Survivors: A Walking Dead Story
Chapter 41: Winter
6 Weeks Later
The snow had fallen heavily in the past 6 weeks. The ground was covered in a blanket of freezing snow. Connor trudged through the snow; he felt the biting frost numbing his toes. He swapped out his trainers for a pair of thick boots, but he still felt the cold in his body. Connor clutched a rifle close to his chest as he continued on. Connor managed to scavenge the gun off a dead body, the dead person who was a female had tripped up in the snow by the looks of it and got caught by walkers.
Connor kept a close eye on his feet, the snow could hide anything. He hated going out in the cold, but he needed supplies. The air was loud from the wind whipping around overhead. The hard breeze kicking up snow and forcing Connor to shield his eyes as he pressed on. Connor looked up and saw a convenience store in the distance. "Food + Booze". It might have something to eat in there. As he travelled through the snow Connor kept a watchful eye out for any walkers. Luckily the snow had mostly slowed them down recently, they were a lot easier to deal with outside now.
As he soldiered on through the snow Connor thought about how Morgan was recovering and flashed back to when they escaped Weaver six weeks ago. Connor with Morgan hanging on his shoulder his face going pale burst into a building behind them the groans of walkers weren't too far. Connor's eyes shot around the room and spotted a chair he heaved Morgan over and lowered him onto it. Connor spun round to see a walker approaching the door they just came through and charged at the door. He pushed the door closed with force hitting the walker and knocking it back. Connor looked to the side and spotted a busted vending machine; he left the door and pushed the broken machine over with all his strength and the machine fell with an almighty crash blocking the door from being opened.
With the entrance blocked Connor could tend to Morgan. he returned to the chair to see Morgan drifting in and out of consciousness. He needed to be quick. Connor bolted across the room and looked for anything to help Morgan's injury. He looked around desperately, they managed to hide in some small-town hospital, he spotted a doctors room and barged inside. The room had loads of drawers. Connor scrambled to open each one praying for something he could use to stitch up the wound. He opened the first drawer and found nothing, the second drawer again nothing. In the third drawer he found some thread for stitches and a needle.
"Oh, thank god" said Connor grabbing them and heading back to Morgan.
He got the needle and thread ready while Morgan let out some murmur,
"sorry bud, but this is gonna hurt like hell" said Connor.
He pressed the needle to Morgan's shoulder and pushed it through the skin drawing fresh blood, Morgan's semi-conscious body started to squirm as he pressed the needle. Connor tried to hold him still as he pushed the needle through the hole and went to do it again, luckily enough Morgan passed out and his body stopped thrashing. Connor let out a sigh as he continued to stitch up the wound, after nearly five minutes Connor finished his work, it wasn't that good, but he hoped it would be enough. After he finished Connor returned to the office and managed to scavenge up a half bottle of peroxide. Connor used the bottle and poured some onto the stitched-up wound to hopefully prevent an infection.
"alright, now we wait" said Connor.
He grabbed Morgan and lowered him to the ground he spotted some old dirty papers and used them as a pillow for Morgan to rest his head on. As Morgan slept Connor sat down on the ground and listened to the groans of the undead outside.
Connor approached the Food + Booze and pushed the door open. The smell of a decaying body hit his nostrils and made Connor recoil. You never got used to that smell. He looked inside and saw two decomposing bodies laying next to each other, a woman and a man, both dead from gunshots to the head.
"couldn't go on, I'm sorry" whispered Connor.
He stepped around their bodies and made his way down an aisle to look for anything useful. Most of the shelves were picked clean, what was left was mostly empty packets of cookies and biscuits. Custard Cream wrappers and pop-tarts. Connor looked further down where the tins would be. Those shelves were too mostly empty. Connor placed his rifle on the floor and got down on his hands and knees to get a look at the back of the shelf. His eyes fell on a couple of tins of spaghetti loops.
"score" said Connor reaching for the tins.
He pulled out two tins and placed them in his bag. They would do them for tonight, but they also really needed water, there was a creek nearby, but it was completely frozen over. Connor had to smash some of the ice with his rifle to get some water for them. He would need to make another trip. Connor looked around some more but found nothing else of use, the stores nowadays were mostly empty. He needed to keep moving and to find someplace good, a community or something.
