Only Hope Left

Her little heart was beating faster and faster by the minute. She covered her mouth with both her hands as she hid in the pantry. She could hear slow footsteps coming towards the kitchen, it had to be another one; another one of those creatures that fed on the human flesh. The first two had crouched down on the floor feeding on her father’s body. She watched in shock, the footsteps coming closer and closer; then a gunshot sounded. One of the creatures fell limp on top of her father’s body, then another gunshot, the other creature fell. She let her hands fall from her mouth and she gripped the pantry door holding it closed as she listened in on the gun owner’s conversation.

“Man, that’s one unlucky bastard.” Someone said it was a male voice; his voice had a bit of country twang the kind her grandfather had.

“He grabbed hold of quite a few things.” Another voice said he had more of a southern drawl; it wasn’t hard to tell he was from Georgia. He walked over to her father’s duffle bag and finished packing the things that her father had stuffed in there, boxes of crackers, cans of soup. She studied this man, he wore a sheriff’s outfit, and his gun glinted in the light on his belt.

She watched as another man passed my view, he wore a flannel shirt with the sleeves tore off, and loose fit jeans he also carried a crossbow like her mother had pointed out in a sporting goods store before this nightmare began.

“Uh, Rick” another voice said, this one was more defined; he didn’t seem country at all. He held something up and the guy with the flannel shirt snatched it from him and turned to the one in the sheriff’s outfit.

It was her doll, the one that her mother had gotten custom-made for her by her grandmother. The girl’s eyes widened and she looked around finding if she had enough room to squeeze down lower.

“Think this guy had a fetish for dolls?” The guy now holding her doll said.

“That’s not it, there’s clothing too.” The guy she couldn’t see said. She bent her knees trying to squeeze under the bottom shelf, her foot kicked out, hitting a bag of rice off of the shelf. She quickly looked up at the door.

“What was that?” the man she couldn’t see said, and then the door swung open. The girl quickly grabbed a jar on the second shelf and whipped it at some man’s head then she attempted to escape. She was grabbed by her midsection and held back.

“Let go!” She shouted, “Let me go!”

“Shush! Calm down! It’s okay we can help you.” She recognized that voice to be the man she couldn’t see. Tears swelled up in her eyes and she gave up fighting him and brought her hands up to her eyes wiping them away quickly. The man let her go once she had calmed down and she slowly turned to them. She set her jaw her lips pouting she didn’t look at any one of them in the eye.

The man that wore the sheriff’s outfit – Rick- kneeled down to her height and looked up at her as she looked away from him. “What’s your name?”

“Hope,” she paused then finally looked at the man, “Hope Blackhart.” She said. She saw the sympathy in his eyes; he was letting his guard down. “My daddy’s dead, isn’t he?”

The man looked down at the floor, not saying anything, “your name is Rick.” She stated, making him look up questioningly. “That man said it.” She said pointing at the man that grabbed her; he looked much younger than the other two, his eyes were slanted so she knew he was at least part Korean, he wore a shirt like her own, and cargo pants.

Rick nodded, and huffed. He looked back at Hope’s father’s body; while they were talking the man behind him had covered his body with the sheet that had once covered the table. He then turned to look at her, “would you like to come with us?” He asked her, she didn’t see why he had to ask, but she was young; she had just lost her father he must have felt he had to, being a stranger and all.

She nodded, and pointed to the pantry. “There’s more food in there, and daddy had more duffle bags in the truck. He parked it out back,” she said, watching as Rick stood up and looked into the pantry for more supplies.

“Keys 'n the truck?” the man with the crossbow said, for a second she didn’t answer him, she stared down at the weapon in a sort of admiration then looked back up at him as she fished the keys out of her own pocket and handed them to the man.

He took them and nodded to her once before disappearing out the back door to retrieve the rest of the bags.

