The Walking Dead 365 Chapters 5-8
TDMshadowCP
Banned
Crawford
Ellis’ story 56/365
"Man, I really miss that truck." Melvin said.
"We haven't seen a living soul in a month." Frank said. "We're damn lucky to have these weapons."
"I agree." I said to Frank. " Let's not forget about Ace protecting us all these nights from Walkers."
We've been walking for a long time. There were a lot of Walkers preventing us to move south. We followed some train tracks and it led us where we wanted to be, Savannah.
"You know," I broke the silence. "There aren't many Walkers around here."
"Yup, I noticed too." Melvin said. "Ace hasn't been alarmed by anything since we got here."
I looked at Ace. I feel bad for the dog. He's been taking care of us, but we don't have enough food for him.
The city was pretty much silent. We could only hear our footsteps. What the hell happened to the Walkers I thought. We finally got to the doc.
"Holy fuck, there's a boat!" Melvin said with a proud tone.
"But, do we know it works?" I said.
Melvin didn't respond and quickly jogged up to the boat and hopped in.
"Does this thing need keys?" Frank asked.
"Nope, you just need to push the start button" Melvin replied.
As Melvin pressed the button I heard a car's engine coming closer.
"Frank get inside the boat, now!" I told him. "Ace keep it down." I commanded Ace.
Frank and I got inside the boats. The engine suddenly stopped.
"Hey, keep it down you guys. There are some of those Lurkers over the other block. We don't want to waste any bullets."
I was shocked to hear a different voice. I turned to Ace and I could tell he had the sudden to run to them, but I hold him by his vest.
"Mr. Oberson, we need a new engine. Can we check over the docs to see if there's a boat with an engine?"
"Ellis is your SIG loaded?" Melvin asked.
I quickly checked.
"Yes, it is." I responded.
"How about your colt, Frank?" Melvin asked.
"Just a couple of bullets." Frank responded with a frown on his face.
"Hello, gentlemen. May I ask why you're hiding?" A man said while pointing a mossberg at me.
Ace quickly started growling, but I kept a grip.
"Shh, calm down, Ace." I said.
"Hmm, impressive. I haven't seen an animal of any kind in months." The man said.
"Hey, man put your gun down." Frank spoke up. "We don't want any trouble we've tried to get here to get a boat and get the Walkers off our backs."
"Hmm, you call them Walkers. I must admit that's a pretty good name." The man said with a smirk.
The man put his shotgun down and reached for Melvin's hand.
"My people call me Mr. Oberson." the man said. "But, my first name is Crawford."
"Your people?" I asked.
"Yes, we have a civilization northwest from here." Crawford said.
Melvin laughed. "Well, you beat us to it." He said.
Crawford had a puzzled look on his face.
Frank, Melvin and I stood up. Ace was finally calm around Crawford.
"Were police officers." I told Crawford. "From West Georgia Correctional Facility. We were trying to find people and take them to safety, but as Melvin said. You beat us to it."
"You know, there is a lot of people in Crawford who don't know how to use weapons.. How about you come to Crawford and you can teach my people some basic classes?" Crawford asked.
"You called your community Crawford? Well, that's creative in my book." Melvin laughed.
"Yes, yes I know, but will you accept my offer?" Crawford said with a serious tone.
Frank, Melvin and I looked at each other. We all nodded. We got off the boat and started walking towards the truck.
"Mr. Oberson who are they?" a young man asked.
"That's right, I didn't ask for your names did I?" Crawford turned around.
"My name is Ellis"
"Name's Melvin."
"Frank."
There were only two people in the truck.
"What were you guys doing here anyways?" Frank asked.
"We were going to kill some Lurkers in the other side of the city. It took us a few months to make this part of the city safe, but they sometimes come back again." The young man said.
"Well, were glad to help out." I said while getting in the truck. "Come on Ace, it's ok."
"Oh, Ellis." Crawford said. "I'm very sorry, but we can't have your dog in Crawford.
I looked back at Crawford.
"No, you can't be serious." I said.
"We can't just give food to a dog. We have a lot of people that need food." Crawford said.
“Ace is a trained guard dog. He can help scavenge and guard Crawford. Ace has been taking care of us when we needed to sleep. I beg you Mr.Oberson.”
Crawford sighed. “If you really want to be with your dog, then you can, but you can’t be in Crawford. You choose.”
Frank patted my back. “I know it’s going to be hard to let Ace go, but I know he took care of us, and I bet he can take care of himself. He’s dealt with Walkers and Ace has an amazing scent to find food. He can survive without you.”
I looked at Ace and I rushed my fingers around his dirty fur.
“You guys go ahead.” I tell them. “I’ll say my goodbyes.”
As I get out of the truck Crawford says “Remember, Crawford is Northwest from here, alright?” I nodded. The young man behind the truck hands me a baseball bat.
“There might be a few Lurkers and Mr. Oberson says it’s better to use hand weapons, so we don’t attract Lurkers from the other side of Savannah.”
“Thanks.” I say grabbing the baseball bat.
“Don’t take too long.” Crawford said while turning on the truck. “The sun is going down.”
The truck drove away. Ace looked at me while his head was tilted.
“I’m sorry Ace, I wish I could take you with us.” I said
I remember when Ace was just a puppy. It was before I worked at the prison. I bought Ace for my son. My son loved Ace and I bet Ace loved him too. After I decided I wanted to upgrade and go work to the prison, I decided Ace should be trained to be a K-9, and took him away from my son. I've taken away a lot of things away from my son, such as myself. Ace was my son’s main source of happiness and I took that away from him. Now… Ace is being taken away from me.
I look at his ribs. I search my pockets. A package with some beef jerky and in my other hand a half empty crumbled water bottle. I gave him the beef jerky and he started eating it as if he hasn't eaten in forever, which is kind of true. After he finishes he sniffs my pocket. Probably to look for more food, but slowly backs off realizing that there isn't any left. I open up the water bottle and open my palm. I pour the water into my palm while Ace is drinking it it off my palm. I crush the water bottle and shape it into a circle shape.
“Ace…” I say. Still crushing the water bottle. “Catch!”
I throw the crushed water bottle seven feet away. Ace runs for it and runs back to me.
“No!” I shout. Ace quickly stops and drops the crushed water bottle. “Stay and don’t follow me, ok?” Ace just stares at me, with his tail under his legs.
“I know there’s more survivors out there. Go find them, and show them how worthy you are. They’ll take care of you.” I tell Ace.
I turn around, and still hearing small steps. “NO!” I scream. “Ace I command you to go away!”
I start walking again. No steps behind me anymore. I jog to Crawford. I finally see a Walker. I stretch out my arms with a bat in my hand, and started running to it. The Walker slowly turns and I bash it’s head with the baseball bat. Apparently I hit the Walker so hard that it twisted its head causing his head to be looking behind his back. It falls on the ground. I lift up my foot and stomp on its head. It’s good to let some anger out.
I jog again until I reach an high school. There’s people walking like… normal. As if there isn't people who rose up from the dead in this world. There were also a few people with guns. More further there was other buildings. Out of the sudden there was light shining at my eyes, and I hear laughter "You finally came!" . “Melvin.” I muttered. When I open my eyes I see Crawford in front of me.
“I'm glad you chose to come. I welcome you to Crawford.” He says with a smirk on his face.
Guitar
Oscar’s story 32/365
"Hey," Fernando said as he grabbed my shoulder. "Do you know how to play guitar?" he asked.
"Heh, nope." I replied. Fernando slowly stopped walking and turned to Derrick.
"How bout' you, Derrick?" he asked. Derrick didn't answer.
"Hey, man are you ok?" I asked. Derrick slowly rose his head.
"Oh, sorry.... you guys were talking to me?" Derrick said. Fernando quickly chuckled.
"Well, apparently nobody knows. Por favor! There has to be someone who knows!" Fernando said.
Derrick really gives me the creeps sometimes. He is kinda of his own little fantasy land he doesn't know his surroundings. We passed by Athens. Of course the city was filled with Biters, but anyways. There was a small group trying to survive. They gave us some food and of course, my little brother's guitar. Probably it would of been better if we left Derrick there.
"Look, Derrick." I said patting his back. "We're going to get out of this forest and rest for a while, you can gather your thoughts, and Fernando can learn how to use that guitar. Alright?"
" I wish that it could be that way, Oscar." Derrick said.
I didn't say anything. I was tired of his shit. Always being melancholy. I think it's what happened in his camp that we found him. Each day he gets more depressed.
We walked a bit more. It was a sunny day and I looked down. My jeans and boots were covered in dirt. I don't really mind, since it's always been like that since I was a kid.
"Do you guys hear that?" Derrick spoke up. I stopped Fernando from walking. We stood there for a few seconds.
"Is that water dripping?" Fernando said, his face lighting up. "Hell man, I'm fucking thirsty."
"The sound's coming from the left. Fernando give me your gun." I said.
"Nah, man I got this." Fernando said. He gave the guitar to Derrick. "Take care of it ok?"
Fernando quickly ran trough the bushes.
"God dammit Fernando." I said in a harsh tone."Come on, Derrick keep up."
We followed the footsteps that Fernando left in the ground.
"Fernando! Where are you?!" I shouted.
"I think he's right here." A rash voiced said. "Turn around or all shot ya'll".
I slowly turned around, I saw Derrick, and he became so pale. I saw Fernando struggling to move, the asshole was behind him with his arm around his head.
"Look we have food in these backpacks, deal?" I tried to persuade him.
"Err, is this one yer lil' brother?" The old fuck said. "I know that other guy ain't Mexican."
The guy threw my brother on the ground.
"Teach yer brother to not sneak up on someone when their the middle of pissin'"
My brother quickly stood up and pointed the gun at him.
"You'll regret what you fucking did, asshole!" My brother shouted at him.
"You don't have the damn balls, son. Look it's the freakin' apocalypse and I have my rights to be alarmed." The man said. "Name's Mike.... Mike Anderson." He said.
Fernando slightly turned his head , probably asking for permission to shoot Mike. I just snatched the pistol from him and shook my head.
"Ya'll lookin' for ride?” Mike asked us.
“You have a vehicle?” Derrick asked with a surprised expression.
“Better, a freakin’ train.” Mike said with a big smile.
“Where are you heading?” I asked the guy.
“Train’s heading towards a small town called Macon.” Mike answered.
“Are we seriously going to trust this guy?” Fernando turned around. “This pendejo almost shot my head!”
“Show us the train.” I said ignoring Fernando. I heard Fernando mumble something, but I didn’t give two shits, he shouldn’t have just ran like if he was the hero in the group.
We followed the man. I was actually impressed. The train in the front was black with number 4070 on the left and on the right. Behind it there were other red boxcars.
“Where are we going to sit?” Derrick asked Mike.
“In the floor, this ain’t a passenger train.” Mike replied. Derrick looked down in disappointed.
Mike went up the ladder on the side of the train. We followed him and entered a room which I guess was the control room.
“This seems complicated.” I said.
“How do you even turn this thing on?” Fernando asked.
“Got everything on this notepad.” Mike said while holding the yellow notepad. “Make yourself at home, make sure you close the door.
We all walked to the red boxcar. The train started moving we all kind of lost our balance.
“Well, I’m going to sleep.” I said yawning.
“Yeah, I guess I’ll do that too. My legs are killing me.” Derrick said dropping his orange backpack down. “Here’s your guitar, Fernando.”
“Seriously? You guys are going to sleep? I’m going to try this guitar out.” Fernando said.
“Sure, whatever.” I said. “Just go to the other cart and come out until you learn how to use it.”
