Chapter Two
It came to quite a surprise to find that Laurent had gone all out this time. The bag he had given me was stuffed with food, water and ammunition - just like he had told me - though the quantity certainly was quite surprising. It was touching that he apparently cared enough to go to all the trouble - and I knew the trouble he risked getting into getting caught by anyone back in the other group - though after that passing thought I remembered all that had happened, what he was a part of. I soon found myself scowling at the bag like it was an offender in it all too.
Sleep wasn't on my side the night before, whether it be my awkward positioning or the over-whelming responsibility of a child that had suddenly sprung on me, I did not know. Though when daylight broke, I got myself up and decided to see what Laurent had provided in his usual bag of persuasion. My movements hadn't appeared to have awoken Sophia for a good few hours and I gathered her exhaustion made her dead to the world, so I made a good few trips around the house to see what I could scavenge and just to double check we were alone.
Laurent's bag of stuff was what I was used to and it was a pitiful thought that I relied on him for a lot of my supplies. "I'm not sure how long I can keep all this up though, so you better change your mind soon." His words remained with me as I sorted through the bags, and it was only the soft yawn from the little girl in the corner that snapped me out of my dazed trance. Sophia looked around the room, her eyes slightly glazed, before a small frown appeared on her lips. She rubbed her eyes to rid the daze before focusing on me. I attempted to smile, praying inwardly that she actually remembered who I was and what had happened.
"Good morning." I nodded once. Sophia gazed at me for a long while before hauling herself to her feet and sitting down across from me at the little table. She said nothing, instead watching me as I continued working. Toby lay beside the table, already had his nights rest and looked seemingly pleased with himself. I wasn't sure if I was just going crazy due to all the time I had spent alone in this God forsaken forest or if Toby actually looked smug.
"How come you're all alone." Sophia asked suddenly, stopping me in my tracks. I raised my eyes and met her studious gaze. Nothing was said between us for a little while as I contemplated my answer.
"I'm not alone; I have Toby and now you." I replied, smiling. She didn't smile back.
"Don't you have a group?" She probed. A group? I sighed, thinking once again how completely wrong it was for a child to be growing up in a world like this. It was wrong for anyone to be in a world like this though.
"I did, but not anymore." I told her, honestly. She seemed to judge my answer for a few moments before nodding. She said nothing more, but looked down at her lap. "You hungry?" Sophia seemed to perk up at this and I even saw the glimpse of a smile as she nodded eagerly. I gestured to where I had stacked my small supply of food at the edge of the table. "Help yourself to whatever." She obliged to it and I watched as she tucked into one of the individual sized boxes of dried cereal. Happy that she was now content, I turned back to the work in front of me and began to count how many rounds I had now with Laurent's additional ammo.
"Eww, tuna!" I was physically startled by this sudden exclamation of fish that I knocked half the ammunition onto the floor. When I looked up, Sophia looked sheepishly embarrassed. "I'm sorry." I chuckled and shrugged, kneeling down to gather it all up.
"You don't like tuna, huh?" I asked, glancing across at her from the floor. She shook her head, her face scrunched up. I chuckled again. "Me neither. I think it's the smell that does it for me."
"Why do you have some if you don't like it?" A frown fell on my face; had I a tin of tuna? I didn't remember ever picking one up when I had been out looting. When I looked across at the stack of food, sure enough there it was, sat right at the top. It suddenly dawned on me that it was probably from Laurent's bag and I sighed. Old fool.
"For Toby." I made up, silently apologising to the German Shepherd for bringing him into it all. Toby turned his head at his name, though made no other movement and I got up off the floor, successfully gathering up the fallen ammo.
"Dogs like fish?"
"Toby does." I shrugged as an after thought. This appeared to repulse her and she eyed the tin as if it were a criminal. I had to agree with her, having never been a fan of tuna before the turn. I watched as she tenderly took the tin between her hands, staring at it for a few moments before opening it. I cringed at the smell but couldn't help but smile as she placed it on the floor at Toby's feet.
I was actually surprised when the dog sniffed at it before sticking his tongue into the tin to try the food. I raised an eyebrow as Toby seemed happy to eat what was put in front of him and made a mental note; Toby likes tuna. There was a brief silence between us and I was comforted by Sophia's sudden ease. It certainly made a change from the previous day and decided quickly that I would grasp this opportunity by the horns while it passed. After seating myself back down, I met the little girl's gaze across the table.