She turned to the Korean man as he looked through the cupboards. “There’s nothing in there but dishes. And what’s useful from the fridge is gone, we took that.” She paused as he looked back at her and nodded, he gulped as if he thought she was going to cry again if he didn’t give her sympathy.

She got down on her hands and knees and looked in the cupboard under the sink, grabbing dish soap, and other cleaning supplies and putting them up on the counter beside the sink. The man with the crossbow came back through the front door, and tossed the Korean man a bag before helping Rick with collecting the imperishable foods. She continued to grab the cleaning supplies until there was nothing left. She then looked in the drawers picking out a big box of plastic bags, a roll of tin foil and plastic wrap. The man put those in the bag too. She then looked above the fridge; when she was little her mother had put candles in the cupboard above the fridge. She pointed up at the cupboard then looked at the Korean man, he nodded understand and looked inside.

He shook his head, “think we need some wicker baskets, Rick?” he said, looking over at Rick. He shook his head but then looked like he was thinking about it.

“Bring them just in case.” The Korean man nodded, and placed them in the bag also.

Hope looked around the kitchen to see if there was anything else they could get. She looked down the hall into the living room; she looked back at the men they all had faced away from her not paying any attention as she made her way out of the kitchen. She walked into the living room and found another hall; she followed down it thinking of finding a bathroom to find a first aid kit or cleaning supplies.

She found a small bag that seemed to hold bandages under the sink then looked in a cupboard off to the side of the sink for bottles of shampoo, for her luck there were two along with a bottle that she recognized to be something her mother had used to clean her cuts when she fell off of her bike one day. She placed all three bottles in the bag along with hand towels and face cloths and the only package of hand soap she could find. She turned to leave only to come face to face with a red mouth creature, she gasped but before she could scream for help an arrow went through its skull.

She looked down at it as footsteps came down the hall. “what‘re you doin’ down here?” the man with the cross bow said he narrowed his eyes down at her, then averted them to look down at the creature he shot. He pulled the arrow out and grabbed a towel from the bag she held, and wiped the arrow clean then stuck the towel in his back pocket.

She looked down at the cross bow again, and then up at the man. “What’s your name?” she asked she tilted her head to the side slightly.

The man slung the crossbow’s strap over his shoulder then gently pushes her shoulder so she would start going back down to the kitchen. “Name’s Daryl.” He said, she nodded he seemed like a man of few words, something that her grandfather was like too.

“Are you guys taking the truck too?”She asked them all once she entered the room; the two others looked at her.

Rick nodded, “it would be easier to take everything back to camp.” Hope’s eyes widened.

“You guys have a camp?” she said a little too loudly, she quickly covered her mouth and looked behind her and Daryl to make sure none of them had heard her. “How many of you are there?” she asked once she uncovered her mouth.

“There’s twelve of us, with you makes thirteen.” He looked over her shoulder at Daryl behind him. “We better head out; they’ve been waiting a long time.” Hope looked up to see Daryl nod.
They gathered the bags and headed out the front door, Daryl had his crossbow ready to shoot if another creature came. Rick and the Korean man ran to their truck that was parked beside her fathers, Daryl opened the passenger side door and picked her up by the arm pits, placing her in the seat. Then shut the door quietly, circling around to the drivers.

Rick and the other man were already in their truck and began down the driveway. Daryl set his crossbow down in the middle of the two. He started the truck and followed Rick. Hope looked down at the crossbow then opened the dash producing a map and a sharpie marker. She then dotted a place on the map, the place her father had told her they were in.

“What’s that for?” Daryl asked, he jutted his chin at the map, motioning to it.

Hope turned it so that he could see, “this is all the places my dad and I have been,” she then pointed to the small dot all the way over on the other side of Atlanta, in Denver. “This is where I lived with my mama. It was daddy’s turn so I ended up here before everybody went crazy.” She pointed to the second dot, this one on the other side of Atlanta, closer to Georgia.

“You guys went ta a lot’a places.” Daryl said, Hope nodded then let her fingers touch the necklace she wore.

