This is going to be a single chapter story. This was a request given to me by JPfisher, who wanted a meaningful story. I made up my own characters and only used the Walking Dead universe. Hope you enjoy.
Please review! All criticism is greatly appreciated. It allows me to learn from my mistakes and make a better story.
Disclaimer: I do not own Walking Dead.
Summary: With the dead all around, it's hard to remember what it was like to be alive.
My characters: Amelia and Raymond (requested name)
To Be Alive
Raymond Fisher quickly to a knife to the head of the biter he just pushed to the ground. His face held a look of disgust on his face as he cleaned the dagger on his pants leg. Not that it mattered. His pants, which used to be a clean denim were now faded and discolored. He was wearing an old red flannel shirt. Once the dagger was clean, he placed it back into the holster on his hip with his hand gun. He also had a shot gun strapped to his back.
Taking a look around himself one last time to check for biter, he continued moving on down the road toward his cabin. He had been out on a food and ammunition run, but now it was getting dark.
This would have been easier if my truck hadn't have broken down, he thought to himself.
His old blue truck was one of the few things he had left of his life before the whole world went to shit. And now it had be broken and lost too.
Raymond shook his head. No use moping about it now. He needed to be strong, it didn't matter anyway. He needed to let his old life go.
When he got back to his cabin, he climbed over his make shift fence and opened the door. I was an old cabin but it had it charms. There was an old stone fireplace in the back of the room, the embers were still glowing. Raymond walked over to the fire to throw in a few more logs. It wasn't cold in the cabin, but it lacked light. He them went around and lit the lanterns that had been strategically placed around the room.
Once that was done, he moved to the kitchen area and unloaded his pack. He found three cans of peaches and one can of peas from a small market nearby. Raymond never had to worry about food. He had a garden in the back and plenty of animals in the woods. He only at the small game, turning the deer or larger game into jerky for the winter months. He managed to shoot two rabbits on his way there. He skinned both rabbits and moved over to the fireplace to let them cook. He sat there tending to the meat in the quiet silence of his cabin. Since his cabin was in the middle of nowhere, with only a small town five miles away, he was often alone here. There were few biter and even fewer people. The last people he had talked too had passed through here two months ago. They didn't bother me. They traded some of their ammunition for food and seeds to start a garden.
They had a little girl with them, who was very interested in the coloring books and crayons that I had found in the cabin. He gave them to her. She needed some happiness in her life.
When the rabbit was done cooking, he ate methodically and quickly. When he was finished, he cleaned up using a bucket of water in the corner of the room and walked back over to the sofa in front of the fire. He never used the bedroom for sleeping. He had found the previous owners in there when he found the cabin. As he laid down on the couch, he wondered what he would be doing if this infection hadn't taken over. It's been four years now, since this all started. He had been 20 years old and in college at the time. He guessed that he would be in graduate school by now. He smiled when he remembered what it was like in college. Then shook his head and closed his eyes to sleep. Tomorrow, he needed to go find parts for his truck. He needed to sleep now.
When morning came, it was raining. Raymond rolled his eyes, just what he needed. He was going to have to walk to town and break into the auto shop, in the rain. At least his pack was water proof. He put an extra jacket in the pack and headed out into the rain. He lived up in the mountains so the area was heavily wooded with conifer trees.
There was a narrow and graveled road leading to the town, which made it easier to find. The rain became a mist as he neared town. The auto shop was on the opposite side of town from the road he travel on so he had to walk through it. Keeping his gun in hand, he began walking through the town. It was quiet today. Usually there would be one or two biter walking around. Raymond made it to the auto shop and walked around the back to a door he could pick the lock on. He knocked on the door first to see it there were and biter behind the door. He never had a reason to enter the shop before. There weren't any sounds so he went ahead and picked the lock. The area behind the door was a storage facility for the shop. He might find the parts he needed here but it would be easier to find in the main area.
He pushed open the next door. He listened for biters before walking in to find the parts. They were easy to find and he left the shop. It was pouring now as he walked back up to the road. Over the sound of rain, he almost didn't hear the biters. Ten of them were walking out of the tree ahead of me on the side of the road.
"Shit." He aimed my handgun and shot the nearest biter.
Raymond shot seven of them when two walked up behind him. He turned and managed to push one over. The other grabbed him. There was still three more from the original ten. That was when an arrow hit the biter in front of him in the head. He turned quickly and shot the last three.
"Well that was fun." Raymond turned to the girl's voice coming from the woods.
