Chapter 2 – Life and death

"Goddamnit Ruth! Run!" Taylor yelled fisting the woman's jacket in his hands and lifting her up forcefully. Anne looked back towards them taking her hammer in her hands as Taylor continued to push Ruth forward towards one of the houses down the street.

"Come on, Ruth!" he yelled again as he held out his gun and shot one of the dead in its brain, and it collapsed to the ground hard.

Anne ran forward taking the hammer in her hands and ignoring Alex's frantic calls as he lead Dave and Leona into the abandoned looking house.

"Go Alex! We'll catch up!" Anne told him as she hit one of the dead with her hammer, smashing its brain to pieces, but it kept coming, she hit it again, and again and then once more for reassurance and it dropped dead to the ground. There were about 15 more following, but for now Ruth and Taylor were out of danger and Taylor kept forcing Ruth to stand up and walk.

"Anne, take it" Tyler hissed through his teeth, as he tried to catch his breath, his blonde hair sticking to his forehead, as he kept trying to pick up the heavy woman and getting her to safety. Anne grabbed the large hunting knife he offered her and started her way towards the group without really thinking.

She smashed her hammer in one head and pushed the knife in the brain right after she took her hammer out, quickly and she watched another slump to the ground, spraying the disgusting smelling substance of old blood on her shirt.
This would've been number 17 she killed. Just to think that 2 days ago she was wondering if she ever could do it.

"Anne!" Taylor yelled, and she turned around to watch a reasonable sized male stumbling his way over to the pair. Taylor had thrown Ruth over his shoulder and his gun lay on the ground before him. She ran towards them. She wanted to pick up the gun and place it back into Taylor's hand but there was no time, so she ran towards the man, whistling to catch it attention and it turned away from the pair.

"Anne! Anne, come on!" "Go, go! Now! I'll catch up, get Ruth to safety!" Anne yelled walking backwards. She heard groans coming closer and suddenly realized that, even though she had cleared the way for Taylor to get to the house, the big guy was forcing her towards the rest of the group of walkers. There was no way she could handle more than one or two.

She turned to her right only to find three more and panic made her heart thumb just a little faster. But her mind became clearer and she jumped to her left, sprinting past the thick male towards the house, but just as she thought she had passed him, her long black hair suddenly pulled against her skull, and she dropped on her back. The force taking all the air from her lungs.

She looked up as the fat man bended over her, dropping himself to his knees and she closed her dark eyes waiting for the moment her life would end in agony.

A shot resounded through the air and she realized that all sound had been drowned out by her for those 2 seconds as though her body was ready to give up. "Anne!" She heard Alex's voice shout at her and she quickly grabbed the arm that extended towards her. She couldn't stand up, but Alex started to drag her towards the house, all the while shooting the dead. Taylor soon stood by his side shooting as well, keeping her safe.

As they reached the house, Alex all but threw her inside and Taylor quickly closed the door, together they barricaded the door with a huge closed which seemed heavy. Anne quickly stood up to help, but her brain turned foggy at the quick movement and she slumped back against the wall.

Dave unexpectedly came to their aid and with the three of them they pushed it in front of the door, just as the first walkers hit the door. They weren't out of the woods yet. Anne saw a hand smash through one of the windows, which thankfully was quit small and it should take them awhile to climb through. Meanwhile Ruth had finally caught her breath and Taylor threw Alex Anne's backpack, who threw it over his shoulder, holding his gun in front of him for threats coming from the inside. Taylor picked Anne up with ease, who thankfully was a lot less heavy then her old neighbor.

They ran up the stairs and Alex kicked open a bedroom door, but at the same time one of the dead came walking out, its arms spread in front of him, making Ruth scream frantically, stepping back into Taylor, who almost dropped Anne down the stairs.

Alex didn't waste a moment and hit it against its head with his flashlight, repeatedly, with all the strength he could muster. Once the walker dropped to the ground he stomped his head in with his heavy working boots. And to think that Taylor had thought it was a waste of time for him to put those on when they had been packing up necessities.

He walked into the room but quickly got back out. "We need the master bedroom" Alex declared with certainty and started walking towards the right.

Anne looked over Taylor's shoulder to the other end of the hallway. The darkness surrounding them as the sun had gone down hours ago. But she wasn't mistaken when she saw another dead woman walking their way. Her jaw seemed dislocated and for a moment Anne thought she was hallucinating, it looked so unbelievable unreal.

"Taylor" she hissed "Taylor, behind us!" she then yelled as Taylor was unresponsive and the woman came closer and closer. Alex resolutely stepped next to them, and she watched as he raised his gun and shot its head with practiced eased.

She looked at her friend who had made such changes in the last 2 days. He was determined to stay alive and to keep them alive. He was giving it his all and he seemed to have turned off everything else. Without emotion he pushed the gun back in the backside of his pants and glanced at Anne briefly before moving.

"We've rallied them up now, with the noise from that shot, we need to get the fuck out of here" Alex spoke with authority and no one questioned him. He opened another door and stepped in without hesitation, everyone followed him.

