Natural Disaster

The sun hung high in the blue Georgia sky, the light filtering through the leaves casting shadows at every turn. Ashley stepped carefully through the forest, being sure to stay as quiet as possible. Moaning and shuffling could be heard behind her, causing her heart rate to pick up at the noise. A bead of sweat pouring from her brow. The moans were still too far back to be of much concern to her, but it was still an awful sound to hear. The world was coming to an end. The dead was alive, some sort of virus that caused you to come back to life if you were bitten or scratched. This was the new world. It was dark, ugly and cruel.

Her auburn locks were matted with sweat. She was sure she had the whole forest floor stuck in her hair. She'd spent the whole day hunting for food and only had a small rabbit to show for it. She slowed a bit when a small hunting cabin came into view. A smile playing on her lips. There was a 10 year old boy on the other side of the door that had her heart.

Gabriel was a bright child who was too smart for his own good, but this world has changed him. Ashley watched as he grew older, more wiser in the last 4 months. She never dreamt being a single mother was this hard, but it was something she wouldn't give for the world.

Ashley maneuvered her small frame around the cabin, checking to make sure she wasn't followed. It was a ritual, second nature to her now. Satisfied, she bound up the front porch and whistled out. The door flew open and a dark shaggy haired boy with bright blue eyes opened the door and attacked her waist.

"Momma!" His voice was barely above a whisper. She smiled down at him and pulled him close.

"Anything happen today?" He nodded and grabbed her arm, pulling her into the cabin quickly. The little bit of light coming through the cracks in the boarded up windows was the only light in the cabin. It was small and dusty, but the one bedroom and one bathroom house was more than enough for the two of them. Ashley's eyes traced the fireplace, photos of the owner were still sitting atop the mantle. Ashley never had the heart to remove them. The inside of the fire place was already filled with the last of the firewood, a nagging reminder that she needed to get more. It was already cold at night. Winter was just around the corner.

"There was a girl," Gabriel said, bring Ashley's attention back to her son. "I know you said not to let anyone in, but I had to. I couldn't leave her out there," his words were jumbled together, he was talking so fast. Just then, a small girl, no older than 12, came in from the kitchen. Her eyes were wide at the sight of Ashley. She moved slowly, never taking her eyes off her, to a ragged chair in the corner of the room. The girl was small, her clothes torn, her hair a mess. She quickly pulled her knees up to her chest and formed a ball position, still watching Ashley.

Ashley walked up to her and noticed the girl flinched as Ashley crouched in front of her. "I'm not going to hurt you," she said, holding her hands palm out to her as a sign of ease. "Why were you out there alone?" She kept her voice soft and motherly. Ashley noticed a few scrapes across the girls body underneath the dirt and grime. This girl was running from something.

The girl proceeded to tell her about a group she was with, including her mother, on the highway. The walkers showed up and scared her off into the woods. She'd been running for 3 days.

"What's your name, sweetie?" Ashley knew she had to help this girl get back to her group. Her mother was probably worried sick. She knew she would be if Gabriel went missing.

"Sophia," the little girl whispered. Ashley smiled kindly to her and introduced herself and Gabriel.

"We'll leave first thing in the morning to find your group," she said, rising to gather some blankets and some of Gabriel's clothes for her. She was sure they would do for the night while she cleaned the ones the girl had on. "Its too late to go out now. We'll be out there searching in the dark. Sleep here tonight and we'll leave at first light to find them," she told her when the girl looked a little sad about not leaving now.

Ashley stepped into the kitchen to turn on the pilot of the stove and pulled out a pot, her hand's working on auto pilot as she took the small rabbit outside to skin and prep it. It was a task she was taught long ago, in another life.

"Do you think we'll find them?" Sophia asked at the table during dinner. Ashley looked at the kids who were eating and smiled.

"Yeah. I do. They couldn't of gone far. Not if you're missing from the group," she said matter of factly. This seemed to please Sophia. The small girl smiled at the thought of seeing her group again.

That evening, after putting Sophia and Gabriel to bed in the back room, Ashley sat on the front porch, getting ready to watch the sun set along the horizon. Cigarette in hand, she took a long drag, allowing the toxins to fill her lungs and wash away the tension she felt throughout her body.

Just as she was about to stand, she heard a rustling behind her. She rose up slowly, stubbing the cigarette out and tip toed around to the edge of the cabin. Her hands reached for the hunting knife attached to her thigh in its holster. Ready to attack, she rounded the corner of the cabin and found herself staring down the wrong end of a crossbow.

Frozen with fear, she stood there. She couldn't see the person behind the crossbow, her short height and the close proximity of the weapon pointing at her had her focused more on the bow than the intruder. She squeezed her eyes shut, sending a quick prayer for the safety of Gabriel and Sophia and waited for the worse. When nothing happened, she slowly opened her eyes, relieved that the person was lowering the crossbow. A man stepped forward, giving her a hard look. She gasped at the recognition.

"Dixon?" She shook her head. It couldn't be real. Of all the people to run into, she had to run into him.

