Stay With Him

“No, I’m going to stay here with him.” I tried to say at sternly as I could, even though I was scared to death at what was awaiting me.

“What?!”

“Just go! Take your boy and leave!” I said, shooing them away with the back of my hand and turning towards Shane’s body.

I got down on my hands and knees and looked down at him; at a man that was once happy and fun and lovable… What the world had done to him made me want to scream with fury. Cry out to whoever was listening and ask the simple question: why?

As the sound of Rick and Carl’s footsteps faded new footsteps grew louder, accompanied by moans and growls. The undead were getting closer, and I was sitting here as live bait. I had made my decision before not to die by the hands of the walkers and if I wanted to it would’ve been by Shane. So as my stubbornness continued to linger inside me, I decided the best way to overcome these monsters was to take care of them myself.

I reached for Shane’s gun and took it out of his cold, dead fingers. Biting my lip, trying not to utter another sob that would draw attention to me, I stood up and looked around. Through the thickness of the trees, I saw walkers emerging from them, all staggering mindlessly towards me.

My heart throbbed and I felt my knees become weak but I stood my ground and held up the gun. I shot three times, dropping three walkers, but there were way too many to get by myself. I turned to run down the hill where Rick and Carl had gone but saw that the walkers had come out of the trees by the farm, as well. There was no way I could get down there unless I wanted to become walker food.

What decision had I just made? I should’ve gone with Rick and Carl, I had no idea why I had thought staying with Shane would be best. He wasn’t going to protect me this time, he couldn’t. I was on my own and I had to survive to the best of my abilities. No more stupid mistakes, it was time to grow a brain and think.

I looked all around me to find some sort of hiding place or clearing that I could escape into. As the dead came closer I noticed there was a part of the woods that didn’t have walkers surrounding it. I immediately raced into it.

Somehow the darkness around me got darker the further I ran. Leaves crunched underneath my feet and a thin layer of white mist rose above my ankles. I stopped to listen… the air around me whistled in my ears, but no other sound except my heavy breathing was heard.

I finally collapsed onto the ground and leaned up against a tree, gun still firmly in my hand. I chuckled, thinking that I could’ve almost died, when the snap of a twig made me get to my feet and freeze. Another snap… and another. They seemed to be getting closer and closer, until…

“Grrrrawrrrrrrrmmmrrrraaa…”

A walker came out from behind the tree I was standing near. I yelped as its arms grabbed mine and its mouth lunged at my neck. I tried to push away, but the walker’s grip was curiously tight. Shane’s gun was still in my hand… if only I could twist it around to get a good shot…

I bent my wrist as far as I could towards the walker’s head and pulled the trigger; missing its head by centimeters. I bent it further, and fired again. This time, coagulated blood and brain splattered against the tree behind it and the undead body slumped over. I pushed it off of me and it landed in a heap underneath the mist.

My whole body shook as I realized the noise of the gun had told the walkers where I was. I took off running again through the trees as the mist got thicker and thicker. I couldn’t even see the ground anymore.

When I found that nothing was following me I stopped again. I looked left… I looked right… Where was I? Where was I going? I was completely lost.

The light breeze rustled the branches in the trees above me and gave me goosebumps. The white mist circled above my knees as I continued to look for any sign of where I was. Nothing came to my attention.

I figured there could only be two possible directions. Either the farm was on my left… or it was on my right. But which way should I go?

Go Left

Go Right