“Alright.” Fernando said opening the door.
I finally closed my eyes, I haven’t gotten a wink in days. I was daydreaming about my parents. I was an accident, I wasn’t suppose to be born. My own mom wanted an abortion as she told me when I grew up. My parents were so harsh on me when I was a teenager, but with Sofia and Fernando they were like normal American parents. Bah, I guess since I was the oldest I had to grow up fast.
I heard a slight screech. I opened an eye and it was Fernando tiptoeing towards me and started shaking.
“Wake up hermano.” He whispered
“What is it?”
“There’s an old guy back there. I don’t know if he’s alive.”
“What do you mean you don’t know he’s alive?”
“He’s all dirty as if he’s been there a while.”
“Alright.” I said. “Give me a hand.”
Fernando grabbed my hand and I stood up. I peeked in the room. Fernando was right, there was a old man, he seemed that he was on his mid fifties. He had a red shirt and a light brown jacket. He also had brown gloves, and he was wearing khakis.
“What should we do with him?” Fernando whispered.
“I guess we should throw him out, he’ll rotten here.” I said.
“Why would he be here anyways? Why didn’t Mike throw him out?” Fernando asked.
“Can you men keep it down? I’m trying to sleep down here.”
Fernando and I quickly looked at the man.
“You’re alive?” Fernando asked.
“Does it look like I’m dead?” The old man said.
“What’s your name?” I asked.
“Chuck, but if ya’ll fancy you can call me Charles.” Chuck said standing up. “Is it only you too?”
“No, there’s this other dude with us.” Fernando answered.
Chuck walked away from us and opened the door of the boxcar we were in. He then put his hand behind his back and started walking around us.
“You play guitar, boy?” Chuck asked Fernando. “I love playin’ guitar.”
“Heh, I’ve been asking’ everyone I seen if they could teach me. Can you?” Fernando asked.
“Eh, I’m a lil’ rusty, it’s been fourteen years since I’ve have played guitar.” Chuck said.
“Woah, why not?” Fernando asked.
“I became homeless after me and my wife had some problems leading up into a divorce. Couldn’t pay the child support, so she sued me and I became homeless for fourteen years.”
This man has been struggling more than I struggled. Chuck looked in the corner that Derrick was sleeping in. He slowly walked up to him and kneeled down.
“Hey son, wake up.” Chuck said.
Derrick opened his eyes.
“Woah, who are you?” He asked.
“What exactly are you doing, Chuck?” I asked him.
“I want to know your stories, y’know.” He said. “Come on, son. Spit it out.”
“Well, you better take a seat, cause it’s going to be a long story.” I said to Chuck.
We all sat down on the wooden floor. I started telling Chuck how Fernando and I were from Chicago. I told him in the first days we’ve hid in a mall in a suburb. We’ve had a small group, but I decided that we couldn’t stay here and that we had to look for our sister. I also told him how when we met Derrick.
“How ‘bout you Derrick?” Chuck asked.
“Well, I am from South Carolina. When it all started me and my friends were going camping, obviously it wasn’t the best day to go camping. We managed to survive without weapons until one night when we were all sleeping, the Biters sneaked in the camp. I was the only one that survived… I ran…When I came back they… They...” Derrick was breaking down.
“Alright, alright I heard enough.” Chuck said. “We’ve all had traumatic experiences, but in your situation Derrick you couldn’t have done nothing. As you said, you and your friends didn’t have weapons. If you tried to help you would of gotten yourself killed.”
Chuck wasn’t right. Derrick could of saved his people, but I guess Chuck was trying to make him feel better.
“So, do you guys have a plan?” Chuck asked.
“Yeah, remember? I said that we’re going to look for our sister, Sofia.” I answered Chuck.
“I mean a real plan.” Chuck said.
“What the hell are you saying?” I said in a serious tone.
“You said that your sister is all the way in Florida right? Do you think she would of stayed there? Do you think she’s even alive?”
“You better watch your fuckin, mouth old man!” I shouted.
“Oscar calm down, man.” Fernando said behind me.
“Calm down? This old fuck is saying our sister is dead! It’s our sister!” I shouted at Fernando.
“Why didn’t you react this way when I told you our parents died?” Fernando asked. “You had no reaction to it.”
“So are you saying that our sister doesn’t matter?!”
“I don’t remember her, ok? She left the house when I was seven.”
“Oscar I need to talk to you in private.” Chuck said standing up.
“Forget you man.” I said.
“Listen, son. I need to talk to you. Now.” Chuck said again with a serious face.
I stood up. I didn’t want to argue some more. He opened the door of the boxcar he was in. I looked behind me. I saw Fernando stare at me with an angry look, and Derrick opened the door of the walkway connecting the room that Mike was in to the boxcar. I hesitated for a second, but I got in.
“What is it?” I asked.
“I have to tell you two things.” Chuck said.
“Spit it out.” I said.
“You have to have a plan.”
“I do, it’s finding my sister.”
“And if you don’t?”
“I will.” I said grinding my teeth.
“Fine, I’ll just put the idea in your head. You’ll need a plan later.” Chuck said. “And if you want to find your sister you’ll have to teach Derrick and your brother to survive.”
“They’re just weak. Fernando can only kill few walkers before he breaks down, and Derrick is scared of every single one of them!”
“Well, you have to teach them how to man up. What if you die?”
“I wont.”
“Stop being stupid son. First is with your Sister and now you feel immortal? What I’m saying. You could be gone and you’ll leave your brother alone in hell?
Chuck did have a point, but I kept silent.
“They might be weak, but they are living, and the living kill the dead.” Chuck said.
“Is this all you wanted to talk about? I asked.
“Uh, no. I know I should’ve told you people when I first met you, but that Mike guy is a nut job.” Chuck said.
“What do you mean?” I asked squinting my eyes.
“Mike’s a killer.” Chuck said. He then spitted out the train.
I gaged. Just thinking about it almost made me barf.
“If he was a murderer…. Why are you still alive?” I asked.
“I found this train two days ago. I thought no one was in there, so I settled my things in this boxcar. Few hours later I saw a man with two women. They didn’t look alike. I had my suspicions and I cunningly spied on the guy, and I saw him killing the women.” Chuck said while staring at me.
At the moment I remember that Derrick just walked out of the door! I bursted out the door. Fernando looked at me if I was crazy.
“We have to stop Mike!” I said to Fernando.
“What? Why?” He asked.
“Chuck said he saw Mike kill two girls!” I shouted.
“Shit… Derrick just walked out there.” Fernando said looking at the door.
I opened the door.
“Squat down.” I said.
Mike’s door had a window, and I didn’t want to get caught. Derrick was no where to be found. I panicked some more. Should I panic? If Derrick is gone, I have one less person to worry about. Jesus, what am I thinking? I’m suppose to be the leader of this group, and I’m suppose to protect my people. I’m suppose to teach Derrick and Fernando how to survive, not just give up on them.
I pull out my gun.
“You’re going to shoot the guy?” Fernando asked.
“If it’s necessary.” I answered.
I opened the door. Mike was sitting on a sit whistling. He spins the chair around. On his hand he has Derrick’s collar from his shirt. I see Derrick on the floor unconscious with bruises on his face and a bloody nose.
“What the hell?” I shouted at Mike. “Why are you killing people?”
“I mean, look.” Mike starting talking with a smile on his face. “I’m fuckin’ sick and tired of those dead things roamin’ around. People die and then turn into one of those Roamers!” Mike shouted at us.
“Better kill em’ when they’re alive.”
Mike reached for his backpocket and flashed out at pocket knife.
“Wait, no!” Fernando shouted. “You can just let us go! Please don’t kill our friend!”
“No can do.” Mike replied. “If I let ya’ll go sooner of later ya’ll will die and come back!” Mike pointed at a picture hung in the wall. “See em’? That’s me, my kiddos, and my lovely wife. They died, because of those things! If I let ya’ll live you’ll kill someone’s loved ones!” Mike took a deep breath.
“NOW EXCUSE ME WHILE I KILL THIS FUCKER!!” Mike screamed like a maniac.
“NO!” I shouted!
I dropped my gun and reached for Mike’s hand. I saw the blade coming closer and closer to Derrick’s eye. In the corner of my eye I saw Fernando reaching for a lever around a bunch of buttons. As he pulled, the train made an immediate stop. I fell to the ground, and saw Mike’s chair spins around until Mike flies out his seat and crashed his head.
Everything was quite. I heard Fernando moan.
“You ok, Hermano?” I asked.
“Yeah, yeah just hit my arm pretty damn hard.” He said.
“Don’t cry, ok?” I said laughing.
“Shut up. Is Mike knocked out?” Fernando asked.
I grabbed the seat, so I could of stand up. I didn’t feel Mike in the seat. Derrick was still on the ground unconscious. I was surprised to see Mike’s head stuck in the window.
“Help me pull him out.” I told Fernando.
I grabbed Mike from his shoulder and his back.
“Ready?” Fernando asked.
“Yup.” I replied.
We both pulled, he was pretty stuck in there. He was obviously dead. As I pulled I see the glass scraping Mike’s skin off. We finally get him out and put him in his chair. I
“Holy crap. Look at the dent!” Fernando said looking surprised.
“Let’s just get off this train.” I said. “Now help me pick up Derrick and take him to Chuck.”
Fernando and I pulled Derrick and tossed his arms around our necks. As we leave we hear a dim sound coming out of a radio in the control room. I came closer to hear.
“If anyone hears this…” The voice was a bit rash. It was very hard to understand what the guy was saying.
“Meet me on highway 85.” That’s all what I could make out of. I ignore it.
We walked slowly. You could hear Derricks shoes drag. I see Chuck looking out the door’s window. He looks shocked.
“What did you men do?” He asked.
“Fernando pulled a lever and it stopped the train, almost killing us.” I said looking at Fernando.
“At least that killed that Mike.” Fernando talked back.
“Did Derrick get hurt by the sudden stop?” Chuck said looking at Derrick.
“No, Mike already beaten him up.” I answered.
“Ok, Oscar. I seen a group of survivors down this road. Few of them are from Save-Lots.” Chuck said giving me instructions.
“How do you know?” Fernando asked.
“They have shirts that say the name in big bold letters.” Chuck answered.
“Are you sure they can help us?” I asked Chuck.
“Not sure, but there has to be someone in that group with a heart.” Chuck said.
“You’re not coming with us?” I asked.
“Nope. I still have my house settled right in that boxcar.” Chuck chuckled.
"Alright then, I hope a group finds you... And thank you for your advice." I say smiling.
"Anytime, son." Chuck said.
Fernando removed Derricks hand off his shoulder, as well his guitar strap.
“Here.” Fernando said handing out his guitar to Chuck.
“Why don’t ya keep it?” Chuck asked.
“If you won't teach me, than no one else will.” Fernando explained.
Chuck grabbed the guitar. “Well, thanks son.” Chuck said with a smile. “I appreciate it.”
“Alright let’s go.” I said.
“Take care.” I hear Chuck.
The sun was slowly going down. Derrick is still unconscious. I look up in the sky and see smoke.
“Fernando, see that smoke?” I say to Fernando.
“Yeah, what about it?” He asks.
“We’re going there.” I said.
Survivor Proposes, Walker Disposes
Austin’s story 70/365
I take a deep breath. Surrounding me were a bunch of pine trees. The air was a bit cold, but with my black bubble jacket it didn’t bother me. My mother and the others are in the empty cabin we found. Samuel took me to look around the houses around the woods. Each house is about two-hundred feet away from each other. I look at the house in front of me. It’s painted light blue and the triangle shaped rooftop is black. As I walk closer I see that vines are taking over the house. I take out my pocket knife and cut through the vines. It wasn’t necessary, but I just wanted to use it.
