Disclaimer: I don't own the characters of The Walking Dead, just my OC's.
I slowly opened my eyes and groaned as small rays of sunlight flooded my vision. Putting up a hand to block the light, I started to rub sleep out of my eyes. My movement must of woken up Sophia, because she yawned and moved her hand. The tree groaned as she started to move.
"Be still." I whisper at her, she immediately stops and holds her breath.
"Walkers?" she asks worriedly.
"No, but now that you mention it." I bring up the ruger slowly and look around, slowly surveying the surrounding area, trying to find any trace of the undead. So far though, only the actual dead bodies of the walkers I had killed yesterday. "Alright, I see nothing." I inform Sophia. "But move slowly, I'm not sure if this tree branch can hold this much wait without cracking."
She quickly stiffens and her arms become more vice like around my waist. "Sorry."
I sigh, bringing down the ruger. "It's fine." My stomach growls, as does Sophia's, and my mouth is beyond dry. "Breakfast?"
She lets out a squeak of happiness and bounces real quick, but stops as the tree moan. "Sorry." She says.
I laugh. "It's fine, now in the main compartment of my pack, you'll find some pop-tarts in there."
"Are you serious?" she ask, her voice full of anticipation. I smirk and nod my head. "Oh my god, I haven't had a pop-tart in forever." She exclaims happily, and then I hear the zipper on my bag open, and soon I'm leaning forward while she's rummaging through it. I hear her let out a cry, and then i feel her hand being quickly pulled out, and the sound of rustling foil. "Here" She says, putting a hand over my shoulder, I see a shiny foil package.
"Thanks." I tell her, taking the package. "I got rid of the boxes a while ago, I think its either cinnamon roll or chocolate chip cookie dough." I shrug and unwrap my package, and I see that my package is the cookie dough.
Sophia quickly opens up her pack, and let I hear her hold a breath. "Oh my god, cookie dough." She says happily, then I soon hear gasp of air.
"Hey now, slow bites." I instruct, I didn't want to have to perform CPR in a tree, I barely knew how to do it on the ground. She spews sorry, spewing the back of my neck with crumbs. "Eww. It's fine, just savoring the bites, I only have about six packs left." I had found a delivery truck on the side of the room about four weeks ago, and it was full of unhealthy breakfast foods that tasted better than they should have. I spent about half an hour figuring out how much I could carry without being a burden, and I had worked out how much I could have as well. Now, I only had enough for three more days between the two of us for breakfast, not including the scenario that would involve my duffel getting lost or jacked.
She lets out of moan. "This taste amazing." She says happily.
I look at mine and break off a bite, and eat it. I savored the flavor as best as I could while rushing it. "Yeah, well get used to it, cause they are only for breakfast, got it?"
She mumbled something with her mouth full. She gulped and croaked, "Water." I chuckle and give her the nozzle.
"Alright, I don't know how much food you ate with your group, but with me, it's only breakfast and dinner at around five, if we get lucky today, I may break out a granola bar and split it between us for lunch."
She gulped down the water and put the nozzle back over my shoulder. "Is that all you eat?"
I shrug my shoulders and bite into the pop-tart. Rationing is a logical solution to conserve food, same goes for water and everything else. I swallow the food and look down at the ground, the walkers bodies were starting to bloat more and more, good. "Hurry up and eat, we need to get down and get going."
"Are we going to search for my mom?" she ask, then takes a bite. I hear her munching on it.
I sigh. "We'll start, but honestly, I'm lost in these woods as well. I know that the road is north of here, and that's pretty much it. I'd say first thing we need to do is get out of here and find a gas station in the remote part of this place or find a house. Then try to find a map of the area."
"Wait, you're lost too." Sophia says. I nod my head and finish off my breakfast. "Then how do you know the roads north of here?"
I yawned and took a sip of water from the nozzle. "I know because I have an outdated road map that's about three years old. It only gives me the routes of roads and highways, so I can't see exactly where everything is except major highways and freeways." I pointed towards the way Sophia had come from when she was getting chased yesterday. "That ways north, but I'm pretty sure that we'll have a long ways walk to get to the road."
She sighed and pouted I think, then I heard her eat some more. After a few more minutes of her eating and me looking around, she finally crumpled up the packet. "Where do I put this?"
