Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead.
Lost Hope: The Beginning
Chapter Two
"Uncle Sam!" I yelled again, jumping off my bike and running towards what was left of the hospital. It was the hospital they bombed. Why would they bomb the hospital? "Hello, anyone there?"
There was no reply. I walked through a hole that one of the explosions must have created and began searching for any sign of my uncle. I knew it probably wasn't the safest thing to do, walking through an unstable building but I needed to find my uncle. The smell was very strong. It was a mixture of smoke and that rotting smell I smelt early.
I began walking down one of the halls. "Uncle Sam.?" I called out. Tears were beginning to stream down my face. "Anyone there?" Why wasn't anyone helping? Why were there no firemen here to help see if there were any survivors?
Then I heard a scratching sound on one of the doors in the hall. I quickly ran to open it thinking there were survivors inside. The door was jammed shut. I began banging on it, trying to get it open with no prevail. Then I heard what sounded like several people run to the door and begin banging on it. I could hear them all moaning from the inside.
"Hold on! I'm going to try to get the door open!" I called to them. I continued ramming the door and finally gave way, but what was inside, I was not expecting to find. The people inside looked like monsters. Their skin was pale white and rotting. There was blood everywhere and many wounds on the people inside.
All of them came at me and tried to grab me. I quickly began running the opposite direction, back towards the hole I came in through with the people following me. Luckily, I was still lot faster than them.
I ran out of the hospital and grabbed my bike. I took a brief moment to look back at the people. I could actually recognize some of them, but they were nothing like they used to be. One of them used to be a cheery nurse that worked with my uncle. I never saw her not smiling, but now she was coming at me like the rest of them, wanting to take a grab at me. I took off with my bike and rode back towards the city, hoping to make it back to the apartment, but I was cut off by a herd of people that looked just like the ones at the hospital.
I quickly abandoned my bike and ran for an alley way that was nearby. Then I ran towards a ladder on the outside of a building and quickly began to climb up. I climbed up to a small platform and looked down. The people were surrounding the ladder trying to get up to me. None of them seemed to be able to climb at all because all they were doing was reaching up towards me instead of climbing up the ladder, but that didn't matter to me. I was going to get as far away from those people as fast as I could.
I began climbing again. I climbed until I reached the top of the building. I stepped out onto the roof and collapsed to the ground to try to catch my breath. I then realized I was shaking crazily and crying historically. Please don't let me die today. I want to live. I continued crying, but I had stopped shaking.
I cried for what seemed like a very long time. Then, when I seemed to be done, I wiped my face with my sleeve and moved over to the edge of the building. There were people everywhere. They all looked like the ones from the hospital; same rotting flesh.
I stepped away from the ledge. What am I going to do? There is no one around to help me or take care of me. I was alone. There was a door on the roof that most likely led to the inside of the building. I opened the door and saw that it led to stairs. I climbed down one flight of stairs and then went into an empty hall way and sat down leaning against the wall. I pulled the gun out of my bag and held it against my chest.
That's when I heard people; actual people. They were talking normal and didn't sound like the other people I saw today. I heard them coming up the stairs. I gripped the gun tighter to my chest in case I was wrong and the people were like the others.
First person to round the corner to where I was at was an Asian guy, possibly in his early twenties. He looks familiar to me and I knew right away that I have seen him before, but I couldn't remember where from. I stood up and pointed the gun at his head.
"Whoa!" the Asian boy stepped back with his hands up.
Then the others came into view; a lady with blonde hair in a pony tail that looked to be in her early thirties, two African American people, one man, one woman, a big man with wavy brown hair, and a tough looking redneck. When they saw me with the gun pointing towards them they all took a step back.
"Easy." The guy with way brown hair said walking slowly towards. "Put the gun down, we are not here to hurt you."
I then aimed the gun directly at him, stopping him in his tracks. "Don't come any closer." I told him. "I am not afraid to shoot any of you, after what I've seen today. Now you people have to very clear with me and tell me what exactly is going on."
"You mean you don't know what's going on?" The blonde lady asked me.
"No. No one told me anything, because I've been alone for the last fifteen hours."
"Oh, baby girl, where are your parents?" the African American woman asked me.
"Dead." I answered.
"I'm so sorry, baby; didn't you try to get any help? Wasn't there anyone else around that was alive where you were?"
"What are you talking about? They've been dead for three years." I told her.
"Then who has been taking care of you?" she asked me.
"My uncle. He had an emergency yesterday and left during the night. He didn't come back. He is a doctor, so I went to the hospital where he works at to see if he was there and that everything was alright. When I got there the building was in ruins. It was bombed. What is going on? Why would people blow up the hospital and why are these crazy people trying to kill me?"
"They are not people anymore." The African American man told me.
"What do you mean?" I asked him. "What are they?"
"They're walkers; people that were infected by the disease. Most of them were bit or scratched." he replied.
"You mean that crazy disease is here now, in Atlanta?"
"Yeah it infected most the city, unfortunately. The people who bombed the hospital were probably people who were trying to stop the disease from spreading, but it was too late." The guy with brown hair spoke again.