"I think it's question time, don't you?" The reaction was instant. The new, small smile that had formed on Sophia's face had vanished and was replaced with a frown of some description and a burrow of eyebrows. The rag doll was clenched again and I feared briefly that she perhaps might tear the thing apart. Sophia gave me a nod in answer to my question and I paused before going on. "We'll reiterate the one from last night, huh?" I suggested. When she didn't answer I sighed. "Why were you alone in the forest, Sophia? You know that's a bad idea, right?" Sophia nodded numbly for a moment.
"I ran away when I wasn't supposed to." She began, surprisingly with no tears. Perhaps she had cried all she could? "They found me and chased me into the forest. Mr Grimes, he protected me though and told me to hide so he could drawn them away." Then the tears began to flow again - it seemed she hadn't cried all her tears after all. "I was so scared, I didn't want to wait there for another to come, I just wanted my momma. So I tried to run back, but some more found me and I kept on running in the wrong direction. He told me to keep the sun on my left shoulder, but I didn't and I got lost and I thought they were going to kill me-" She broke off into a sob and I reached over and grasped her little hand in mine.
"Remember, Sophia, you're safe now." I urged. She nodded and tried to compose herself, sniffing back loudly.
"I didn't do as I was told." She concluded tearfully. I thought for a moment before nodding.
"It appears to me that this is just one big misunderstanding and I'm sure when we find your family again, everything will be fine." That stopped the crying and she brought out the big wide doe eyes as she gazed at me.
"We're going to try and find them?" She asked in wonderment. I frowned in return.
"Well, of course." I replied in mock astonishment. "They're probably searching high and low for you right now." Sophia let out a rare giggle before bowing her head from my gaze. I didn't fail to see the small smile back on her face. "Where were you when you left them?"
"A highway." Sophia replied and I sat in thought for a moment, trying to work out which she meant. "Mr Dale's caravan broke down so we had to stop and fix it. A whole lot of walkers came by though and we had to hide under the cars-"
"'Walkers'?" I mused, raising an eyebrow. Sophia nodded.
"That's what I've heard the grown-ups call them. Or geeks. They call them geeks sometimes too." I paused for a moment, taking in all these answers. It was sure nicer than just calling them the 'dead'.
"Darling, how many are there in your group?" Sophia immediately brought out the aid of her fingers as she counted. There was a brief interval of silence.
"Eleven including me." I swallowed hard and chewed thoughtfully on my fingernail for a moment.
They most definitely weren't as large as Laurent and the other group, though it was big enough in comparison to what I was now used to. At the mere thought of Laurent though, I realised that Sophia's group may not be a threat, but in danger of them too. It could be possible that Laurent and the others could come across them and I wasn't sure how much of a fight Sophia's group would put up. While I did not know these people, I sure did not want to expose them to the barbaric nature of Laurent and the others.
"And is Mr Grimes the 'he' you spoke of last night?" Sophia nodded again.
I opened my mouth to speak again, but Toby suddenly made a disapproving noise and was on his feet. At first I wondered if the smell of tuna had caught up with him, but the noise he had made was all too familiar. I stared down at the dog and watched as he began to shift uncomfortably and I knew instantly that we had visitors. Sophia must have known too as she let out a gasp of fear. I silenced her quickly by holding a finger to my lips and pointing to the blanket in the corner. She gathered my meaning and scuttled back over there, curling herself up in the corner again.
Thankful for the new ammo, I picked up my gun and bat. Toby remained still, though he faced the door in a defiant fashion. I hoped briefly that it was just Laurent come back again, but I knew otherwise. Slowly I crept over to the curtained off window and drew it back an inch. It was light outside, a sunny day infact, but that wasn't what got my attention.
Walkers - as Sophia had called them. At least two dozen of them. I kept any emotion from flitting across my face, as not to alarm the little girl in the corner, as I studied them all. Their movements were slow and staggered, just as they usually were, some with their bodies half-torn and some with their chests ripped apart. The dead were always an unpleasant sight to come across and I swallowed thickly to back down the grimace. There was no meaning in their direction and I felt relieved to see that they must not have cottoned onto our presence just yet. I felt even more relieved that they appeared to just be passing the house, rather than approaching.
