Chapter 3

On My Knees

The next morning I woke up feeling completely empty. Despite the sleep I had just gotten, I felt hollow and weak inside. The air around me was empty without her breath, silent without the sound of her laughter.

I don't know how I ever got out of that damn sleeping bag. Eventually I did, though, and I walked across the wooden floor to join the others. My surrounding seemed completely unfamiliar to me. I couldn't remember anything from the last night, couldn't remember anything beyond that last look in her eyes as the light faded.

The rest of the group had woken up a while ago, and most of them were now munching on a breakfast of chips, cookies and sodas looted from the vending machines. Children the world over would have dreamed of such a situation, and yet we ate the junk food out of need, not want.

Pablo and Julie came over and rested their hands on my shoulders like concerned parents. How long had it been since I last heard from my parents? How long since this whole thing started? How long since Sharon had last held me? Each period seemed longer than the last.

I took comfort from the contact. It was like cool water on a burn. It soothed me, but didn't take all the pain away. And there was an underscore of even more pain; I needed more contact, I needed her. I need to feel her hand in mine, my empty hand.

Still, they helped me get back on my feet. We were back on they trail by mid-morning. The terrain was still about the same, in that it was changing almost constantly. The air was clear up in the mountains, although the sky was overcast. We hiked on as the clouds swirled above us.

Nothing really happened, yet it would have probably been better if disaster had struck. In the relative silence on the trail, I was left alone with my thoughts. My thoughts, which were determined to drive me insane. The longing, the despair, the rage. So I escaped in the company of my friends.

I talked with them all day to keep the ghosts and demons away. I talked to Miguel like we used to, half in complete sentences and half in references to our favorite movies. I talked with Pablo about the video games we used to play, remembering all the good times. I talked to Julia about Hollywood Undead and the other bands we listened to, laughing about the irony of the band's name. I talked with Maxwell about Deltora Quest and the other anime we used to watch. We talked all about the world we used to have, but instead of mourning it, we talked about it like it was still here. And for just a day, it was. And for that day, I was able to forget.

We walked and talked, and the sun sank low on the horizon. As it did, we came to a part of the trail that ran up near a road. We tried our best to stay out of sight, but of course trouble found us anyway.

We were making our way through the forest when we saw the pickup truck. It was parked, and there were 4 guys standing around it. Most of them were in camo hunting gear, and they all had rifles in their hands. Up ahead were some small houses and a few more cars, but they didn't look like the belonged to the guys in camo. There was also a small pond, and the trail wound around it before heading up a nearby hill.

They seemed somewhat threatening, but also resourceful. We finally decided to try and see if they would let us pass without bullets in our heads. Hopefully they would be willing to join us. But we were all ready for a fight, just in case. We walked over as a group, and Kevin called out to them.

As soon as we made our presence known, they turned toward us, guns raised. I held up one hand, trying my best to seem calm and confident. "Whoa! Hold up. We just wanted to talk. We're on our way to find shelter; you look like you guys can handle yourselves. Why don't you come along with us?" I was trying my best to get to the point, but it wasn't a point they wanted to hear.

"Why?" One said. "Because you can't make it on your own? Sure looks like that to me."

Despite his harsh tone, I was able to take the fact that we were still alive as a good sign. "We made it this far. We were just thinking that more people-"

Another one cut me off. "Why don't you just give those guns to us?" He held out his hand as though he expected me to give him my shotgun. "You can just run along after. We sure know how to handle them better anyways."

To accentuate his point, some of his friends cocked their rifles and started taking aim. I cleared my throat, which was the signal we had agreed upon. After less than a seconds wait, we opened fire and ran.

Most of the initial shots missed. Maxwell managed to hit one in the arm. Another was caught in the stomach by fire from Pablo's sub-machine gun. Bella was managed to hit one in the head with a shotgun round, taking him out entirely. Even as their wounded fell, we turned towards the houses and ran.

They weren't entirely caught off-guard, though. It was only a couple of seconds before they were chasing after us. We took cover behind some cars about halfway to the houses. Pablo and Kevin laid down cover fire while the rest of us caught our breath and got ready to run the rest of the way to the nearest house.

Bullets whizzed and sparked around us. At one point Maria let out a yelp. I called out to Pablo, but he was too busy to respond. After a few seconds, I risked sprinting over to the car they were behind.

Maria was on the ground. I let off a shot in the direction of our pursuers before kneeling down to check on her. She turned over; she hadn't been hit, she was just laying low. I tapped Pablo on the shoulder, and he nodded. After a few more shots, Maria and I turned to run, and a few after that he followed, grabbing Maria's hand as he went.

Adrenaline burning through our veins, we made it to the house. Thankfully the door had been left ajar during the chaos, so we were able to get in without getting shot.

We ushered the rest of the group in. None of them seemed hurt, except for Maxwell. He had some blood on his forehead, but he was still on his feet and said he was alright, so I trusted his judgment. I told him to go upstairs with Miguel, Rachel and Kevin to keep us covered from on high. The rest of us moved towards the few windows and doors to fend off the attackers.

I peeked out the window and saw that they were already getting uncomfortably close to our position. I readied my shotgun and tried to shoot one through the window I was next to. Unfortunately I missed, and another of the attackers got off a shot that clipped my shoulder. It didn't hit anything important, just whipped through my shirt and a bit of skin. But it still burned enough to make me cry out and drop back down behind the windowsill.

The others kept the firefight going while I tried to assess the condition of my arm. I knew it was going to be ok, but I wasn't sure how exactly to treat it. As I was thinking, I noticed a framed painting on the wall. The glass showed a slight reflection of the assailants outside. That gave me an idea.

