Beside the Dying Fire

A loud gunshot startled me from my slumber. My wristwatch read an early two in the morning. I had gone to bed just three short hours ago. In the stupor that followed my sharp awakening, I realized that would have been plenty enough time for the group of strangers to travel the distance through the woods and arrive here, in our small town. Panic shot through me as my mind raced through all the horrible things that could be happening down in the town. I didn’t know what was going on, but I was determined to get down there as fast as possible to help.

Quickly, I shot up from my bed and got dressed. Still sweating from the warm overnight temperature, I threw on some shorts and a tank top. The heat of the day had risen to a fierce 95 degrees and had only dropped to a warm 75. It was horrible weather for sleeping. Night sweats frequently woke me up.

Slowing down only once to tie up my hair, I rushed to my nightstand to find the one thing I thought I was absolutely going to need. I found it within a moment’s notice and picked it up hungrily. It was my father’s old pistol. It felt cold and unfamiliar in my palm. I had only used it a few times and had never really gotten used to the fact that I now needed to carry it on me at all times. I hated lugging the thing around. It felt so wrong. Truth be told, I was a really awful shot. I mean, I could use it if need be but otherwise, you couldn’t really count on me. I had gone shooting with my father a few times, with much protest from my mother, and I had enjoyed it. But I had never really gotten a hand at the skill. That was my father’s department, and rightly so. He had been on the police force for a very long time and sheriff of this county for the few remaining years before his retirement.

Bringing myself back to the here and now, I quickly pushed aside those memories from a fonder time. I had things to attend to and I wasn’t about to let memories of the past distract me from my duties. Taking a brief glance out the window, I didn’t notice much commotion going on down the hill. It seemed quite odd considering a gun shot had just been heard. For a moment, I began to wonder whether I had dreamt it or not.

A violent knocking upon my door confirmed to me that it had really happened. I ran to the door, hoping to God that it would be a familiar face and not that of a stranger. The grip I now had on my gun was nearly painful. But when I opened up the door and saw Walt’s toothy grin and graying hair, I breathed a sigh of relief and loosened the grip on my gun.

“Oh, honey! Glad to see you alive and well! Are you doing alright up here?” He glanced around in the darkness that was my home at two a.m.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Would you like to come in?” I asked, trying to be polite.

“Oh, no. We haven’t got time for that, sweetie.”

“Was that a gunshot I heard?” I asked, grimacing.

Walt’s expression dropped. “I’m afraid so. We’ve got some visitors.”

My eyes bulged a little. “Visitors? Of what kind? Alive or dead?”

“See… That’s one thing we’re not sure of quite yet. Our night watch says that they’ve been hearing movement in the forest just outside of town. If they’re human visitors, they ain’t makin’ much noise. And if that’s the case, then we’re afraid that they’re tryin’ to sneak up on us. If they’re walkers, well, they’re headed straight this way.”

I sighed and was silent for a moment, in brief contemplation. “Then why the gunfire?”

“Jason shot it off to scare off whoever it was.”

I grasped my face in my palm and let out an exasperated sigh. “Does he not realize that every walker in this area has now been alerted to our presence? We’re not supposed to use our guns unless it’s absolutely necessary.” One thing my father taught me was that rules were made for a reason and it was always best to follow them. Even in this new hellhole of a world, it seemed like the old world philosophies were still very well applicable. “Now, even if it is human visitors, we’re going to have to deal with them on top of the walkers that are now making their way here. This is just great.”

Walt looked to the ground below and frowned. “I guess Jason thought it was necessary… Jason isn’t the smartest of the bunch,” he finally declared.

“No shit,” I said, with a hint of a smirk.

Walt laughed. “Well, I guess we better be makin’ our way down there. They’re gonna be needing our help pretty soon. You ready?”

I had my gun and that was all I needed. I replied with a terse “yes,” and we soon made our way down the hill to town.

The field we walked to, on the outskirts of the forest, was now inhabited by a group of people. I quickly recognized them as townspeople and as I approached, I heard them discussing a plan of action. No doubt, Jason was making all the fast-paced decisions here. He liked to think he was head honcho of the group and many trusted him for the position. I was not one of those people. He was famous for making foolhardy mistakes, like tonight’s first blunder. Most overlooked those mistakes, but I saw straight to the core of them. The last thing I wanted to do was hand over the reigns to someone I knew was going to screw things up sooner or later so I made it my duty to butt in every once in a while. It was just another one of my father’s influences.