Taylor placed Anne on the king size bed that stood there, in the middle of the room. Immediately turning to Alex's aid as he started pushing a large closet, filled with clothing in front of the door. Which wasn't easy, the thing almost fell forward was it not for Dave to once again step up, and catching it. Together they placed it in front of the door and stepped back. Everyone held their breath, but it was unsettling quiet.

After a few minutes Alex turned around and looked at his friend laying on the bed. He knelt down next to it and pushed his flashlight on. It was a miracle it was still working after the blows it had received earlier. He shone the light in both of her eyes, placed his fingers on her pulse and after a while seemed satisfied enough.

He lifted her up carefully and looked at the back of her head, pointing the flashlight at it to search for any injuries but finding none on the surface.

"I'm alright Alex" Anne muttered. "My lungs were knocked out of air for a moment but I'm fine now. She convinced him and sat up by herself on the edge of the bed. Staring at the same door as the others did previously but it stayed quiet on the other side. It was rather strange.

"Someone should walk over the roof to the other side" Leona offered suddenly. "Then we can see if they actually made it inside or if they've continued on"

Alex looked the young girl over and then turned his gaze onto Taylor. Taylor just shrugged his shoulders.

"I'll do it even" Leona offered standing up on her two feet, patting imaginary dust off of her short cut-off jeans. Anne cleared her throat uncomfortably, turning to look at Alex and raising an eyebrow at him. It wasn't necessarily talked about but he had become their guidance without question.

"No, that's no good" Alex admitted finally, getting Anne's hint and taking the girls wrist in his hands before she started to climb out the window. He turned to look at Taylor and then at Anne. "There's no way to the top of that roof" Anne reasoned. "I could try and climb out the window but there's no way to go up from there."

Anne stood up and walked towards the window, leaning out of it to scale the walls but before they could even put their plan into action she heard the undeniable moaning and groaning underneath her. Looking down she saw two walkers trying to scratch their way through the kitchen window and she assumed it was a sign that the others of their little gang would be waiting at the other side.

She waved a hand at Alex who stepped forward and looked down as well, sighing in frustration and running a hand over his face.

Leona stepped forward as well and looked down at the two, mumbling something underneath her breath which no one paid attention to as Anne, Alex and Taylor were discussing a possible way out of there.

It was when Ruth screamed Leona's name that the three of them looked up and stared at the window where Leona first had been standing in front of. They all ran towards the window and watched as Leona had fallen into a pile of leaves and was now having a hard time stumbling away from the walkers. Anne whistled hard on her fingers in hope to regaining their attention but as though they knew she was high up they continued their pursuit after the young girl.

"What the fuck is that bitch thinking she's doing" Alex yelled out frustrated grabbing his gun from between his belt and pushing the closet away from the door together with Taylor whom threw a gun towards Anne. "Stay here, protect them" he yelled as both men disappeared through the door, throwing it close with a loud bang.

"Dave! Dave! No! Please!" Anne turned around and watched as Dave too, fell from the window in an attempt to help his daughter. Not entirely unarmed as he had grabbed Anne's hammer from the huge bed. But he landed poorly and fell on his arm, he screamed out in pain and for a moment Anne didn't know what to do.

"Please, please help them! Please Anne! Please help Leona!" Ruth yelled in Anne's ear. There was no clear thinking anymore and before she very well had processed the information Anne too, jumped from the window. She fell on her legs, with a loud 'oof' hissing through her teeth, she then fell forward and ended up doing a somersault to try and elevate the weight suddenly placed on her joints. It seemed to work, or it could be the adrenaline pumping through her veins but as she stood up she was able to walk properly.

Just as she was starting to make her way over towards Leona she heard Dave screaming for her from behind her. And as she turned around she saw him trying to fight of 2 of the dead, wherever they had come from. She aimed her gun but changed her mind quickly. She didn't know how to shoot!

She grabbed for her hunting knife but grabbed into air as she had left it laying on the bed. She cursed at herself, promising in that split mini-second to never leave her weapons somewhere behind again. She'd carry them with her always. "Ruth! Throw me the knife!"

She yelled at the frantically crying woman upstairs.

"Leona, Anne! Please! Leona!"

"Then throw me the knife!"

A silver sparkle reflecting from the moon fell through the air and next to her in the grass. She jumped forward and grabbed it. Looking behind her at a crying Leona standing against a tree, trying to make her way up there, but she failed miserably. Dave cried out Anne's name again and as she turned towards the man she decided she was closest to him.

She jumped on the back of the first walker throwing her knife through his ear making it slump down to the ground, it stopped fighting as she fell to the ground with it. Dave managed to kill one with the hammer and together they pushed the third into the wall and giving Anne the opportunity to drive the knife through the back of its skull.

As she turned around wanting to run for Leona, Leona just ran passed her frantically.

Anne looked for the walkers that did not follow Leona at all, as she pressed herself as close to the wall as she could, being held by Dave.

Anne stared at the group of walkers as none of them seemed to move towards them, but rather slumped forward as blood painted the grass beneath them. As she tried to process the moment Taylor ran towards her, taking her arm in his.

"Too late Anne, we gotta go! We gotta go now!" he yelled in her ear and Anne stared at him with wide eyes as realization dawned on her.

They weren't following Leona because they were eating Alex.