Hope

I woke up with the sun in my face and my muscles screaming Bloody Mary. I had trouble sitting up but once I did I saw that everyone was looking at me, most of them had dark circles under their eyes which made sense because we did get attacked by the undead. I’m grateful that I blacked out but at the same time looking at everyone made me feeling selfish. I looked at everyone individually. Alexander looking at me like he’s hiding something, Jeremy was struggling to smile but was failing. Matt was looking spaced out, thinking about something maybe, while Travis and the rest of the kids were teary eyed. What did I miss?  Or who?

 

I asked everyone, “Where’s Gary?”

It was Jeremy who answered, “He’s dead.” The news smacked me in the face hard.

“What! H-How?” then it hit me, “The ambush.” Jeremy nodded. “Does that mean I’m?” Jeremy nodded like he knew what my question was, me the leader?

 

I stood up, ignoring my physical pain; I was focused on my mental pain. Already one day and we already lost another kid and he was the best kid we had. I knew it was too late to cry, everyone already did that so I knew it was too late to do that. It’s time to accept what it is and go with it. My pack was nearby, I picked it up and said, “Alright let’s pack up and head out” everyone nodded and started to do what I said. Looking around, it looks so differently than it did last night. The road was covered in dry blood and other bodily fluids and I see that there are different piles of fireplaces. They must’ve burned the corpses and Gary too, still hard to believe that he’s gone.

 

Jeremy came up to me and tapped my shoulder, he said, “We’re done, ready to head out?” I took a couple of seconds to think about the future, from here on out these guys are my responsibilities am I ready?

“Yeah.” We headed out with a new leader leading the group and the march.

 

Walking down the road I don’t see anything or anyone, we haven’t seen any buildings up ahead but there is a hill so maybe just maybe we’ll be able to scavenge what we can and continue on our way. I am leading the group with Jeremy next to me and Alexander and Matt at the rear and Travis and the little ones in the middle, so far, this position hasn’t failed yet. The trip has been quiet and awkward even, everyone is one edge because let’s face it. Who knows when we’re going to get attacked again? It’s the silence that drives people to be reckless. The thought of death doesn't help.

 

Going over the hill we see that we are arriving towards a town. the thought of a place to rest in an actual building have raised some morale but at the same time made us wonder, if we kept going last night would Gary still be alive? I shook the thought away and kept leading the group towards the town. Will we find more people or will we see more death in the future, if I die who else will take my place?

 

Quit it, you need to focus. Everyone is relying on you to lead them to safety.

 

Damn you, Gary.

 

The town was small with barely enough buildings to be called a town and not a plot of land with buildings. From what I could gather there’s a straight road that leads towards our destination while there are separate branches of roads that could lead to potential supplies or worse, the undead. My body is in too much pain that I can barely concentrate on more walking, the blood stains on my clothes don't help either, most of it is dried up and crusty but the smell is getting into my brain. I spotted a house on our right entering the town, I figured that this could be our safest bet since we’ve gotten used to living in a building and it looked like it was better than our old home.

 

I stopped the group and I brought Jeremy up front, I signaled the house and Jeremy put up his cloak and unsheathed his knife and started to head in.