The girl was tall and she had brown hair. She was around my age. There was a wooden bow in her hand and a quiver on her shoulder. She had a small ax at her side and a hand gun. She was wearing a black jacket and jeans with boots. A necklace around her neck with a dog of some sorts and she had a brown and white Husky at her side. She was smiling.
"Are you going to say anything? You could at least say thank you. I did shoot that walker."
"Thank you… um."
She walked forward and pulled her arrow out of the head of the biter she shot.
"My name is Amelia. Nice to meet you."
"Raymond. Nice to meet you too."
"Do you have somewhere dry nearby? I've been walking all day and I'm hungry. So is Gizzy. It would be nice to have somewhere dry to eat." She petted her dogs head.
"Yeah, I live a little up the way."
As Raymond and Amelia walked toward the cabin, she talked about the trees. How pretty they were.
How can she even talk like that? Doesn't she understand what is happening, he thought.
"Don't you like this time of year. The weather is so nice."
"It's pouring."
"I didn't mean now." She said rolling her eyes like he was acting dumb.
It was strange it had been a long time since he had a normal conversation like this. When we made it to the cabin, she laughed.
"Were you expecting an invasion? That fence would scare the walkers away with how it looks."
"Hey. It works okay. I didn't know how strong it needed to be so I added everything I had to it."
Raymond relit the fire and lit the lanterns around the room as Amelia went into one of the bedrooms to change her clothes out of the wet ones she had on. Her dog, Gizzy, stood outside the door staring at me.
Raymond opened one of the cabinets where he kept the canned food and pulled out two cans of chili he could arm up. He looked at the dog wondering what he could feed it. If anything, he could be a good host to the girl who saved him. He could ask Amelia when she returned what her dog liked to eat. The door opened and she walked back into the room stretching.
"It feels good to have on dry clothes." She and Gizzy walked to the fireplace, where dog laid down in front of it with its head on its paws. "What are you making?"
"I have some chilli I can warm up. What does your dog like to eat?"
"I have dog food in my bag I keep for when I haven't caught food or she hasn't caught anything. I just need to warm it."
Raymond poured the chilli in a pan and placed it on the fire. She took a knife out of her bag and a can of dog food. Amelia cut open the lid and placed the can next to the fire. We sat in front of it and her dog sat next to her.
"Your dog hunts?"
"Yeah before all of this she was being trained as one. My father trained her and gave her to me when she was six months old. He said that she will look out for me if I was ever alone." Amelia touched the necklace around her throat and petted Gizzy. Now that he saw the necklace closer it was a cow.
"You have a cow necklace?"
"Yeah. My family raised cattle. My grandma bought me this necklace."
She looked at the fire and Raymond got the feeling she wasn't going to talked more about her life. It was too quiet to sit in silence though.
"So the dog's name is Gizzy? You named it after a chicken stomach?"
"No," She said offended and rolled her eyes again, "Her full name is Gizmo. Do you have a plate or something I can put her food on? It's warm enough now."
He nodded and walked to the kitchen to grab a bowl out of one of the cabinets. She poured the food into the bowl and Gizzy immediately began eating.
The chili was also warm enough now and Raymond filled two bowls. He handed one to Amelia.
"Thank you. You know, you haven't told me anything about you. Or why you went to an auto shop."
"I had to fix my truck."
"Is it important to you?"
"It's an important means of transportation."
She quiet for a moment.
"You know with all the dead around, we have to be the ones to remember how to live. Or we basically end up like them. It okay to want to keep things around you that remind of how things once were."
"Like your necklace or Gizzy."
"Well, yeah. We act like we are still part of the living. That's why I try to look at the bright side in this."
"There is no bright side."
"Your right. But you can't let yourself be drug down into that abyss."
Raymond stayed quiet.
"My dad and I built that truck. It's all I have left of who I once was."
Amelia nodded.
"You still have your memories though."
"They aren't as clear as they once were."
"Neither are mine."
She smiled again and finished eating. She took her bowl and her dogs bowl to the counter and set them down. Amelia then walked to her pack and pulled out a thick wool blanket. She laid her head on her pack and Gizzy laid next to her.
"You can sleep on the couch if you want." He told her.
"I'll stay on the ground. Gizzy likes to be next to me. Besides it's your home. You live here and I don't."
"This isn't my home. I just live here."
"Sounds like a home to me."
"Haven't you ever heard the saying home is where the heart is? My heart isn't here."
She laughed and Raymond felt a smile creep onto his face.
"I guess my heart is nowhere and everywhere."
"What do you mean by that?" Raymond asked curiously.