I swallowed hard once more and let the curtain fall closed. In my head, I ran through each exit and window in the house. All the doors were closed and bolted, all the windows were either boarded up or curtained over as to not let any movements go noticed from the passing dead. Comforted only a little, I knew all we could do was wait it out and remain silent. Still clutching my weapons, I silently moved back to Sophia and sat down beside her again. Toby was reluctant to come back, though he sat himself down beside me, his attention solely on listening and I was content by this too.
"Darling," I whispered, my voice barely a breath. "I'm afraid we cannot go looking for your group today. We're going to have to wait here until it's safe." I didn't need to explain anymore to the girl.
"Are they out there?" Her timid voice asked. I thought for a moment, wondering if lying might be easier for the girl. I realised though, that this girl was no stranger to the horror outside our doors and thought better than to lie.
"Yes." There was a long moment of silence.
"How many?" That question required a little more thought.
"Enough." With that, I felt pressure on my left as Sophia curled up against me. I froze for a moment at the contact, having not felt it in so long, but I soon put my arm around the girl to give her what comfort I could. It was an instinctual response, I found, one that I barely even considered. For a moment, I felt awkward. I didn't know this girl and she didn't know me in return. She counted on me though, I thought. She needed me and right now she was scared. Strangely, I found that this thought eased some of my prior awkwardness and soon the only tension that remained was from the thought of what was outside right now.
Toby remained vigil and we remained silent.
My younger sister, Jessica, was staying with Toby and I when the outbreak started. At first, we remained sceptical to what was apparently occurring in the world, like many people we knew, and it wasn't until the blood-filled screams of pain and cries of death echoed down our neighbourhood that we knew we had to go. Without much, we headed out as quickly as we could, driving straight to our parent's home in our panicked state. Jessica didn't want to bring Toby, saying he would be a burden and also commending that Mama never liked it when I brought Toby over, saying that he shed too much on the carpet. I shot her down immediately and declared he was staying no matter what Mama said. I was thankful that she didn't say anymore more of it and soon we arrived on our parent's street.
It was a bold hope to consider it safer with them, than it was in our own apartment. A bold hope though one we kept onto in the though that they would look after us, as they always did. Off-handily, Jessica had pointed out that Papa had his rifle somewhere and while the weapon scared me, I found a little comforted in this fact. They would protect us, I kept telling myself. If anywhere was safe, it was with them.
However, once we arrived on our parent's doorstep, there was evidently something wrong when they didn't answer our knocks or calls. The abandoned street would have been our first clue, though with a pounding head of questions and uncertainties, it was hard to focus on anything but the echoes of those cries we had heard in our own neighbourhood. Jessica's scream was the next thing to notify me that something was wrong. After searching the downstairs for our parents, I rushed upstairs to the source of my sister's screams. I was not prepared for what I found.
My sister was stood in the doorway to our parent's bedroom, her sights transfixed on something inside. I called out to her when I saw her though I gained no response. With Toby's presence lingering behind me, I crept closer, hesitantly tilting my head around the frame of the doorway to look inside. I felt myself still at what I saw. My father lying dead on the bed with what could only be described as a mangled creature over him, ripping at his insides and spooning the bits of flesh and organs into its snarling mouth. There was so much blood - our father's blood. It was all over the bedroom, our parent's cream, quilt drenched in it and our papa's body barely recognisable through it other than his familiar fur-hooded coat. I felt my whole world still at the sight of him. He wasn't moving, his body was so devoured - my father was dead.
Upon our entrance, the creature looked up from its feeding and let out something resembling a growl in our direction. Too entranced by it all, my sister and I did not move as the beast climbed off the body of our papa and staggered towards us. I could not do anything, too over-whelmed with the state of our father to even think. He was dead. Gone. A little closer though, the identity of the creature that had killed him was practically another punch to the gut.
"Mama?" I heard Jessica breath and around me, everything just crumbled.
It all happened in a blur. One moment, the thing that was our mother had curled its claws around Jessica's arm, about to bite, the next its body lay on the floor; a hole in its head. I barely registered the sound of a gunshot booming or the furious barking coming from Toby. Never once did my gaze move from the massacred scene before us, only doing so when an unknown hand grabbed my arm and tugged me to face them.
