Part 1: Blood on the Leaves

In the aftermath of the incident at the Barn, the survivors struggle to keep themselves together.

October, 15th 8:43 PM

“The days get colder and the dead are getting more numerous. We had more than one scare today, multiple walkers walking around the camp. Gotta be more cautious. Nick and Monica are going to ‘raise’ a militia. Basically, make sure everyone above the age of 16 is armed and ready to fight when needed. Can’t hurt to be prepared. - Brad”

I.
Brad

"It's getting cold out here." Brad said. He looked around at the surrounding trees, their leaves red and brown as they died.

"It's been getting colder for weeks. It's not summer anymore." Andrew said. He walked to the edge of the platform and scanned down the road, seeing nothing.

"We'll have to figure something out. Find some personal space heaters at a Wal-Mart somewhere or something." Brad said, checking the other side of the road.

"Yeah, if they weren't all looted. Plus you really think the generators could run that sort of thing? A personal space heater in every cabin? I don't think we have that kind of gas." Andrew said, concerned. Gas was already becoming a problem. They didn't need to keep using more of it.

"If we were just dealing with us, adults, having to survive at this camp I'd be fine with that. But we have kids to keep alive, they aren't gonna be as durable in the winter." Brad argued.

"Maybe you're right. But I don't see why we can't just find some heavier clothes and blankets and call it a day." Andrew responded.

Brad smiled and put his hand on Andrew's shoulder, "One day you'll understand going a little farther for your people is important. You said it yourself, you're going to protect those kids under your care. That goes beyond shooting all the shambling corpses you see. You have to look out for them in all areas not just one. Especially now, when they can't do it themselves."

"Shooting corpses isn't all bad, without me doing that you'd be dead, old man." Andrew laughed.

"Why the hell do you think I let you carry that gun around? It's not too look tough, I don't think anything could make you look tough." Brad grinned.

Andrew laughed, throwing friendly punches at each other was a nice break from the dreadful life they had been living. Scavenging for food, constantly building defenses from early in the morning to late at night, dealing with undead ghouls stumbling on to the camp before they could hurt anyone, all while trying to pretend the camp was still just a normal summer camp for the kids. Both Andrew and Brad knew it wasn't working anymore though. The kids were starting to see through the sham. They were starting to understand what was really going on.

Brad sighed, Andrew could literally feel the general mood get darker. “How much longer do you think we can keep it up?”

“My groups already starting to ask questions. Real questions. Not ‘Where are my parents?’ or ‘Why haven’t we gone home yet?’. They’re asking questions like ‘Why are dead people walking around?’, ‘Why’d they bite Mia?’, ‘Why’d you kill all those people in the barn?’. Andrew told Brad.

Brad swallowed hard, “They still ask about the Barn?”

“I don’t think anyones gonna forget that.” Andrew said quietly.

“We did what we had to do.” Brad said, his voice stern and commanding.

“You see... I just don’t know if that’s true.” Andrew responded. It got quiet, real quiet.

“We didn’t do anything wrong.” Brad said, once again sternly.

“You told everyone who was bit to wait for help in the barn. When they were all in there, men, women, and children, you locked the barn and refused to let them out...” Andrew said. A hint of disgust in his voice.

“What else would I have done?” Brad asked. His voice trembled just a little, he was losing.

“Tried to help them maybe? Instead you caged them up like animals and waited until they died. Then you lead me, and Nick, and Brandon, and all those guys in... and we cleaned up your dirty work.” Andrew said, angrily.

“What else would I have done? The news said there was nothing you could do for someone thats been bit, I did the best thing I could, you can’t be angry with me over that.” Brad said, his temper rising.

“I’m not angry with you because of what you did, I’m angry cause you refuse to acknowledge that it was the wrong choice.” Andrew said, defiantly. The whole world seemed to grow quiet. Andrew and Brad stared at each other. Brad was in charge, Andrew was just one of his people. But he was a pusher, he didn’t stand by and let Brad lead without criticism. He pushed Brad, especially when Brad made a bad call.

“Do you regret what you did?” Brad asked.