"I have no home anymore. My farm is gone. But when I'm outside, I feel so free. My home is nowhere but everywhere at the same time."
"That's interesting."
"I guess it is."
Raymond laid down on the couch and pulled a blanket over himself.
"What is your favorite food?
"Why do you ask?" Raymond said with an eyebrow raised.
"Curious."
"I like Indian food."
"Really?"
"Yeah, why?"
She looked at me with an amused expression.
"I didn't think a lumberjack like you would even have tried Indian food."
"Lumberjack?" Raymond asked offended.
"Yeah, you look like a lumberjack. You even live in a cabin in the woods. You don't find that funny?"
Raymond laughed.
"I guess it is funny. How old are you anyway?"
"I'm twenty three."
They both stayed quiet for a few minutes until Amelia broke the silence.
"I'm going to leave in the morning Ray. Thanks for talking with me it was nice."
"It was nice talking with you too," the funny thing was that it was, it was nice talking with her. You should eat breakfast before you go."
"Alright."
She fell asleep after that. Raymond stayed awake thinking over what had happened that day. He was used to days being planned out. Nothing out of the ordinary ever happened. But today it did. He felt relieved to have a normal conversation after so long.
Raymond woke up in the morning to sun on his face. He raised an arm over his eyes to block the light. He opened one eye and looked at Amelia still asleep on the floor. She was curled up around her dog. Raymond got himself up and went to see if he can find something to hunt. He walked into the forest and found a few rabbits that were caught in my old traps. Raymond was untangling the last rabbit when he heard a bark. He turned to see Gizmo. Raymond tied the rabbit to his pack and walked to the dog.
"What are you doing here? How did you find me?"
She barked again and both of us walked to the cabin.
"So she was with you. Good I was worried."
Amelia was standing on the porch, leaning against the railing.
"How did she find me?"
Gizmo ran up to her and sat next to her leaning against her leg.
"She has a knack of finding people she likes. She is able to find me no matter how far away I am. She was gone when I woke up, so she must have left to find you."
The three of them walked into the cabin and cooked the rabbits. They each got one. When they were done eating, Amelia put back on her gear and repacked her bag.
"I should be off. Thank you again for letting me stay and talking with me."
"I should be thanking you. You saved me," he would miss her, "You could stay you know?"
She just looked at him.
"I told you, Ray. My home is nowhere and everywhere. I hope you get your truck working. Don't forget what it was like before. What it was like to be alive. Hold onto your memories."
She stared at the trees around her.
"They are all we have left in this crazy world."
She left then. He would never forget what she said to him. He fixed his truck and didn't dismiss his past anymore. He looked at each day with optimism. A whole year soon had passed since, he had met Amelia when one morning he heard a bark at the door.
"What?" Raymond got off the couch, still half asleep, and opened the door. On the other side was Gizmo. Amelia was nowhere to be seen. Gizmo sat in front of him. There was something on her collar. It was a note and the cow necklace. He shut the door. Gizmo walked to the fire and laid down staring into it. Raymond went back to the sofa and opened the note and held the necklace tight in his hand.
Hey lumberjack,
If you're reading this Gizzy found you. That's good. I'm glad that I managed to meet someone that would take care of her if something happened to me. I got bit. She couldn't stay with me. When I change, I could hurt her. But she likes you. I knew she would find you. Please take care of her. I hope you are doing well. Meeting you made it easier to deal with this crazy world. I felt like I was stuck in a rut for so long. I may have acted strong but it was hard on me. I never found out what happened to my family. I was at college, two states away from my family when everything went down. I guess I never will find out. I'm glad I met you Ray. I felt normal for a day. I thought about going back to the cabin so many times but I never could bring myself to. I hope you fixed your truck. I know it may become hard on you to take care of Gizzy and feed yourself, but she's all I had left. Thank you so much for what you did. I'm glad I met you. Remember who you are and how to be alive. Because if you lose that, then we are no different from them. I guess I will be one of them by the time you read this. But At least I died living.
Sincerely
Amelia Gray
Raymond began to cry. He felt like he lost a good friend.
At least I died living, Raymond thought over her words, she would be happy about that. She was so positive about everything. Raymond put the cow necklace around his neck and turned to Gizmo.
"I'll keep your dog safe, Amelia Gray. I can promise you that, because I want to die living too. One way or another. Thank you for giving me a reason to keep living. Thank for that one night of normalcy. Thank you for saving me in more ways than one."
If you liked it leave a review! I love them! Again this was a request from JPfisher.