Hunting.
That was my family always did.
That was what I always did.
I was in a hunting trip with my big brother, Daryl, my Dad, my Uncle Jess and a friend of him.
My older brother Merle wasn't with us 'cause he was in jail, so it was just us.
"Earth to Derek." A hand waved at my face, making me pull my head back slightly. I looked to my side to see Daryl. "Where are you, bro?"
"What?" I asked.
"You've been thinking again," He told me.
I scoffed as he walked past me, holding his crossbow.
I grabbed my own crossbow, following him. "You should try it sometimes."
"Not like you," Daryl replied. "What were you thinking 'bout anyway?"
"Hunting," I answered. "Merle."
"He'll be out soon," Daryl told me.
"Yeah, I know," I told him, sighing as I reached to his side. "Not easy for him to get out, yet easy for him to get in."
"Nothing we can do about it," He said. "It's not like we don't try."
We heard leaves rustling, making us stop in our tracks, looking around as we hold our crossbows in ready.
I heard some growling from behind us and I turned around, seeing a sick looking man walking toward us, reaching his hand toward me.
"What the . . ." I trailed off. The man grabbed my shoulder. I pushed him away from me. "What's with this guy?"
"Yo, man, this not cool," Daryl told him. The man still reached over to me, making Daryl push him away to a tree where it's branch was sharp.
The man's head hit the branch, the sharp edge hit him from behind the head, killing him.
"Oh, shit," I said in shock while Daryl looked in disbelief. "What just happened? That guy looked like a -"
"Like dead," Daryl finished, grabbing his crossbow.
We heard gunshots, looking around in confusion, hearing screaming.
"What the hell was that?" I asked.
"Don't know," Daryl said, still looking at the dead guy. "Let's go."
Daryl and I started to ran to where the gunshots and the screams came from. We came across Uncle Jess as he shot someone that looked like in the same shape of the guy Daryl and I just saw, in the head, and he fall.
Jess saw me and Daryl as we ran toward him. "Daryl, Derek, you boys are all right?"
We saw he was standing above our Dad, who had his stomach was opened and his intestines were out, breathing heavily and in pain. "Dad?" I asked. "What the hell?"
Daryl kneeled in front of Dad. "We can . . . we could -"
"Boys," Jess told us. "He's too busted up. Nothing can be done now except ease his suffering."
Daryl stood up, exchanging a hesitated look with me, pulling out his gun, holding it toward Dad's head, but he couldn't shot.
I looked away as Jess took the gun from Daryl. He pointed at Dad's head as Daryl looked away. "Sorry, brother." Daryl and I walked away as we heard the shot.
Dad was gone.
... ...
After we buried Dad's body in the woods, we got back to our camp house before any more of those things came.
I heard the mirror in the bathroom smashed and I knew Daryl was angry. I was too. The man was an asshole but still, he was our Dad.
I looked at the wall, seeing a picture of myself with Daryl and Merle in the middle of an hunting trip. I looked away from it in anger, taking deep breaths to calm myself.
Jess was looking outside the window. "Son of a bitch." Daryl came out of the bathroom. Jess looked at Daryl and me. "We gotta work up a plan."
"Have you ever seen anything like that?" I asked.
Jess held his arm. "If you told me about it I'd call you a liar. Or crazy."
"Shh," Daryl told us. "Do you hear that?"
We heard some growling coming closer. "There's more of them coming," Jess told us. "We gotta go."
"The only thing we gotta do, is kill every last one of them," Daryl told us.
"Boys, I know you two are upset," Jess told us. "But just listen, that sounds like a whole lot of them. We need to go. Now. Gather up as much and let's get to the truck."
I sighed but nodded. Daryl, Jess and I grabbed knifes, guns and food.
Jess looked at me and Daryl, loading his gun. "Boys, remember, head trauma. Attack the brain. And be quiet sneaking out the back door. Don't let them see you."
"Let's go," Daryl told us.
Daryl opened the back door, leading outside. Jess and I followed him. At the back there was no one there so it was safe for us to get out. "Let's go," Jess whispered, rushing to his truck. Daryl and I followed quickly.
I climbed to the backseat as Daryl climbed to the passenger seat and Jess climbed to the driver seat, starting the car. "Come on, come on."
Suddenly a hand was on my window and I saw one of the Geeks, growling. Daryl looked at Jess. "Move."
The car finally came to life, Jess drove us off as I shot the Geek in the head. "Fuck!" I said.
Daryl shook his head, sighing as he leaned back at his seat. I leaned back to my seat as I pulled out my phone, frowning when I saw there wasn't any signal. "My phone isn't working."
"Nothing is," Jess told us as he turned on the radio but nothing. "The fuck?" He sighed as he continued to drive. "Boys, about your Dad? I don't know what to say about it."
"Then don't," Daryl told him. "Leave it be."
"We need to tell Merle what happened," I told them.
"We will," Daryl said.
"Yeah, I suppose we do," Jess told us. "But, we ought to warn people first."
"What?" I asked. "Go tell the cops?"
Daryl scoffed. "Please. We gotta go get Merle."
Jess sighed. "Merle, he's . . . well he's just not right."
"What'd you say, old man?" Daryl asked. "Merle's ten times the man you are."
"We getting Merle," I told them.
"All right, all right," Jess told us. "I don't mind you two, but with Merle . . ." He sighed. "Just seems you boys turn hay into shit when you're together."
"Whatever," I told him. "Keep driving."
