The Beginning Day

We became aware that our location was about to be compromised by the undead and we’ll have to move but we didn’t settle with a good location. We are currently holding up in an abandoned house that was in the middle of nowhere and was full of holes due to the bombings that the government had commenced in the beginning when the government was still a thing. On the night of the next day that we were moving out we lost a kid. His name was John; he was 10 years old and was murdered by the undead.

 

Our leader Gary wasn’t so thrilled to hear the news because that was the third kid this month. We are down to 10 kids now, ironic really if you think about it. Gary called a meeting that morning and was struggling with a plan.

 

Gary was a student in a private school, but he would never tell us where it was but he always wore the school outfit with the acronym A.C.S. he was a hot-headed character and in this time of age it’s a good trait because that means Gary will be by your side in a fight and there has been plenty of that. He had brown curly hair and always looked tired because he always had dark circles under his eyes. Sometimes I think he pushes himself too far with this leadership role that he’s in, but at the same time, I’m grateful that he’s here trying to save our sorry asses.

We picked the garage of the house to use as the meeting room, most of the time it was a planning room for most thing like scavenging and rationed supplies, now after the incident with Alex we knew we needed to get the hell out, but where? I entered the room with Gary; he told me that he’s not sure we’re going to like the choices. With that in my mind, I’m actually curious on how this is going to play out. Everyone soon after coming in, looking at everyone I calculated that including me and Gary we had 6 teenagers and 4 kids: besides me and Gary, Matt would be the only other good fighter. There’s Alexander who’s a decent shot with a bow and arrow that he picked from his home a while back before coming here. Then there’s Jeremy and Travis.

 

Jeremy is a quiet man, no one knows what he’s thinking, but he’s one of the smartest kid that I know and I trust him, he usually prefers the shadow and wears a cloak to hide his face, diffidently strange but reliable with a knife, but he prefer scouting ahead for the team so we let him do what he’s good at and so far, he hadn’t let us down. Travis is different compared to Jeremy; instead of being quiet he’s loud and not very good at fighting. He makes the kids laugh and he looks after them so we know that Travis will have the kids back. After John’s death, though, Travis has been out of focus, I’ll need to make a mental note to check on him after the meeting.

 

The 4 kids are that, kids, with different ages. We found Kate and Andy when we were scavenging for supplies. They are brothers and sisters with Kate being 9 and Andy 6, they have each other to look after each other and seeing those walking in makes my heart drop, wondering what they will think about leaving the one safety that they got used to. Joe and Lex are a different story, in the beginning when the undead rose their parents didn’t fight in the war because they were too sick to fight so they stayed in their homes with their kids. They soon passed away and came back from the dead to eat their kids. Their parents are dead but the worse part of it all was. This was their home.  Joe is 10 and Lex is 9, I don’t know what or how they died but I can see in Joe’s eyes that I shouldn’t push that subject on.

 

Once everyone had come in and sat down Gary started the meeting while I stand to the side and watched everyone. Gary stood in front of everyone and spoke firmly.

 

“I know all of you are aware of John’s death so I call this meeting to tell you all that this place isn’t safe anymore and we have to move.” Everyone in the room murmured to each other. Some were agreeing with Gary but others were looking nervous, I looked at Gary and he nodded to me to speak.

 

“Our food supplies are running low and we can’t keep going out farther and farther from the base anymore, with the undead getting more anxious to get us we are forced to hide in this house afraid and wait until we starve or they finally get what they want. Gary came up with a plan and we must come to a decision and we’ll see what we do from there.” I nodded back to Gary and he continued on. 

 

 

Gary’s plan is to go into the city so that we can get more protection and more food. In the beginning, we were told not to go into cities because that is where the grownups fought their war and fail to win. It’s a huge risk and a little reward. Gary described that it will be dangerous getting there but he was hoping that we would find others. He figured that others must have come up with the same idea so he plans on combining forces with them and fight the plague back and make the world into what it was before.