I slowly open the door and step in. The stupid floor creaks.
“God dammit.” I mutter.
I wait for a few seconds if there was anything in the house that heard the creak. I decided to be brave.
“If anything is in here… You better come out!” I shout. Nothing? I guess I wont kill my first Risen, yet. I walk into the kitchen and start searching through the cabinets.
“Nothin’. Nothin’. Nothin’. “ I say to myself as I open each cabinet, and finding it empty.
After I find out that the kitchen has nothing I go upstairs.
There’s two rooms upstairs. One I imagine it was the parents bedroom, because it had a queen size bed and it was way bigger than the other room which was smaller. I went into that one. The room was painted red in one wall, blue on the other, yellow on another one, and green on the other wall. There was a wooden desk, next to it there was a bunk bed. I noticed that the top one was blood, but I ignored it. In the bottom one I see a box of crayons. I smile and grab it.
“Noah will like this.” I say to myself.
I run down the stairs, and closed the door. I start now following the trail of rocks that Dawn and I left. If you follow the rocks it’ll take you to the cabin we found. As I start walking I see Samuel two cans in his hands
“Samuel!” I shouted as I waved my hand.
“Were having dinner!” He said with a big smile on his face.
My tongue moves around my lips. We haven’t eaten in a while.
Samuel and I follow the trail of rocks. I’ve gotten to know his family after the incident. In the first days, Dawn was very shy around me and wouldn’t say a word. Until one day Samuel made us put a trail of rocks that leads to the cabin. It took us about a day, since we had to find rocks and make a trail out of them. We obviously needed to communicate to work together. Dawn is an outgoing girl once she’s comfortable with you. Dawn’s mom, Tiffany, doesn’t do much to help in my opinion, other than taking care of Noah. Noah is acts just as you would expect an 8 year old to act. Childish, but he became for quieter after the incident. At last Samuel is the leader of our group. He’s the one who tells us how we can help and teaches us how to survive. My mother though, she taught him how to shoot a gun.
The trail finally ended, and there it was the cabin. I saw my mother sitting outside the balcony. Her faces lights up when she sees me. My mother quickly walks up to me.
“Goodness, Austin. I was getting worried.” She says as pats my head.
“Hey, Mom.” I reply.
“Eh, Samantha… Where’s Tiffany and the others?” Samuel asks.
“Tiffany and Dawn were going to put Noah to sleep.” My mother answered.
As Samuel past us he said “Were having beans tonight.”
My mom smiled. “I haven’t eaten in days.”
She then put her hand in my backpack.
“You didn’t find anything?” She asks.
“No food, but I found crayons for Noah.” I reply.
“He’ll be happy.” She says.
We quickly catch up to Samuel who opened the door for us. As we enter I see Dawn looking out the window and turns to us.
“You guys finally came back!” She says with joy. She stoods up the chair almost making the chair fall into the floor, and hugged her dad.
“Hey, girl.” Samuel says.
“Dad, I thought that something happened to you guys..” Dawn says.
“We’re fine.” I say.
She lets go of her dad and hugged me tightly. I feel her breast press into my chest. I wanted to let go, because her dad was there and she told me how her dad is super protective over her.
I awkwardly stood there while she was hugging me. She let go and giggled.
I looked back at my mom and she gave me a slight grin.
“Well, this is weird.” I say under my breath.
I went into Noah’s room. I saw Tiffany look over Noah.
“We’re back!” I say. Tiffany gives out a big gasp as she sees me.
“Oh gosh! I didn’t know you were back.” She says as she exhales.
“I brought some crayons for Noah.” I say
“Oh, Austin. I don’t know how to thank you.” Tiffany says.
“No, no it was nothing. You should really thank your husband. We are finally eating today.” I say.
Tiffany gives out a smile and shakes Noah.
“Noah, wake up. Austin has a surprise for you.” Tiffany says.
Noah slowly stoods up from his bed and looks at me, then looks down at my hand.
“Crayons!” He shouts. He jumps out the bed and grabs them.
“Thank you, Austin!” Noah says as he hugs me around my waist.
“Just for you.” I reply.
Hours later Tiffany gives out plates and servers us each and everyone of us beans. The portion that Tiffany gave us didn't fill the plate; since Samuel only found two cans. We begin to eat with plastic spoons we found inside the cabin."We can't stay here much longer." Samuel said."What? Why not?" Tiffany asked.
"Mom, Dad and Austin already checked all the houses around here." Dawn tells her mom.
“She’s right, honey.” Samuel agreed.
Tiffany gave out a sigh. “And I was just getting used to this cabin.”
“We can’t get used to any place anymore.” My mother joined the conversation. “There will always be a reason why we leave. No more food, the Risen ruin everything, or someone messes up.”
I know she’s talking about me.
“When are we leaving then, Daddy?” Noah asked.
“I think we should wait until day. We can’t see Risen or other survivors at this time.” Samuel says.
“Mommy! I can’t see my beans; It’s too dark.” Noah shouts.
“Quite down, Noah.” Dawn shushed him.
The cabin is dark. We have no flashlights or candles. We can only see where the moonlight is shining, just about it. Samuel and my mother take shifts in the nights to warn the people who are sleeping if an intruder or a Risen try to get in the cabin. I try to let my mom rest, but she won’t let me, which I understand. I feel that my mother has lost all the trust she had with me. After everyone finishes they go to sleep except Samuel.
I wake up, expecting sunlight to shine in my eyes. I was wrong. I wake up by the loud banging at the door."Samuel?" I shout. I don't hear a voice replying to me.I quickly look around it's hard to see. By each punch in the door I get more nervous. Should I take them out? Should I call for help? Last time it didn't end will with me alone so I try to find the others.
"MOM! SAMUEL! SOMEONE WAKE UP!" I scream as loud as can.
"Austin!?" someone finally says, Mother.
"Mom! Quick grab a gun! Something is trying to get in!" I shout.
Shortly after I hear Noah crying, that'll wake the others up.
"We have to get out of here!" Mother says.
"What about the others?!" I ask.
CCCRAACK
"I'll go look for Dawn, Noah, and Tiffany! You go look for Samuel!" I hear my mother scream.
I don't know where Samuel could be! Could he be upstairs or by the door? I run out of my room to see what exactly is doing this. As I get out I see Samuel in the couch, the moonlight hitting his face. I quickly go to him.
"Sam! Samuel, wake up!" I shout. Samuel slowly opens his eyes. It takes him a few seconds to realize what's going on.
"What's the hell is going on!?" He asked. I look behind my back. A rotten hand breaks the door's window.
"Risen!" I shout.
"Austin, hand me something to kill these Risen!" Samuel shouted. The only thing I could give him was my pocket knife. I couldn't it was the only thing I had from my dad.
"Ughh I don't know!" I shouted. You could finally hear the growls of Risen coming inside.
"You're going to get us all killed like you did before!" Samuel shouted at me. He is right...
I gave him my pocket knife.
"Did your mom know that you had a knife?" Samuel says, but quickly snatched it away from me. I heard footsteps coming down the stairs.
"Austin, did you find Samuel?" My mother asked. Tiffany, holding Noah and Dawn were behind her
"Yeah! He's killing Risen with... A knife I found." I lied.
"There's probably more Risen outside now." Dawn says.
"Samantha!" We finally hear Samuel. "Better get out your gun, 'cause this isn't going to end well!"
We all run where Samuel is. I gasped when I see Samuel on the floor holding the door that dropped on him while Risen are trying to get in.
"DADDY!!!" I hear Noah scream, getting the Risen's attention. I hear a shot in the left ear. My mother is shooting the Risen. I quickly go and pull Samuel out the door that he's trapped in. A Risen is about to attack Samuel, but he pushes it to the other Risen causing them to fall down.
"Pass me your gun, Samantha!" Samuel shouted. My mother threw the gun, but didn't throw it far enough. It landed in my feet, I grabbed it and gave it to Samuel. Samuel started shooting the Risen that were on the floor.
"Come on everyone! Let's get out!"
Mother grabbed my hand and behind us were the others. We stepped on the rotten bodies. I looked back and Tiffany hesitated to walk over the bodies. Dawn jumped over the bodies where we were.
"Mom! Come on! We don't have time for this!" Shouted Dawn.
"I-I can't!" Tiffany replied back.
"Ugh, Austin help me move the bodies for Tiffany." Mom says.
I grab one of the Risen by the shoulders. Smells horrible... No surprise there. I grab another one by it's arm and pull it out of the stairs.
"What's taking so long!?" Samuel shouted somewhere in the woods.
"Mom wont walk over the dead bodies!" Dawn shouted at her dad. I see more Risen coming behind my mom.
"Mom! There are more of them behind you!" I scream.
"Tiffany come down now!" Mom tells Tiffany.
Tiffany quickly comes down with Noah in her arms. Samuel is finally on sight and we run to him.
"We have to fucking go quick! There's going to be a damn parade of Risen if we stay here!" Samuel says.
"How they did know we were in the cabin?" I ask. "Risen can't track... Can they?"
"No one made a sound in the cabin, I don't know how they knew." Dawn added.
"We'll talk about it later!" Samuel replies.
We ran, and ran, I don't know where exactly Samuel is taking us, but we followed him. The forest seemed to be filled with Risen at every corner. We all finally got out of the woods and were on a road. There were a bunch of cars and what seemed to be a prison bus. Far away there was a gas station called "Gil's Pitstop". It was still pretty dark and we were out in the open. I saw Risen coming at us from very far away.
"Alright, let's see if there's a working car around here. If not we will have to run to that pitstop over there." Samuel says.
My mom and I went to look for working cars up front while Samuel and his family started looking for at the cars in the other end. Most of the cars were locked, but the one's that were open didn't have keys.
"Mom, what are we going to do?" I asked her.
"It's going to be fine" She says in a hopeful voice.
I open another car and it feels that all my worries are gone.
"Mom! I found a car with keys!" I tell her. She's two cars away from me and she quickly comes.
I sit down in the car seat. Gas is half empty. I hear the steps of my mom coming closer. then behind my ear I hear the car seat move. I slowly turn around and see a rotten hand coming at my face! It grabs me with such force for a rotten Risen. I think this is it. The Risen pulls my head close to his mouth that I can smell it's disgusting breath. I try to pull but with it's other hand it pulls me closer and harder.
"HELP!!!" I scream trying to pull it's arms away from me. I don't feel a bite. What I do hear is my mother screaming in pain. I didn't feel the fingers of the Risen digging in my face. Instead the Risen is ripping the flesh out of my mom's hand.
"Mom?!" I shriek. I see my mom grab her gun with her right hand and shoot the Risen in the head.
"What happened!?" I hear Samuel's voice close by.
My mom sits on the concrete floor crying. I sit next to her hugging her tightly.
"It's going to be ok. It's going to be ok." Mom keeps repeating. Samuel and his family are finally seen.
"Oh crap." Samuel says as he takes his belt off. Dawn and Tiffany gasp when they see my mom. Noah is still crying.
Samuel puts his belt around my mom's arm and tightens it.
"We will have to cut your hand off!" Samuel says. I froze for a bit.
"No, no. I can't hold more pain..." My mom disagrees.
"You're not going to live! Listen to you! You have a son to take care of. Please, Samantha, I'm giving you another chance!" Shouts Samuel. He gets out my pocket knife and looks at me.
"You have to hold your mother. If she moves a lot I might hurt her more." Samuel says.