I shrug my shoulders. "It doesn't exactly retain heat, and it's too easily torn and makes too much noise. I know it's not exactly 'green', but toss it." she didn't complain and the next thing I see out of the corner of my eye is a shiny wadded ball falling to the ground. "Alright, now zip up my pack and we'll work our way down the tree." I hear the metal teeth closing together. "Move your arms and legs around before we start to get down. The blood needs to get going before we do, or else we'll have some serious trouble if we run into some walkers."
"I'm going to look right stupid waving my arms and legs around." Sophia says.
I laugh and start to kick my legs in slow circles, arms as well. "I don't think it's time to be self conscious, not like a walkers gonna judge what they eat." Pins and needles started working up my arms and knees, time to get the blood a flowing. Sophia groans and starts to do a midair jumping jack behind me.
"I feel stupid." She complains softly. "And my legs feel like rubber."
"You were running for your life in a forest from three walkers, you wouldn't exactly feel tip top if you were normal." The pins and needles were slowly fading away, I groaned and twisted my neck till it popped. "Now, you ready?"
She took a few more minutes to stretch before she answered, "Yeah."
"Alright then." I used my hands to find the end of the rope and start to untie it, when I get done I quickly turn around and undo the knot around Sophia's waist. "Scoot forward, turn around slowly, and try to climb down the tree, I won't take down the rope yet, so it gives you a little bit of a cheat."
She looked at me worriedly. "I don't-"
"It's fine." I tell her. "All you need to do, is grab ahold rope with two hands, look down, or not if your squeamish, then step on each branch on your way down. The last couple of feet though, you'll have to do what I call the fireman's pool." I put my hands up, one on top of another, and brought my legs out straight apart in a V. "When you go down, grip both parts of the rope with your hands on top, and then you press your feet together like this." I push the inside curve of my feet around the branch. "When you want to go down a knot, just slowly let you feet apart, then inch your hands down."
She looked at me worriedly then at the ground. "But what if walkers come along?"
I smile and pull up my ruger. "It's okay, I'll have your back."
She looks at the rope, then at the tree branches, then back to me. "I'll…I'll try." She gulped. I nodded and brought up my ruger and clicked off the safety, my eyes alert and scanning the area. I heard the branch groan slightly and lift up an inch, I knew she had gotten off the branch. I took a quick peek at Sophia to see her as she put two feet on two staggered branches, her hands on the rope. I bring my eyes back up, and for the next 15 minutes I keep looking down at Sophia as she gets closer and closer to the ground and looking around for walkers. Nothing, that is beyond belief.
Sophia lets out a soft yelp, I quickly look down and bring around the ruger and point it down, eyes ready and finger on the trigger. How the hell did a walker get past me? I actually look down and see Sophia slowly getting up and rubbing her but. "Are you all right?" I call down, scanning about quickly.
"Yeah." She calls up softly. I nod my head and put down my ruger, then turn to the tree and unlink the d-link and drop it down next to Sophia, the rope attached quickly following.
I look back down at Sophia. "Hid behind the bush were I put my duffel bag, you need be hidden in case a walker comes by." She nods and then goes to the bush and ducks behind it. I put the ruger on safe and turn around and place one foot on the branch, then take a deep breath. The hardest part of tree climbing I've learned, is getting down safely, well, after trying to get to the first big branch that is. Slowly, I make my way down, having to reposition my feet a couple of times. You know what's funny? When the national guard brought that big 20 foot rock climbing wall, I only made it a third of the way up before slipping, then falling down and landing on my ass, while everyone else landed on their feet.
I was halfway before I finally missed a beat and slipped slightly, I vaulted forward and did a monkey grab to the trunk, breathing heavily. I looked down and felt a pang of fear. "Breath Micah, breath." I tell myself, then count to ten. I took one more final breath and then began to climb back down, I was about 15 feet off the ground, and the branches stopped around eight feet up from it, so I was going to have to make a barrel roll landing. I made the rest of the seven feet before I stopped and stood on top of last big branch, it creaked slightly. I took one big breath and shakily began to undo my thigh holsters. I didn't want to do a barrel roll landing with the Kel-tec and my blades, I'd crush the kel-tec's magazines and probably end up stabbing myself, I am that unlucky. The buckle of my gun holster wasn't moving, and I was struggling to get it off when I heard a loud snapping/creaking noise.
