Damn the Dead

Today was the day we were leaving camp, and everyone was getting packed and ready to go. It was still early, probably only around 8 AM, but everyone was itching to get out of here. We were still too close to Atlanta for anyone’s liking, and sitting on the interstate was becoming dangerous.

Everyone agreed that they would go with Emily and me to Savannah to find our father, which I was grateful for. My sister and I could have gotten there on our own, but with no vehicle and minimal supplies, it would have taken us a lot longer to reach the historic town.

Looking around I noticed that everyone was busy doing something, and it didn’t look like anyone needed my help. Emily was helping Carol, Lori, and the kids look in the surrounding vehicles for things that we could use; Glenn, Rick and Shane were huddled together with a map trying to figure out how to get to Savannah; Andrea was nowhere to be seen, which meant she was in the RV; and I had no idea what T-Dog and Daryl were doing.

Since I couldn’t find anything to do, I ended up taking out my weapons and checking to make sure I had everything cleaned and loaded up. I placed a towel on the hood of a car, before taking out the array of weapons Emily and I brought with us and placing them on top. The two Berettas with their two silencers, my hunting knife, my arrows for my crossbow, Emily’s sawed off shotgun, and the Glock.

My dad always took pride in his weapons, it’s something that he instilled in my sister and I, so I’ll be damned if I let my father down by having shitty-looking weapons.

As I was cleaning my first Beretta, I heard a low whistle, and turned to be greeted by Dale. “Now that’s a mighty fine piece of weaponry you’ve got there Kait,” he said, leaning against the car.

Smiling at him I replied, “Well thanks, Dale. They’re my dad’s.”

We sat there in silence for a moment, before we were joined by Shane and Rick. I noticed that Daryl was standing in the distance, once again fiddling with his crossbow, but occasionally glancing at what I was doing.

“Hey guys, what’s up?” I asked, blowing some air into the barrel before placing it down next to the recoil spring. When I glanced back up at them, they were staring at the weapons laid out on the towel with awe. I don’t think it was the weapons themselves that made the men slack jawed, but the fact that a woman was carrying and knew how to use these weapons.

Rolling my eyes, I chuckled at them before reassembling the Beretta with quick precision. Just as I was inserting the magazine I looked back up at them again.

They were staring at me, their mouths gaping. “Where the fuck did ya learn how to do that?” Shane asked, pointing at the Beretta in hand. “You assembled that thing in less than a minute!”

I looked at the Beretta, flicked the safety on, and replied, “My dad is an infantryman in the National Guard. Taught Em and I everything we know. He insisted we know every weapon he owned, inside and out.”

“Well, damn. All I know is I’m glad y’all are on our side,” Rick said with a grin.
“Glad to be here, Rick,” Emily said, coming out of nowhere. She retrieved her rucksack, before coming to stand next to me. She grabbed her Glock from the towel, and began to take it apart.

The guys were still standing there, just watching us in action. “If you guys are this interested in us just cleaning these bad boys, just wait ‘til you see us use them, then you’ll really be impressed,” I told them with a sly grin.

“We can do many impressive things, can’t we Kait? Well, at least I know I can… especially in the sack,” my sister said, completely straight faced.

“Emily!” I said with a chuckle.

She glanced up at Rick, who was looking anywhere but in our direction, then back at me.
“What? And I thought I was the one in need of getting laid, you on the other hand are wound tighter than the girdle of a Baptist minister’s wife at an all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast,” Emily said, completely straight-faced.

I laughed at her, “Where the fuck did you hear that from?”

“I read it on a website a while back; don’t judge me,” she replied, sticking her tongue out at me.

Looking up at the men surrounding us, I saw they had hidden smiles on their faces. I even risked a glance over at Daryl and noticed he was trying to hide a grin, as well. My sister could be a complete idiot at times, but she sure made things a lot more entertaining.

“Well, I guess I should go uh… look out for walkers,” Dale muttered, walking away towards the RV. Shane walked away as well, chuckling and shaking his head.

Rick still stood there with a grin gracing his lips, his head down, looking at the weapons still sprawled on the ground. “Holy shit, you guys brought grenades with you?”

“Fuck yes we did. Dad never let us experiment with these before, so there was no way I was leaving these behind!” Emily said grabbing one and tossing it back in forth between her hands.

“Which is why,” I started, grabbing the grenade from her hand, “we shouldn’t be playing with them, dumb shit.”

She just rolled her eyes at me before focusing on her weapons again. She had her switchblade out, and was examining it closely. Our dad bought that for her for her 16th birthday and she hasn’t let it out of her sight since.

Rick moved next to her, and reached for her Glock to examine it, while I decided to pack up my shit and find something to do. Emily was probably more than happy to see me leave anyways, so she can show off to Rick. I wonder about that girl sometimes, I don’t think she knows what she’s getting herself into.

Grabbing my crossbow, I started for the woods. I figured I might as well get some target practice in, since I was a little rusty and haven’t had the time to practice since this apocalypse started.

I walked through the woods as quietly as I could, my trained ears alert for any movement. I was a good forty yards away from the camp when I felt the presence of something behind me. Getting a sense of déjà vu, I quickly turned around, crossbow up and ready, just to be face to face with Daryl.

“Is this going to become a habit, Dixon?” I asked him, lowering the crossbow. He said nothing, just stared at me. I sighed before turning around and starting my hunt again.

“I just…” Daryl started, before pausing and taking a deep breath. I turned around with a huff, jutting my hip out, and crossing my arms waiting for him to finish what he was going to say.

Biting the side of this thumb, he glanced up at me slowly, “Thanks for the food last night,” he said before turning around and walking away. I stood there for a few moments just watching him walk away, running his hand through his hair.

Men, I swear.