I do as he says. Samuel and I switch postions. My mom hugs me tightly.
"I love you Austin, always remember that." My mom tells me.
"Mom, please we are all going to get out of this." I tell her.
"AAAAAHH!!" My mom screams. "NO, PLEASE STOP!" She screams some more. I worry, because Risen will definitely come now.
I dig my face deep into my mom's shoulder. She suddenly stops screaming. She passed out. I turn to see Samuel and I see my mom's left hand on the floor in a pool of blood. Samuel rips a part of his shirt with my knife and covers my mom's wound. I turn around and ten feet away I see about seven Risen coming towards us.
"Alright everyone get in!" Shouts Samuel. Samuel opens the door, pulls the dead Risen out of the car, and grabs my mom to put her in the backseat. Dawn gets in with my mom, and Tiffany goes in the front seat with Noah on her arms. I start to open the trunk of the car. Samuel gets on the car and tries to turn on the car. It doesn't. Samuel tries again, but it doesn't work. The Risen see me.
"Fuck!" Samuel says in frustration. I look at my mom, and Dawn looks at me. I reach into my pockets and pull out her poem.
"Here, I found it on the floor on the parking lot." I say. She unfolds it and gives me a puzzled look.
"Why are you giving me this now?" She asks. I don't reply. I reach to my mom's bag and grab the gun that I took from the police officer.
"What are you doing, Austin?!" Dawn asks. I close the car's trunk and go to Samuel's seat. I snatch my pocket knife that was in his lap.
"What do you think you're doing?" Says Samuel trying to turn on the car.
"I'll try to distract them, try to turn on the car!" I shout.
"Your mom wont like this!" Samuel replies.
"I don't want anyone to die anymore." I say. "Go to the gas station over there when you turn the car on. I'll distract them."
Samuel gives me a long stare.
"Please be careful." he says.
I put the knife in my pocket. I grab the gun with both my hands. The Risen growl and start pacing faster. I take a deep breath and aim for the head. I shoot and it hits the Risen in the shoulder. I shoot again and it shoots it the mouth. I shoot again and finally hits the forehead. One down six to go. I start shooting again and I miss a few times, I shoot another one in the eye.
"Five left." I say under my breath. I pull the trigger again, but nothing comes out. I freak out for a second, but I remember that I have my pocket knife. I flash it out and run towards the Risen. I push one to the floor and stab it in the eye. Blood splatters in my face. I try to get up, but a Risen rips through my bubble jacket with it's nails. I loose my balance and I almost fall down. I turn around to push the Risen away, but it's already in the floor. I open my eyes to see and german shepherd, biting the Risen's legs. I turn around to fight off the other Risen. I stab another Risen in the neck. It's trying to bite my nose, but I push him down into the ground and stab him some more. I ripped pretty much all his neck that it isn't attached to his head anymore, but is still growling. I kick the Risen's head into the forest. I get goosebumps when I heard the dog give out a cry. The other Risen that was coming towards me was biting into the dog's leg. I dash towards the dog, but I trip and fall in the ground. The fallen Risen grabbed my ankle. I started kicking it's face with my other leg, but a bullet killed him. I heard shots coming behind me. I turn around and I see three men. One is African American, another one looks a older than the others, and the last one is staring at the dog.
"Ace... No..." I hear him say.
"What are we going to do with this kid?" The African American guy asks.
"We're taking him to Crawford." The old man with a gravelly voice says.
"No, you can't! See that car? That-" I pointed realizing there was no car anymore.
"I think this kid is hallucinating." The older man says.
"My name's Frank." Frank pats my back. "It's almost sunrise and we don't want to stay out here in the open. We will take you to safety." I push him.
"I'm not going no where!" I shout at them.
"Kid, I don't want to deal with this shit." The older man says. He reaches for my hand, but I point my pocket knife.
"Let me go, or I'll kill you." I threaten him.
"Kids these days." The older man says. He grabs his gun and with it knocks me out into the concrete floor.
Crumbling
Ellis’ story 71/365
The sunrise was starting to come out. I, Frank, and Melvin were running back to our truck. In my hands was Ace, bleeding to death. A Walker tore up his leg pretty bad. I could tell he was glad to see me since all he did is lick my hand... Or maybe saying his goodbyes. I didn't worry much about the bite, because all our other K-9's in the prison got bit, but it didn't affect them.
We had also found this boy. He killed a group of Walkers with only a pocket knife. He threaten Melvin, but Melvin didn't take none of the kid's shit and knocked him out with the back of his AKM. Frank and Melvin had an argument, because of it. The boy was in Frank's arms. The kid is pretty much covered in blood, and his jacket is destroyed. I'm guessing Ace saw that the kid was in trouble and wanted to save him, but got himself wounded in the process.
The truck was finally in our sight. Frank went behind the truck's trunk and rested the boy on his back next to him. I was opening the car door until Melvin stopped me.
“Let the dog go. Mr. Oberson said you couldn’t bring animals to Crawford. ” He glared at me.
“Melvin, Ace is dying!” I shout.
“That’s your dog, not mine.” He replied. “I’ll kill him if you don’t.”
“Melvin, this dog... This dog is the only thing I have to remember my son!” I yelled at him.
“You have to let go!” Melvin yelled back. “For all we know your wife and son are fucking dead!”. When Melvin said those words, I felt something inside me. Anger. Rage. I placed Ace on the floor, and punched Melvin in the face, and tackled him into the ground. He tried to punch me back, but I grabbed his fist and punched him again. I was ready to give him another punch, but Frank grabbed my fist.
“It’s not worth it, man. I think Melvin had enough.” Frank said. I stared at Melvin. He had an open cut on his cheek and his nose was bleeding. I stood up and walked up to Ace. I pulled out my Glock and stared at him in the eyes.
“I’m sorry, Ace.” I said. “Thanks for protecting us.” And I pulled the trigger.
I finished my spaghetti on the school's lunchroom, and decided to visit the boy. Each time I was in Crawford, I was in peace. Everyone is in peace. We don't have to worry about Walkers killing our loved ones... Or the living killing our love ones. I was walking up the stairs of the school. People gave me a smile each time I made eye contact with them, probably because they feel much safer with police officers in the building to protect them. I finally got to the door and stopped right there.
I saw Hank in his deathbed. There were a lot of elderly people in Crawford, such as Vernon, who used to be diagnosed with cancer. I spot Logan locking up the locker that has all the medicines we need. He looks at me a bit surprised.
"Oh, didn't hear you coming." Logan says.
"How's Hank?" I ask.
"He's.... Well, he is gone." Logan looks at him. I go to and lift up the blanket over Hank.
"And, how's the boy?" I ask.
"He's fine. He is well rested and should wake up soon." Logan said as he put his palm in the boy's forehead.
"I think I should wake him up." Logan suggested.
"Don't worry, I'll do it." I said as I walked to the boy. I grabbed the boy by the shoulder and shook him. Logan and I waited. The boy slowly opened his eyes.
“Ouch, my head hurts.” He said rubbing his forehead.
“Don’t worry, I’ll get you a pack of ice.” Logan said as he walked up the the mini refrigerator. The boy looked around some more.
“W-where am I?” He asked. “Where the hell am I? Why did you guys take me here!?” He yelled.
“Hey, it’s ok. You are safe here.” I tried to calm him down.
“I need you to take me back to my group! They might be in danger.” He said.
“I wish we could, but we don’t have a lot of gas, and we need Oberson’s permission.” I said.
The boy stayed silent. He then looked around.
“Where's my knife?” He said.
“It's in the armory. Did you find it somewhere?" I ask.
"No, my father gave it to me before he died in a car crash five days before this whole world went to hell." He said with a frown.
Logan came and put the ice pack on the boy's head. He had a bruise caused by Melvin when he hit the boy in the head.
"I need the knife, it's the only thing I have left from my dad." He said. Did I ever give anything to my son before the apocalypse? No, I didn't.
"We'll get it later, ok?" I said. "What's your name?"
"It's Austin." The boy named Austin said. "What's yours?"
"Ellis." I said.
The boy got off the bed and looked at Hank. He kept staring.
"Is he someone you knew or something?" Logan asked.
"Is he dead?" Austin said while still staring at him. "If he is, he will turn." He said looking at me.
"What? He wasn't bit!" Logan told Austin.
"The bite is not the only thing that does it. No matter how you die you WILL come back." Austin said in a serious tone.
"How can we know you're right?" I asked.
"The first Risen I found was a cop. Only had a bullet on his chest. Seconds later he grabbed my leg and tried to eat me." Austin said closing his eyes. "
That's how I got-"
He stopped and turned to me again.
"Did you find a gun in me?" Austin asked.
"I did." I replied.
"I got it from that cop." He said. "But, anyways we can wait and see if he's going to turn, because he will turn."
"If this is true." Logan said. "Then we have to report this to Mr. Oberson."
There was a knock on the door.
"Come in." Logan said. It was Frank. He looked happy to see Austin. He rose his hands up.
"You ain't gonna stab me, right?" Frank asked as he chuckled.
"I just wanted to get with my group. And no, you and Ellis were the only nice guys, except that old guy." Austin said.
"Hey, Frank. Can you give a tour to Austin? Y'know, so he wont get lost?" I asked.
"Yeah, sure. Come on buddy." Frank said leading the way. Austin gave one last look at Hank and left with Frank.
"What are we going to do?" Logan asked.
"Wait, we should tie him up to something, so he doesn't get us off guard." I said.
"Shouldn't we tell the people?" Logan suggests. He opens a cabinet and grabs a roll of duckt tape.
"No, we don't want to disturb the peace. We should keep it low for a while." I said.
Logan sighed. “ Eugene Porter was a co-worker of mine. He was a high school science teacher, he probably would know what caused this.”
“To tell you the truth. I don’t think no one knows what caused this.” I said.
A good thirty minutes passed. The kid was right. Hank was starting to moan and move."Oh fuck." Logan said taking out his survival knife. He went up to Hank. Hank struggled to move and tried to bite Logan.
“Don’t do it!” I yell. Logan turns back to me with a confused look on his face
I got out of the nursing facility and went straight to Mr. Oberson’s office, which was in the principal’s room. I knocked on his door.
“Come on in.” He said. I open the door and sit down in one of his chairs. His desk was filled with papers with arrows and little sentences. Next to them he had a huge map of Savannah. Mr. Oberson noticed me looking at his papers.
“I’m making a new routine for our scavengers.” He said. “Did you come to tell me something or just keep me company?” He asked while he was writing some notes.
“Hank died.” I said. He stopped writing for a second.
“Hank is our first death in Crawford then. We’ll do a service tomorrow.” Mr. Oberson said.
“That’s not the whole thing. That boy we brought in, Austin has told us very critical information that we needed.” I said.
“How can a boy give us ‘critical’ information?” Mr. Oberson asked, he looked at me. I caught his attention.
“Apparently you don't need a bite to become a Walker." I said.
"Excuse me?" Mr. Oberson asked. "This has to be a joke!"
"I wouldn't joke about that, sir." I said.
"Well, do you have any evidence?" He asked.
"Hank. Hank's the evidence. He's a Walker." I said.
Mr. Oberson stormed out of his office into the Nurse's Station. I noticed that some people were surprised to see Crawford in a hurry. I followed him. He stared in shock at Hank. Hank was still trying to break free.
"Give me something to kill it." Mr. Oberson said. Logan quickly gave Mr. Oberson his survival knife. Mr. Oberson stabbed Hank in the eye, and the pressed it deep into the brain. He then pulled it out and gave it to Logan.
"What are we going to do?" Logan asked.
