Trust No One, Not Even Those That You're Close To.

I ran a hand through my hair, “Gaven, Garrett, you two alright?” There were footsteps coming up behind me, “We’re right here, don’t worry.” I nodded, sighing, “I don’t know how much longer we can stay held up in this house, we’re in the middle of nowhere and we’re running out of food.”

Gaven nodded, walking over and checking the windows, “I’d say at this point our best bet is to head back up north and see if we can make it back home...” Garrett chimed in, “But, we’ve already been up there and I don’t think it’s safe to go back that way...” I knew at this point, Garrett was afraid, he didn’t want to lose the rest of his family.

“Guys, we can’t go back home, there’s probably nothing left there anyway.” Gaven nodded, “I think we should pack up the guns, ammo, and rest of the supplies and take our chances out on the road. See if there’s any civilization out there at all.” Gaven probably had the best idea we'd heard in such a long time.

I made my way down into the basement of the house, grabbing the baseball bat we left at the top of the stairs in case anything got down there. We kept the guns in the basement and had easy access to everything we would need if someone came after us. Gaven and Garrett made their way down the stairs after me, "Are we ready to go?"

Nodding, I grabbed one of the bags we loaded ammo into, "Garrett, hand me the knife and the pistol." Before I knew it I had the knife strapped to my thigh and the pistol in my holster. Gaven had loaded the double barrel and had it strapped on his back, Garrett had a pistol and a knife as well. I looked back at the boys as we stood at the door that lead out of the basement.

Slowly, I counted to three and pushed the door open, nodding, "Clear." I whispered, leading the guys out. We walked up the stairs that lead out, Gaven and Garrett never getting too far from me, "Which direction?" I asked, glancing back at them, Gaven looked like he was thinking, "I say we head east and stick with that."

Garrett nodded, he looked like he was about to say something when he dodged around me and ran up behind a walker, stabbing through its skull, "One down, however many left to go." Gaven shook his head, "One isn't going to make a big differen." He muttered, I quickly looked around, "Shit..." Walkers were slowly surrounding us.

I could hear Gaven counting quietly, "Twenty, so far." Garrett groaned quietly, "Son of a bitch..." We carefully took out about half of the walkers when suddenly an arrow went through the skull of one, causing me to jump. I saw a man standing in the distance, the boys took out the rest of the walkers. The guy walked over to us, "Where did you three come from?"

I glared at him, "We came down here from up north, who are you?" He slowly lowered his cross-bow, "Daryl, what about you?" I slowly put the knife down, "Phoenix, those are my brothers, Gaven and Garrett." He nodded, "Where were you hiding?" I nodded back towards the house, "An old farm house further back into the woods."

He looked as if he was studying us, Garrett looked at him, "A-are you alone?" Daryl shook his head, "I'm with a group." Garrett had a hint of hope in his eyes, "Can you take us with you?" He sighed, putting his bow away and pulling the arrow from the walkers head, "I guess. Follow me." As much as we felt uncomfortable, we followed him, not knowing where we were going.