“Everyday.” Andrew responded. Silence.

“Me too.” Brad followed up. “But I still think it was the only thing we could have done.”

Andrew stared at Brad for a bit, then turned and walked. “I needa go put my group to bed. You got the rest of this shift?”

Brad turned away from Andrew, sighing “Yeah.”

Andrew climbed down off the platform, walked down a long the rock wall, and passed under the big sign that read “Camp Fireside”.

II.
Andrew

Andrew walked through the darkened camp. Torches lit the pathways, and were spread just far enough that their dim glows could reach each other. Walking around the camp at night put Andrew a bit on edge. The walls weren’t completed yet, so undead were known for commonly stumbling onto the camp grounds at night. Andrew held his gun at the ready, just in case anything happened.

Andrew eventually came upon the lake. The moonlight danced and reflected off the dark water, illuminating the big field, the picnic tables on the “Peninsula Ventura”, and the cabins just a little ways away at the start of the woods. The mountains that surrounded the camp were dark and ominous, not a single detail of any of them could be made out, even in the moonlight.

Andrew walked over to the picnic tables, which sat on the peninsula reaching out into the black, gloomy water. Andrew walked to the center table. Scratched into the table were the words “Samurai’s 2013”. Under that, the names Andrew, James, Seth, Jaxon, Danny, Anthony, and Niko were also scratched in. Andrew ran his hand over the list and smiled, remembering the better times.

“Out for a late night stroll?” Andrew heard a voice shout behind him. Andrew jumped and clumsily raised his gun as he turned around. Nick stood there, arms out stretched.

“S**t, Nick. Don’t sneak up on me like that.” Andrew said, lowering the gun.

“I was just curious as to what you’re doing.” Nick laughed. He walked forward and joined Andrew by the table.

“Just remembering happier times.” Andrew responded, turning down and reading the names again.

“I know what you mean, man. It really is a struggle, going through all this. Seeing what these kids have to go through. It sucks man.” Nick said, walking over and sitting on the table, facing the water. Andrew walked over and sat next to him.

“I just wish we could do more for them. Not have them live in constant danger.” Andrew said.

“We’ve done the best we can. You haven’t lost any, I haven’t lost any. Thats more than a lot of counselors at this ‘camp’ can say. We’ve been good to them. That’s all we can really hope to keep doing.” Nick said.

“They’re asking questions.” Andrew said, quickly.

“Whaddya mean?”

“They know this isn’t a camp anymore. They know we’re trying to hide. They know what’s going on. I think it’s time to stop pretending we’re a camp, and start actually surviving. I’ve even talk to Brad about it.” Andrew said.

“Really?” Nick said, entertained.

“Well, kinda. Not completely like I just told you, but I hinted at it. It was there. I’m gonna talk to him later.”

“Haha, okay sure.” Nick said, amused.

“I’m serious. How long do you think this thing will last?” Andrew said, urgency in his voice.

“What? The undead? A couple months tops. Then there will be a long, long re-building period but we will recover. Within ten years, civilization will be back on track.” Nick said, sure of himself.

“Well then for those couple months the kids need to know how to defend themselves. And we have no idea what kind of world we’ll be living in during the ‘re-building period’ you’re talking about. If we keep pretending nothing is going on, these kids won’t be ready to face the world they now live in.” Andrew said, his tone was annoyed but Nick knew he was just frustrated with the world.

“Maybe you’re right. But I don’t think we need to be giving kids guns and telling them to kill walking corpses just yet. Me and Monica just organized the Militia. We aren’t gonna have to worry about not having enough men to fight if we need them.” Nick said, re-assuringly.

“That’s not the point though.” Andrew argued, “It’s not about having men, it’s about the kids learning the world that they are in is dangerous and how to deal with it.”

Nick sighed and stood up,  clearly done with the conversation. Andrew took it as a sign that he had won. “I have to go take over guard duty on the platform for the next couple hours. If you’re so serious about preparing these kids for the real world, maybe you should just train yours yourself.” Nick said, matter-of-factly.