The branch shakes, then starts to bend downward towards the earth. "Oh-" I'm cut short as the branch gives way out from beneath my feet, pitching me forward as it snaps. I unconsciously step forward along the branch and lean back, and my surprise and dumbfoundment turns to awareness as my feet slide. The world turns at an angle as I see the ground fast approaching and I feel myself leaning further and further back. Sophia shouts something as my feet loose contact with the ground and I feel the back of my jeans scrape the tree bark and start to slide.
It finally hit me that the branch had given way and I was sliding towards earth, and with my legs parallel with the tree and not bent. Grunting, I bend my elbows and reach out my hand and try to grasp something as I get closer and closer to the ground, it seemed to just rush up at me. A branch smacked me in the fact as I got closer and closer to the ground, I snatched my hand out and scraped my palms along the bark, then I abruptly came to a jarring stop as my hand finally caught the joint between two branches. I grunted in pain as I felt my arm extend and a near white hot pain in the joint, my hand was straining and cramping, the pain coming off in quick waves, but I felt my hand slipping. I groaned in pain and defiance as I felt my grip lessen, then, the branch snapped again. My hand no longer was holding anything, and for a split second, I felt like Wily Coyote from the old looney tunes reruns, just standing then air. If only I had the sign.
Next thing, I land on the balls of my feet and instinctively roll forward. I make it about two rolls before I stop and look forward, my head rolling and my vision bursting full of stars. "Micah." I hear Sophia say far off in the distance, or at least in my distance of hearing perception. "MICAH!" she screams.
"SHH!" I whisper loudly at her. "Keep it down."
"Sorry." She says dejectedly.
I stick out my hand. "Help me up quickly, we need to check my weapons and then get going. The sounds most defiantly going to draw them here." She grabs my hand, my right and not my left, my left arm was feeling like shit. She pulled slightly, but I had to lever myself up, man, we are going to have to work on her muscle strength.
"Are you alright?" she asks as I begin to pat myself all over to check for open lacerations and wounds. None so far, and all my blades and pointy objects weren't inside my liver or spleen, so I think I'm good at the physical level so far.
"Yeah, I'm fine, do me a favor and grab my duffel and pull it out." I say while bringing up my ruger and checking it over. My scope seemed to be fine, no screws on the mounts broken, everything attached. I pulled the cocking lever back halfway to check if I could, and popped the magazine out as well, nothing wrong yet. I look up to see Sophia pulling my duffel along on the wheels, my camo netting bunched up under her arm. I point to the ground in front of me. "Put it down here."
She does what I ask and I bend down to unzip it all. "What are you doing?" she ask, then I hear her gasp as the full view of my stock comes to her eyes. I had some MRE's, about 6 boxes of .22 Long rilfe ammo, 550 bullet packages. Four boxes of .22 Mag, 250 bullets each. I had a mini cleaning kit, a few more knives and screwdrivers. Cans of food stacked, a few other goods of food and other necessities, and on top of them all was a skate board that i had found. It was a good source of transportation when all your gas is gone on a highway. With my duffel behind me, it worked well, though I looked right stupid on it because I only learned how to use it about a month ago. But, what I was looking for, is a black shoulder holster, with a gun handle sticking out of it, and my little pouch next to if full of special .22 ammo. The only odd thing in the entire bag, was the black rotary phone that took up one corner.
I pull out the pouch and the shoulder rig, then close the duffel and zip it up after putting the camo netting in it. "We need to do this quickly, stick out your arms and then we need to do something about the walkers."
She looked around hurriedly. "What walkers?" she asks worriedly.
I wave my hand dismissively at her. "The ones from yesterday, now, stick out your arms, you need to learn how to shoot."
"But-"
I get up and glare at her. "Look, I can't protect you 24/7, and if you get separated from your group again after I drop you off, you need to learn how to protect yourself." I step forward and hold up the shoulder rig and spread it out. "Now, arms out, and turn around!" I order. She looks at me hurt like, then angry.
"Fine." She spits at me, then holds out her arms and turns around, pointing them back at me, her doll in one hand.