"Ashley...." He breathed out, more than said. He moved closer to make sure it was really her and she took a quick step back. She felt the sudden urge to run, but her feet wouldn't allow her to move more than a couple inches.

They stood there in an awkward silence, just staring at each other. Neither wanting to blink for fear they may be imagining the other person. Ashley finally broke the spell and motioned for him to follow her. Without looking back to see if he was still there, she turned and headed back around the cabin and through the front door.

"Be quiet," she whispered to him. Gabriel and Sophia were asleep, or so she hope.

She watched the man she knew like the back of her hand, but was a stranger at the same time as he walked into the cabin, looking around. His silent foot steps carrying him through the living room and walking around to the battered couch. "Someone else here?" He asked her in a deep southern drawl she knew all too well.

She inhaled sharply, remembering that he had no idea about Gabriel and she wasn't sure she wanted to tell him now. He kept his hard eyes on her, no doubt seeing her reaction, causing chills to run down her spine at the intensity.

"Um... Yea. Sleeping," she told him. They'd known each other since elementary school, growing up together, but she'd seen first hand how this new world could change a person.

"What are you doing here, Dixon?" She finally asked him. He grunted and shook his head. He looked away to take another glance around the cabin, giving her a full view at how well this world has done for his figure. He was no longer the tall lanky kid down the street. His sleeves were cut off and he wore a black biker vest. His crossbow slung over his shoulder. She eyed his muscles for a moment before he turned to catch her looking at him. She ignored it when he gave her an amused look, but she was still caught red handed.

"Seen a little girl 'round here? Went missin' a few days ago." Her mind instantly went to Sophia. He must be talking about her. What were the odds?

She nodded to him and motioned back to the room. "Showed up here today," she told him. A look of relief washed over his face and his shoulders perked up a bit as if a weight had been lifted off. He made a move to go to the room, but Ashley stopped him.

"She's exhausted. Just let her sleep," she said. He shot her a hard look, no doubt for telling him what to do. She just shook her head, some things never change. "You can sleep on the couch tonight and y'all can leave in the morning." She moved around the couch to grab some blankets from the linen closet, but his strong hand reached out and grabbed her arm. She wouldn't look at him, instead staring off to the back room.

"Seen Merle?" His voice was low and rough. She fought the shudder at the name. She didn't want to think about the good for nothing dirt bag of a man he called his brother. She quickly shook her head no and tried to jerk her arm free.

"He went missin' a while back. Tough son of a bitch is out there somewhere," he said, tightening his grip when she jerked away from him again.

"Haven't seen him since the last I saw you. Nothing but a complete asshole that fed me to the wolves and left me for dead. You both did," she hissed at him.

"I didn't leave you for dead. He said you up and left. Didn't want nothin' to do with us," he hissed back at her. She blinked a few times when she felt a couple tears threaten to escape.

"Lies...." She yanked her arm from his grasp and moved to closet. She didn't say another word to him as she handed him and blankets, grabbed her knife and went back to the front porch.

The air was cool. A soft breeze blew back her auburn locks as she watched the moon rise in the night sky. She wiped a few tears away and tried to force the memories Daryl just opened up back down to their hiding place where she usually kept them locked tight. She didn't want to think about them. Both men were all she had for so long. They were her family, or so she thought. When she needed them most, Merle high tailed it out, taking his brother along with him.

"Not now," she whispered when she heard the front door open. She knew it was him.

"What happened?" He asked her. She shook her head. It was just like Merle to not tell his brother the truth, trying to protect him in some sick way. It killed her that Daryl honestly believed she would leave them. She fought tooth and nail for those boys.

She finally turned to look at him, tears spilling from her eyes. "I got pregnant." Daryl shot his eyes up to her in shock. He shook his head a few times, pacing the porch, mumbling random curse words she was sure was directed towards his missing brother. "I told Merle and he freaked. We had a fight the night before he kicked me out. I guess he wasn't ready to be a dad," she told him, shrugging her shoulders as if it were no big deal.

Daryl grunted and stopped pacing, turning to look at her. His sharp blue eyes bore into her emerald ones. She shook her head, knowing what he was thinking. "Don't do that. I know what you're thinking. Gabriel is the best thing that happened to me and I don't regret it one bit."

"Gabriel? You had a boy? Where is he? Is he okay?" He started shooting questions left and right at her. She held her hand up to silence him.

"Yea. I had a boy. 10 years old. He inside right now sleeping in the back room with Sophia," she told him.

"I didn't know," he mumbled, shuffling awkwardly. His hand twitched, moving to reach out before he finally dropped it back to his side. She shrugged, looking directly ahead at his chest. "I know."

"You have to come with us tomorrow. You and the kid. Y'all can't stay here on your own. Got a group. Numbers. They're good people," Daryl told her.

She thought long and hard about it. The last group she was with was not good. They were mean, gruesome, vile people. Ashley was lucky to get her and Gabriel out alive. She finally brought her eyes up to his and locked eyes with him.

"Boy's blood. I can't leave ya here," he told her. She studied him for a moment before nodding her head.

"Okay. We'll leave in the morning," she told him