“That, is not actually a bad idea.” Andrew said, also standing up. The two looked at each other and wordlessly parted ways. Andrew headed for the Cabin, Nick headed for the road.

III.
Brad

Brad held his breath as he aimed down the road. He could see the walkers head bobbing around in the shadows. He was trying desperately to keep the head in line with the sights on his shotgun until it got close enough. The head kept bobbing, slowly getting closer and closer.

“What are you doing?” A voice rang out behind Brad. It wasn’t a shout, but it was loud enough and startling enough to break his concentration. Brad turned around to see his assistant director, Monica, standing behind him.

“Just trying to take out a walker?” Brad said, annoyed. He turned back to aim down his sights.

“You realize if you take that shot, every dead guy within earshot will come shambling this way?” Monica said, matter-of-factly.

“And that’d be so horrible, cause you would b***h and moan about every one we killed anyway.” Brad remarked.

“Are you kidding me? Would you get over it?” Monica responded, offended.

“I did what I had to do.” Brad said, "I don't care if you don't appreciate it but at least get off my f*****g back about it."

"You, and about ten others, killed 30 people in five minutes." Monica said, stone faced. She was clearly trying to remain calm as Brad got angrier.

"They would have killed us!" Brad said. He wasn't whispering anymore, but he was still trying to stop himself from screaming.

"We could have helped them." Monica said, just as calmly as before.

"You. Don't. Know. That." Brad said, forcefully and loud, through gritted teeth.

"You don't know either." Monica said. A little grin appeared on her face. She had beaten Brad. She had t won anything, but she'd proved him wrong. The grin sent Brad over the edge. He turned and began firing his gun wildly at the single ghoul, pumping it so rapidly he felt as if he was gonna rip the pump right off. Monica stood there dumb founded.

"I hope you know what you just did." She said as Brad's shots finally made contact with the ghouls head.

"I hope you leave." Brad said, not turning to face her. Monica's mouth dropped, offended that she was being shooed away by someone who made such a stupid move.

"Oh grow up, I was here to tell you that Nick and I raised a militia. Armed everyone above the age of 16. Good thing we did too. We're probably gonna need it after some s**t like that." Monica said, clearly angry at this point.

“Leave.” Brad said. His tone commanding and angry, but not yelling or even loud for that matter. Monica’s mouth dropped open, but she promptly closed it, turned, and walked away. “You’ve changed, Brad. You’ve already changed.” She said, coldly. Brad was taken a back, but before he could respond, Monica had turned and left.

IV.
Andrew

Andrew walked casually toward the dimly lit cabin. Andrew could see the light dancing around the interior as the lanterns burned, and silhouettes of the kids running through the windows. For a second he smiled, it was almost peaceful. The cabin was raised slightly off the ground on supports. It had a small deck on the front, a much larger side deck, a big main room, a side room, and a small bathroom. Andrew climbed the stares up the the front door, passing by a faded sign that read “Nature”.

Andrew slowly opened the front door, entering the main room of the cabin. Seven beds were pushed up against the walls, each with it’s own personal cardboard box night stand and thick comforters recently “borrowed” from the local Bed Bath and Beyond. The floor was, for the most part, covered by a dirty, yellow carpet. The carpet didn’t fit the room though, especially under the beds, where the old dirty floor boards could be seen. A single lantern hung from the ceiling, as the generators weren’t hooked up to the Cabins yet. Andrew was standing in the short entrance hallway. On his left was the bathroom door and on his right was the side room door. All the coats were in the side room, as well as a table with nine chairs.

Andrew’s sudden arrival startled the kids, who had been running around playing tag and jumping on beds. Jaxon, who had been mid-jump as Andrew walked in the door, crashed on to the ground with a loud thump. Seth and James were in the middle of the room, looking dumbstruck. Niko was lying on the carpet in shock, as Anthony and Danny stood frozen like statues above him, holding towels that they were clearly going to hit him with. Andrew sighed.

“I can’t leave you guys a lone for five minutes can I?” He said, playfully. He wasn’t angry, rather, he was entertained.

