The streets of Savannah were desolate. The wind howled and whistled, its force stinging me like a swarm of angry bees. Our group walked to where we hoped to find a boat. I pleaded in my head for us to be safe and walker-free.
"Can't I just hold it?" Clementine begged Lee again, not long after she'd asked before. Her walkie talkie had been confiscated by the man for unknown reasons. "Just for a little while. We're getting real close to where my mom and dad are, maybe I can-"
"Not now, Clementine," Lee interrupted her. "Maybe later, okay?"
"Okay."
"How's Omid?" I asked Christa.
"His leg is pretty bad," she told me.
"I'm fine," the man insisted.
"You're not fine, you need to rest," she turned to Lee. "He needs to rest."
"Kenny?" Lee asked. "How much farther until the river front?"
"Should be just a few more blocks up ahead."
"And that's where we'll get our boat?" I questioned, feeling the pressure in my leg from the walking.
"I hope so," Lee kept focused on the road ahead.
"There'll be boats there. Have to be," Kenny sounded like he was in a daze. "Have to be."
I looked at Travis who was also glancing at me with an expression of doubt. Ben noticed.
"It's going to be okay. Kenny knows what he's doing."
A bell began ringing from a church next to us.
"What the hell?"
"Maybe this city isn't so dead after all," Christa stated.
"What time is it?" I raised an eyebrow.
"Keep moving," Kenny commanded. "Nobody is ringing that bell, it's automatic on a timer."
Lee shook his head. "What kind of church bell goes off at twenty past the hour?"
Everybody looked confused.
"Someone's up there!" Lee exclaimed.
"Are you sure?" Ben checked. "I don't see anything."
"We should get going," I suggested. "Sound draws walkers."
"If I were you, I'd get out of the street. Now," an anonymous voice spoke. Everybody looked at the walkie talkie Lee was carrying.
"I thought you said that thing didn't work!" Christa accused.
"Does it matter?" I rushed. "Right now, we should listen to that voice. We're not safe here!"
"Ask not for whom the bell tolls," Chuck ominously began.
"What are you yammerin' on about?" Kenny snapped.
"It tolls for thee."
Everybody followed Chuck's gaze and spotted the walkers rounding the corner towards us.
"Let's move!" I instructed.
"Follow me!" Kenny began running ahead and we followed, killing any walkers we could as we went.
I shrieked, collapsing to the floor as a crawling walker held into the bullet wound. I kicked at it with my good leg, heart racing and adrenaline pumping.
It's head exploded in front of me with a gunshot and I shuffled backwards in fright.
I turned my head and nodded once at Kenny before he carried on sprinting to safety and I followed.
"Ben!"
"Ben, help her!"
I saw my two friends being cornered by walkers. Ben looked conflicted, from Clementine to Kenny. And then he ran.
"What the fuck?!" I yelled, racing over to the little girl despite having nothing to kill any walkers with.
I hit one in the knees, making it fall to the ground before stomping on its head.
I heard gunshots next to me as walkers fell, and then Chuck appeared with a shovel in hand.
"Get the hell out of here, I'll catch up with you!" Chuck buried his shovel in a walker.
I nodded, grabbing the girl's hand and taking her to Lee before the three of us ran.
"Move your asses, River Street's right up ahead!"
"Along with a fuck load of walkers!" Travis warned. A large group of walkers appeared from where we were heading.
"Oh, gimme a fuckin' break!" Kenny demanded to the walkers.
I turned my head back around to the man with the shovel. "Chuck, come on!"
"There's no time! We've gotta go now," Kenny shot out.
The man looked back at us, still hitting walkers away with his shovel. "I'll be fine, just go!"
I felt awful, but a hand caught mine and I was dragged along with the rest of the group, running towards a garden with a gate. We ran up the stone path and through the metal opening, Lee closing it behind us as we got inside.
"I'll get the door," Kenny said.
Omid cried as he hit the floor with a thump.
"You've opened up your wound, you're bleeding," Christa stated, examining his leg. "Shit, that's going to get infected. We need to get him inside and clean him up."
Lee nodded and went to check with Kenny, Ben and Travis about the door.
I stood holding onto my own leg, which was ridiculously painful. I lowered myself to the floor and kept the pressure on my wound, hoping it would ease the pain.
"How long does it take for an infection to set into the wound?" I asked Christa.
She turned and noticed me holding my own leg. "Quickly if it's exposed and not clean. You hurt your own leg?"
"Bullet wound a few days ago. I've changed the bandage since then, so it should be fine, right?" I checked.
"You've still got those dirty clothes on though, did you find anything to treat the injury?"
I shook my head.
Christa groaned. "We'll check it immediately. Lee? Any chances of that door opening quicker?"
Lee shook his head and began looking around for a way in.
I scanned my eyes around. "What about that pet door?"
"I tried it already," Ben sighed. "That's locked too."
"Who the hell ever heard of a locked doggie door?" Kenny raised an eyebrow.
"I have," Omid answered. "My neighbour had one just like that. It's radio controlled, the dog wears a collar with a chip in it so the door only opens when the dog gets close to it."
"Well, shit, every day's a school day."
"Clever," I raised both eyebrows.
"Alright, so... where's the dog?" Ben looked at Travis.
Travis' eyes drifted to the kennel near where I sat and then to the cross that stuck out from the ground.
"Oh."
Lee took a shovel and began digging up the dirt mound in hopes of finding the collar. I stood up.
Clementine wandered over. "What's buried down there?"
"Keep away from that," I told her.
The girl took a step back.
"Clementine, honey, come sit with me and Omid. Let Lee work," Christa brought Clem with her to Omid.