I step forward and slip her arms through the arm holes, assuming she was right handed so the gun holster was on her left side. I then tighten up the straps to fit her and fold the loose ends up behind her. "Now, the gun in the holster is a revolver, more specifically, a Taurus Model 990. It's a .22 long rifle handgun, but it's loaded with a different kind of ammo that you can't use in a gun that cycle automatically or on recoil and blowback."
I tug step back and study the rig as it sits on her, then shake my head in confidence. "What do you mean, different kind of ammo?" Sophia asks, as she turns around to look at me, putting her arms down and looking at the rig.
I picked up the handle of the duffel and began to walk to the dead walkers. "Come on, I'll tell you as we get to more work."
"What do you mean?" she ask, then quickly steps up behind me as we get closer and closer to the to the dead walkers.
"The ammo is called Aguila .22 super colibri. It doesn't use gunpowder like regular bullets, instead its air compressed on the inside. When the striker hits the rim of the cartridge, the bullet goes off and it makes little noise. But without gunpowder, the pressures can't build up so you can't get enough recoil out of it to activate the cycling action. That's why the revolver is nessacary." I get to the suit walker and lay down the duffel and pull out my Kukiri blade and crouch down. "Now, this is the disgusting part, but it's safer to do this before we go on." I motion for her to crouch down with me, and take a big gulp, and nearly gag as the smell of rotting corpse hits my tastebuds. Smell can lead to taste, if it's powerful enough.
"What do you mean?" She ask.
I look at her and raise an eyebrow. "You knew, you sound like a broken record." She glowers at me and crouches down. "And to tell you the truth, this is actually just a long shot at working."
"So what are we doing?"
I sigh and nod to the walker, being careful to listen to the surrounds. "Have you noticed that the dead repel the dead?"
"No." She says. "But I've heard about it from Rick and the Glen. They did it when they were in Atlanta."
"What'd they do?" we needed to get going, but this may be a good idea for later.
She shrugs. "Al I heard was it was disgusting."
Sighing, I look back down at the walker. "Well, what I've learned, is that the dead can smell the difference between the living and the actual dead." I placed the tip of the Kukiri on the walkers stomach. "And that smell, can allow you to walk among the walkers, or the more favorable method, let them walk right past you without even glancing at you."
"You're not gonna do what I think your gonna do?" she asks.
I turn to her, and smile evilly, then stab the walker in the stomach and pull up, allowing a gust of vomit worthy gas into our faces. Sophia gags, then turns to the side and tosses her cookies, I almost follow her, but I stare up at the sky and swallow down the bile. It smell like a dead skunk, stuffed into a pile of pig shit that's been roasting in the sun. What's sad is that I can say I've actually smelled that, trips to a farm are not fun. I give her a pity pat on the back as she stops hocking it up.
She slaps away my hand and glares at me. "Your… your sick."
I sigh and get up. "Yeah, well, you need to crack a few eggs and all those clichés. It is worst the first time, but you needed it, as did I." I motion with the bloody kukri. "now come on, we've got two more, but this time, you can hold your breath and close your eyes." She grumbles something, then gets up and follows, oh, the redneck walker is going to be oh so fun.
-later that day-
I don't know how long we've been walking, the sun is little more than halfway up in the sky, so I'd say around 12 or past it. The other two walkers, well, that was a little bit more tricky. The lady walker, she had some sort of pussy packet in her stomach, and it popped the moment I poked her stomach. Sophia gagged, but didn't hurl, cookie for her, now, the redneck walker, whole nother story.
He was beyond bloated, and beyond bloated means one of two things, he recently ate, or lots and lots of gas. We got the latter of the two events. When I stabbed into it, it was like someone let loose a geyser of rotting and fester heated gas. I admit, I threw up at that one, way to strong of a smell.
After my tossing my cookie scene, we had picked up and walked off in the way of which Sophia came yesterday. We both gargled some water and took a mouth full to wash down the fluids we needed.
So far, we only saw woods, woods, and woods. No walkers, people, animals, nothing.
"Hey Micah?" Sophia asks after our long bought of silence.
"Yeah?"
"Where are you from originally?"
"Conway, Arkansas." I tell her automatically. I miss the place, and the noise. One thing that went away with people, was the natural noise of manmade machinery and vehicles. Moans and groans and gunshots got old, or scary. The silence these days was deafening.