“Okay!” Jaxon screamed, “I know what it looks like! But literally trust me, it was all Anthony’s fault!”

“Dude!” Anthony shouted, betrayed.

“You don’t even know what literally means, do you?” Andrew asked Jaxon, a smile on his face. Jaxon stood still, dumbstruck for a second.

“Okay... no but, but still!” Jaxon said.

“Still?” Andrew asked. Jaxon gave Andrew a confused look, like he was trying to say something but just couldn’t think of anything. “Yeah, okay. Let’s not destroy the cabin anymore guys. Tag’s fine, indoor tag is fine, running around jumping on beds and smacking each other is not fine. Not cool.”

“Sorry...” James was the first to say, the other boys soon followed suit.

“Don’t worry about it, just don’t let it happen again.” Andrew said, sympathetically.

“It’s not late!” Anthony piped up.

“It’s late enough, come on, we’ve got stuff to do tomorrow. You’re gonna need your rest.” Andrew said, trying to discourage them from staying up any later. One by one, the kids walked towards the bathroom to brush their teeth for bed. Anthony stood defiantly.

“You can stand there all night, Anthony, or you can get ready for bed. Your friends aren’t gonna back you up.” Andrew said. He had the power here, Anthony had none.

“They aren’t all my friends.” Anthony snarkly said back.

“Oh boo-hoo, Jaxon gave you up.” Andrew remarked, mocking him.

“Hey, he’s not my-” Anthony began to say, when Andrew and him heard a distant gunshot ring out. They both froze, and Andrew heard the sink in the bathroom turn off. Andrew quickly turned to Anthony, “Go to bed.” he said before heading out to the front porch. Andrew grabbed a communication radio off the shelf, something the camp used to keep in contact over the large property.
“What was that?” Andrew heard his friend, Ray, say over the radio.

“It was a gunshot, is everyone alright?” Andrew heard another friend, Johanna, ask.

“Stay calm, I’m sure everyone’s fine. Everyone count your kids and stay indoors.” Andrew quickly said over the radio.

“Roger that.” Brandon, a third friend said.

“You really wanted to say that.” Ray piped up over the radio.

“Shut the f**k up, Ray.” Brandon replied.

“Heeeeey.” Ray whined into the Radio.

“Ray.” Andrew said.

“Yeah?” Ray replied.

“Shut the f**k up.” Andrew said sternly.

“Oh...” Ray said, before going silent.

“Monica or Brad, Monica or Brad are you on the radio.” Andrew asked. “Monica or Brad, Monica or Brad are you here.” No response. Andrew flipped a switch on the radio so it switched to the second channel. “Monica or Brad, Monica or Brad are you here.” Andrew repeated. There was silence for a second.

“I’m here.” Monica soon said.

“What was that sound? A gun shot?” Andrew asked.

“Yes, Brad shot a walker. Stay on your toes, that shots gonna attract every dead guy in the surrounding area.” Monica replied.

“Let’s hope not.” Andrew said, switching the radio back to channel 1. “Nick.”

“Here.” Nick replied.

“Low level threat, get you’re people ready.” Andrew said.

“All militia, all militia. This is a level 1 alert. Be prepared for a possible attack at some point tonight. Stay in your cabins and stay armed.” Nick relayed over the radio.
“Nick, you heading to take Brad’s position on the platform?” Andrew asked.

“Yup.” Nick replied.

“Alright, cool. Be safe.” Andrew said.

“I will bro, no worries.” Nick replied.

V.
Andrew

Andrew sat on a bench out on the porch, using only the dim light of a candle as his light source. It was late, around ten thirty at night. The kids were all asleep, but Andrew and the rest of the staff were up, waiting until Nick gave the okay that any threat had passed. Andrew put his head down for a second just to rest his eyes.

“Hey.” He heard from the front of the porch. He looked up and saw Annaliese, his girlfriend, standing there.

“Hey.” He replied.

“Late night?” She asked.

“Yeah. Why aren’t you at you’re cabin?” Andrew asked, concerned.

“Becky’s covering, I wanted to come and check on you.” She replied, sweetly.