"We will have to get rid of some people." Crawford said leaving the room.
Ellis’ story 56/365
"Man, I really miss that truck." Melvin said.
"We haven't seen a living soul in a month." Frank said. "We're damn lucky to have these weapons."
"I agree." I said to Frank. " Let's not forget about Ace protecting us all these nights from Walkers."
We've been walking for a long time. There were a lot of Walkers preventing us to move south. We followed some train tracks and it led us where we wanted to be, Savannah.
"You know," I broke the silence. "There aren't many Walkers around here."
"Yup, I noticed too." Melvin said. "Ace hasn't been alarmed by anything since we got here."
I looked at Ace. I feel bad for the dog. He's been taking care of us, but we don't have enough food for him.
The city was pretty much silent. We could only hear our footsteps. What the hell happened to the Walkers I thought. We finally got to the doc.
"Holy fuck, there's a boat!" Melvin said with a proud tone.
"But, do we know it works?" I said.
Melvin didn't respond and quickly jogged up to the boat and hopped in.
"Does this thing need keys?" Frank asked.
"Nope, you just need to push the start button" Melvin replied.
As Melvin pressed the button I heard a car's engine coming closer.
"Frank get inside the boat, now!" I told him. "Ace keep it down." I commanded Ace.
Frank and I got inside the boats. The engine suddenly stopped.
"Hey, keep it down you guys. There are some of those Lurkers over the other block. We don't want to waste any bullets."
I was shocked to hear a different voice. I turned to Ace and I could tell he had the sudden to run to them, but I hold him by his vest.
"Mr. Oberson, we need a new engine. Can we check over the docs to see if there's a boat with an engine?"
"Ellis is your SIG loaded?" Melvin asked.
I quickly checked.
"Yes, it is." I responded.
"How about your colt, Frank?" Melvin asked.
"Just a couple of bullets." Frank responded with a frown on his face.
"Hello, gentlemen. May I ask why you're hiding?" A man said while pointing a mossberg at me.
Ace quickly started growling, but I kept a grip.
"Shh, calm down, Ace." I said.
"Hmm, impressive. I haven't seen an animal of any kind in months." The man said.
"Hey, man put your gun down." Frank spoke up. "We don't want any trouble we've tried to get here to get a boat and get the Walkers off our backs."
"Hmm, you call them Walkers. I must admit that's a pretty good name." The man said with a smirk.
The man put his shotgun down and reached for Melvin's hand.
"My people call me Mr. Oberson." the man said. "But, my first name is Crawford."
"Your people?" I asked.
"Yes, we have a civilization northwest from here." Crawford said.
Melvin laughed. "Well, you beat us to it." He said.
Crawford had a puzzled look on his face.
Frank, Melvin and I stood up. Ace was finally calm around Crawford.
"Were police officers." I told Crawford. "From West Georgia Correctional Facility. We were trying to find people and take them to safety, but as Melvin said. You beat us to it."
"You know, there is a lot of people in Crawford who don't know how to use weapons.. How about you come to Crawford and you can teach my people some basic classes?" Crawford asked.
"You called your community Crawford? Well, that's creative in my book." Melvin laughed.
"Yes, yes I know, but will you accept my offer?" Crawford said with a serious tone.
Frank, Melvin and I looked at each other. We all nodded. We got off the boat and started walking towards the truck.
"Mr. Oberson who are they?" a young man asked.
"That's right, I didn't ask for your names did I?" Crawford turned around.
"My name is Ellis"
"Name's Melvin."
"Frank."
There were only two people in the truck.
"What were you guys doing here anyways?" Frank asked.
"We were going to kill some Lurkers in the other side of the city. It took us a few months to make this part of the city safe, but they sometimes come back again." The young man said.
"Well, were glad to help out." I said while getting in the truck. "Come on Ace, it's ok."
"Oh, Ellis." Crawford said. "I'm very sorry, but we can't have your dog in Crawford.
I looked back at Crawford.
"No, you can't be serious." I said.
"We can't just give food to a dog. We have a lot of people that need food." Crawford said.
“Ace is a trained guard dog. He can help scavenge and guard Crawford. Ace has been taking care of us when we needed to sleep. I beg you Mr.Oberson.”
Crawford sighed. “If you really want to be with your dog, then you can, but you can’t be in Crawford. You choose.”
Frank patted my back. “I know it’s going to be hard to let Ace go, but I know he took care of us, and I bet he can take care of himself. He’s dealt with Walkers and Ace has an amazing scent to find food. He can survive without you.”
I looked at Ace and I rushed my fingers around his dirty fur.
“You guys go ahead.” I tell them. “I’ll say my goodbyes.”
As I get out of the truck Crawford says “Remember, Crawford is Northwest from here, alright?” I nodded. The young man behind the truck hands me a baseball bat.
“There might be a few Lurkers and Mr. Oberson says it’s better to use hand weapons, so we don’t attract Lurkers from the other side of Savannah.”
“Thanks.” I say grabbing the baseball bat.
“Don’t take too long.” Crawford said while turning on the truck. “The sun is going down.”
The truck drove away. Ace looked at me while his head was tilted.
“I’m sorry Ace, I wish I could take you with us.” I said
I remember when Ace was just a puppy. It was before I worked at the prison. I bought Ace for my son. My son loved Ace and I bet Ace loved him too. After I decided I wanted to upgrade and go work to the prison, I decided Ace should be trained to be a K-9, and took him away from my son. I've taken away a lot of things away from my son, such as myself. Ace was my son’s main source of happiness and I took that away from him. Now… Ace is being taken away from me.
I look at his ribs. I search my pockets. A package with some beef jerky and in my other hand a half empty crumbled water bottle. I gave him the beef jerky and he started eating it as if he hasn't eaten in forever, which is kind of true. After he finishes he sniffs my pocket. Probably to look for more food, but slowly backs off realizing that there isn't any left. I open up the water bottle and open my palm. I pour the water into my palm while Ace is drinking it it off my palm. I crush the water bottle and shape it into a circle shape.
“Ace…” I say. Still crushing the water bottle. “Catch!”
I throw the crushed water bottle seven feet away. Ace runs for it and runs back to me.
“No!” I shout. Ace quickly stops and drops the crushed water bottle. “Stay and don’t follow me, ok?” Ace just stares at me, with his tail under his legs.
“I know there’s more survivors out there. Go find them, and show them how worthy you are. They’ll take care of you.” I tell Ace.
I turn around, and still hearing small steps. “NO!” I scream. “Ace I command you to go away!”
I start walking again. No steps behind me anymore. I jog to Crawford. I finally see a Walker. I stretch out my arms with a bat in my hand, and started running to it. The Walker slowly turns and I bash it’s head with the baseball bat. Apparently I hit the Walker so hard that it twisted its head causing his head to be looking behind his back. It falls on the ground. I lift up my foot and stomp on its head. It’s good to let some anger out.
I jog again until I reach an high school. There’s people walking like… normal. As if there isn't people who rose up from the dead in this world. There were also a few people with guns. More further there was other buildings. Out of the sudden there was light shining at my eyes, and I hear laughter "You finally came!" . “Melvin.” I muttered. When I open my eyes I see Crawford in front of me.
“I'm glad you chose to come. I welcome you to Crawford.” He says with a smirk on his face.
Guitar
Oscar’s story 32/365
"Hey," Fernando said as he grabbed my shoulder. "Do you know how to play guitar?" he asked.
"Heh, nope." I replied. Fernando slowly stopped walking and turned to Derrick.
"How bout' you, Derrick?" he asked. Derrick didn't answer.
"Hey, man are you ok?" I asked. Derrick slowly rose his head.
"Oh, sorry.... you guys were talking to me?" Derrick said. Fernando quickly chuckled.
"Well, apparently nobody knows. Por favor! There has to be someone who knows!" Fernando said.
Derrick really gives me the creeps sometimes. He is kinda of his own little fantasy land he doesn't know his surroundings. We passed by Athens. Of course the city was filled with Biters, but anyways. There was a small group trying to survive. They gave us some food and of course, my little brother's guitar. Probably it would of been better if we left Derrick there.
"Look, Derrick." I said patting his back. "We're going to get out of this forest and rest for a while, you can gather your thoughts, and Fernando can learn how to use that guitar. Alright?"
" I wish that it could be that way, Oscar." Derrick said.
I didn't say anything. I was tired of his shit. Always being melancholy. I think it's what happened in his camp that we found him. Each day he gets more depressed.
We walked a bit more. It was a sunny day and I looked down. My jeans and boots were covered in dirt. I don't really mind, since it's always been like that since I was a kid.
"Do you guys hear that?" Derrick spoke up. I stopped Fernando from walking. We stood there for a few seconds.
"Is that water dripping?" Fernando said, his face lighting up. "Hell man, I'm fucking thirsty."
"The sound's coming from the left. Fernando give me your gun." I said.
"Nah, man I got this." Fernando said. He gave the guitar to Derrick. "Take care of it ok?"
Fernando quickly ran trough the bushes.
"God dammit Fernando." I said in a harsh tone."Come on, Derrick keep up."
We followed the footsteps that Fernando left in the ground.
"Fernando! Where are you?!" I shouted.
"I think he's right here." A rash voiced said. "Turn around or all shot ya'll".
I slowly turned around, I saw Derrick, and he became so pale. I saw Fernando struggling to move, the asshole was behind him with his arm around his head.
"Look we have food in these backpacks, deal?" I tried to persuade him.
"Err, is this one yer lil' brother?" The old fuck said. "I know that other guy ain't Mexican."
The guy threw my brother on the ground.
"Teach yer brother to not sneak up on someone when their the middle of pissin'"
My brother quickly stood up and pointed the gun at him.
"You'll regret what you fucking did, asshole!" My brother shouted at him.
"You don't have the damn balls, son. Look it's the freakin' apocalypse and I have my rights to be alarmed." The man said. "Name's Mike.... Mike Anderson." He said.
Fernando slightly turned his head , probably asking for permission to shoot Mike. I just snatched the pistol from him and shook my head.
"Ya'll lookin' for ride?” Mike asked us.
“You have a vehicle?” Derrick asked with a surprised expression.
“Better, a freakin’ train.” Mike said with a big smile.
“Where are you heading?” I asked the guy.
“Train’s heading towards a small town called Macon.” Mike answered.
“Are we seriously going to trust this guy?” Fernando turned around. “This pendejo almost shot my head!”
“Show us the train.” I said ignoring Fernando. I heard Fernando mumble something, but I didn’t give two shits, he shouldn’t have just ran like if he was the hero in the group.
We followed the man. I was actually impressed. The train in the front was black with number 4070 on the left and on the right. Behind it there were other red boxcars.
“Where are we going to sit?” Derrick asked Mike.
“In the floor, this ain’t a passenger train.” Mike replied. Derrick looked down in disappointed.
Mike went up the ladder on the side of the train. We followed him and entered a room which I guess was the control room.
“This seems complicated.” I said.
“How do you even turn this thing on?” Fernando asked.
“Got everything on this notepad.” Mike said while holding the yellow notepad. “Make yourself at home, make sure you close the door.
We all walked to the red boxcar. The train started moving we all kind of lost our balance.
“Well, I’m going to sleep.” I said yawning.
“Yeah, I guess I’ll do that too. My legs are killing me.” Derrick said dropping his orange backpack down. “Here’s your guitar, Fernando.”
“Seriously? You guys are going to sleep? I’m going to try this guitar out.” Fernando said.
“Sure, whatever.” I said. “Just go to the other cart and come out until you learn how to use it.”
“Alright.” Fernando said opening the door.