"Are you two fucking crazy? Do you want to get yourselves killed?" - and that was how we met the delight that was Laurent.
Laurent was a hot-headed man, a few decades older than my sister and myself, and someone I had never met before. He told us that he was passing through the neighbourhood when he heard the strangled screams of my sister. Having not seen anyone living yet, he decided to investigate and came across our uninformed selves and the state we had found ourselves in. I could not remember much that had happened after that, my mind over-whelmed with the death of our parents. I recalled Jessica screaming, Laurent shouting and Toby barking, though only felt numb myself. I found that I could not even cry and when Laurent ordered that we come with him, telling us that there was nothing left for us here, I blindly followed, not even sure what to do anymore.
We were bustled into his truck quickly, after he had taken the time to gather as much as he could from our house despite Jessica's protests, and were gone before the gathering group of dead that came down the street towards us could reach us. Jessica layered him with frantic questions through her sobs, while I remained silent in the back of his truck with Toby. I had said nothing to the man so far, only providing my name when he demanded it, and allowed Jessica to take over the talking while I let myself simmer in my thoughts. After making some introductions about how things were going to 'work', Laurent told us briefly about what was going on. While I had mostly tuned out everything going on, I found myself listening into his following words, barely taking in the fact that all those TV news broadcasts and radio reports had actually been right all along.
A worldwide epidemic.
The dead coming back to life.
Don't get bit or scratched.
Destroy the brain.
"So, you're telling us that this is some sort of zombie apocalypse?" I demanded, breaking my silence. We had laughed at all the news reports before, finding that the whole thing sounded too ridiculous to even comprehend. That was until now. Now that we had seen what had become of our parents. Laurent's eyes met mine in his rear-view mirror in answer to my question and that was the first time I saw that oh-so familiar smirk that I grew used to seeing now. It made me shudder then, as it still does now.
"Something like that."
Sophia had stopped crying a while ago, though she still clutched against me, her fingers grasping around my arm painfully. I didn't have the heart to tell her to get off and I actually felt better with someone else's presence, despite her merely being a child. Toby still hadn't settled and I knew we were not out of danger yet so I quickly racked my brain to occupy ourselves.
"Where are you guys from?" I murmured, needing to take Sophia's and my mind off what was outside. There was a hesitant pause before an answer.
"We've just come from Atlanta." She replied in a whisper.
"Atlanta? That sounds nice." I attempted to give a light answer, though it sounded far too fake to me. Any thought of going to the city had been lost to me since the start of the turn. Surely there would be more of the dead inhabiting the cities than there were in the smaller towns? The thought of approaching Atlanta, despite how many times I had neared it, had always been shunned away from my mind and never considered. Sophia didn't reply to my comment so I quickly continued. "You mentioned your momma before. Is she waiting for you back with your group?"
"Yes." I felt her nod next to me. There was a quiet sniff before she continued. "She is a nice lady, my momma." I smiled slightly. "She takes real good care of me."
"And your father?" I probed. Though apparently my question had been the wrong one as the child fell silent. I mentally hit myself for not being more sensitive. "Sorry." I muttered. "Should have thought-"
"He wasn't a nice person." Sophia said suddenly, her voice over-whelmed with emotion, as if she was struggling to contain herself. "He was mean and hurt my momma." I didn't know what to say, though I vaguely noted the past tense as she spoke and wondered if that was a good thing in context to what she was saying. "I once wished I had a dad more like Carl's, but now I don't have one at all." Silence fell between us as Sophia's words hung in the air. I chewed my nail in thought, not sure how to react to this haunting information about her father. I had never had to dealt with an abusive situation before, but I knew the signs.
"Who's Carl?" I asked, hoping I wouldn't be met with more woeful tales about how this 'Carl' was gone, just like her father seemed to be. Truth be told, I should probably have started thinking before I spoke.
"He is Mr Grimes' son." Sophia told me, her tone perking up. I inwardly sighed. Present tense, I noted. "He's my friend."
"Well, you're lucky to have him, darling. Friends are hard to come by now." I muttered under my breath. Sophia still heard it though.
