Ch.2
She had been walking through the woods when she had first seen it through the trees. At first she didn't know what it was, but as she got closer she realized that it was a cabin, probably a hunters cabin. The weeds were growing wild, climbing up to reach the windows, and loose boards hung from the frame.
She approached the cabin cautiously. She didn't think that anyone was staying there, but you could never be certain. She peaked through one of the windows and saw that the small, one-roomed cabin was empty. The door creaked as she opened it, and she cringed at the noise, hoping that it wasn't loud enough to draw any walkers to her.
Standing in the doorway as her eyes adjusted to the sudden lack of light, she began scanning the room. There was a twin-sized bed in the corner, a small table, a stove, a refrigerator, and dozens of taxidermied animals, most likely the previous owner's trophies. Beth slowly walked in, closing and locking the door behind her.
She walked over and laid down on the bed, planning on just resting for a few minutes, but before she knew it, she was opening her eyes to the dusky morning light streaming in through the windows. She wasn't scared, she wasn't afraid, and other than the aches in her body, everything seemed alright. She could stay here for a little while; she could make this work. She would be alone, nobody would ever have to find her, and the cabin offered a safety that she thought she would never feel again.
Her thoughts were interrupted by the loud growling sounds coming from her stomach. She had only had a few berries, and her body was craving more. Walking over to the refrigerator she opened it to find it empty; not that it would have mattered, the generator that had once provided electricity for this cabin had quit working long ago, and she would have no idea how to fix it. She began opening the cabinets and almost cried when she found a box of granola bars. She didn't hesitate to rip the box open and grab the last remaining granola bar, eating it in a manner of seconds. But still her body was needing more; she desperately needed water.
She walked back outside, knowing that there had to be a water source nearby if someone had been staying here for any amount of time. It didn't take her long to find it. It was a water pump, like the one they had back at the farm. She cranked the rusted handle a few times, getting nothing, but after a few minutes of pumping, water started to spurt out. She quickly grabbed the bucket sitting on the ground and filled it up. Once gain she went back inside, carrying the bucket full of water with her. She grabbed a glass and greedily drank the water. Her throat had been dry, but the water instantly eased it.
She decided that it would be best to look around the cabin again to see what supplies the owner had left. There was a half empty box of matches on the counter. But the thing that made her the most excited and gave her hope that she could make it was the book on how to set snares. If she could figure out how to set a snare, she would be able to eat meat.
Feeling her eyes starting to get heavy again, she grabbed the chair and pushed it under the doorknob. If anyone came across the cabin she wanted to make sure that they couldn't get in. She went back over to the bed and drifted off into a deep sleep.
She didn't know how long she had been sleeping, but she woke up to her own screams echoing through the room. Her heart was racing and her skin was broke out in a cold sweat. Suddenly this cabin, which had felt safe and secure, now felt dangerous. It felt like that room they had kept her in. She was suffocating in it. She couldn't stay in here. She knew it was stupid, and she could practically hear Daryl screaming at her to suck it up and stay, but she couldn't do it. Every second she stayed in here was a second too long.
She shot up out of the bed in a panic. If she was going to leave she could at least be smart enough to bring supplies with her. She grabbed a bag in the corner that had long since been forgotten and began throwing things into it. She grabbed the matches, a pot so she could boil water, and before she ran out of the door, she grabbed the book on how to set snares.
She flung the chair holding the door closed to the side, making a loud clatter that rang through the room, and darted. It was starting to get dark out. She thought about going back and staying until it was morning, but she couldn't bring herself to turn around. She had to get away.
Eventually she stopped running. She still had no idea where she was, and she didn't know how far she had run. No longer tired, she sat down on the ground, deciding it best to stay in one place for the night. She would start moving again in the morning.
It didn't take her long to realize her mistake. The cabin had offered her safety; four walls to keep the walkers out, and four walls that would hide her from human contact. The cabin had offered her a place to sleep and a source of water. Out here, out in the middle of nowhere, she had nothing.
She had been out here for another three days, and things weren't good. She only had one match left, and while she had been able to boil some water, she didn't have anything to put it in to save it for later. She'd barely been sleeping, too afraid that the moment she fell asleep walkers would find her or her dreams would haunt her.
She was studying the book on how to set snares. She had read through it at least twice, and she was coming to the realization that there was no way she could set a snare. She didn't have the supplies. She needed wire to make the noose, or something similar to wire. She was thinking about what she could use when a thought hit her. She looked over at the bag she had grabbed. It was an outdoor bag, made to last. The stitching was strong, strong enough to keep the bag together through the elements and the wear and tare.
Grabbing her bag, she emptied it, the matchbox, pot, and the berries she had been picking along the way falling out of it. She took her knife and carefully began to unstitch the materials, being careful not to cut it and ruin the only thing she could use. Once she had unstitched it and had a long, thick string, she looked at the book again. It took her a few tries, but she eventually was able to make the overhead knot the book described.
She found two hard sticks that branched off, like the ones shown in the pictures. She tied the noose to the stick labeled engine and stuck the stick labeled base into the ground. Then she used the sections of the sticks that branched off to make them interlock.
She tied the stitching to a nearby sapling. The other end of the stitching was carefully tied to the base, causing the sapling to bend like the ones in the book. She arranged the noose on the ground. She stood back and looked at her snare, a smile forming on her face. Looking at the berries on the ground from her bag, she grabbed a few and set them in the noose, hoping it would draw the attention of an animal. Now she just had to wait.