I finally closed my eyes, I haven’t gotten a wink in days. I was daydreaming about my parents. I was an accident, I wasn’t suppose to be born. My own mom wanted an abortion as she told me when I grew up. My parents were so harsh on me when I was a teenager, but with Sofia and Fernando they were like normal American parents. Bah, I guess since I was the oldest I had to grow up fast.
I heard a slight screech. I opened an eye and it was Fernando tiptoeing towards me and started shaking.
“Wake up hermano.” He whispered
“What is it?”
“There’s an old guy back there. I don’t know if he’s alive.”
“What do you mean you don’t know he’s alive?”
“He’s all dirty as if he’s been there a while.”
“Alright.” I said. “Give me a hand.”
Fernando grabbed my hand and I stood up. I peeked in the room. Fernando was right, there was a old man, he seemed that he was on his mid fifties. He had a red shirt and a light brown jacket. He also had brown gloves, and he was wearing khakis.
“What should we do with him?” Fernando whispered.
“I guess we should throw him out, he’ll rotten here.” I said.
“Why would he be here anyways? Why didn’t Mike throw him out?” Fernando asked.
“Can you men keep it down? I’m trying to sleep down here.”
Fernando and I quickly looked at the man.
“You’re alive?” Fernando asked.
“Does it look like I’m dead?” The old man said.
“What’s your name?” I asked.
“Chuck, but if ya’ll fancy you can call me Charles.” Chuck said standing up. “Is it only you too?”
“No, there’s this other dude with us.” Fernando answered.
Chuck walked away from us and opened the door of the boxcar we were in. He then put his hand behind his back and started walking around us.
“You play guitar, boy?” Chuck asked Fernando. “I love playin’ guitar.”
“Heh, I’ve been asking’ everyone I seen if they could teach me. Can you?” Fernando asked.
“Eh, I’m a lil’ rusty, it’s been fourteen years since I’ve have played guitar.” Chuck said.
“Woah, why not?” Fernando asked.
“I became homeless after me and my wife had some problems leading up into a divorce. Couldn’t pay the child support, so she sued me and I became homeless for fourteen years.”
This man has been struggling more than I struggled. Chuck looked in the corner that Derrick was sleeping in. He slowly walked up to him and kneeled down.
“Hey son, wake up.” Chuck said.
Derrick opened his eyes.
“Woah, who are you?” He asked.
“What exactly are you doing, Chuck?” I asked him.
“I want to know your stories, y’know.” He said. “Come on, son. Spit it out.”
“Well, you better take a seat, cause it’s going to be a long story.” I said to Chuck.
We all sat down on the wooden floor. I started telling Chuck how Fernando and I were from Chicago. I told him in the first days we’ve hid in a mall in a suburb. We’ve had a small group, but I decided that we couldn’t stay here and that we had to look for our sister. I also told him how when we met Derrick.
“How ‘bout you Derrick?” Chuck asked.
“Well, I am from South Carolina. When it all started me and my friends were going camping, obviously it wasn’t the best day to go camping. We managed to survive without weapons until one night when we were all sleeping, the Biters sneaked in the camp. I was the only one that survived… I ran…When I came back they… They...” Derrick was breaking down.
“Alright, alright I heard enough.” Chuck said. “We’ve all had traumatic experiences, but in your situation Derrick you couldn’t have done nothing. As you said, you and your friends didn’t have weapons. If you tried to help you would of gotten yourself killed.”
Chuck wasn’t right. Derrick could of saved his people, but I guess Chuck was trying to make him feel better.
“So, do you guys have a plan?” Chuck asked.
“Yeah, remember? I said that we’re going to look for our sister, Sofia.” I answered Chuck.
“I mean a real plan.” Chuck said.
“What the hell are you saying?” I said in a serious tone.
“You said that your sister is all the way in Florida right? Do you think she would of stayed there? Do you think she’s even alive?”
“You better watch your fuckin, mouth old man!” I shouted.
“Oscar calm down, man.” Fernando said behind me.
“Calm down? This old fuck is saying our sister is dead! It’s our sister!” I shouted at Fernando.
“Why didn’t you react this way when I told you our parents died?” Fernando asked. “You had no reaction to it.”
“So are you saying that our sister doesn’t matter?!”
“I don’t remember her, ok? She left the house when I was seven.”
“Oscar I need to talk to you in private.” Chuck said standing up.
“Forget you man.” I said.
“Listen, son. I need to talk to you. Now.” Chuck said again with a serious face.
I stood up. I didn’t want to argue some more. He opened the door of the boxcar he was in. I looked behind me. I saw Fernando stare at me with an angry look, and Derrick opened the door of the walkway connecting the room that Mike was in to the boxcar. I hesitated for a second, but I got in.
“What is it?” I asked.
“I have to tell you two things.” Chuck said.
“Spit it out.” I said.
“You have to have a plan.”
“I do, it’s finding my sister.”
“And if you don’t?”
“I will.” I said grinding my teeth.
“Fine, I’ll just put the idea in your head. You’ll need a plan later.” Chuck said. “And if you want to find your sister you’ll have to teach Derrick and your brother to survive.”
“They’re just weak. Fernando can only kill few walkers before he breaks down, and Derrick is scared of every single one of them!”
“Well, you have to teach them how to man up. What if you die?”
“I wont.”
“Stop being stupid son. First is with your Sister and now you feel immortal? What I’m saying. You could be gone and you’ll leave your brother alone in hell?
Chuck did have a point, but I kept silent.
“They might be weak, but they are living, and the living kill the dead.” Chuck said.
“Is this all you wanted to talk about? I asked.
“Uh, no. I know I should’ve told you people when I first met you, but that Mike guy is a nut job.” Chuck said.
“What do you mean?” I asked squinting my eyes.
“Mike’s a killer.” Chuck said. He then spitted out the train.
I gaged. Just thinking about it almost made me barf.
“If he was a murderer…. Why are you still alive?” I asked.
“I found this train two days ago. I thought no one was in there, so I settled my things in this boxcar. Few hours later I saw a man with two women. They didn’t look alike. I had my suspicions and I cunningly spied on the guy, and I saw him killing the women.” Chuck said while staring at me.
At the moment I remember that Derrick just walked out of the door! I bursted out the door. Fernando looked at me if I was crazy.
“We have to stop Mike!” I said to Fernando.
“What? Why?” He asked.
“Chuck said he saw Mike kill two girls!” I shouted.
“Shit… Derrick just walked out there.” Fernando said looking at the door.
I opened the door.
“Squat down.” I said.
Mike’s door had a window, and I didn’t want to get caught. Derrick was no where to be found. I panicked some more. Should I panic? If Derrick is gone, I have one less person to worry about. Jesus, what am I thinking? I’m suppose to be the leader of this group, and I’m suppose to protect my people. I’m suppose to teach Derrick and Fernando how to survive, not just give up on them.
I pull out my gun.
“You’re going to shoot the guy?” Fernando asked.
“If it’s necessary.” I answered.
I opened the door. Mike was sitting on a sit whistling. He spins the chair around. On his hand he has Derrick’s collar from his shirt. I see Derrick on the floor unconscious with bruises on his face and a bloody nose.
“What the hell?” I shouted at Mike. “Why are you killing people?”
“I mean, look.” Mike starting talking with a smile on his face. “I’m fuckin’ sick and tired of those dead things roamin’ around. People die and then turn into one of those Roamers!” Mike shouted at us.
“Better kill em’ when they’re alive.”
Mike reached for his backpocket and flashed out at pocket knife.
“Wait, no!” Fernando shouted. “You can just let us go! Please don’t kill our friend!”
“No can do.” Mike replied. “If I let ya’ll go sooner of later ya’ll will die and come back!” Mike pointed at a picture hung in the wall. “See em’? That’s me, my kiddos, and my lovely wife. They died, because of those things! If I let ya’ll live you’ll kill someone’s loved ones!” Mike took a deep breath.
“NOW EXCUSE ME WHILE I KILL THIS FUCKER!!” Mike screamed like a maniac.
“NO!” I shouted!
I dropped my gun and reached for Mike’s hand. I saw the blade coming closer and closer to Derrick’s eye. In the corner of my eye I saw Fernando reaching for a lever around a bunch of buttons. As he pulled, the train made an immediate stop. I fell to the ground, and saw Mike’s chair spins around until Mike flies out his seat and crashed his head.
Everything was quite. I heard Fernando moan.
“You ok, Hermano?” I asked.
“Yeah, yeah just hit my arm pretty damn hard.” He said.
“Don’t cry, ok?” I said laughing.
“Shut up. Is Mike knocked out?” Fernando asked.
I grabbed the seat, so I could of stand up. I didn’t feel Mike in the seat. Derrick was still on the ground unconscious. I was surprised to see Mike’s head stuck in the window.
“Help me pull him out.” I told Fernando.
I grabbed Mike from his shoulder and his back.
“Ready?” Fernando asked.
“Yup.” I replied.
We both pulled, he was pretty stuck in there. He was obviously dead. As I pulled I see the glass scraping Mike’s skin off. We finally get him out and put him in his chair. I
“Holy crap. Look at the dent!” Fernando said looking surprised.
“Let’s just get off this train.” I said. “Now help me pick up Derrick and take him to Chuck.”
Fernando and I pulled Derrick and tossed his arms around our necks. As we leave we hear a dim sound coming out of a radio in the control room. I came closer to hear.
“If anyone hears this…” The voice was a bit rash. It was very hard to understand what the guy was saying.
“Meet me on highway 85.” That’s all what I could make out of. I ignore it.
We walked slowly. You could hear Derricks shoes drag. I see Chuck looking out the door’s window. He looks shocked.
“What did you men do?” He asked.
“Fernando pulled a lever and it stopped the train, almost killing us.” I said looking at Fernando.
“At least that killed that Mike.” Fernando talked back.
“Did Derrick get hurt by the sudden stop?” Chuck said looking at Derrick.
“No, Mike already beaten him up.” I answered.
“Ok, Oscar. I seen a group of survivors down this road. Few of them are from Save-Lots.” Chuck said giving me instructions.
“How do you know?” Fernando asked.
“They have shirts that say the name in big bold letters.” Chuck answered.
“Are you sure they can help us?” I asked Chuck.
“Not sure, but there has to be someone in that group with a heart.” Chuck said.
“You’re not coming with us?” I asked.
“Nope. I still have my house settled right in that boxcar.” Chuck chuckled.
"Alright then, I hope a group finds you... And thank you for your advice." I say smiling.
"Anytime, son." Chuck said.
Fernando removed Derricks hand off his shoulder, as well his guitar strap.
“Here.” Fernando said handing out his guitar to Chuck.
“Why don’t ya keep it?” Chuck asked.
“If you won't teach me, than no one else will.” Fernando explained.
Chuck grabbed the guitar. “Well, thanks son.” Chuck said with a smile. “I appreciate it.”
“Alright let’s go.” I said.
“Take care.” I hear Chuck.
The sun was slowly going down. Derrick is still unconscious. I look up in the sky and see smoke.
“Fernando, see that smoke?” I say to Fernando.
“Yeah, what about it?” He asks.
“We’re going there.” I said.
Survivor Proposes, Walker Disposes
Austin’s story 70/365
I take a deep breath. Surrounding me were a bunch of pine trees. The air was a bit cold, but with my black bubble jacket it didn’t bother me. My mother and the others are in the empty cabin we found. Samuel took me to look around the houses around the woods. Each house is about two-hundred feet away from each other. I look at the house in front of me. It’s painted light blue and the triangle shaped rooftop is black. As I walk closer I see that vines are taking over the house. I take out my pocket knife and cut through the vines. It wasn’t necessary, but I just wanted to use it.