“We were looking for my mama, she said that she’d be at the airport waiting for me that day, but dad said she wasn’t there.” She then looked up at Daryl; he was staring out the windshield. “My mama wouldn’t just leave me here alone.”

Daryl sighed and let one of his hands stray from the steering wheel, he placed it on top of her head, patting it lightly. “I hope you’re right.”

They both fell silent for the rest of the ride.

------

When they pulled up to the campsite, Hope noticed that everything had seemed like they were ready to leave the area. She saw Rick fighting with a man; she couldn’t help but noticed that the man had a gun like Rick.

“C’mon,” Daryl said, as he shut the engine off and slipped out of the cab, grabbing his crossbow.
Hope slid out of the cab and landed on her feet perfectly. She smiled at herself and shut the door quietly behind her. She walked around the front of the truck, quickening her steps until she had met up with Daryl again.

That’s when she realized what Rick and the man were fighting about.

“It’s not like we could just leave her there, Shane.” Rick spat out, “she’s a little kid, she doesn’t look any older than Carl.”

“Great, that’s just great, Rick. Now we have another mouth to feed. Isn’t it bad enough that you can barely find the food to feed your own people?” his words stung Hope. She frowned and her brows furrowed, she opened her mouth about to say what was on her mind when the man- Shane- walked away. Rick rubbed the back of his neck and shook his head. He then looked over at me and motioned me to follow him.

Daryl left my side to a tent I figured was his, and I followed Rick. He led me to a group of people; his attitude changing entirely.

“This is Dale,” he said pointing to a man with a white beard, his hair had whitened too, he had brown eyes and he wore a fishing hat and smiled at me as I met his gaze. I smiled back and nodded at him once, “the woman beside him is Andrea.” Rick went on, Andrea had blonde hair which she put up somehow, and blue eyes she wore a cowboy hat on top of that and smiled at me as well.

“This is my wife Lori and my son Carl.” The woman on the side that had been cutting carrots previous to our arrival looked up and gave me a toothy smile, she had big brown eyes, like a doe’s and long brown hair. And her son stare absent-mindedly at her until their eyes met, Carl looked down quickly, but not before she noticed his blue eyes and blush. “Carol and her daughter Sophia,” he said pointing over to a woman with short hair who I figured to be Carol and Sophia, Sophia’s hair was blonde, coming up just to her earlobes, she held a doll in her hands and smiled at me “And T-Dog and Jacqui.” Both African-American, Jacqui had a slim face and short hair that she put up with a hair band, and T-Dog was bald with a larger body. Jacqui didn’t smile, but T-Dog gave a sort of smirk-ish smile. “Of course you remember Glenn from the house.” He said meaning the Korean man, “and the guy I was taking to was Shane.”

“The guy that doesn’t want me here.” She stated, Rick lowered to her height.

“He didn’t mean it.” Rick said, the tone in his voice wasn’t sure though.

Hope looked at Rick in the eye then changed the subject. “Where will I be staying?” she asked politely as she could.

She turned and looked around at the tents. “Well,” Rick started, “you could stay with me and my family-” Hope interrupted.

“Can I stay with Daryl?” she asked looking back at Rick. Rick thought about it for a second.

“I don’t see why not.” He said, Hope smiled at him. It was the first time she smiled in a long time, ever since her mother had dropped her off at the airport.

Hope headed off to truck to grab her bag; everyone had gone back to work, and Rick went over to Daryl’s tent to talk to him.

Once Hope’s things were in the tent, Daryl helped her set up the small air mattress that her father had left behind. He then left her to arrange her things while he went to go hunting.

Hope looked down at the doll her mother had got her; she had this ever since she was little. A red stain was spread across its face from when she spilled fruit punch while playing tea when she was four. She hugged the doll to her chest and felt her eyes sting with tears, but instead of wiping them away like before, she let them flow down her cheeks and soak the poor doll.