Andrew smiled, “Thanks.”

“Your group asleep?” She asked, peeking over Andrew into the dimly lit cabin.

“Yeah. They’re getting a bit rowdy nowadays, but nothing impossible to handle. Anthony’s a bit of a dick though.” Andrew said.

Annaliese laughed, “Haha, you’ve been complaining about him since the first week of camp this year.”

“He’s not a huge dick, I actually kinda like him, he just has dickish moments.” Andrew remarked. Annaliese walked up and sat on the bench next to him.

“You okay?” She asked.

“Yeah, I just worry for them. And myself, and you, and my friends. I’m worried.” Andrew said.
“I’m sure it’s nothing. Monica’s just overreacting to Brad being a jerk.” Annaliese said, comforting Andrew.

“It’s not just that. I’m worried about everything in general.” Andrew said. Annaliese cuddled up to him.

“I know, I know. But you’re strong, we’re all strong. We’ll be alright.” She said. Andrew put his arm around her, and after a second of sitting, they briefly kissed, before continuing to sit together  late into the night.

VI.
Nick

Nick sat, his back against the fence on the platform. It was late and he was tired. His shift was ending soon though, Brandon would be coming to relieve him. It had been two hours since Brad had fired the shot, and Nick was prepared to call off the guard, let people finally go to sleep.

As he sat there, he thought things over. Was Brad really a stable leader? The incident at the barn and this recent shooting made Nick think maybe he wasn’t. But who could replace him? Monica definitely wasn’t strong enough, she just wasn’t the leader type. Brandon, Ray, Annaliese, Matt, basically every one else on staff was out. They had been taking orders from Nick, Monica, Brad, and Andrew. Andrew maybe? No, Nick loved Andrew like a brother, but he wasn’t leader material either. He wasn’t tough enough, Nick didn’t think he’d be able to make the tough decisions if presented with them. No, no Andrew wouldn’t make a good leader. Only Nick was a possible candidate, probably the best candidate, even with Brad around. Nick started planning about talking to Brad about it, just talking, not doing anything, that’d be for the best.

As Nick sat there, planning his conversation with Brad, he noticed movement down the road in the moonlight. He stood up and walked over to the opposite edge of the platform. Whatever it was, it was too far away and to dark to see. Nick took a telescope out of his pocket, and flipped on the floodlights in the front of the platform.

As the lights went on, they illuminated a horde of at least one hundred undead, all shambling towards the platform and the camp. Nick, startled, backed away from the edge of the platform. On the other side of the platform, the lights illuminated at least another fifty walkers moving towards the camp, and as Nick turned towards the ladder, he could already see undead walking through the main gate and into the camp.

“Oh f**k!” Nick shouted, scrambling for the radio, he immediately shouted into it “All militia, all militia! A horde is attacking the camp, I repeat a horde is attacking the camp! Report to the north side immediately!” He then set the repeating alarm to blare over the Radio. Nick, helplessly, with no way down, grabbed his shotgun and began firing over the sides, hitting anything he could.

VII.
Ivan

Ivan lay awake in bed, frightened. He always told himself he could be strong in these situation, but he was a lot more afraid than he expected to be. Nick wasn’t here, all his friends seemed to be asleep, but he laid in his bed wide awake. He could hear the distant pop-pop of gunshots becoming more and more frequent. That one shot earlier in the night was bad enough. But this? This was terrifying to him. What was going on? There was no one to tell him what was going on. There was no way to defend himself if something happened. He knew he had to move if he wanted to live, but he couldn’t even make himself un curl his toes, let alone get out of bed. His friend Zach was across the room, sleeping like a baby. Ivan envied him, he wished he could be that peaceful right now.

As Ivan lay still he suddenly saw a light dancing across the windows of the cabin. He heard footsteps quickly rush up the steps and then the door swing wide open with a loud “Snap!” as it hit the wall behind it. Ivan jumped up out of bed in shock, the rest of the campers in the cabin all quickly and groggily sat up. The person who had just ran in quickly grabbed for a walkie-talkie on his belt and said into it, in a familiar voice, “Nick it’s okay, you’re groups fine, I got ‘em.”