"How did you get here? You're a long way from home."
I shrug and step over a root and drag the duffel over it as well. "Well, we got halfway through Alabama, Grandma, Grandpa and me. We we're on the way to some prison here in Kentucky to find my dad. They still held out on the idea that they, we, could be a family once again." They were so hopeful that no one would care if a criminal was loose when the dead are walking around. I chuckle sadly and look up as I continue along the makeshift path of the north point. "You know what's so stupid, I still hold out that hope. That's why I made it to Georgia here by myself, I still think dad's alive. The big ol softie."
She waited a beat before starting back up. "What happened to your grandparents? You said that you all came this way. What happened in Alabama?"
I stopped and stiffened. Memories flashed in my hand, memories that no one needed to have. Faint traces of pain crawled up and down my body as small tears formed in my eyes. I shook my head and sniffed. "It…it doesn't matter now."
"But-"
"Sophia." I tell her lowly, turning around and glaring at her with dead eyes. "Drop it. What happened, happened. No helping it, no preventing it, no way of keeping it from playing it over and over again. I see it when I sleep, when I close my eyes. It hurts enough as it is, I'm not stabbing that knife into me again. So, drop it."
I turn around and start walking again, quickening my pace and my duffel clacking slightly. Sophia walks behind me and keeps silent.
I correct my course more so where I'm walking north, and soon we're walking along a slightly used path.
"Micah." She says again.
"I thought I said drop it." I snap at her.
"It's not that." She says quietly.
"Oh. Sorry." I say, then take a few more steps. "What was your question?"
"Wha…what are you exactly?" she sounded embarrassed for asking, and she should be if she's asking what I think she's asking.
"Come again?"
"Are you black or…" she lets the sentence hand.
"I'm half, mom was black, and dad was lilly white. I have the picture somewhere in there." I say, nodding my head at my duffel. "Dad always kept it to show me what mom looked like, before she got pregnant with me at least." Grandma insisted on bringing a small collection of family photo's, and she said that when we got dad that he'd be glad we'd brought along the picture of him and mom holding each other, mom smiling slightly as she stares. Dad holding her from behind, beaming as all day.
"I'm sorry, it was just… well, my dad… he…" sounds like someone was raised by a racist.
"It's fine, I understand perfectly." Not really though. I barely looked like my mother skin wise, I was more a pale mocha color, and it only got paler in some parts. I never really got hasseled for being half black, mainly it was because my dad was a convict and mom left after I was born.
"Oh." She says, then I hear her stumble suddenly. I quickly whirl around, dropping the duffel and bringing up my ruger.
"What is it?" I ask, my eyes scanning the area, ears alert over the beating of my heart.
I see her bend down and pick something up, it looked like plastic and rubber. It was a rectangle with a circular hole on it, black and red all around with rounded corners, Sony written on the front. The red looked like rubber as it wrapped around the edges. I lowered the ruger and stepped forward as Sophia twisted it around in her hand.
"I think it's a camera." Sophia says, then holds it in both hands and I see on the back some buttons, rubbery plastic coating it, a small screen on the back.
"Yeah, well, it probably doesn't work." I tell her, then reach around and grab the duffel handle and turn to her. I saw something as I was turning, it was a clearing about fifteen feet away from us, but it was somewhat obscured.
Sophia pressed something, and I heard a little chime. She holds it up to me and smirks. "Wanna bet on that one buddy?"
I don't respond to her, I only just take a step forward and look at the clearing. I saw the shadowed outlines of something in it, something that didn't belong in the forest.
"Hey." She says. "There's some video's on here." I ignore her and continue to walk a few steps, then hear Sophia gasp. I slowly turn to her, then I race back to her when I see her widen eyes and look of shock.
"What is it?" I ask, then lean over her arm and look at the screen, and instantly regret it.
On the screen, it was dark as the video played, little sound coming out of it. A pale orange light glowed around in the video, illuminating the profiles of a group of men, none of them looked like women. The camera shaked in Sophia's hand as the video pans to see a man tied to a tree trunk was crying. The video camera moves and soon I see the outline of a big blue tent with the front entrance unzipped with a man getting out of it. the man straighten himself up and zipped up his pants, a wicked look of satisfaction and pleasure that made me shudder. I gripped my ruger tightly as I caught a glimpse of long hair in the tent, disheveled and thrown about, then I saw a pale and small arm go up into the hair and rub something. The man that got out of the tent came over to the camera and began to speak to it, the camera shaked and then the man grabbed it and turned it around. It showed the former cameraman, a scrawny tall guy that barely looked to be in his 20's, his face long and pale, his hair black. The screen flashed, and it said low battery on it.
