Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead, Walking Dead characters, or any canon/ non-AU material or dialogue. I only own my OCs and AU material. Enjoy!
It's not safe here anymore. The smoke and fire coming from the collapsing cabin on my right is attracting the dead by the dozens. I can hear the snarling come from every direction, but I keep to the task at hand anyway, determined like a fool to finish. I'm almost done. Down and in, up and out. Tossing the dirt to one side with trembling hands, I dig deeper and deeper without respite; the grave I should have dug before but couldn't. Now that I have a chance to do so, I ignore the burning aches in my limbs and that every breathe is dry and painful.
The burning cabin is of no concern to me anymore and I even disregard the fact the sound of the biters is getting louder indicating that they are closing in. I have to finish this. I know it's stupid and possibly going to get me killed but I don't care. I'm not going to just leave the body lying here to be eaten by those fucking things. Not this time. Besides, I'm almost done.
"Nan," a labored voice growls, making me stop immediately. I still have my eyes fixed on the grave, the shovel I've been using filled with dirt. I listen for a moment more, unsure of whether I actually heard a voice or if the noise was just the gnarls of the dead. I look to my left where I laid the body and feel my heart stop I when I see that its gone. Where did it go? It couldn't have gone anywhere, I made sure of that. My eyes frantically scan the woods looking for it. My hearts begins to be beat rapidly when I can't find it. Breathing starts to become harder as I try to control inhaling and exhaling that continue to trip over each other. I feel panic start to creep over me, when an all too familiar sound that commands me to be still.
A whistle that pierces my ears. Another whistles sounds from a different direction than the first one, which is answered by a third somewhere else . No, no, no. Please, not now. Without a second's passing the atmosphere fills with whistling, all the same eerie tune that merges together until it sounds like one large, torrential sound that stuns me. Fuck! I drop the shovel and place my hands on the sides of my head in order to stop the noise.
I search the scene from where I stand but I can't see anyone, or anything for that matter. Where'd the dead go? The whistling started and the biters vanished. The whistling shrills louder as they draw close. Covering my ears does me no good, I can't can block out the disorienting sound. Tears gather around the rims of my eyes, making me losing focus.
All of the sudden, a hand grabs my wrist and I flinch, looking up in horror. The body that I lost is face to face with me, rotted with a jaw that's unhinged and hanging off the left side. I look on, stunned, slowly blinking away the tears as its sallow eyes bore into mine, looking more alive than they should. The jaw moves as best it can with a cracking and clicking sound as if trying to bite...or speak.
"Nan," it chokes out, pulling me out of my stunned state. I try to pull free from the its grip but it feels locked into place around my wrist. As I struggle, the whistling returns louder and so close that I know they are right here, even though I don't see them.
With one forceful tug, I break free with the hand still attached to my wrist, but jerking movement causes me to slide my foot back a bit which then goes out from under me. I feel myself fall backwards into the grave I forgot was behind me. I land quickly but bluntly on my back which knocks the wind of me. The whistling above stops again but the silence feels thick, foretelling something bad.
The body stands above the grave looking in, jaw still moving to communicate. Go on. I wait for it to spit out my name again, but before it can, a grating laugh smashes the silence. The laugh arrests me and all I can think to do is to wait for the man to appear before that hole and instruct me to either move from it or to stay and accept that it is now my grave. Suddenly, something extends into my sight and prods the body forward into the grave with me. It falls at the same rate I did and as it crashes against me, I hear it's jaw splutter out a sickening, "Nan," that knocks me out.