“Who are you?” Ivan asked first, mustering enough courage to confront this thing that had just barged into their cabin. He was talking to Nick, so they couldn’t be all bad.

“It’s me, Andrew, Ivan. I’m taking you guys to my cabin. We’re having a little incident, so you’re gonna stay there with my group and Annaliese.” Andrew said. Ivan could detect distress in his voice, but for the most part Andrew seemed calm.

“Do we need to bring anything?” Zach asked, sitting up from bed and slipping his shoes on. Ivan decided to do the same thing.

“No, just get your shoes on and come with me. You’ll be back here by morning.” Andrew said.

Ivan and the other boys quickly put their shoes on and lined up with Andrew. Andrew counted them off, ensuring every one of the six of them was there. He then hustled them out the door.

Outside things were getting chaotic fast. Every cabin had it’s lights on, with every kid standing on the porch. People were rushing past Ivan and the others holding all sorts of weapons. Rifles, Shotguns, handguns, hammers, rakes, axes. Ivan could hear a constant and annoying buzzing sound coming from every single radio. It was driving him insane just listening to the buzzing as he tried to follow Andrew through the crowd.

The crowd was actually disorienting. Ivan had no idea this many people were still at the camp! All the sounds, flashing lights, rushing people, gunshots, and just his general tiredness were too much for Ivan to handle. He could feel himself getting dizzier and dizzier, losing Andrew in the crowd just because of his disorientation. It was becoming genuinely difficult for him to tell what he was doing.

Then something hit him. It hit hard too. Ivan felt himself fall hard onto his back. He looked up and saw what appeared to be a mal-nourished man standing above him. He had no shirt and gray skin. He began to bend down towards Ivan when a gunshot rang out. Ivan screamed and covered his ears which were now ringing like crazy. He felt some kind of liquid splash on to his face, and then heavy weight fall on his chest as the man fell on him. Ivan’s disorientation began to fade away, his eye sight came back to him fully. Andrew was standing over him, pushing the mans body off of Ivan. The body rolled off of him, and Ivan turned to see his twisted, undead face with a bullet hole right in the forehead. Ivan screamed.

“You’re fine, you’re fine!” Andrew shouted. Andrew knew Ivan was a tough kid, seeing him actually scream was terrifying in a sense. “Get up we’ve gotta go!” Andrew shouted. Another walker began shambling toward Andrew and the Group. Andrew promptly raised his shotgun and shot it in the face. This horde had come from the back of camp. They were dealing with two massive hordes hitting the camp from both sides. “Let’s go!” Andrew shouted.

VIII.
Nick

Nick felt absolutely helpless up on the platform. He couldn’t be attacked, no zombie was smart enough to actually climb ladders, but he couldn’t help either. All he could do was shout general orders through his radio and hope he was making the right call.

“Monica, Brad, we need to keep the gate secured. If we can bottle neck the gate, we can keep the horde contained.” Nick said as he fired shot after shot over the side of the platform.

“On it!” He heard Brad say. Nick looked past the trees that stood between the road and the camps property and could see Brad leading about ten people down towards the camps main gate. Nick was worried. The main gate was a very large opening, and about a hundred and fifty ghouls were trying to squeeze through it.

“Brad, you’re gonna need more than that. Ten guys isn’t gonna keep out near two hundred zombies.” Nick said.

“All militia, form up on the main gate!” Brad said into the radio.

“They’re coming out of the woods!” A voice said, hurriedly, over the radio. Nick’s heart stopped. It had to be a mistake, it had to be. He wasn’t hearing things right. No. No way he just heard that.

“Whoever that was, can you repeat?” Nick asked.

“Nick, it’s Andrew. I didn’t make the original call but-” Andrew cut out as Nick heard a gunshot, “-They’re coming from the backwoods too. Nick, we’re dealing with at least two massive hordes here.”

Nick could feel his heartbeat slow down, “Where’s my group?” He asked, worried.

“With me, they’re all okay. Nick things are getting bad down here, i’m sending Brad some people now, but we have problems here too.” Andrew said, sounding distracted.