“How nice of you to show up,” Jason spoke to me as I approached.

“How nice of you to wake me up,” I said, pointing to his gun.

He laughed, but I was in no laughing mood.

“And how nice of you to wake every goddamned walker in this area up,” I added.

His smile dropped and the slight look of panic in the crowd’s eyes gave me a little pleasure. Sometimes kicking Jason off of his high-horse could be quite amusing.

“Hey, hey. Calm down. I don’t think walkers are really our problem right now. It seems that the strange group of people is headed our way. Who knows what their intentions are. They could be dangerous.”

“And you know this for sure?”

“Well, no. But there’s a good chance.”

“There’s also a good chance that the noises could’ve just been wandering walkers. But now, you’ve practically invited them over.”

Jason scowled, unsure of what to say in retort.

“I say we just wait it out,” I proposed. “If they’re walkers, we’ll start shooting as soon as we see them. If they’re not, then we’ll wait until they appear, find out what they want, and go from there. Until then, I suggest you save your ammunition.”

“She’s right,” Walt said. “If they’re walkers, we’re gonna need all the ammo we can get.”

After we had all agreed that we would just let time guide us, the group disbanded and stationed themselves throughout the field. All of our eyes were focused on the tree line of the forest. We waited, for what seemed like forever, for any signs of life - so to speak. An hour had passed and I was getting anxious and more tired by the minute. Three hours of sleep wasn’t exactly cutting it.

The whole scenario scared me a little. I worried that, because it was so dark, we weren’t going to be able to see anything until it was too late. I wasn’t looking forward to the moment when my theory would be tested. My stomach began to knot up and I began to shake a little; my nerves were taking their toll. Just as I thought about walking back up to my place to take a little breather, I noticed some movement in the brush, just beside a tree to my far right. I guess I wasn’t the only one who noticed because a couple of the others quietly spoke amongst each other and pointed in that direction. As if on cue, we all raised our weapons, aiming in the direction in which the movement came.

Now I really began to shake. If my aim was bad before, now it would be even worse. I was fearing for the worst - either an astounding amount of walkers or the fact that someone may shoot at a still living being. I didn’t know which would be worse.

The moment of truth was upon us. Out of the bushes, the mysterious figure stepped. Everyone had their guns cocked and ready.

In the light of the moon, it was clear to me now what it was. Clothed in an old, ripped up, filthy pair of overalls and a plaid flannel shirt, the figure walked out into the open. It was a man. Or, at least it used to be a man. Half of his face was gone and smeared across the front of his attire. He staggered towards us at a rate that was a little too fast for me to digest. It was a walker, and a fast one at that.

A couple of shots rang out and the walker soon collapsed. Only then did more appear from the blackness of the forest. A hail of bullets screamed by and took down the walkers one by one. In total, there had been about six of them. We had had some close calls but we had been lucky enough to get by unscathed as a whole. I had been semi-happy that I had been right and it was walkers instead of human visitors. I turned to Jason and made sure he knew that I had been correct. He glared at me and I laughed. But we quickly became quiet and remained in our positions, waiting for the next attack, if there were to be one.

We sat there for a moment, unsure of whether it had been the end of them or not. About five minutes passed when we had finally begun to relax. But it was not a time for relaxation. A few seconds after we began to head back to the center of town, there came more rustling from the woods. This time, it came from a different area.

Dead ahead, there were figures moving in the darkness. We all got back into out battle positions quickly, scared that there were more. Our guns aimed, we waited, holding our breath. I quietly reminded them that before they were to open fire, they were to be sure that it was a walker. But, I felt as if the warning landed upon deaf ears. I knew that no one in this group took me all too seriously.

Nevertheless, the majority of the group actually had listened when the time came. A shot rang out from Jason’s gun as the figure made its way out of the forest. He, of course, was the only one to do exactly the opposite of what I had suggested. The others noticed exactly what I had seen.

“Good thing you’re a lousy shot, Jason,” I spoke to him quietly, extremely happy that the bullet had missed its target.

Because just ahead of us, bathed in moonlight, was a man. A living, breathing man.

Our visitors had arrived.