"When we find my momma and the others, you can be Carl's friend too." She stated suddenly, her voice so full of strength and defiance that I actually breathed a quiet chuckle.
"I'm sure I'd be honoured." I replied. More silence fell between us and I tried to ignore the sounds of the distant moans coming from outside.
"Where's your momma?" Sophia asked, her voice almost pleading to keep up conversation. Dead. Was the reply I bit back, though I couldn't stop the mental images of when I last saw my mother from blaring in my head.
My father lying dead on the bed and a mangled creature over him, ripping at his insides and spooning the bits of flesh and organs into its snarling mouth.
The look of hunger in her eyes as she made a move to bite into my sister's arm haunted me for weeks after the incident. I couldn't cry though at first, I remained almost emotionless. It all over-whelmed me though, my emotions building up, before one night I completely broke down and mourned for the loss of our parents and the world we once knew. I could remember as Laurent watched on with an almost sympathetic expression, which was gone when I tried to fathom it.
"She's in a better place." Was the reply I forced for Sophia. I didn't need to emphasise the implications. "My papa too." I paused for a moment and closed my eyes. "My sister is still alive though." I added as an afterthought.
"Are you looking for her?" Sophia asked, a tone of hope in her voice now.
"No." I shook my head without reason. "I know where she is." I actually had a map to guide me there too, I thought bitterly.
"Then why don't you go get her?" Sophia's tone was confused now and I swallowed down the lump in my throat.
"Because she doesn't want me to." I sighed. Sophia appeared to process this for a moment before letting the conversation drop. Thankfully.
The silence drifted on again between us and I glanced at Toby, biting back any frustrated noises as I saw he still remained on alert. Perhaps I had misjudged the size of this passing group? I didn't particularly care as long as they didn't come a knocking on the door. Deciding I needed to keep the conversation going, to keep us sane, I racked my brain for something to say before smiling slightly.
"You want to play a game?"
Word association was something my parents would do to keep my sister and I content on long car journey's when we were younger. Though even as adults, we would still played it. It was a simple, but fool-proof plan as Jessica and I would spend endless games in the back seat of our father's Mustang, going from the word 'shoe' to 'moustache' as we travelled to Grandma's and back.
Sophia and I played a handful of games as we waited it out, all child-friendly, and soon I actually forgot about the upending danger outside. I forgot about a lot of things as I sat beside that little girl, her presence alone giving me something I hadn't properly had in a while; human contact. It felt good actually having someone to talk to again who wasn't a four legged animal with a tail and unable to response, and without having to delve too deep into any emotions.
We kept things simple as we passed the time and I found that simple was good. Simple was safe.
"Where are we going to go?" Jessica's voice cut into the silence like a blunt knife. Laurent gave her a mere side glance before refocusing himself back onto the road. "There has to be somewhere safe?" I closed my eyes and attempted to block out her pitching tone, trying to focus on the roar of the engine.
"Feel free to put forward a suggestion, girl." Laurent muttered, unhappily, clearly annoyed by my sister's attempts.
"What's going to happen when we run out of fuel?" Jessica continued on and I continued to try and dull her out.
"We walk."
"Walk?" Her voice shrieked, startling even Toby. I opened my eyes and glared at the back of Jessica's head. My head was throbbing enough without her making it worse.
"That's what I said." Laurent sighed. He carried on quickly without letting Jessica start up again. "You girls know how to handle a gun?"
"Our father let us hold his rifle a couple of times." Jessica offered and I saw Laurent frown in thought. I sighed through my nose.
"No we don't." I muttered in return. Laurent met my eyes in the mirror again at that before nodding once. His face scrunched up in thought again for a moment and he stared back out of the windscreen.
I focused my attention then on the bag that was on the floor of the backseat. Sticking out of the half done up zip was the shaft of a rifle and I was surprised I hadn't noticed it before. Without asking Laurent, I leaned forward and unzipped the back, revealing its contents. Guns. A lot of guns. I had only ever seen my father's rifle up close, and Laurent's collection ranged from rifles to handguns to a very heavy looking one, which Laurent told me later was a sniper. My eyes widened at the sight of them.
"You sure came prepared." I observed, a little unnerved by the number. At that, Jessica had turned around in her chair too and was having a look. She let out a gasp, but surprisingly didn't say anything.