Nick, in shock and completely out of control of the situation, dropped his radio. Lost and unsure what to do, Nick backed up and slumped against one of the platforms banisters, listening to the sounds of the undead scratch the platform and gnaw at him.

“Nick? Nick? Nick, are yo there? S**t dude, we need you right now? Nick? Nick, what’s the plan?” He could faintly hear Andrew say over the radio, but he ignored it.

IX.
Monica

In that brief instant, everything around Monica appeared to slow down. She heard the loud and drawn out sounds of gun fire around her, the disturbingly elongated screams of people being bitten and taken down by the swarming undead. She felt the kick of her own gun slowly push against her shoulder causing her body to sway ever so slightly. “What is going on?” she thought, why did everything appear to be slowing down.  Monica fired another shot, hitting a walker in the chest. The walker stumbled, then turned back to Monica. She fired again, another chest hit. The walker stumbled again, but was quicker to get up. Again Monica fired, but this time the walker didn’t even stumble when the bullet sped through it’s leg. Monica took one more shot and missed, and suddenly time seemed to get back up to speed again.

The walker was suddenly just a few feet from Monica. Monica gasped, rolling backwards just as the Walker made a lunge toward her. She stood up and aimed straight for the walker’s head, but when she pulled the trigger, all she heard was a click. She was out of ammo. Startled, Monica quickly began fumbling around with the gun, trying desperately to reload it while walking backwards away from the approaching walker. Monica suddenly felt herself bump into the wall of the camp’s equipment shed. She had backed herself into a small alley way, walls on both sides of her. The walker had already cut off her escape. Monica was still fumbling to reload her gun, but she was just to nervous. She wasn’t thinking properly and was moving much too quickly.

Just as the walker reached her, it suddenly froze. It’s eyes and arms went notably limp as it began to slowly lean forward. It then appeared to slide slightly towards her as she heard a voice say “Please, Meatsack, leave the nice lady alone.”

A large, burly man was standing behind the Walker’s limp body. He was holding a rod that had been shoved into the back of the walkers head. “You alright Ma’am?” he asked, shoving the walker to the side and extending his hand to lead Monica out.

“Yes, Gavin, I’m fine.” Monica said, grabbing his hand and letting him lead her.

“Well good, cause we still have some fight left to fight.” He said.

X.
James

“Andrew, what’s happening.” James asked. James could see something was wrong. Andrew looked disheveled and tired. He had come in with that other boy, Ivan, covered in blood. The gun shots and screams were enough of a hint that something was wrong, but Andrew always knew how to handle it. Or he always seemed to. One way or another Andrew had kept them safe so far. It couldn’t get much worse.

“There’s a bit of an incident outside. You’re just gonna stay here with Annaliese and Nick’s group.” Andrew said. James could hear that he was tired, and worried.

“But where are you going to be?” James asked, now getting worried about Andrew’s safety. He walked over to Andrew.

“Helping other people, people who need the help.” Andrew said, putting on a back pack that he was stuffing with boxes of shotgun shells. James didn’t like that answer.

“But we need you here! I’m scared!” James said, surprised by the desperation in his own voice. But it was true. “We’re all scared.” He said, more softly. Andrew looked past James to the bed that sat directly across the cabin from the door. Seth, Danny, Anthony, Niko, and Jaxon were all sitting in it together. Jaxon was, as usual, crying. The rest of the boys just seemed frozen and scared. They were bunched together and unmoving.

“Other people need my help too.” Andrew said, looking back at James. James heard him choke a bit. James was scared, but he knew Andrew could help others.

“Be safe please. And come back the second your done.” James asked.

Andrew bent down and looked into James’s eyes. James looked back, on the verge of tears. He hadn’t been this scared since the first night, when this all started happening. Andrew grabbed and embraced him, “I will, I promise.” He said. James cried, but held on to Andrew. After a couple moments, Andrew backed off James. “Stay strong. All of you.” Andrew said to the cabin, before turning and walking out the door.

Author's Note

Sections 1-10