It is getting dark. I have waited for hours on Isa, she should be here. She should have been back hours ago. I can feel the lump stuck in my throat getting bigger. What if she does not come back? What would I do if I were alone? I lay my self down next to an oak to sleep. I can almost hear Isa telling me that it is a bad idea. "NO Ilona you can't lie out in the open like that! Climb up the tree first".
So I try to climb the tree because that is what Isa would do. Suddenly I hear a branch cracking some distance away. I climb as fast as I can and scratch both arms and legs. The oak branches tears at my skin and I can feel it penetrate my skin. My heart is pounding what if it isn't Isa?
Isa I whisper. The only answer I get is the sound of feet rustling in leaves and a moaning sound. I know what that means. It is a walker. I start to cry for my sake, for Isa, for everyone. It is not supposed to be like this. The dead are not dead and the living are barbarians. Nature has taken over and nothing is like what it was.
Now I can hear the walker slamming his body against the tree. I do not know whether it is to throw me to the ground or the tree. He wont succeed anyway the oak is far to stable and I'm to high up for him to reach me. The pounding is rhythmic and I can feel how my eyelids start dropping. I only sleep for an hour before the walkers moaning wakes me. It is still hours left until sunrise but I know that I won't be able to sleep anymore. So I start telling the walker the story of my life. It is not like either one of us has anything else to do.
When I was young I lived in a place called Tenhult. I had a mom, a dad and a sister. My sister Isa was a wild child with the ability to charm everyone she meets. She was never still for more than two seconds and I looked after her. I comforted her after her fights with Tyr and I saved her from all those scary spiders. I was her hero. Until our parents died that's when she took my place. She made sure that I ate, slept and was safe from walkers. She became my hero. Our mother already was a hero she was a nurse who helped children. Dad he was a pastor, he made time for everyone right until the end.
The walker calmed down while I spoke it was almost as if he were listening. I kept talking until sunrise and the walker kept still. I felt safe almost like at home.
When sunrise finally arrived I looked down at the walker. My heart started to pound really hard and my eyes watered. It was Isa with a big bite mark on her shoulder and large blue eyes that stared into nothing. I can feel my will to live seeps away. I can't live without Isa. Poor, weak, little Ilona, I can hear my old bullies taunting me. I agree with them because poor, little Ilona does not want to live anymore. Poor, weak, pathetic Ilona gives up. Next morning you can see a walker dangling in a noose from an oak tree and another walker sitting in the leaves right next to it waiting.