Chapter One

Trigger-finger

Four gunshots. All in sequence. Those things break the silence between my group. We're out scouting in a nearby town. Dave and Tony took off when we arrived. Dumb-asses. They refuse to stay with the group. Ten minutes passed before the gunshots tore through town.

"Hey. Kara. You hear that?" Bud asks. "Yeah. Think it was Dave and Tony?" I ask. "No! They are stupid, but not that stupid." Craig says. I laugh at that. "Yeah. They are pretty stupid. But I wouldn't mark this on their 'too stupid list'." Everyone laughs at that. "Come on Kara. We need to look for these idiots. Not talk about them." Joe states. "Okay mom." I say. Bud and Craig snicker. Joe glares at them.

"Randall. You and Kara head up to that roof. Give us an eye in the sky." Joe orders. We head up there obediently.

"Dave! Tony!" Everyone whisper-yells. "We're looking for Dave and Tony and no one checks the damn bar!?" Joe says. They go and open the door. It slams in their faces. "Yo! Someone in there? Yo! Someone's in there we don't want no trouble. We're just looking for our friends. We don't want any trouble. We're just looking for our friends. If something happened tell us. This place is crawling with corpses. If you could help us not get eaten, that'd be great." Joe yells. A minute passes and nothing happens. An answer comes out from the bar. I'm too far away and I can't hear it.

They're all silent for a while. Then another voice comes from the bar. They open fire. Glass shatters from the front windows. When they cease fire all is quiet. Then a reply to the gunfire comes from the bar. Silence.

I see movement in the back windows of the bar. I shoot the windows. A shout. Then nothing. Shawn circles the building and stands at the far corner of the building. A door creaks open and a guy sneaks out. Shawn shoots twice and the guy hits the ground. Another guy leans out of the door and shoots Shawn. Shawn writhes on the ground in pain. Moaning. Another guy runs out of the building towards the fallen guy. Randall and I shoot but miss.

Joe, Bud, and Craig drive up. "Let's get out of here! Roamers are all over the place! Hurry up! We gotta get out of here!" Joe yells. "What about Shawn?" Randall yells. "They shot him! We gotta go! Roamers are everywhere!" Joe yells. "We're leaving?" I ask. "Jump! Hurry up jump already!" Joe answers. Randall jumps. He doesn't make it. He lands on the spikes of a fence. It impales his leg. "Hey! Wait! Don't leave us!" We yell. "Sorry! We gotta go!" Joe yells and drives off. Those bastards drove off without us! They left us!

Randall yells out in pain. Those guys from the bar run towards us. I raise my gun. "Get away from us!" I yell. Shawn screams. Those lame-brains got to him. The Asian one points his rifle at me. "Back up!" I yell. The taller, more scruffier guy continues to run towards me and Randall. "I'll shoot!" I yell. They seem oblivious to me. "Where's Hershel?!" The taller guy yells. An older man yells, "Rick! We have to go now. I'm sorry kid. We have to go now." I zone out. All I hear is Shawn and Randall's screams. I drop my gun. The taller guy, Rick, shakes the gate. Randall screams. I train my gun on him again. Hershel and Rick turn around and start talking. The Asian guy has his gun trained on my too. They start trying to cut his leg off. I lunge towards them. The Asian guy grabs me. Moaning surrounds us. The Asian guy looks around. "Guys. Walkers!" The Asian guy yells. He lets me go. I look around and fire off shots.

Corpses drop all around me. "Kara! Talk to them!" Randall screams. The older seems to take notice of me for the first time. Rick is yelling at Randall to shut up. He looks around. "Oh god. They're everywhere." Rick says. He shoots too. Rick yells to Hershel. I'm trying to convince Hershel to not cut off Randall's leg.

They start to leave! "No! No! Don't leave us! Hey! Please!" Randall yells. Rick turns around and tears Randall's leg off of the gate spike. I scream and grab Randall's hand. They drag him towards their truck. I run after them. "Nuh huh. Not you!" Rick yells. "What! No. Please!" I plead. "Just let her come!" Hershel yells. Rick steps out of the way and I climb into the back of the truck. The Asian kid climbs back there after me. I kneel down by Randall. I grab his hand. "No. No Randall. Stay with me baby." I murmur softly to him. I lay his head on my lap. The Asian guy looks down at us. I think he heard me. I don't care though.

Tears flow down my cheeks. Randall's eyes start to close. "No. No baby. You can't leave me. I need you. Don't leave. Stay awake." I say softly. His eyes flutter open. I lock eyes with him. "I'll never leave." He says. I barely hear it. A small smile plays on his lips, mine too. His eyes close, but his hand stays clamped tightly around mine.

~%~

I wake up to the sudden stop of the van. I'm blindfolded. I don't remember this. I hear people talking around me. "What the hell is that?!" Someone says. I grope around for the blindfold and pull it off of my head. Their group is huge. Like ten, twenty people. They take Randall out of the van and start towards the house. I jump out after them. "Hey! What's she doing here?! Who is she?!" A big, bulky man yells. He charges towards me and I jump back. He pins me against the hood of the van. I scream and he is ripped away from me. I turn back around and face the group. "Give me your guns. Now!" Rick yells at me. I quickly hand over my gun. Everyone studies me.

People slowly peel away and I'm soon left with Rick and the bulky man. "Take her to that shed over there." Rick says. He must be the ringleader here. The bulky man drags me over to a lone shed a few yards from the big, colonial house. I trip and fall. He pulls me up quickly. "Come on." He yells. He throws me in there and slams the door shut. I slam my body against the door. It doesn't budge. "Dammit!" I yell. I scream in frustration and kick the door. Nothing. I collapse against the door and cry. What are they doing to him? I can't save him. I'm stuck in here! Dammit Kara! I'm so weak. I can't do anything! All these thoughts go through my head. I set my head down on my knees and cry.

Stop it! Get up and break down this damn door! I jump to my feet and throw all my weight against it. It shakes. I smile inwardly. I do it again. And again. And again. Sunlight peeks through a crack between the ceiling and the door. I throw my body against it. It cracks. I kick it with all the force in my body. The door flies open.

I run towards the house. "Hey! Stop!" Someone yells. A girl. I whip my head around to see a blonde chick hop down off of an R.V. I continue to run towards the house. A shot goes off. The bitch shot at me! I kick it into double time. Bulky greets me at the door. He grabs me by my waist and lifts me over his shoulder. I hear Randall scream. "Randall!" I yell. I fight against Bulky and try to fight my way inside the house. Bulky throws me to the floor and I jump to my feet. He grabs me by my hair and drags me to the shed. "Son of a bitch!" He curses. I jerk out of his grasp and make a break for the woods. If I can make it back to the group I can get them to come rescue Randall.

A searing pain floods my leg and I fall to the ground. I've been shot. They friggin' shot me. I think someone stabbing me in my thigh with a hot fire poker would feel better than this. I clutch my leg and scream in pain. Some guy, not Bulky, reaches under me and grabs me by my waist. He throws me over his shoulder and begins to walk back towards the house. "Stop. Let go of me!" I scream hitting and kicking at him. He throws me on the ground. "Shut up! You shut up and quit it!" He yells at me. He's some redneck hick. He punches me right in the face. I go sprawling. He draws back again and I shrink back and block my face. The hit doesn't come. I look back and he is standing over me. Bulky's running towards us with his gun trained on me. I actually think he might shoot me now. "Shane! Shane stop!" Rick yells running towards me. Bulky, Shane, cocks his gun. "Shane! Stop!" Rick yells again. Instead of shooting me, he clocks me in the head with the but of his gun. The world spins then goes black.