"Gotta be." Laurent replied, stiffly. "Ain't just guns in there. Keep looking and take your pick. I'm not going to let you girls go unarmed at a time like this and I don't need all of them."
I was taken back for a moment by his blunt kindness and smiled briefly at him when he met my eyes in the mirror again. Jessica wasn't so thankful and was delving into the bag without another word. I decided to wait until she had chosen hers before I took a look. Without having any experience of guns, I decided that I would take one of the handguns and mentally told myself to ask for Laurent to teach me when -if - we found a secure place to 'hold up', as Laurent called it. A glint of silver caught my eye and I carefully pulled out a large hunting knife that looked practically brand new. I knew a lot more about knives than I did about guns, didn't really take too much training to know which way to hold the thing, and pocketed that beside my gun.
I delved further into this, what seemed to be, never ending bag of weapons before touching something that wasn't metal. It felt smooth yet dull beneath my fingertips and I grasped around the object before carefully pulling it out of the bag. A baseball bat. I smiled fondly at the memories of playing this sport when I was younger and the occasional game I went to with my papa. The thought soon died though when the images of my father being eaten by his own wife came to mind and my smile faded. I placed the bat across my lap, content with what I had got and looked back at the driver.
"Thank you." I said, meaningfully. Laurent chuckled darkly.
"Let's just hope you have a good swing." He muttered, slowly bringing the car to a halt. Confusion struck me for a moment and after glancing out the window I saw no visible reasoning for us stopping. "Out of fuel." Laurent supplied as the excuse and I felt my body tense. It seemed like we were walking sooner than we anticipated.
"Why didn't you tell us sooner?" Jessica demanded. Laurent ignored her, in favour of sighing impatiently.
"You killed one yet?" Laurent asked, gathering up his bag of weapons and taking out a large rifle. He handed us both some ammunition silently. I pocketed my own wordlessly and patted Toby on the head, swallowing down the sudden intense of fear.
"No." Our driver pondered this for a moment before nodding and jumping out the truck. We followed, walking around to the front of the truck to stand with Laurent. He pointed out in front of us. I froze upon sight of what was ahead, Toby's instant growling catching my ears.
"You better be fast learners." Sure enough, five figures in total were staggering towards us. They were moving slowly and were not at a dangerously close distance yet, though I could see the hunger in their faces as they made their way towards us. Jessica let out a tearful sob of fear and tried to make a run back into the truck, though Laurent grabbed her arm. "Hiding won't do you any good." He hissed, getting in close to her face. "You got to deal with it or die. The world doesn't have any room for cowards."
They were people though. Humans, I thought, my head rushing. They were once alive, just like us. Perhaps they were just sick? My mind then went to the image of our parents though and I swallowed thickly, wondering if they were sick too. My hands held onto the bat, the knife and the gun all at once and I was at a risk of dropping them. Bile rose to my throat as the things got closer, some with their insides hanging out, one without an arm. The smell hit me like a ton of bricks; rotting flesh. But they were people, I quickly told myself again. Just like us.
"They'll kill you." Laurent's voice suddenly sprung, as if reading my thoughts. "Without hesitation. They'll eat your insides and devour you like you were food. Perhaps you might turn into one of them after their done, or perhaps you'll be left as nothing but bones in the dust. So unless you're fond of that idea, I suggest you react now." There was a pause. "That is, if you don't want to end up like your parents."
Jessica gasped and spun to face Laurent, her face red with terror and shock, her whole body shaking. I swallowed down hard with hesitation before placing the bat and knife down carefully on the floor. Glancing at Laurent, who nodded once, I raised the gun I had, with both hands, in the direction of the only female in this group. She was staggering with a limp, her foot seemingly twisted and almost broken. A snarl was on her lips, her upper lip hitched up to reveal blood-stained teeth. She had the same look of hunger our mother did before she tried to sink her teeth into Jessica. Survival was what Laurent had called it, though I couldn't get the thought that she was still a person though out of my head. "They'll kill you. Without hesitation." With my heart racing, I closed my eyes, perhaps hoping that somehow things would be alright if I did so. After a pause, I pulled the trigger.
Bang.