Sophia gasped again and nearly dropped the camera, she put a hand to her mouth and raised her head up, tears in her eyes. "They…. That… th…"
I turn to the clearing again and glare at it. "Stay behind me." a fresh anger was boiling inside of me, and so was the feeling of despair. I started walking to the clearing, Sophia gasped more and more, I could tell she wasn't trying to cry. The video probably started off worse, and she saw it all. Damn it.
As I got closer and closer to the clearing, I brought up my ruger and expected the worse. I looked through the clearing as I reached it and found the scene identical to the one in the video. The blue tent across from me, the entrance zippered, and next to it was a tree. I sobered up immediately and looked at the tree and what was attached. "Sophia." I say, turning around to face her. "You'll either learn this lesson farther along in your life, but you need to learn it if you want to survive."
"What are you talking about?" she looks around the camp worriedly.
I look into her eyes and see worry and fear. "You need to learn that walkers aren't just the only danger in this world. That the more dangerous ones out there are alive, and they are more monstrous than walkers."
She hangs her head low and whispers. "People."
I nod my head. "Now, what you saw on that video, that's only a glimpse of what happens. It only gets worse after everything is said and done, cause then these bastards… they get 'creative'. It's what they do afterwards that makes it even worse. But what I'm asking you is, do you want to learn this lesson now, or later?"
She grips her doll hard to her chest, and winces as the revolver digs into her side. The holster looks so big against her, entirely disproportional. "I…i… I want to help. I don't want to be afraid."
It was my turn to look away. "No, you need to be afraid, or at least a little bit. This lesson, its not to cure fear, but to show that you need to fight. Not for others, not for me, but for you. You need to fight to survive at all cost, or else…." I let the sentence hang. Grandpa always said that the words unspoken are the worst ones. "I learnt this lesson myself, it isn't one that any person should learn. But, we need to, you need to."
She looks at me, and I meet her eyes. Uncertainty, fear, worry… intrigue. "I'll…. I'll do it." she says quietly but firmly.
I sigh and step to the side and let her eyes adjust. They grow wide in shock, her mouth slowly opens to a full 'O', and the color drains from her face. I look at the tree and only see… I only see what it is.
The man from the video, a mousy man that wore glasses and had slicked back hair, his walker body was tied around the trunk of the tree. He snapped at us with fleshless jaws, the skin bitten off, showing teeth. His arms wiggled slightly as his head thrashed about, glasses hanging from one chewed on ear, his nose gone. Brown dried blood covered his plaid shirt, his legs practically nothing but bones. The bastards that had tied him to a tree while they…they did what they did to the person in the tent, they never cut him loose or put a bullet in his brain, they left him for walker bait. They fucking left him to be eaten slowly until he died from shock or blood loss and came back.
"Do you see what I mean Sophia?" I ask her as I step forward and stick out my hand. I turn to her as she slides down to her knees, tears forming. "I need your gun Sophia, I need to put him out of his misery."
She sobs and looks at me, hate and despair filled, tears streaming. "Why? Why? WHY?" she asks crying. I get down to one knee and put a hand on her shoulder.
"Because those men, those people. They were sick. They got high and drunk on power over life and death, over being able to take what they want without consequences. They lost what society kept in balance, morality and humanity." I put my hand to the holster and unsnapped the strap, then pulled out the revolver and stood back up. "They weren't men Sophia, they weren't human." I tell her as I walk to the walker. "They were monsters, they ARE monsters. And monsters need to be killed." I was a foot away from the walker, it looked at me with a hunger filled gaze that only made me feel cold inside. I raised up the revolver and pulled back the hammer until it snapped into place. This was my first gun to fire, it belonged to dad, he had used it to robe a liquor store once. "I'm sorry." I whisper. "I'm sorry this happened to you, to her." ….to me.