All was silent as I crept deeper into the woods. A slight breeze ruffled my hair, and I hastily pushed it back out of my way. Crossbow at the ready, I continued tracking the white-tailed deer as it noiselessly maneuvered through the thick trees.

Taking a step forward, a crack sounded through the silence and I froze. At first I thought I was the one to make the noise, but I quickly realized that wasn’t the case. My gaze flicked through the surrounding trees, looking for any signs of walkers, seeing none.

The deer even stopped; head looking straight ahead, ears flicking back and forth, for a few moments before continuing towards its destination.

Quietly following, we got a few feet further before another loud crack sounded. Stopping once again, I tuned in to the world around me. Closing my eyes, I listened for any other noise to present itself.

I heard the sound of my own breathing, leaves slightly blowing across the wooded floor, but not much else. Hell, I didn’t even hear any birds chirping in the trees.

When the birds weren’t even making noise, it was not a good sign. Something was out there, I just didn’t know where.

I opened my eyes, taking in my surroundings again. The deer still stood where it had been before, ears still flicking back and forth and nose twitching. Once again, there was another crack, this time closer than the previous two times.

I heard them before they even came into sight. I heard the shuffling of their feet against the solid ground, and the grunts and moans coming out of their dislocated, oozing mouths.

They were on the deer before I, or the deer, could even process what was happening. The noise that came out of the deer mouth was unlike anything I have heard before. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the scene before me; the deer fighting to get away, but to no avail. There were six walkers crowding around the fallen deer, tearing into its flesh, blood spewing everywhere.

I’ve never seen anything like this in my entire life, and it scared the shit out of me. The walkers were making a noise of satisfaction as they tore into the flesh of the animal, pulling at it with their teeth and hands.

The pained noises of the deer were slowly stopping as its intestines were being pulled from its carcass.

My eyes were forced away from the scene in front of me, as I heard more shuffling and groaning coming towards the others. I quietly stepped away from the tree I had hid myself behind, but not before falling over a branch I didn’t even see. Cursing, I risked a glance at the growing horde of walkers a few feet in front of me.

They were looking around the woods, trying to pinpoint the source of the noise. I sat there frozen in place for a few moments before the feeding walkers went back to their meal. Breathing out a sigh of relief, I slowly got up and made sure there weren’t any more branches I could trip over, before hurrying back in the direction of camp.

I had to warn the others that a horde was coming towards the camp, and that we needed to leave as soon as possible.

I was about two miles outside of camp, but I ran. I couldn’t risk taking my time when the walkers were so close. I heard another branch crack behind me, and turned to see two walkers shuffling as fast as they could behind me.

Jesus fucking Christ.

Surely the two coming after me would in turn make the horde follow after them.
I stopped, turning towards them as they came towards me. My crossbow at the ready, I aimed and shot one of the walkers right between the eyes. It fell to the ground, as the other one continued to barrel towards me.

Even though I should have started running back towards camp, I knew I couldn’t risk even one following me. So, I ran towards the oncoming walker full speed, grabbing another arrow and fastening it into the crossbow at the same time.

It was five feet in front of me when I released the arrow, missing its forehead and instead lodging itself into its neck. Stumbling, it still came towards me. I didn’t have time to reload my weapon when it crashed into me.

It landed on top of me, jaws snapping as it tried to bite into my flesh. I held it by its shoulders at a distance, as its vile breath blew on my face. There was no way I was going to allow it to bite me, no matter how tired my arms were getting as I tried to push the heavy undead body away from me. I didn’t scream, knowing that if I did more walkers would come for sure.

Struggling, I grabbed the arrow out of its throat and slammed it into the side of the walkers head. It was still moving, but not as wild, so I yanked the arrow out before jamming it into the walker’s forehead instead. It stopped moving and I shoved it off me in disgust.
Blood from the neck puncture, as well as the head ones, were all over my chest. It was the most disgusting feeling.

Groaning, I lifted myself off the ground and retrieved my crossbow off the ground. I quickly inspected it to make sure there was no damage. Satisfied, I reached towards the officially dead walker and pulled out the bloodied arrow and wiped it on my pants. I placed it back in the quiver before moving to the other dead walker and grabbing the other one. I cleaned that one off as best as I could, put it in place, and then started running back to the camp.

I didn’t hear anything else following me the whole way back, but that didn’t mean nothing was coming.

As I neared closer to the camp, I heard Carl and Sophia laughing, as well as the others talking. I broke through the surrounding trees and ran up to the others. My breathing was labored as I bent over grasping my knees. Running two miles definitely wasn’t what I wanted to be doing today.

“Kait, are you okay?” Emily asked, rushing to my side. I looked up, hands still on my knees, trying to get my breathing back to normal. The others were soon crowding around us, concerned looks on their faces.

“Walkers,” I breathed out, “In the woods. Coming this way.”

I stood up straight, taking a deep breath before continuing, “We need to leave, now. They’re about two miles away, if not closer, they attacked the fucking deer I was tracking.”

“Shit,” Rick said, his hands rubbing his face absentmindedly. “Alright everyone, grab all your stuff and load up. We’re getting out of here before…”

A loud crack sounded through the air, as someone or something made its way closer to the camp.

Everyone’s breathing stopped in an instant, and just stared towards the trees. Carol grabbed for Sophia, who hugged her mother close. Carl was behind his father with Lori close behind him. I raised my loaded crossbow, and everyone else raised their weapons as well.

The tension was so thick you could cut it with a knife. It felt like an eternity standing there waiting for whatever it was to come crashing into camp.

Any second now.

There was no noise except for the heavy breathing of the group. I readjusted my grip on the crossbow, anxious to let an arrow fly in the direction of the oncoming walker.

Sweat rolled down the side of my face, as I tried my best to be patient.

Suddenly, a figure broke through the trees.