The shot echoed in my ears and I exhaled instantly, not even realising I was holding my breath. When I opened my eyes, the things were still coming towards us, though one lay on the ground. Dead. It was the woman. I had killed her. I couldn't remember much after that. Laurent's demands were shouting in my ear, though they seemed to be more directed at Jessica than myself. My sister refused to do it though, her sobs shaking and shrill. There was a grunt of frustration from Laurent before four more shots were fired, as he shot each of them in the head with his rifle. I did nothing but stare down at the gun in my hands, shaking slightly as I did. I had shot one of them, killed one of them.
"Girl, you better get your head out your ass because this isn't a fairy tale land anymore!" Laurent shouted, his words spitting in my sister's direction. "When I say kill them, I mean kill them. We haven't got time for this. It's kill or be killed." My sister's harsh reply was deaf to me, though I recalled it being loud and high. "I'm going to have to kick some sense into you, otherwise you're not going to last two minutes out here." Laurent muttered, his tone dark and controlled. I flinched when he continued, his voice closer than I had anticipated "Now get in the God damn truck and let's go before some more of the bastards come! Some will have heard the gun shots."
My sister's footsteps instantly retreated back to the truck and the sound of the door opening and slamming caught my attention, knocking me back into reality. I looked away from the five dead figures on the ground and towards Laurent, feeling unsure and numb all over.
"I thought you said we were out of fuel?" I asked, curiously. Laurent smirked and shrugged.
"I lied." He replied. I stared at him, incredulously. Laurent glanced back at the dead bodies before turning back to me, his eyes trailing down to the gun in my hand. He nodded approvingly. "Nice shot." He shot me one last grin before making his slow tracks back to the truck. After gathering up the bat and knife from the floor, I followed him quickly, letting Toby jump in first before climbing in after. Laurent got the truck started again and we were moving once more.
He swerved to avoid the bodies and I stared out of my window down at them as we passed. Bullet holes grazed their foreheads, their eyes were now open and unseeing. The one I had shot was twisted in an awkward position and I bit back the tears as we rolled away. I had killed. I had killed for the first time and I knew immediately that it wouldn't be my last if I wanted to survive. Staring down at the gun in my hand, I glared at it like it were all its fault, despite it being me that pulled the trigger. I felt sickened to my core.
"Stop the truck." I murmured quickly.
It was loud enough for Laurent to hear though and he stopped immediately, turning to me with a quizzical look. I ignored him though and opened my car door, practically falling out of it as I did. I staggered for a few moments before bending over and throwing up all over the side of the road.
"I think they've gone." I stated after one whole hour of observing Toby. He had calmed down a good sixty minutes previous and finally looked content now. Sophia didn't say anything, though I hauled myself to my feet and made my way, slowly, over to the window. Nothing. Outside the house was empty and free from any of the dead. I let the curtain fall back though and returned back to Sophia. "We'll go looking for your group in the morning, gives us a day of looking. It's getting dark now and we'll have a better chance of finding them in the light."
"I don't want to put you in danger." Sophia said quietly, her head bowed and her expression uncertain. I stared at the little girl for a few long moments before sighing.
"Darling, you're not putting me in any more danger than I was before." I told her, realising I should really work on my sensitivity and blamed it on the lack of proper human contact for a while. "We'll find your group, I promise. I'm not going to leave you stranded out in the woods while your momma is looking for you."
"My momma will like you." Sophia replied suddenly, smiling at me. I forced a smile myself and took the girl's hand in mine, squeezing it.
"We'll head to that highway you were talking about and see if they're still there in the morning."
"And if they're not?"
"Then we'll just keep on looking until we find them." I told her, firmly. Her smile was big and wide now, and I couldn't stop myself from properly returning it this time. "Now, as we've got an evening to kill, how about you tell me more about your momma? She sounds lovely."
Edited November 2014
(Author's Note): There is a different layout in this chapter, which will continue to crop up in later chapters of this story. These are flashbacks to Ruby's time before meeting Sophia and will be exploring her time with Laurent and various others. Hopefully they're easy enough to follow and that people enjoy them! Again, thank you to all those who are still with me, following/favouriting/reviewing this story. Your support does mean a lot to me and I hope you can continue to enjoy Ruby's story.
On another note, anyone who has not read to comics of The Walking Dead, I urge to do so. Both it and the TV show are brilliant in their own right :)