DAY 47
A few months have passed since Ben joined us, making it a trio. He's become like a brother to me and Rennie, and even if the boy bickers with the man, I know he loves him… I think. We've been walking towards Atlanta all this time, hiding and finding cover whenever we can afford it. I mean, we did walk all the way from one of the Carolina's and ended up going the wrong way into Tennesee (courtesy of the boy who insisted that he could read a map (I shouldn't have trusted him (Ben is even worse though))). We've finally reached Atlanta though, so that's something we can celebrate.
"Okay, so the map says that if we turn left over here, we'll see the center of Atlanta," Ben scratched his head, a kind of clueless expression settling on his face as he frowned.
"Mm, right," Rennie lifted an eyebrow skeptically. Ha, the nerve of this boy.
"At least we made it to Georgia," Ben snarked back. "If it wasn't for you insisting that you would read the map and lead the way, we'd have made it several weeks ago!"
"Oh yeah? Well, at least I'm not the one who made us go backwards into Virginia!" Rennie shot back, glaring at Ben.
"Hey! I never did lead us back to Virginia, ask your sister!"
"If it wasn't for me, we would have gone all the way to California, you big doofus!"
"California isn't even on this side of the coast, you little jerk!"
"Who you calling a jerk, dumblehead?!"
"Dumblehead?! What the hell is that?!"
"It's for you! Too stupid to even be called stupid!"
"Why you little-" Ben growled, stepping towards the little shuckface.
"At least my brain is bigger than the little pea that you call a brain!"
"That's medically impossible!"
"That's medically impossible," Rennie mimicked the frustrated man in a baby voice. "Yeah? Well, zombies are supposed to be medically impossible too, you mega dum-dum!"
"Obviously, that's not true, since-"
"Will the both of you just shut your goddam cakeholes?!" I finally lost it, snarling as I turned back to the two of them.
For the past 46 days, I've been dealing with this. FORTY. SIX. DAYS. I'm astonished I haven't lost my mind yet. I'm mind-blown by the fact that all three of us are still alive, meaning that I didn't strangle the two of them and the two of them didn't kill each other with the laser glares and that I haven't shot myself in the head from annoyance yet. Keyword: yet. I'm highly tempted to right now.
"He started it," the two of them both pointed at each other at the same time, glaring at each other.
No, seriously, how have I dealt with these two children? With a huff of indignation, I rolled my eyes and turned back to the road, where an empty crossroad was. The streets were all littered with trash, and tall buildings surrounded us wherever we went. I peeked around the corner of a street and saw two walkers lumbering around the desolate areas. I turned back to the two idjits behind me and lifted a finger to my lips, earning nods in return. It seemed like the two had settled for a truce again. For the millionth time. Let's see how long that lasts.
Snarls filled my ears, quiet groans and shuffling echoing throughout the streets. I peeked around the building again, nocking an arrow before taking aim. I saw a female walker, face mutilated with an arm missing. I let the arrow fly and shot another one before the first one even hit its mark. Two lumpy thumps told me that I'd killed them.
"Yo-"
I lifted a hand and slabbed it onto Rennie's mouth, effectively shutting him up. His brows furrowed in his little face, a confused expression establishing itself. I inclined my head, nodding towards the streets where the dead walkers lay. Soon enough, understanding lit up on the little boy's face. A strange clopping noise had disturbed the quiet peace even though it was distant.
Ben tapped me before pointing down the streets and doing some kind of weird hand signal jumbled up together. Before I could say anything more, the moron stealthily ran down the street towards the sound.
"Why is he heading towards the sound on his own?" my little brother used sign language to me.
"Stupid," was all I signed back before following the man.
I could hear the small huff of exasperation Rennie gave before his quiet presence tailed me. I don't know if Atlanta was normally a beautiful city. All I knew was that it looked like utter crap right now. Like, really horrible. I spotted Ben not too far ahead. He was following something intently and turned the corner again. I knew I needed to close the distance since he was way too far away. I suddenly heard a distant yelp and a neigh of pure terror from where Ben had disappeared and I just freaked out. Before I could even think it through, my body was already running frantically towards the corner where I'd heard the screech of terror. I turned the corner and froze, absolutely horrified at the scene displayed in front of me. A brown horse was being devoured by a horde of cranks, greater in number than I'd ever seen.
I heard my little brother catch up to me, kicking a can of grape-flavored Fanta away with a clatter. The closest row of them turned towards us, cloudy eyes and mutilated bodies and all, obviously thinking we were an amazing meal.
"Oh shit," my little brother murmured to himself, eyes wide with horror.
"Well, what a great day to be in Atlanta."