I risked a small glance into the grave, something catching my eye.
I walked away, looking down at the floor and ignoring the shooting pains in my leg and the lump in my throat. It brought back too many bad memories.
"Not good?" Travis put a hand on my arm as I leaned on the wall, facing away from the grave.
"I..." My voice was small like a whisper. "I didn't get to bury Sammi."
"I'm sorry," he apologised.
There were sounds of vomiting and gasping behind us.
Lee walked back to the door and I turned around to face him, forcing back the tears from my eyes.
"Here goes nothing," Lee bent down and held the collar to the pet door.
It clicked and unlocked.
"Yes!" Kenny cheered happily. "Goddamn."
"Now how do we open the door?" I wondered.
"I don't-"
Before anyone could stop her, Clementine crawled through the door.
"Clementine!" I gasped.
"Clem? God dammit get back here!" Lee panicked. "Clementine!"
The door opened.
"Ta-da!" She grinned, enthusiastically throwing her arms in the air like she'd performed a circus trick.
"God job, Clem!" Lee smiled.
"Yeah, way to go!" Ben praised.
"I did good, right?" She folded her arms.
"Clementine," I lowered my voice, not wanting to ruin her happiness but worried about her taking a risk like that again. "You did really good then, but you've got to be careful and check it's safe before running inside like that, okay?"
She nodded her head, the smile fading a tiny bit.
"You're okay though, so that was great," I brightened my face up and she did the same.
"Can we maybe have this conversation inside?" Omid stood up with trouble. "My leg's starting to hurt like hell."
Kenny checked that it was clear before inviting the rest of us inside.
Omid hobbled over to the sofa and lay down. I struggled my way over to a chair and sat on it, noticing the fresh blood that was appearing on my leg from the wound.
"Trav?" I placed my hands on the wound and let out a small cry. "Can you check if the water works?"
He nodded and ran into the kitchen while Ben looked around the floor of the house and Christa argued with Lee and Kenny.
Travis returned, shaking his head. "No water, I did find this though."
He waved a roll of bandages and some antiseptic in his hands.
"No way!" I beamed, delighted.
"We can use some of this on you and Omid and then keep the rest for any other problems. You've still got the other roll of bandages?"
"Not much of it, enough for a small wound but I think that's all it'll cover," I returned.
"Wanna do it yourself?" Travis enquired, holding out the supplies.
I took them gratefully, glad he understood that I wanted to look after myself and not be a bother. There wasn't much left of the antiseptic, so I used only a small amount. I quickly and painfully cleaned away the blood, wincing and biting my lip but trying to stay brave. It could have been worse, a lot worse, if I'd been shot in a different part of the leg.
When the injury was redressed, I gave the supplies to Christa so that she could treat Omid with what was left. It looked like we'd have nothing left after then.
"Place seems secure at least," Ben reassured us.
"I'll feel better when we know for sure. We need to check the whole house," Christa decided.
Lee, Kenny and Ben went to look upstairs while Christa stayed with Omid. Clementine, Travis and I sat in a different room alone to stay out of the way.
Clem looked around while I sat on the floor leaning against a wall with Travis.
"I hope Chuck made it."
He looked at me with sad eyes. "Yeah. He was an alright guy."
"He knew how to survive, he told Lee to get our hair cut. I miss my long hair," I sighed.
Travis smiled. "I think it's adorable."
"Shut up," I pushed him playfully, unable to stop the smile appearing on my face.
He wrapped a comforting arm around me and gently picked up my hand with his other. His head rested on mine. The way we sat was warm and safe. I decided that I could stay like that forever.
"Do you think she's going to be okay?" Travis asked me after a few minutes of silence filled only by breathing.
I looked over to Clementine who now looked bored. "I really hope so."
She walked over to us, not hearing our conversation. "I'm going to go and check Omid and Christa, is that okay?"
"Sure, sweetie," I said and she left the room.
Travis moved slightly and I looked up at him. He was watching me, his pupils dilated and his eyes flicking from each of my own.
"What's up?" I giggled, a little uncomfortably as he looked like he was hiding something or wondering what to say.
"I'm... I was just trying to see your face. When you're relaxed, I mean. It sounds weird, I know," he chuckled awkwardly and looked away.
"No, explain it to me," I pleaded, using my hand to move his face so he had to see me.
"Uh," he stuttered. "It's like, I feel like if I see you looking relaxed it's more normal. It's kind of like how I would see you if the apocalypse hadn't happened, you know?"
I nodded my head. "That makes sense. But if this whole thing hadn't happened, I wouldn't have met you. I think that's one good thing from this."
He thought about it for a second. "You're right. Do you think it'll ever stop?"
I shrugged my shoulders. "I wish it would. Preferably soon. How will it stop though? The only thing we could possibly do to get away from it is a vaccine to stop us turning when we die and then we'd have to go some place new and start over, I guess."
"That would be brilliant," he sighed. "I'm scared."
"You're scared?" I pulled out of his arms so I could see his face completely. He looked a little defeated and empty, lost like a small child in a supermarket that can't find their parent.
"Yeah. I hate that I don't know who will survive the longest out of our group. I don't want..." He trailed off.
"You don't want what?"
"I don't want to be the next one, or the last one, and I don't want to lose you or Ben or Clem, anyone."
I frowned. "Then we're just going to have to do everything we can to make sure that doesn't happen."
Travis agreed with my statement, even if we both did know that it was a virtual certainty more people would die. We'd already lost a lot of people, we would lose more. It was one of the many consequences of an apocalypse. That was just how it went.
