She remembered the first time she had seen a walker. She was standing by the kitchen sink, washing dishes and listening to Sophia talk about the homework she had been assigned when a strange movement had caught her eye and she looked out the kitchen window. One of her neighbors, Mrs. Simmons, was staggering across the yard, blood dripping from a gash in her throat. Carol had frozen in place, her mind not comprehending what she was seeing.
Her first instinct had been to run outside to see if her neighbor needed help, but before her mind had supplied her feet with the orders to do that she saw something else. Another neighbor had approached Mrs. Simmons and was brought down with a quick lunge from the little old lady, and soon there were two bloody neighbors in the yard. That was when Ed had come home, his truck roaring into the driveway and screeching to a halt. The noise had gotten the attention of the two in the yard, but apparently he knew what to do.
There had been two gunshots and then he was running into the house shouting at her to grab certain items. She had to fold some clothes and pack their suitcases, empty the fridge into a couple of their camping coolers and keep Sophia out of his way as he loaded up their other vehicle with camping supplies and his guns. There was no time to ask questions, and he was clearly in no mood for them either, so she waited until they were on the road and Sophia was begging to know what was going on. Then Ed was only too happy to tell them about how he had been right to prepare for the end all along, and how lucky they had him to protect them now that everything had gone to shit. They had heard rumors and the news had been covering something that sounded confusing and scary, but she had no idea it was so bad until Mrs. Simmons had crossed their yard.
Carol sighed, grabbing the edge of the fence and pulling it apart where she had unlaced the hole. She had to get the water hoses out of the muck on the bottom of the water channels again, or the prison moat as it was called by some of the children. She wasn't as afraid of the walkers as she had been at the beginning, and she knew more about them now and how they behaved. She wasn't going to be stupid, or lack caution, but she didn't need to freeze in place like a child anymore when things needed to get done.