She picked her knife up again and grabbed the pot. An animal wasn't going to come around if she was here, so she might as well do something productive. She knew that there was a stream nearby. She had been following it the last few days, making sure to always keep it to her left. She'd fill the pot with water and come back and check the snare before boiling the water. Maybe she could go to sleep with a full stomach tonight.
As she walked she started to believe that maybe she could make it out here. She had a pot to boil water and she was confident in the snare she had just set. Her next challenge would be starting a fire after she used her last match. But right now she wasn't going to worry about that; her mind kept returning to the thought of eating an actual meal, something that would give her energy.
Returning to her makeshift camp for the night, she set the pot down and went to check the snare. Her heart sank when she saw it. The berries were gone and the snare hadn't fired, the noose still sitting loosely on the ground. She could see the small prints of a rabbit, more evidence that an animal had in fact been there. Her snare hadn't worked. She'd done something wrong.
She went back over to the pot of water and grabbed the book. She looked it over again, studying the pictures and every step. She'd done exactly what it'd said to do, but it hadn't worked, and she had no idea why.
If she couldn't have a meal tonight she could at least have some water. She gathered a few twigs and dry leaves and grass and took the last match, striking it against the matchbox. The flame went out almost as quickly as it had lit. She stared at the match in disbelief, unable to move or do anything. She started striking against the matchbox over and over again in a futile attempt to get it to light again, even though she knew it wouldn't.
And suddenly any hope she had was drained out of her. Her last match was gone. Her only hope at eating something decent had failed her. She had a pot but no way of boiling water. She didn't have anywhere safe to sleep. She mentally cursed herself for not staying at the cabin.
Sighing angrily she took the snare book and threw it as far from her as possible. She put her head in her hands, taking deep breaths to keep herself from crying. She couldn't fall apart, not now. Even if everything seemed hopeless she couldn't just give up.
Once again she grabbed her knife and stood up. There was no point staying here anymore. She could at least keep moving. As she walked, her stomach started to growl and she picked some berries, popping them into her mouth absentmindedly, attempting to fill the void.
This is how it went for the next two days. She was relying on berries, not having any water to drink, and her body was finally reacting to her lack of nutrition and water. She was eating another handful of berries when the wave of nausea swept over her. She doubled over, emptying what little was left in her stomach. She couldn't keep the berries down anymore.
She walked for a few more hours before she was too exhausted to continue. She felt dizzy, and she knew it was because she was dehydrated. She sat down, leaning against a tree, struggling to keep her eyes open. Eventually she lost the fight to stay awake and drifted off to sleep.
She probably wouldn't have woken up if it weren't for the snapping of a branch too close for her liking. The steady shuffling of feet over the grass and fallen leaves alerted her that the noise had come from a walker. And the steady moans growing louder told her that it was more than one.
She shot up into a standing position, checking to make sure that her knife was still in her hand. She took a moment to look around and allow the dizziness to fade from her head. She could already see five walkers shuffling towards her, and that was enough to get her moving. There was no way she could take on five walkers by herself, not in the condition she was in.
As she ran it became apparent that the five walkers weren't alone. They started appearing on all sides of her. She was in the middle of a herd and the only thing she had to protect herself was her knife.
She quickly tried to dodge a walker that lunged at her, but her lack of water was making her movements sluggish and it managed to grab her arm and knock her to the ground. The walker fell on top of her, pinning her legs beneath it as its hands grabbed at her shit, trying to pull itself up to the exposed flesh of her neck. She tried to kick it off of her, but it was too heavy and too determined to get a meal.
Just as it was about to bite into her neck she took her knife and stabbed it in its head with all of her strength, the blade pushing through its fragile skull and piercing the brain. Its warm, thick blood dripped from its head and onto Beth. Pulling the knife from the walker and forcefully pushing it away from her, she stood up and started running. The noise from the struggle had drawn the attention of the other walkers, and they were now moving towards her.
She was running as fast as she could, but the walkers just kept appearing. She did her best to stay out of their way, but it was unavoidable. She didn't know how many she had killed, but it was a lot, and her arm was burning from the constant thrusting of her blade into decaying skulls.
She kept running, the herd slowly thinning out until it was just her and the woods. But still she kept running. She couldn't bring herself to stop. The herd had come in the dark, but now the sun was shining bright. She could feel the tears rolling down her face, and her lungs were burning, struggling to get air.
She broke through the trees. The rough, uneven ground covered in grass and fallen branches became hard, grey pavement. She collapsed to her knees, her body exhausted. She couldn't run anymore. She couldn't fight. She was perfectly content dying right where she was if another herd came through, knowing that her body was too exhausted to move anymore.
Author's Note: So you're probably thinking to yourself "Beth, why in the world would you leave that cabin?!" Yeah, I don't blame you for thinking that. But, you have absolutely no idea what happened to her. As the story goes on you will find out. She is traumatized, and being in that cabin became too much for her, and even though she knew it was a reckless decision to leave, she just had to get out of there.
Also, this chapter had a lot of up and downs...a lot of hope followed by a lot of despair. It started on a high note. She found a cabin, someplace safe, someplace she could stay. And then this safe place wasn't safe for her anymore and she left. She had matches, a pot, a knife, a bag, and a book to teach her how to set snares. She was feeling hopeful and she actually believed that she could survive. And then that snare just couldn't work and the match had to go out before she got the fire started. To top it all off she ran into a huge herd of walkers. Now she is on a road and is ready to give up. She's exhausted and her body can't take much more.
Let me just say, I am extremely excited for the next chapter. I have it all planned out and have already started to write it. I think you will like it, too!
Please leave a review and let me know what you think!
Oh, and thank you for the reviews, favorites, and follows for Ch.1!