 

Gary was persuasive but there are fears in the little one’s eyes. Jeremey was watching with his eyes wide open, meaning he’s paying attention very closely. While Travis was looking confused, Joe and Lexi's emotions haven’t changed which was unusual, especially Joe, I thought he would argue but it was Andy, the youngest of us all who asked a question. “Why?” he asked, “Why should we leave, wouldn’t that be easier for the grownups to get us?” Instead of calling them the undead like I do, Andy calls them grownups because that’s what most of them were grownups, but I’ve seen a lot of zombie movies and I like calling them the undead but it really doesn’t matter what you call them. They are still the enemy in this world.

 

Gary explained to Andy that it was too dangerous to stay here and kept saying that we were low on all the essentials that we need to survive. He’s not wrong but even I felt doubtful because the way he keeps saying that part shows that he too was desperate, and a desperate leader is a reckless leader. Again, murmurs spread around in the small room and soon after it quieted down for Gary to continue.

 

“I feel that we should put it to a vote, that way if there are some who want to stay we can decide about what to do about that,” said Gary, “So for those who want to go raise your hand.” I counted 10, everyone wanted to go but some looked more confident than others. Travis looked spooked about the whole thing, Jeremy showed interest but I couldn’t read more into him than that. The kids were all scared none the less, Joe was neutral while the rest of the bunch was holding onto each other.

 

To be frank I was kind of excited to leave, staying in this almost destroyed house was a bummer to live in because it felt like the world, struggling to survive on barely stable support beams. When Gary saw that the vote was unanimous he was back to being confident. He clapped his hand together and said, “In that case pack up, we’ll begin leaving shortly.” With that said the meeting was over and everyone started leaving except Gary and me.

 

“So how do you feel about this?” asked Gary, “I mean we got so used to this place we’ve grown weaker because we got comfortable, which is why John is dead. Someone forgot to secure our surroundings and John got jumped coming inside.” Saying that made Gary smack the wall next to him, he really cared for everyone in our group. That’s something I can’t ignore about Gary.

 

I grabbed Gary’s shoulder and said, “It’s ok Gary it is. You’re right we must move, not because you say so but just because there’s nothing here but bad memories, I believe that we can find good things in the city like new people. You know what they say; the new scenery never hurts anybody.”

Gary gave me a thumb up and flashed a grin, “I knew I can count on you, now get out of here and pack. Make sure we gather as much food and water as we can get. If you need to get more water go to the lake, who knows when we’ll find clean water again.” I nodded and headed out. Opening the door Jeremy was there.

 

“We’ll need more water before we head out.” I asked him, “Have you been listening to our conversation?” He admittedly nodded, “It’s what I do best, and now come on we need to do it now.” I gave him a quizzical look and he scoffed, “It’s just Travis man, he’s getting on everyone’s nerve, even the little ones are getting nervous being around him.”

 

We really need the water, but maybe I won’t get the chance to talk to Travis alone. What do I do? I pondered this question for a couple of seconds but with Alexander rushing me I focus on the whole group and went with Alexander to go get more water. Did I make the right choice?

 

I told Gary what’s going on and he said that he would look after Travis and said that Jeremy and I should go get the water. So, Jeremy with his cloak and a hunting knife and me with my trusty machete headed out and headed into the nearby forest to gather water for the group. It will be a walk in the park, at least that’s what I keep telling myself because in the past couple of weeks there hasn’t been any activity lately but after John’s death. Now I don’t know what to think.

 

Before heading out Joe told me to hold up, he ran up to me carrying a small backpack with him. I held up my hand stopping him.

 

“Where do you think, you’re going?” Joe responded with a grunt and crossed his arms, “Well I’m going with you to get water.” I pushed Jeremy close to me and whispered, “What do you think?” Jeremy shaped up Joe and shrugged, “Why not, it means we’ll have someone watching your back.” I punched Jeremy in the shoulder and allowed Joe to come with us. Joe’s weapon of choice was a claw hammer, it fits him, I guess.

