Chapter 5

The Seasons Pass

The next morning I woke up to find things almost normal again. Angie and Alex were over by the bookcase, reading and chatting. Clayton had joined Pablo and Maria, who were raiding the pantry. Julia, Bella, Maxwell and Kevin were talking on the couches. Rachel and Miguel were standing nearby, having their own conversation.

The strangest mix of happiness and despair suddenly hit me. I felt so glad to be alive, to be safe. Not only that, but I was among some of my best friends as well. But I couldn't help but remember what I had lost along the way. The hole that Sharon had left behind was still gnawing away at me. For some reason, however, the pain didn't make the good feelings go away. Instead, they accentuated one another, making each other stronger.

Eventually I snapped out of it. Once I had, I went over to get some food. I had almost forgotten how good a full meal could taste. We started with the perishable items, so there was a lot of fruit and meat for breakfast.

Eventually Rachel stood up. "I think we should go hunting a bit, gather up some more food before this stuff runs out. Who's with me?" Maxwell, Alex and I all agreed to come along. We all took bows, so that we wouldn't attract any walkers with gunshots. I took the wooden one I had brought with me, and Alex took the other wooden one that had been hanging up when we got here. Maxwell and Rachel got the more modern metal bows. I also too my makeshift spear and medical kit along, just in case, and Alex took the machete she had brought with her.

Within an hour, we were out the door. The sun was beginning its climb up into the sky as we walked down the steps. I knew the area well, so I ended up being the pathfinder for the group. We walked down the gravel driveway and came to the edge of the property, where it intersected on one side with the Patterson's property. On the other side of the long driveway was a forest full of hills and streams.

We decided to steer clear of the adjoining farm for now, choosing to scavenge from the forest rather than face the most likely undead Pattersons. We tread carefully down the driveway a bit further. Once we were about halfway to the main road, we headed off in between the trees.

We didn't see any walkers, which was a good sign. If we were going to stay at the farm long-term, we would need to make sure that we wouldn't have to take down a zombie every five seconds. Unfortunately, we didn't see many deer either, despite how abundant they were in the area. It wasn't until we decided to loop around back towards the farm that we caught sight of one.

We were walking along the base of a hill when Maxwell spotted it. It was running, and his first instinct was to fire off a shot at it. Before I had time to tell him to hold his fire, the arrow was already flying through the air. It embedded itself in the deer, which fell to the ground.

The wolves that had been chasing it turned towards us.

I cursed and readied an arrow. Alex and Rachel did the same, and Maxwell fired off another one at the wolves. It missed, but it was obvious that the wolves were intent on hunting us now. They began bounding down the slope, much faster than I had expected. We let fly, and I managed to hit one in the leg. It fell, along with the one Rachel had hit in the side. Alex was still taking aim as I dropped my bow and readied my spear. She finally fired, hitting the nearest wolf straight in the skull.

Maxwell was lining up another shot as they came upon us. He let loose just as one jumped up at him, clipping it's cheek and drawing blood. Unfortunately, the wolf did more than clip him. It clawed as it sprang up, knocking the bow away and ripping through his shirt. It used the momentum to get it's mouth towards his neck, and it tore into the flesh there as well.

I cried out in rage as I swung my spear around to defend him. I thrust it out at the wolf, sliding the blade in between it's ribs. He made a choking sound as it rolled off of him. Unfortunately, I couldn't help him any more just yet. Rachel had fired off another shot, killing one of the wolves that were coming towards me. Now I was forced to defend myself, swinging the butt of my spear out to catch one in the mouth.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see that Alex had dropped her bow and was putting her machete to good use. She was defending both herself and Maxwell, fending the wolves off with her blade. One dared to jump at her, and she swung the blade inwards, plunging it into the wolf's throat.

I kept pressing forward, cutting into the pack as deeply as I could. Soon there were none left standing. I walked calmly over to the one I had shot in the leg. It was trying to get up. Before it could fully turn it's attention towards me, I thrust my spear through it's head. Only then did the rage and the bloodlust begin to subside.

Once I had cleared my head of the red haze of battle, I ran over to Maxwell. I could tell he was bleeding out, and I had to do something. I opened up my backpack and took out my medical kit. Then I saw blood on it. Her blood. And I broke. I couldn't take it; there was too much blood already.

I could tell Alex was talking to me, trying to get me to snap out of it. But I couldn't really hear her. Eventually, she took the medical kit from me and started wrapping bandages around his neck. I could tell he was already dead because they didn't soak very quickly. Most of the blood was on the forest floor, mixing with the dirt, turning it to mud. Even though I had seen things like this before, I wanted to scream, or vomit, or something. But I couldn't. All I could do was sit there.

