Chapter Three

There in the brush to her left stood a small child, no older than Eve. She had a tear in her cheek and a gash across her shoulder. Her little yellow sun dress was coated in thick black ooze, and her right eye was hanging from its socket. The thing that had once been a little girl came shuffling toward Jeanne and the girls. Eve screamed and began to cry while Emma gasped and began to back away.

Jeanne grabbed the cross bow and loaded a bolt, gasping for breath she took aim at the little girl. "I'm so sorry." She said, to whom she was not sure, then let the bolt fly. It caught the creature through the forehead and she crumpled to the ground. Jeanne moved slowly toward the dead child, crying softly she ripped the bolt from her limp body, then tucked it back into the quiver.

She then returned to the girls pulled her pack on, got Emma into her pack, strapped the rifles and the cross bow and bolts to her back, then lifted Eve into her chest carrier. She whispered softly to Eve to calm her as they moved deeper into the woods.

Jeanne would pause every few minutes to listen and then would keep the girls moving, they traveled that way for most of that day. As the sun began to streak the sky with red, orange, and purple Jeanne found another tree, and boosted the girls up, then she climbed up herself before tying her packs to a branch, then pulled a tarp out of her pack and spread it over two branches below where she and the children would sleep.

Once Jeanne was satisfied with her work she fed the children, then she tied them to the tree again. Sleep was hard for Jeanne to find, and when she did fall asleep her sleep was restless, filled with strange sounds and colors that really made no sense but left her with a sense of fear and dread. When she woke she knew she had to keep moving.

The next week passed slowly and the same way, she was not sure she was headed in the right direction to even get to Atlanta, and she was afraid to get near the highway again. She was running low on food and water, and she was terrified to use the gun for fear of bringing attention to herself. She continued to move forward, through the woods, hoping she would come out close to a small town. After another two days of hiking the back woods of Georgia the woods began to thin and she began to see signs of a small town. She came to a road, there were a few cars most of them stalled or burned out.

She and the girls began to follow the road, still pausing regularly to listen. Eve had gotten restless about two days in and insisted on walking on her own. Now she carried her bedroll and a few snacks on her back. Their food was dwindling quickly and their water was all but gone, Jeanne knew they had to reach a town soon or they would…she didn't want to think about that.

Another hour brought them to the bottom of a hill, the sun was baking hot and both little girls with their feathery blonde hair, Eve's almost white, light blue eyes, and fair skin, were both burning badly. Even Jeanne with her slightly darker complexion of ash blonde hair and green eyes was burning. If thirst didn't kill them exposure might.

'Stop thinking like that Jeanne!' She ordered herself as they began to mount the hill. A few more minutes of climbing brought them to the top. Jeanne's heart began to lift as they reached the top of the hill and saw down the other side. There, in still contrast to the over whelming feeling of exposure, was a quiet little town. It looked mostly deserted, she could see a few of the dead wandering aimlessly through the streets, but other than that, the town looked empty; a veritable ghost town.

Jeanne let out a small sigh of relief. She was sure she could take out the dead easily, and she hoped to find some supplies in the abandoned shops.

That night she and the girls made camp in the back of an empty hardware store. The front of the shop had bars on the windows and a roll door. She had killed seven of the dead in all, more than she had wanted, but she supposed she was lucky it was only seven. The girls huddled close to her, as they shared the snacks Jeanne had pilfered from the convenience store across the street. Jeanne was also able to pick up a crowbar and a hand axe that she hoped would be useful.

That night passed slowly for Jeanne as she kept a watchful eye and ear out for any sign of the dead. Night moved slowly and was spiked with fear at every sound. There were long moments of silent thought laced with fear for her. How had this happened? Where would they go next? Could she and the girls get to Atlanta? Was there a cure? She had no answers for any of those questions, but she had taken an atlas from the gas station. She had poured over it for at least two hours trying to figure out where she was and how to get to Atlanta. It seemed like ten thousand miles.

"Hell it might as well be." She said to herself. Sighing she got up to move around a bit then came back to sit with the girls. They slept peacefully and to her that was a relief.

The next morning Jeanne locked the girls inside the office of the store. "Like at the house, you stay here and you don't come out." She told Emma.

"Yes mama." She said softly.

"I'll be right back; I just need to go get some supplies. You stay in here, and you stay quiet. Keep an eye on Eve." Emma nodded and Jeanne locked the office door. She had slung her pack on as she was leaving the office, and was headed out on to the street when something grabbed her. Cold panic had her in its grasp as she swung around kicking and swinging.

"Stop struggling." A low, male voice said. Jeanne's breathing evened out as she realized what had grabbed her was not dead.

"Let me go." She said roughly. The hand did not release her.

"You're a pretty little thing." He said pulling her closer, his mouth beside her ear.

"Is this what that's about? I might be a pretty little thing, but you better take your hands off of me or you're gonna be a dead big thing." The man laughed harshly as he turned her toward him.

He was taller than her by at least a head, barrel chested, and well muscled. He was tanned, his face chiseled, and at least a few days stubble had grown in. He might have been handsome once, had he not had the gleam of insanity in his eye. "You think you can kill me?" He asked. "You think you can kill me?!" He bellowed, then laughed as he drug her toward an open door way. Jeanne slowly reached for the crowbar that hung in the loop on her pack. As he dragged her toward the door she swung at him.