I got my companions attention and pointed to the painting, trying my hardest to make note of the reflections. Most of them seemed to understand. We could see that the attackers were moving up, so we had to work quickly.

As one, we got up from behind cover and shot at the attackers based on where they had been in the mirror. This time, several of us scored hits on them, and 2 of the 3 remaining fell to the ground. The final attacker slowed his pace, practically back-treading and attempting to dodge behind a nearby car. However, as he did this we heard a bang from above us and a fountain of blood and opaque fluid blossomed from his forehead.

Shaking, I sank to the floor. I realized that this was the first time I had ever shot at another, living human. My second thought was of the last unloving being I had put to rest. My arms felt heavy, and yet full of nervous energy. I felt tears welling up in my eyes, and I wanted to strike out at the walkers, the people who had attacked us, at myself.

But instead of lashing out, I got up. Like I knew I had to.

We all gathered in the upstairs bedroom to decide what to do.

"Those shots we fired are going to bring a ton of walkers down on our heads any minute. What the hell are we gonna do?!" Julie asked.

Pablo was the first to respond. "At the moment, there's not much we can do. We needed to fire off those shots if we wanted to stay alive. And if we want to keep up that streak, we need a place to stay the night."

Miguel shook his head. "We can't stay here. We'll be like sitting ducks. Besides, do you really want to spend the night defending a house with a bunch of broken windows for zombies to crawl through?"

I nodded at this. "I'm with Miguel. I say we high-tail it at least a mile or two, then set up a camp so that we can get some rest."

Maria and the others nodded. Pablo looked at her, then back at the rest of us. Finally, he nodded. "Fine. Let's move."

We walked out into the night, moving as quickly as we could. It was getting harder and harder to see. Eventually people started tripping over rocks and fallen branches, so we decided to stop for the night. Hoping we had covered a safe amount of distance, we blindly tried to set up our sleeping bags. Once the first watch was set, most of us were able to get to sleep. But I couldn't help remembering how Sharon had been afraid of the dark. And how it seemed to choke me in her absence.

The next morning I awoke to find the world warm and dry. I searched my pack for the water bottle and found it almost empty. Julie was passing around some of her chocolate to the others, and as I walked over I offered to split my last granola bar with anyone who wanted some.

The general mood seemed cheery enough. But there was an elephant in the metaphorical room. We all knew that our supplies probably wouldn't last us another day. As we walked along the trail, our feet were heavy, and the toll the past few days had taken started to show. The heat was oppressive, trying to drag us down and finish us off.

Thankfully, that was about when I started to recognize my surroundings. Eventually we came to an area that split off from the rest of the trail. A huge grin spread across my face, and as heavy as my legs were, they found new strength as Miguel and I lead the group along the side trail.

Soon we reached an overlook where we could see the farm. There were two barns, each about 20 feet tall. There was also the farmhouse, which had 2 floors and was made of stone and wood. There were 4 stone pillars that used to support a porch, but now stood on their own about 10 feet from the house. The gate and fence that ran across the entrance to the dirt driveway were still intact, but the truck my uncle drove was missing. I could also just make out the rolling hills and forests beyond, but that didn't catch my interest as much as the final detail in the picture before me.

In the window of the farmhouse, I could just barely see the silhouette of a young woman. I motioned for the others to wait while I took out my rifle and looked through the scope. I smiled when I saw who it was.

I put my rifle back as quickly as I could and started to run down the hill. Some of the others called out after me, but they followed me down the slope. I ran up the driveway and the half-buried stone step to the farmhouse and opened the door. "Alex, you made it!"

Her dark hair whipped about as she turned towards the door in surprise. At first her expression was one of shock, but then she smiled. "I can see that someone missed me."

I grinned and laughed a bit. "Well I'm just glad you aren't dead! How on earth did you get here alone?"

She shrugged. "Long story. Who're they?" I turned to introduce the rest of the group.

"So how did you get in?" I asked. "See any sign of my uncle?"

She shook her head. "No, sorry. The place was empty and unlocked when I came. Looks like he left in a hurry."

I nodded, sobering up a bit. Still, it was beyond nice to be back in a safe, familiar place. We searched for anything my uncle had left behind, and we weren't disappointed. The place was just as I remembered it. There was a combined living room/dining room/kitchen, with a wall in between the kitchen and living room areas. Off to the side were the stairs leading to the basement and 2 bedrooms.

Up on the wall was the antique wooden bow and arrows Uncle Drew had used for decoration. We also found 2 more modern bows, along with steel arrows. We decided to place these in a pile on one of the couches to distribute later. We found some useful books on the bookshelf as well, mostly ones on nature and wildlife that we could use if we had to forage or anything. Though the most useful items we found were in the kitchen. We found vegetables from the garden outside, bread and cereal in the pantry, and milk, venison and strawberries in the refrigerator. They were still good because the refrigerator was still running. In fact, the whole house had electricity; it ran on a generator outside, so we had enough power to last at least a few days.

As we searched, we found another surprise. Or rather, she found us.

I was searching with Pablo when I heard a knock on the door. I turned to see my friend Angela standing in the doorway, accompanied by her boyfriend Clayton. They placed their backpacks on the ground as she said, "I got your text!"

I felt another grin coming my way. Despite the sour start, this day was getting better by the second. "Angie! You made it too! Come meet everyone!" It was a bit annoying to do introductions twice in one day, but I just went with it. The sun got lower as we talked and laughed as a group- almost as a family. Eventually we settled in, drawing straws to see who got the bedrooms. I ended up on the floor. But ironically enough, I slept soundly and without nightmares until it was my shift for the watch.