I slowly open the door and step in. The stupid floor creaks.
“God dammit.” I mutter.
I wait for a few seconds if there was anything in the house that heard the creak. I decided to be brave.
“If anything is in here… You better come out!” I shout. Nothing? I guess I wont kill my first Risen, yet. I walk into the kitchen and start searching through the cabinets.
“Nothin’. Nothin’. Nothin’. “ I say to myself as I open each cabinet, and finding it empty.
After I find out that the kitchen has nothing I go upstairs.
There’s two rooms upstairs. One I imagine it was the parents bedroom, because it had a queen size bed and it was way bigger than the other room which was smaller. I went into that one. The room was painted red in one wall, blue on the other, yellow on another one, and green on the other wall. There was a wooden desk, next to it there was a bunk bed. I noticed that the top one was blood, but I ignored it. In the bottom one I see a box of crayons. I smile and grab it.
“Noah will like this.” I say to myself.
I run down the stairs, and closed the door. I start now following the trail of rocks that Dawn and I left. If you follow the rocks it’ll take you to the cabin we found. As I start walking I see Samuel two cans in his hands
“Samuel!” I shouted as I waved my hand.
“Were having dinner!” He said with a big smile on his face.
My tongue moves around my lips. We haven’t eaten in a while.
Samuel and I follow the trail of rocks. I’ve gotten to know his family after the incident. In the first days, Dawn was very shy around me and wouldn’t say a word. Until one day Samuel made us put a trail of rocks that leads to the cabin. It took us about a day, since we had to find rocks and make a trail out of them. We obviously needed to communicate to work together. Dawn is an outgoing girl once she’s comfortable with you. Dawn’s mom, Tiffany, doesn’t do much to help in my opinion, other than taking care of Noah. Noah is acts just as you would expect an 8 year old to act. Childish, but he became for quieter after the incident. At last Samuel is the leader of our group. He’s the one who tells us how we can help and teaches us how to survive. My mother though, she taught him how to shoot a gun.
The trail finally ended, and there it was the cabin. I saw my mother sitting outside the balcony. Her faces lights up when she sees me. My mother quickly walks up to me.
“Goodness, Austin. I was getting worried.” She says as pats my head.
“Hey, Mom.” I reply.
“Eh, Samantha… Where’s Tiffany and the others?” Samuel asks.
“Tiffany and Dawn were going to put Noah to sleep.” My mother answered.
As Samuel past us he said “Were having beans tonight.”
My mom smiled. “I haven’t eaten in days.”
She then put her hand in my backpack.
“You didn’t find anything?” She asks.
“No food, but I found crayons for Noah.” I reply.
“He’ll be happy.” She says.
We quickly catch up to Samuel who opened the door for us. As we enter I see Dawn looking out the window and turns to us.
“You guys finally came back!” She says with joy. She stoods up the chair almost making the chair fall into the floor, and hugged her dad.
“Hey, girl.” Samuel says.
“Dad, I thought that something happened to you guys..” Dawn says.
“We’re fine.” I say.
She lets go of her dad and hugged me tightly. I feel her breast press into my chest. I wanted to let go, because her dad was there and she told me how her dad is super protective over her.
I awkwardly stood there while she was hugging me. She let go and giggled.
I looked back at my mom and she gave me a slight grin.
“Well, this is weird.” I say under my breath.
I went into Noah’s room. I saw Tiffany look over Noah.
“We’re back!” I say. Tiffany gives out a big gasp as she sees me.
“Oh gosh! I didn’t know you were back.” She says as she exhales.
“I brought some crayons for Noah.” I say
“Oh, Austin. I don’t know how to thank you.” Tiffany says.
“No, no it was nothing. You should really thank your husband. We are finally eating today.” I say.
Tiffany gives out a smile and shakes Noah.
“Noah, wake up. Austin has a surprise for you.” Tiffany says.
Noah slowly stoods up from his bed and looks at me, then looks down at my hand.
“Crayons!” He shouts. He jumps out the bed and grabs them.
“Thank you, Austin!” Noah says as he hugs me around my waist.
“Just for you.” I reply.
Hours later Tiffany gives out plates and servers us each and everyone of us beans. The portion that Tiffany gave us didn't fill the plate; since Samuel only found two cans. We begin to eat with plastic spoons we found inside the cabin."We can't stay here much longer." Samuel said."What? Why not?" Tiffany asked.
"Mom, Dad and Austin already checked all the houses around here." Dawn tells her mom.
“She’s right, honey.” Samuel agreed.
Tiffany gave out a sigh. “And I was just getting used to this cabin.”
“We can’t get used to any place anymore.” My mother joined the conversation. “There will always be a reason why we leave. No more food, the Risen ruin everything, or someone messes up.”
I know she’s talking about me.
“When are we leaving then, Daddy?” Noah asked.
“I think we should wait until day. We can’t see Risen or other survivors at this time.” Samuel says.
“Mommy! I can’t see my beans; It’s too dark.” Noah shouts.
“Quite down, Noah.” Dawn shushed him.
The cabin is dark. We have no flashlights or candles. We can only see where the moonlight is shining, just about it. Samuel and my mother take shifts in the nights to warn the people who are sleeping if an intruder or a Risen try to get in the cabin. I try to let my mom rest, but she won’t let me, which I understand. I feel that my mother has lost all the trust she had with me. After everyone finishes they go to sleep except Samuel.
I wake up, expecting sunlight to shine in my eyes. I was wrong. I wake up by the loud banging at the door."Samuel?" I shout. I don't hear a voice replying to me.I quickly look around it's hard to see. By each punch in the door I get more nervous. Should I take them out? Should I call for help? Last time it didn't end will with me alone so I try to find the others.
"MOM! SAMUEL! SOMEONE WAKE UP!" I scream as loud as can.
"Austin!?" someone finally says, Mother.
"Mom! Quick grab a gun! Something is trying to get in!" I shout.
Shortly after I hear Noah crying, that'll wake the others up.
"We have to get out of here!" Mother says.
"What about the others?!" I ask.
CCCRAACK
"I'll go look for Dawn, Noah, and Tiffany! You go look for Samuel!" I hear my mother scream.
I don't know where Samuel could be! Could he be upstairs or by the door? I run out of my room to see what exactly is doing this. As I get out I see Samuel in the couch, the moonlight hitting his face. I quickly go to him.
"Sam! Samuel, wake up!" I shout. Samuel slowly opens his eyes. It takes him a few seconds to realize what's going on.
"What's the hell is going on!?" He asked. I look behind my back. A rotten hand breaks the door's window.
"Risen!" I shout.
"Austin, hand me something to kill these Risen!" Samuel shouted. The only thing I could give him was my pocket knife. I couldn't it was the only thing I had from my dad.
"Ughh I don't know!" I shouted. You could finally hear the growls of Risen coming inside.
"You're going to get us all killed like you did before!" Samuel shouted at me. He is right...
I gave him my pocket knife.
"Did your mom know that you had a knife?" Samuel says, but quickly snatched it away from me. I heard footsteps coming down the stairs.
"Austin, did you find Samuel?" My mother asked. Tiffany, holding Noah and Dawn were behind her
"Yeah! He's killing Risen with... A knife I found." I lied.
"There's probably more Risen outside now." Dawn says.
"Samantha!" We finally hear Samuel. "Better get out your gun, 'cause this isn't going to end well!"
We all run where Samuel is. I gasped when I see Samuel on the floor holding the door that dropped on him while Risen are trying to get in.
"DADDY!!!" I hear Noah scream, getting the Risen's attention. I hear a shot in the left ear. My mother is shooting the Risen. I quickly go and pull Samuel out the door that he's trapped in. A Risen is about to attack Samuel, but he pushes it to the other Risen causing them to fall down.
"Pass me your gun, Samantha!" Samuel shouted. My mother threw the gun, but didn't throw it far enough. It landed in my feet, I grabbed it and gave it to Samuel. Samuel started shooting the Risen that were on the floor.
"Come on everyone! Let's get out!"
Mother grabbed my hand and behind us were the others. We stepped on the rotten bodies. I looked back and Tiffany hesitated to walk over the bodies. Dawn jumped over the bodies where we were.
"Mom! Come on! We don't have time for this!" Shouted Dawn.
"I-I can't!" Tiffany replied back.
"Ugh, Austin help me move the bodies for Tiffany." Mom says.
I grab one of the Risen by the shoulders. Smells horrible... No surprise there. I grab another one by it's arm and pull it out of the stairs.
"What's taking so long!?" Samuel shouted somewhere in the woods.
"Mom wont walk over the dead bodies!" Dawn shouted at her dad. I see more Risen coming behind my mom.
"Mom! There are more of them behind you!" I scream.
"Tiffany come down now!" Mom tells Tiffany.
Tiffany quickly comes down with Noah in her arms. Samuel is finally on sight and we run to him.
"We have to fucking go quick! There's going to be a damn parade of Risen if we stay here!" Samuel says.
"How they did know we were in the cabin?" I ask. "Risen can't track... Can they?"
"No one made a sound in the cabin, I don't know how they knew." Dawn added.
"We'll talk about it later!" Samuel replies.
We ran, and ran, I don't know where exactly Samuel is taking us, but we followed him. The forest seemed to be filled with Risen at every corner. We all finally got out of the woods and were on a road. There were a bunch of cars and what seemed to be a prison bus. Far away there was a gas station called "Gil's Pitstop". It was still pretty dark and we were out in the open. I saw Risen coming at us from very far away.
"Alright, let's see if there's a working car around here. If not we will have to run to that pitstop over there." Samuel says.
My mom and I went to look for working cars up front while Samuel and his family started looking for at the cars in the other end. Most of the cars were locked, but the one's that were open didn't have keys.
"Mom, what are we going to do?" I asked her.
"It's going to be fine" She says in a hopeful voice.
I open another car and it feels that all my worries are gone.
"Mom! I found a car with keys!" I tell her. She's two cars away from me and she quickly comes.
I sit down in the car seat. Gas is half empty. I hear the steps of my mom coming closer. then behind my ear I hear the car seat move. I slowly turn around and see a rotten hand coming at my face! It grabs me with such force for a rotten Risen. I think this is it. The Risen pulls my head close to his mouth that I can smell it's disgusting breath. I try to pull but with it's other hand it pulls me closer and harder.
"HELP!!!" I scream trying to pull it's arms away from me. I don't feel a bite. What I do hear is my mother screaming in pain. I didn't feel the fingers of the Risen digging in my face. Instead the Risen is ripping the flesh out of my mom's hand.
"Mom?!" I shriek. I see my mom grab her gun with her right hand and shoot the Risen in the head.
"What happened!?" I hear Samuel's voice close by.
My mom sits on the concrete floor crying. I sit next to her hugging her tightly.
"It's going to be ok. It's going to be ok." Mom keeps repeating. Samuel and his family are finally seen.
"Oh crap." Samuel says as he takes his belt off. Dawn and Tiffany gasp when they see my mom. Noah is still crying.
Samuel puts his belt around my mom's arm and tightens it.
"We will have to cut your hand off!" Samuel says. I froze for a bit.
"No, no. I can't hold more pain..." My mom disagrees.
"You're not going to live! Listen to you! You have a son to take care of. Please, Samantha, I'm giving you another chance!" Shouts Samuel. He gets out my pocket knife and looks at me.
"You have to hold your mother. If she moves a lot I might hurt her more." Samuel says.
I do as he says. Samuel and I switch postions. My mom hugs me tightly.