Eventually, we had to leave. We couldn't carry him. All we could do was leave on shaking feet.

We mourned him that night. We ate well, but it turned to ash in my mouth. It was so hard to loose him so soon after Sharon.

The nightmares finally came that night.

Everyone was subdued the next day, especially those of us who knew him well. I spent most of my morning out in the garden out in front of the farmhouse. Working helped me keep my mind off things, at least for a while. I had always been interested in different types of plants and animals, and my mom had me pull weeds and water her plants when I was a kid, so I was used to the tasks involved.

As the sun was beginning to set, Alex called me in for dinner. As we walked inside, I asked her, "How did you get here, anyway? You never really told me."

She looked down at her feet for a second, then back up at me. "I was with my sister and her boyfriend. At a place called Cheat Lake. When the outbreak started… most of the people were trying to get to safety by going out on the water. Where the zombies couldn't get to them. We decided to stay on land instead, heading south to meet up with some family in Buckhannon. The thing is, we were attacked on the way there. I hit my head, and we were separated. By the time I woke up, there was no sign of them. But I had gotten your text while I was unconscious, so when I found that, I decided to head over here."

By now we had gotten our food and were sitting down at the table. I nodded slowly, mulling all this over. Then I looked over to Angie. "How did you and Clayton get here? Where were you when all this happened?"

She fiddled with the food on her plate a bit. "My family… they all turned. There was nothing I could do. So I just moved on. I went to go find Clayton… He's kinda been my motivation this entire time. The reason I keep going."

I nodded again, a bit more soberly. "So where were you when this all happened? Were you at home or-" I stopped talking as soon as I heard the knock on the door. Everyone else did too. Everyone turned to look as I went to open it.

Standing outside was a group of seven people, 3 men and 4 women. They all had a mix of fear and hope swirling around them. It came as such a shock; I barely knew how to respond. So instead I just let them in, and then shut the door behind them.

One of them, a blonde woman who reminded me a bit of Sharon, came up and introduced herself. "I'm Carrie," She said. "This is my boyfriend Tim, those two are Chris and Adam, the ones next to the wall are Aaliyah and Nate, and the one Nate his helping to stay on her feet is Arya. We just met up with her. Who're you guys?"

I stammered a bit; I definitely hadn't expected company, aside from those who had already come. Still, I eventually gathered my wits about me and introduced the members of my group. She greeted each one by name. Afterwards I invited them to sit and eat dinner with us. They happily accepted the invitation. Arya told me her story, of how she was a photographer like Chris, and how she had come through the very same camp where Sharon had died. With so many reminders of her, it felt like I wouldn't be able to hold it together. But I did, and I enjoyed eating a meal with the new members of the group.

Just before bed, I called a meeting for us to take inventory of what the newcomers had brought with them. First I asked Angie. "I have a bit of food, some books to read, brass knuckles, two knives, an ice axe, two pistols, a slingshot, two grenades, some ammo, 25 pellets for the slingshot, and five life straws."

We all stared at her. "Damn, did you hit an arsenal or something before coming here?" Pablo asked.

She grinned. "Well, for some of it, I was training at a karate school when things went downhill. Thankfully walkers don't do karate. For the rest of it, I just kinda had it lying around…"

"I'm almost afraid to ask which ones fall into the latter category," Arya said.

I laughed at that, then looked over to Clayton. "What do you have?"

He blushed a bit. "I have a… uh… a glue gun."

Now everyone was laughing a bit. "Seriously? A glue gun? Why do you have that?"

His face got even redder. "Look, Angie told me to bring a gun. I didn't think the situation would be serious, so I brought it as a joke. Aside from that, I have some food, some water, and a knife we picked up along the way." I almost didn't hear him over the laughter. Hopefully Angie would share with him.

I looked over to Carrie. "I have some water, a flashlight, a first aid kit, some matches, and a baseball bat," She said. She gestured to Tim. "I have some water, and a hammer," He stated bluntly.

Chris and Adam had a camera, tripods, and an axe for each of them. Aaliyah and Nate had their phones, some food, a flashlight, some water, and two knives. It was clear that we would need to reallocate or share some of the weapons, based on the fact that there were uneven pairs in the group like Clayton and Angie. Finally, Arya opened up her bag. "I have two pistols, some ammo, a sleeping bag, some food and water, and this." She held out a short, one-handed sword. All the eyes in the group widened at the elegant weapon, especially the guys like Pablo and I.

I cleared my throat. "Well, it seems that we're fairly well provisioned. I guess I'll see you guys in the morning?" Everyone nodded, agreeing that we should all get some sleep. I slept alone again, but far better than the last night.