Outside Connor could hear the wind picking up he needed to get back to his little makeshift place before it got too heavy. Connor exited the store as the wind picked up even more, the mix of snow and wind made it hard to see. Connor took to a jog as he moved through the snow. Every few steps he shot a glance in every direction to keep an eye out for walkers. Given he was rushing it didn't take him too long before he was back again. He arrived at a small building. It used to be a post office, they moved away from the hospital to this building as the walkers knew they were at the hospital and it was too dangerous. Connor pushed the door open and shut it behind him. Connor then moved a large desk they kept near the door in front of it to prevent anything from wandering in. Connor walked behind the desk of the post office and entered the little managers office where they were staying. He entered the room to see Morgan sitting in a chair staring at a map, his arm was still in a sling.
"hey man you still looking at those maps?" asked Connor.
"yeah I am I want to make sure we're on the right track to Wellington" said Morgan.
"well if we get moving soon, we can reach it in about 2 weeks" said Connor.
"yeah, I can't wait to get moving soon, had enough of sitting around in this office waiting for my shoulder to heal" said Morgan.
"speaking of your shoulder, how does it feel?" asked Connor.
"it's getting there, I can move it a lot more now, but it still hurts from time to time, and I still can't sleep on that side" said Morgan.
"alright then, we'll stay here tonight and tomorrow we set out for Wellington" said Connor as he took a seat in a second chair.
In the recent six weeks they moved a couple of old blankets they found into the room to make beds for them to sleep on. Connor sat down on his blanket and pulled out the tins of spaghetti loops.
"weren't much left was there?" asked Morgan.
"yeah, pretty much empty, scavengers or something got there long before us" said Connor.
"god damn it, I hoped we'd get lucky, we can't keep living like this" said Morgan.
"I know don't worry we'll get moving and eventually we'll get to Wellington and everything will be okay" said Connor as he used a knife, he found to open two of the tins for them.
Connor opened one of the tins and passed it to Morgan who held it gingerly in his injured arm.
"you sure you don't need me to help you?" asked Connor.
"you ask me that every day, I can feed myself I'm not a baby" said Morgan as he scooped some spaghetti loops into his mouth.
"well considering your dripping sauce down yourself right now, I'd wager you haven't grown up much" said Connor as he opened the second tin.
"ha-ha, screw you" said Morgan sarcastically.
"maybe we should get you a bib" teased Connor.
"do it and I'll kick your ass, even with my fucked shoulder" joked Morgan.
"I'll even get you a black one if that helps" teased Connor.
Morgan laughed as he continued to eat his spaghetti loops. The two fell into a comfortable silence as they ate. After ten minutes they polished off the tins and Connor felt sleep overtaking him.
"I think we should get some sleep, gonna have a long trip ahead of us tomorrow" said Connor.
"agreed" said Morgan as he got off the chair and removed his sling and then carefully laid down on his bed wincing a little as he lowered himself onto the floor.
Connor let out a yawn as he placed the empty tin onto the floor and got comfy. As he felt his eyes closing, he heard Morgan's voice.
"do you think they made it to Wellington?" asked Morgan.
"I do, I guarantee you there up there right now, having dinner or something, probably did their daily work on watch or something and now there settling into their own beds or something safe and sound" said Connor.
"I hope so" said Morgan.
"they are trust me Morgan" said Connor.
"night man" said Morgan.
"night" said Connor as he felt sleep take him.
Connor eyes opened the room lit up from the sun outside. Connor let out a yawn as he sat up, he looked around to see Morgan carefully packing up the maps into a bag.
"how long you been awake?" asked Connor.
"about 20 minutes" replied Morgan.
"alright we'll get moving in a minute" said Connor.
Connor rose to his feet and packed up their blankets shoving them into his bag. Connor felt his bag crack as he stretched the floor was not the best place to sleep on, but it was better than nothing. They had one tin of spaghetti left. Hopefully they'll find something on the road. Connor swung his bag over his shoulder and grabbed his rifle. They only had a few bullets.
Connor turned to face Morgan who was slowly putting his coat and bag on.
"you ready?" asked Connor.
"ready as I'll ever be" said Morgan.
"Alright stay close to me, you're not exactly in fighting shape yet so If we run into any trouble, I'll handle it" said Connor.
"you're the boss" said Morgan.
They left the office and Connor walked over to the entrance pushing the desk out of the way. Connor grabbed the door and pushed it open the sun blinding him as they entered the snow.
Now they continue the long trek to Wellington.
End of Chapter 41