 

Stepping outside made my skin crawl, the wind was nerve wrecking and the dry blood on the front porch didn’t help. Walking further away I see a clump of hair and soon after that a finger. The acid in my stomach rose in my stomach but I forced it down and kept going. Joe was the one who looked even worst and me; he was sweating while holding his hands over his mouth. Kid acts tough but really, he still is a kid, hell we technically are too. Jeremy wasn’t fazed at all, he saw what we saw and kept going without any acknowledgment.

 

Entering the wooded area that was close to our base was risky because you never truly know what’s on the other side. We pushed branches out of the way and allowed Jeremy to go first, then Joe, then me leading the rear. Almost tripping over each other and roots we finally reached the lake. So far everything was quiet, rather that’s good or bad depends on how scared you are and looking at Joe, not good. Jeremy handed me the empty canteens and I gave some to Joe, we started gathering water while Jeremy was keeping watch.

The silence in the woods kept giving me goosebumps because you know what they say about the woods being quiet, it means that something is scaring the animals and feared for their lives. So, what is it and will it find us?

 

Sometimes I need to keep my mouth shut.

 

Jeremy was the first one to spot it; he tapped my shoulder and pointed towards the moving bushes. I told Joe to keep filling the canteens and pulled out my machete, Jeremy felt like we should wait for it to come to us and I agreed, mostly because I was afraid of what it was and because it was a good plan.

 

Shuffling slowly towards us we see that it’s one of the undead, it was a man and was badly decaying. His mouth was gone and his tongue was hanging out all blistered up while his bodies were covered in scratches and branches that some were literally in him, poking out of his arms and legs. This rotting tree was slowly approaching our direction. When it came into swinging range Jeremy stabbed it in the head and down it went, the blood started to spread into the water, but by that time Joe was finished so mission accomplished I guess and we started to head back home. For the last time, I can call it home.

 

One undead is easy to get rid of, just hit the brain hard enough and they should fall. Don’t know what is causing this but who knows it might just be a stereotypical reason. It could be a government test that failed and was released to the public, a potential cure for something and it mutated creating the undead or could be aliens. No one knows what made the world it is currently but all that matters really is surviving.

 

Coming out of the wooded area I see the base and I see that Alexander was keeping watch with his bow pointing at us before he fired on us I waved my hand and he lowered the bow. He screams, “How’d it go?” I replied, “We got everything filled up before one of them contaminated the water, we ready to go?” he nodded, “We were just waiting for you.” With that said Gary and everyone else starting coming outside, all wearing a pack and was looking as scared and curious at the same time.

 

Gary was the first one to acknowledge my present at heard that we got everything filled up. He congratulated me on my mission and told me that we were ready to head out. “Well, what are we waiting for, let’s go,” I screamed as we marched our way to a new home. Joe went back to the kids and told them about the lake and told everyone that he was the one who killed the undead and all the little ones praised him, even Travis cheered him on. Jeremy and I hid a chuckle.

 

With Travis and the little ones in the middle of the group and Alexander watching the rear with his bow, Matt is with him to provide him with an extra pair of eyes. That led Gary, Jeremy and me to lead our group of mischief.

 

Everything looks to be an ok day.

Reviews

[matrixmark]

I liked the little detail about Gary always wearing the school blazer - that was a nice touch. 1. Because it made him stand out and 2. Because it immediately sticks in the readers mind.
Kate and Andy: because theses 2 are so young it gives the reader a little tug at the heart, knowing that they must be terrifiec at their surroundings - again another good touch.
The meeting was good and you demonstrated the uncertainty throughout the group about going to the city really well.
The woods i feel could have had more tension in it BUT i guess its all to do with a gradual buil; so its all good.
A good chapter throughout, there were a couple of grammar errors but in no way did they distract from a fascinating chaptet. Your writing is clear to follow and you have a good imagination.

Mark.

[The Zombie Guy]

I wanted to test foreshadowing with the events in the woods with the undead moving around in the woods because in the later chapters you will learn little details at a time about them and how change is coming.

[matrixmark]

It was a good thing to put in and worked well. It was the type of thing i would want to come from a movie or tv show. Great work and i do look forward to learning more.

Mark.