"Now how about you put the gun down and we will tell you more about what is going on and get you something to eat." The black woman told me.
At first I hesitated then I slowly put the gun down and sat against the wall again.
"Now that's better." The lady said moving down to sit next to me. The blonde lady followed her actions and sat down across from me.
"T-Dog, why don't you go look for some food." The lady instructed the black man. T-Dog nodded and moved to walk back down the stairs.
"I will help him." The Asian boy said following him.
"Well I guess I go look out from the roof, then." The tough looking redneck spoke for the first time. He then climbed up the stairs and went out through the door I came in from.
"I will look around the building to see if I can find any supplies." The guy with wavy brown hair said walking down the stairs.
"Be careful." The blonde lady called down to him. "We don't want any of those geeks to know that we are in here."
"What is your name?" the black lady asked me.
"Erin." I answered.
"Oh, what a pretty name. I am Jacqui and that is Andrea." She told me pointing to the blonde lady who smiled slightly. "The Asian boy is Glenn, T-Dog is the one I sent to get food, Morales was the one that just went to get supplies, and the one that just went onto the roof is Merle."
I just nodded.
"Back at our camp we have more people. We even have a few that are around your age." Andrea told me. "My younger sister is there too."
This got my attention. There were more people alive like them. "How many people are there?"
"I would say at least twenty, maybe more." Jacqui told me smiling a bit.
"Do you think my uncle might still be alive?" I asked them after a few moments of silence.
They didn't answer me right away, but I can tell by the looks of their faces that they had their doubts.
"Well I'm sure there is a very strong possibility he is still alive. Maybe he will find our group on the outskirts of the city and you will be able to see him again." Andrea said trying to make me feel better.
"You don't have to lie to me." I tell her. "If he was alive he would have came back for me, but he didn't."
"Maybe he did come back. Maybe he is at your home now looking for you." Jacqui encouraged.
"Maybe he is." I said sounding a little more hopeful. "Hey do you think we can slip past the walkers to check and see if he is there? It is only a block away from here."
"Oh, I don't know, baby, it's gotten even worse in the city then when we were here last. It will be hard to go by unnoticed."
"Not if Glenn goes with her. He has got us here so far without being noticed." Andrea said.
"Your right, maybe she and he can slip by unnoticed, but it's still very risky."
"If my uncle is alive it will be worth the risk." I said.
"Alright, how about we talk to Glenn about it when he gets back?" Jacqui said.
"Okay." I said smiling a little.
Just then T-Dog and Glenn walked in carrying a few bags of chips and other snacks and a few bottles of water and soda.
"We found some vending machines, but that's all we found." Glenn said setting down the stuff by our feet and taking a seat next to Andrea. T-Dog sat down as well and they began opening some of the bags and eating them. Jacqui handed me a bag of cookies and grabbed a bag of Doritos for herself. Andrea grabbed one of the bags of chips too and began eating.
I opened the bag of cookies and began eating slowly.
"We believe there might still be a chance that Erin's uncle might still be alive." Jacqui told the men.
"Is that what her name is?" Glenn asked.
"Yeah. We were wondering if you and her can swing by her apartment and see if he came back." Andrea said grabbing a bottle of coke.
"No way, it's way too dangerous. Didn't you see all those walkers?" Glenn told us.
"Yes we know, but her apartment is only a block away and you can probably slip through a few alley ways to get there." Jacqui told him.
"I don't know. It's still too risky and it's getting dark." He replied.
"I will go with you guys." Andrea told us. "and we don't have to go tonight; we can wait till tomorrow."
"Alright fine." Glenn agreed. "But it is better if just two people go. It will be easier to slip by them." Andrea nodded.
"Did you people decide to have a dinner party without inviting me?" Merle said walking in with a smirk on his face. "Y'all better learn some manners one of these days."
"Sorry, we just got here." Glenn told him. Merle walked passed him and grabbed a bag of Lays and a bottle of water and went back to the roof without saying another word.
Then Morales came back carrying some jackets. "This is a clothing store; not much useful things in here besides jackets and vending machines." He set the jackets down on the floor and grabbed a bag of chips and a bottle of Pepsi.
"What would happen to me if we can't find my uncle?" I asked them.
No one answered at first, but then Andrea spoke up. "Well you can come back with us to our camp on the outskirts of the city. You will fit right in with us. The kids there are really friendly and fun to be around."
I smiled and nodded. "I think I would like that. How many kids are there?"
"There's four; two boys and two girls, all very close to your age." Jacqui told me.
"I think we should get some sleep, I'm tired." Morales said lying down on some jackets.
The others grabbed some jackets as well and laid down on them. Andrea handed me a few and I took them and laid them on the floor, just like everyone else was doing. I put my gun back in the backpack and took out my knife just in case something happens while I was sleeping. I lay down on the jackets with the knife clutched to my chest. It didn't take long before I was asleep.
A/N: I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I know it hasn't gotten too exciting yet, but it will, and soon Erin will run into a certain former police officer, and also meet the rest of the Atlanta crew.