I pulled the trigger, and a quiet pop rang out. The walkers head tilted backwards slightly, blood didn't come out the other side, the bullet didn't have that much force, it finally fell forward, still and relaxed. A tear escaped my eye as memories flooded back to me, painful ones, fearful ones, the most depressing ones of all time that only a few shared these days. I sniffed and wiped away at my eyes, then heard a shuffling.
I quickly whirled around and looked at the tent to see a large gash in the side facing the tree, there was something moving inside it. I slowly stepped forward to it and crouched down to peer through it, only to see a milky gaze of hunger stare back. I looked at it as a hand reached through the gash and grasped for me, the fingers were broken at odd angles, a bite missing from the thin wrist. I quietly put the barrel of the revolver to the forehead of the walker, and pulled the trigger. It sagged into the gash, and then spilled out of if, the gash got bigger with the tearing noise, revealing inside. I gagged at the smell and sight. There wasn't just one walker in there, there was two. I looked at this one, and down at the other one. Both wore no clothes at all, but they wore bites, bruises and wounds that looked old in the open wound walker way. I notice with a scarring sickness, that both of the walkers were no more than 15, three years older than me and Sophia, and both were girls.
"Bastards." I curse, gripping the handle of the revolver tightly as I saw the walker try to shuffle to me, her legs dragging behind her.
"Micah." I hear Sophia say softly, then the crunching of her shoes.
I don't take my eyes off the walker. "Yes Sophia?"
She sniffs. "I… I think I need to do this."
I don't say anything, I just keep my eyes on the walker. "Are you sure?"
"…Yes." She finally says, then she's standing beside me, her arm outstretched.
I slowly hand her the gun, she grips it tightly, then looks at the walker and raises it to eye level. "Use your wrist and fingers to support it, not your arm." I tell her, she corrects her hold on it, then grips it with two hands. "Now, line up the end sight in between and level with the two rear sights." She closes one eye and repositions the revolver. "Remember Sophia." I tell her as I look at the walker girl. She reached out with one hand and hissed. "She didn't deserve this, not her, not her sister, not her father. She didn't do anything to deserve this, no one does." Sophia lets more tears roll. "Make her suffering end. Make it all stop." I tell her.
"I'm sorry." She cries, and then pulls the trigger.
-a few hours later-
"I'll be right outside the door if you need me, alright?" I ask her.
She nods, her eyes puffy and swollen, cheeks red and tear stained. "Thank you." She chokes.
I nod, then close the door. Sighing, I slide against the bathroom door onto the floor and look at the empty bedroom. After Sophia shot the walker, I had found a local area map inside the tent, along with blood, lots of it. I spent the next five minutes throwing up alongside Sophia, then we were on our way to the road. The bastards had picked them clean, and I'm kicking myself for actually thinking that I would have readily took those supplies. I wish we could have buried them, or burn them at least.
Shortly after leaving the campsite, we had heard a gunshot, one that was distant and sounded like a rifle gunshot. Sophia had been worried that it was them, the bastards. But I had told her that I wouldn't let that happen to her, to her mother, to me. the last part I had said to myself.
After about three hours of walking, the sunlight getting close to disappearing, we had found this house out in the middle of nowhere. It was a two story with an attic, old and nearly rustic, and perfect for us. I had quickly went through the house and picked off two walkers in it, then dragged them to a separate room and barricaded the doors slightly. After scrounging for food, we found a few cans of sardines. I had said eww, but she ate them without complaint. It was only after that did she break down crying and sobbing.
I had held her as she cried, my own tears falling at points, then I told her it would be a good idea to go to bed. I went to the upstairs room and found a good set of linens and a pillow and laid them out inside the big bathtub in the bathroom. She needed the sleep more than I did, and the chances of a walker walking into the house was to good, someone needed to watch the door to the bedroom.
Sighing once again, I let the tired feeling of despair and the draining feeling of tiredness take over as I slumped down. I couldn't hold them back any further, the tears started to come down. I held back my sobs as they continued to fall like a river.
My duffel sitting next to me suddenly starting ringing, loud like a bell. I scrambled to unzip it, and without looking, I placed my hands on the rotary phone inside and pulled it out. It didn't vibrate as I sat it in my lap. It rang once more.
I picked up the receiver and put it to my ear, a choked sob escaped my lips. "Grandma."
