom. He looked surprised and a bit shocked. But he also showed some relief. The man was a human being after all. A living one!
It took the man almost a minute to realize they where there. But when he did he just looked at Tom and Lilly. He probably wanted to wait for their next move.
Tom took some steps back to give the man enough space to fully climb up. He never let the stranger out of sight and never lowered his gun. As the man stood in front of them, clearly not knowing what to do, Lilly could see that he was wounded. He was bleeding and he looked beat up pretty good.
"You kids are gone shoot me or what," the stranger broke the silence. He sounded tired.
"It depends," Tom said. "Who are you? And what the hell happened to you?" Lilly blurted out. She was a bit nervous about this man. But by now she could see that he wasn't even armed. Well, he had a crossbow around his back, but she couldn't see any bolts for it. And by the time he had loaded it, Tom an Lilly would already have killed him, if necessary.
The stranger seemed to have thought the same thing. I just stood there, arms hanging, and answered Lilly's question. "Name's Darryl. And I fall down this bloody cliff." The last thing he addressed directly at Lilly. She just looked at him, unsure what to do or how to respond.
But Darryl continued:" And you? What are two kids doing in the woods all alone? Where is tour groups?" Tom seemed to relax an bit and he said:" I'm Tom and that's my little sister Lilly. There's no group. We're on our own sings it started." Lilly wasn't so sure if it was the right thing to tell Darryl all this. He was after all a stranger. And a really wild looking one. But it was too late now. The words were out already. The three stood there for a while in silence. Then Darryl started to talk again. "Look kids, as you might have noticed already, I need some help." He paused for a while, then continued. "My group got a camp not far from here. They're all good people. If you help me get there I'm sure they will let you stay. You're kids, and they will not send you away."
A couple of months ago, Lilly would have get angry if someone would have called her a kid. But now I seemed to be a good thing to only be fourteen and be called a kid. She looked at her brother an waited for his decision. He looked back at her and they had a silence discussion without words.
When Tom finally spoke he sounded a bit more relaxed. "Alright. We will help you. That doesn't mean that we trust you. I will have my gun pointed at you the whole time, just so you know. So you better don't try something funny. Come on Lilly, let's move. Darryl, you walk in front of us!" Tom sounded so grownup at this point and so in control. Darryl started to walk, followed by Tom and his gun. Lilly was at the back. Bow still out, but not aimed at Darryl. She was covering the rear of this little group.
They walked what seemed forever. Only interrupted by little breaks when Darryl had to catch some breath. He refused any help offered by the other two. He wouldn't even let Lilly carry his crossbow. The sun was already setting when they finally saw the end of the woods.
" You probably should put away your weapons," Darryl said. "Otherwise my group will think I'm your hostage." Tom put his gun away but Lilly wasn't so keen to be defenseless. "We have to trust him, Lilly. That's our only chance. If this goes well, we will not be alone anymore." Lilly could feel that Tom wanted this so desperately. Maybe even more the she herself. With a sight she slung her bow onto her bag and putt the arrow away. She just hopped that they weren't walking into a trap.
They stepped out of the trees and almost instantly the two kids saw the beautiful farmhouse.
They let Darryl go ahead for a few steps and followed him nervously. Tom hoped with all his heart that Darryl was right about this. That his group would let them stay. That his sister would be safe again.
Suddenly he saw people running at them. Tom took Lilly's hand, mainly to keep her calm, but also for his own sake. Lilly could feel that Tom was as nervous as she was. They kept walking into the direction of the house while the man kept approaching them.
Then a shot rang. Lilly felt Toms hand loosening its grip. And when she looked sideways at him, he was already on the ground. She could see blood on the side of his head. Instantly dropped to her knees beside him. Forgetting everything around her. She didn't care about the other men anymore. All that matters now was her brother. She heard screams an shouts all around. Lilly couldn't take her eyes away from Tom. Then finally, he moved and opened his eyes. Lilly never felt so relieved her whole life. She just kept staring at her brother, smiling now. At this point, she also begun to realize what was going on around her. Four men, plus Darryl, where standing in a circle around the siblings. There was a black man, an Asian guy, probably around Tom's age and two white men. One of the white men was talking to Darryl, who explained to him who the two kids were and where he found them. Tom was now sitting up and was also staring at the strangers. Then the Asian guy asked:" are you ok? We should take you to Hershel to fix that wound." He sounded miserable, as if it was his fault that Tom was shot. "I'm fine, I think. It's just a scratch,"Tom answered an slowly stood up. Lilly, following his lead and got up too. Still eying the strangers nervously.
"My name is Rick," the man who was talking to Darryl before said. "And this are Shane,
T-Dog and Glenn. I am so sorry that happened. Darryl told me that you guys helped him getting back here?" Tom just nodded at this. He was tired, hungry and now he also had a headache. Rick smiled at him and Lilly. "Ok, let's go to the house. We can patch up your wound and then you two can tell us your story. You will see, we are not bad people. How does this sound?"
For Lilly it actually sounded pretty good, despite everything. Now that she new that Tom was fine she just wanted to rest and maybe eat something.
The kids collected their things and the group continued towards the house. Darryl was in a worse shape than they thought, because Shane and Rick had to almost carry him. He was hanging limp between them. When Rick spotted the ears around Darryl's neck, he shot a quick glance at Lilly, who was walking beside him. She shrugged. She didn't know anything about it. Then he just ripped them of.
A blonde woman came running at them. "Oh my god, I shot Darryl", she screamed. "No, you shot my brother", Lilly said darkly. "I will survive", said Tom with a stern look at his sister. He didn't want her to start a fight right there. The blond woman looked at them. She hadn't even saw them. "Oh my god, I'm so, so sorry. I thought you where walkers. I didn't mean… I'm sorry". Tom smiled at her to show her that he understood an that it was ok. "Walkers? You mean the undead?"Lilly asked, a bit friendlier. She wasn't about to forgive as fast as her brother, but they had to make it work with this group if they wanted to stay.
"Yes, we call them walkers. They, like, walk… All the time. I don't know who came up with it, but it kind of fits. Don't you think?"-"It definitely sound better than undead", Lilly responded.
With that they arrived at the house. There were a lot of people around. Lilly felt a bit nervous now. She wasn't used to such a crowd. It's been only her and Tom for so long. She took Tom's hand, who gave her a little squeeze. He was nervous too, but also exited to finally meet other people. And what's more important, adults.