The crowbar caught him in the side of the head and he crumpled to the ground. "Might not kill you but I sure as hell can crack your skull." She said kicking him. She hit him again just to be sure, then turned away and headed toward the pharmacy that was on the corner.

Inside she found one of the dead and put it down, before moving to the back and looking at all the pills there. She took anything she thought would be of use. She didn't know much about medicine but she recognized things like penicillin and omoxycilian. She also recognized some of the pain killers and antidepressants. Merle had taken most of them at one time or another. She put them all in her bag then went through the store gathering first aid supplies and other nonprescription medicine.

When she thought she had everything she might need she headed back to the gas station and gathered up every bottle of water she could get and as much food as she could carry before heading back to the hardware store.

The door to the office was open and the room was empty. Cold fear shot through her as she moved inside. "No. No, no, no, no, no, no!" She took several deep breathes trying to fight down the panic that was quickly rising. How could she be so stupid, how could she have left the girls alone?

As she moved out of the office she heard a soft sound coming from near the back of the store. She moved that way her gun in hand. As she got to the back there were tall shelves reaching toward the dark ceiling. "Mommy?" a soft voice whispered as she approached.

Jeanne gasps for breath as relief over whelmed her. She saw Emma and Eve huddled together on the top of one of the old shelves. Emma climbed down with Eve on her back. "Oh God." Jeanne said taking both the girls into her arms and hugging them close before checking them each over for injuries.

"Mama, there were men, big men. We heard them talking outside, I know you said not to leave the room, but we were scared and I didn't want them to find us. I heard them say they would kill you. I heard them mama. I was so scared." Emma cried as Jeanne held her.

"It's ok, it's ok baby." Jeanne got her emotions under control quickly then went back to the room and gathered up their supplies. "We need to go now. Right now. Get your pack on Emma." She said as she helped Eve into hers. She counted herself lucky that she had thought to stash their gear out of sight in a barrel on the sales floor. She tucked her gun into the back of her pants, loaded the crossbow, strapped the quiver to her thigh, and carried the cross bow. They were ready quickly and headed toward the door. She only hoped the men had left town, but she had not heard anything to indicate that they had. Cold fear was back stronger than anything else she had been feeling. "If anything happens here, you take Eve and you run. You hide and you wait for me. If I don't come you keep moving, you stay away from those dead things and people too. You find somewhere and you keep safe. You do whatever you have to to stay safe." Emma nodded as Jeanne tucked one of Daryl's knives into her pack as well as the machete and the small revolver she had inherited from her mother.

She held Eve's hand and Emma held onto Jeanne's pack as they moved down the street the opposite direction as they entered. As they did four men stepped out of the long line of shops at the end of the street. Jeanne pushed Eve behind her as she saw them.

"You done killed one a my men. Now you gonna pay." He said. Jeanne steadied herself before lifting her crossbow.

"One of your men attacked me." She said stopping several yards away.

"Way I see it, no witnesses says you killed him out right."

"I will warn you, that you do not want to mess with me and my girls. " Jeanne said hoping her voice sounded calm, she couldn't tell with the crackling of her nerves in her ears.

One of his men took a step toward them, Jeanne took aim at him. "Sugar, there are four of us, and one of you. Whatdya think yur gonna do?"

"There may be four of you now, and you might kill me, but I can tell you now, there will be fewer when this is over than there are now." The other man moved closer. "Ah ah ah an." She said eyeing him. "Call him off and let us go." She said as she reached slowly behind her for the gun.

"Well now, I might be willing to do that, but you see, there is a fee to pass, and there is the matter of my dead man." He told her.

"He comes one step closer and you're gonna have two dead men."

"Get her." The lead man said finally, tired of playing games.

Jeanne let her arrow fly and pulled her gun in the next instant, taking aim at the leader and pulling the trigger. The arrow caught the first man in the chest, and her bullet took out the leaders leg. He fell to the ground cursing and set his other two men after her. She took aim and fired catching the third man in the head, and the last one in the shoulder. He hit the ground, wailing. She took her machete back from Emma and walked over to the man closest to her. She buried the machete in his head before ripping it out and moving toward the other men. The only one still alive was the leader who was desperately trying to get up.

"Hello, sugar." Jeanne said as she approached him. "I told you not to mess with me and my girls, I told you to just let us pass." She said swinging the machete and taking out his other leg. "Now I'm not going to kill you. I think I'll let you stay right here. Someone should be along soon." Jeanne said as she motioned Eve and Emma to follow her. "You got a truck?" She asked the man on the ground. "I might be persuaded to put you out of your misery if you do."

"Please. Please, yes the keys are in it, it's right over there." He pointed. Jeanne moved slowly toward where he had pointed. There was a bright red Ford F-150 sitting next to the building.

She came back to him, lifted her gun and put a bullet in his head. "Should have listened." She said before taking the girls to the truck and getting them inside. She started the truck and smiled to see the tank was full. She pulled the truck down the street and into the gas station. "You girls stay here." She told them, before getting out leaving the truck running.

She moved into the gas station and began gathering up all the food she could get putting it into empty crates she found in the back. Then she returned to the truck and shoved it in the bed. As she rounded the hood of the truck she came face to face with one of the dead. "Fuck!" She cried as she shot it in the head and climbed into the truck. There was a large group of them coming into town. The gun fire had attracted them. They were coming from both directions twenty or thirty from either direction and out of the woods. She should have thought her actions through better, but she couldn't change it now.

She slammed the truck into gear and headed out of the gas station parking lot. She only had one option now, through.