"I love you Austin, always remember that." My mom tells me.
"Mom, please we are all going to get out of this." I tell her.
"AAAAAHH!!" My mom screams. "NO, PLEASE STOP!" She screams some more. I worry, because Risen will definitely come now.
I dig my face deep into my mom's shoulder. She suddenly stops screaming. She passed out. I turn to see Samuel and I see my mom's left hand on the floor in a pool of blood. Samuel rips a part of his shirt with my knife and covers my mom's wound. I turn around and ten feet away I see about seven Risen coming towards us.
"Alright everyone get in!" Shouts Samuel. Samuel opens the door, pulls the dead Risen out of the car, and grabs my mom to put her in the backseat. Dawn gets in with my mom, and Tiffany goes in the front seat with Noah on her arms. I start to open the trunk of the car. Samuel gets on the car and tries to turn on the car. It doesn't. Samuel tries again, but it doesn't work. The Risen see me.
"Fuck!" Samuel says in frustration. I look at my mom, and Dawn looks at me. I reach into my pockets and pull out her poem.
"Here, I found it on the floor on the parking lot." I say. She unfolds it and gives me a puzzled look.
"Why are you giving me this now?" She asks. I don't reply. I reach to my mom's bag and grab the gun that I took from the police officer.
"What are you doing, Austin?!" Dawn asks. I close the car's trunk and go to Samuel's seat. I snatch my pocket knife that was in his lap.
"What do you think you're doing?" Says Samuel trying to turn on the car.
"I'll try to distract them, try to turn on the car!" I shout.
"Your mom wont like this!" Samuel replies.
"I don't want anyone to die anymore." I say. "Go to the gas station over there when you turn the car on. I'll distract them."
Samuel gives me a long stare.
"Please be careful." he says.
I put the knife in my pocket. I grab the gun with both my hands. The Risen growl and start pacing faster. I take a deep breath and aim for the head. I shoot and it hits the Risen in the shoulder. I shoot again and it shoots it the mouth. I shoot again and finally hits the forehead. One down six to go. I start shooting again and I miss a few times, I shoot another one in the eye.
"Five left." I say under my breath. I pull the trigger again, but nothing comes out. I freak out for a second, but I remember that I have my pocket knife. I flash it out and run towards the Risen. I push one to the floor and stab it in the eye. Blood splatters in my face. I try to get up, but a Risen rips through my bubble jacket with it's nails. I loose my balance and I almost fall down. I turn around to push the Risen away, but it's already in the floor. I open my eyes to see and german shepherd, biting the Risen's legs. I turn around to fight off the other Risen. I stab another Risen in the neck. It's trying to bite my nose, but I push him down into the ground and stab him some more. I ripped pretty much all his neck that it isn't attached to his head anymore, but is still growling. I kick the Risen's head into the forest. I get goosebumps when I heard the dog give out a cry. The other Risen that was coming towards me was biting into the dog's leg. I dash towards the dog, but I trip and fall in the ground. The fallen Risen grabbed my ankle. I started kicking it's face with my other leg, but a bullet killed him. I heard shots coming behind me. I turn around and I see three men. One is African American, another one looks a older than the others, and the last one is staring at the dog.
"Ace... No..." I hear him say.
"What are we going to do with this kid?" The African American guy asks.
"We're taking him to Crawford." The old man with a gravelly voice says.
"No, you can't! See that car? That-" I pointed realizing there was no car anymore.
"I think this kid is hallucinating." The older man says.
"My name's Frank." Frank pats my back. "It's almost sunrise and we don't want to stay out here in the open. We will take you to safety." I push him.
"I'm not going no where!" I shout at them.
"Kid, I don't want to deal with this shit." The older man says. He reaches for my hand, but I point my pocket knife.
"Let me go, or I'll kill you." I threaten him.
"Kids these days." The older man says. He grabs his gun and with it knocks me out into the concrete floor.
Crumbling
Ellis’ story 71/365
The sunrise was starting to come out. I, Frank, and Melvin were running back to our truck. In my hands was Ace, bleeding to death. A Walker tore up his leg pretty bad. I could tell he was glad to see me since all he did is lick my hand... Or maybe saying his goodbyes. I didn't worry much about the bite, because all our other K-9's in the prison got bit, but it didn't affect them.
We had also found this boy. He killed a group of Walkers with only a pocket knife. He threaten Melvin, but Melvin didn't take none of the kid's shit and knocked him out with the back of his AKM. Frank and Melvin had an argument, because of it. The boy was in Frank's arms. The kid is pretty much covered in blood, and his jacket is destroyed. I'm guessing Ace saw that the kid was in trouble and wanted to save him, but got himself wounded in the process.
The truck was finally in our sight. Frank went behind the truck's trunk and rested the boy on his back next to him. I was opening the car door until Melvin stopped me.
“Let the dog go. Mr. Oberson said you couldn’t bring animals to Crawford. ” He glared at me.
“Melvin, Ace is dying!” I shout.
“That’s your dog, not mine.” He replied. “I’ll kill him if you don’t.”
“Melvin, this dog... This dog is the only thing I have to remember my son!” I yelled at him.
“You have to let go!” Melvin yelled back. “For all we know your wife and son are fucking dead!”. When Melvin said those words, I felt something inside me. Anger. Rage. I placed Ace on the floor, and punched Melvin in the face, and tackled him into the ground. He tried to punch me back, but I grabbed his fist and punched him again. I was ready to give him another punch, but Frank grabbed my fist.
“It’s not worth it, man. I think Melvin had enough.” Frank said. I stared at Melvin. He had an open cut on his cheek and his nose was bleeding. I stood up and walked up to Ace. I pulled out my Glock and stared at him in the eyes.
“I’m sorry, Ace.” I said. “Thanks for protecting us.” And I pulled the trigger.
I finished my spaghetti on the school's lunchroom, and decided to visit the boy. Each time I was in Crawford, I was in peace. Everyone is in peace. We don't have to worry about Walkers killing our loved ones... Or the living killing our love ones. I was walking up the stairs of the school. People gave me a smile each time I made eye contact with them, probably because they feel much safer with police officers in the building to protect them. I finally got to the door and stopped right there.
I saw Hank in his deathbed. There were a lot of elderly people in Crawford, such as Vernon, who used to be diagnosed with cancer. I spot Logan locking up the locker that has all the medicines we need. He looks at me a bit surprised.
"Oh, didn't hear you coming." Logan says.
"How's Hank?" I ask.
"He's.... Well, he is gone." Logan looks at him. I go to and lift up the blanket over Hank.
"And, how's the boy?" I ask.
"He's fine. He is well rested and should wake up soon." Logan said as he put his palm in the boy's forehead.
"I think I should wake him up." Logan suggested.
"Don't worry, I'll do it." I said as I walked to the boy. I grabbed the boy by the shoulder and shook him. Logan and I waited. The boy slowly opened his eyes.
“Ouch, my head hurts.” He said rubbing his forehead.
“Don’t worry, I’ll get you a pack of ice.” Logan said as he walked up the the mini refrigerator. The boy looked around some more.
“W-where am I?” He asked. “Where the hell am I? Why did you guys take me here!?” He yelled.
“Hey, it’s ok. You are safe here.” I tried to calm him down.
“I need you to take me back to my group! They might be in danger.” He said.
“I wish we could, but we don’t have a lot of gas, and we need Oberson’s permission.” I said.
The boy stayed silent. He then looked around.
“Where's my knife?” He said.
“It's in the armory. Did you find it somewhere?" I ask.
"No, my father gave it to me before he died in a car crash five days before this whole world went to hell." He said with a frown.
Logan came and put the ice pack on the boy's head. He had a bruise caused by Melvin when he hit the boy in the head.
"I need the knife, it's the only thing I have left from my dad." He said. Did I ever give anything to my son before the apocalypse? No, I didn't.
"We'll get it later, ok?" I said. "What's your name?"
"It's Austin." The boy named Austin said. "What's yours?"
"Ellis." I said.
The boy got off the bed and looked at Hank. He kept staring.
"Is he someone you knew or something?" Logan asked.
"Is he dead?" Austin said while still staring at him. "If he is, he will turn." He said looking at me.
"What? He wasn't bit!" Logan told Austin.
"The bite is not the only thing that does it. No matter how you die you WILL come back." Austin said in a serious tone.
"How can we know you're right?" I asked.
"The first Risen I found was a cop. Only had a bullet on his chest. Seconds later he grabbed my leg and tried to eat me." Austin said closing his eyes. "
That's how I got-"
He stopped and turned to me again.
"Did you find a gun in me?" Austin asked.
"I did." I replied.
"I got it from that cop." He said. "But, anyways we can wait and see if he's going to turn, because he will turn."
"If this is true." Logan said. "Then we have to report this to Mr. Oberson."
There was a knock on the door.
"Come in." Logan said. It was Frank. He looked happy to see Austin. He rose his hands up.
"You ain't gonna stab me, right?" Frank asked as he chuckled.
"I just wanted to get with my group. And no, you and Ellis were the only nice guys, except that old guy." Austin said.
"Hey, Frank. Can you give a tour to Austin? Y'know, so he wont get lost?" I asked.
"Yeah, sure. Come on buddy." Frank said leading the way. Austin gave one last look at Hank and left with Frank.
"What are we going to do?" Logan asked.
"Wait, we should tie him up to something, so he doesn't get us off guard." I said.
"Shouldn't we tell the people?" Logan suggests. He opens a cabinet and grabs a roll of duckt tape.
"No, we don't want to disturb the peace. We should keep it low for a while." I said.
Logan sighed. “ Eugene Porter was a co-worker of mine. He was a high school science teacher, he probably would know what caused this.”
“To tell you the truth. I don’t think no one knows what caused this.” I said.
A good thirty minutes passed. The kid was right. Hank was starting to moan and move."Oh fuck." Logan said taking out his survival knife. He went up to Hank. Hank struggled to move and tried to bite Logan.
“Don’t do it!” I yell. Logan turns back to me with a confused look on his face
I got out of the nursing facility and went straight to Mr. Oberson’s office, which was in the principal’s room. I knocked on his door.
“Come on in.” He said. I open the door and sit down in one of his chairs. His desk was filled with papers with arrows and little sentences. Next to them he had a huge map of Savannah. Mr. Oberson noticed me looking at his papers.
“I’m making a new routine for our scavengers.” He said. “Did you come to tell me something or just keep me company?” He asked while he was writing some notes.
“Hank died.” I said. He stopped writing for a second.
“Hank is our first death in Crawford then. We’ll do a service tomorrow.” Mr. Oberson said.
“That’s not the whole thing. That boy we brought in, Austin has told us very critical information that we needed.” I said.
“How can a boy give us ‘critical’ information?” Mr. Oberson asked, he looked at me. I caught his attention.
“Apparently you don't need a bite to become a Walker." I said.
"Excuse me?" Mr. Oberson asked. "This has to be a joke!"
"I wouldn't joke about that, sir." I said.
"Well, do you have any evidence?" He asked.
"Hank. Hank's the evidence. He's a Walker." I said.
Mr. Oberson stormed out of his office into the Nurse's Station. I noticed that some people were surprised to see Crawford in a hurry. I followed him. He stared in shock at Hank. Hank was still trying to break free.
"Give me something to kill it." Mr. Oberson said. Logan quickly gave Mr. Oberson his survival knife. Mr. Oberson stabbed Hank in the eye, and the pressed it deep into the brain. He then pulled it out and gave it to Logan.
"What are we going to do?" Logan asked.
"We will have to get rid of some people." Crawford said leaving the room.
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