Broken Memories

Chapter 2 **my choice**

There were cars lining the edges, tents sprawled out everywhere, and there were some trailers here and there. A camp? Is this real? Is this where I stay? But what about Peyton, I can't stop looking for her. Glenn darted for the camp and Shane followed. It didn't take long for them to come back, but they had 2 children with them. One was crying and one was sleeping. How the hell do you sleep through this thing!? Shane put the sleeping one in my arms. "What the hell??" I said looking at Shane. "Stay here with the kids while we see what the fuck is going on," he said without looking back.

I just stood there for what seemed like forever. Soon enough the little boy's crying snapped me out of my thinking. I kneeled down, still holding the sleeping girl, so I was level with him. His eyes were dark red from nonstop crying and he looked like he hasn't eaten in days. I pulled him in close and started talking to him. "You know once upon a time the world was a big lollipop," I couldn't think of anything else to say but it seemed to work because the boy started to stop crying. "And there were candy cane trees and no school, DEFINATLY no school," by this time the boy had stopped crying and was making a slight cooing sound. "There was a little boy-" "named Carl!" The boy interrupted me to say his name. I smiled and continued, "yes, there was a little boy named Carl and a little girl named.." I looked at the girl. Her eyes were open now and she was smiling up at me. "Sophia!" She laughed. "And a little girl named sophia. Sophia was a beautiful princess and Carl was a brave night who wasn't scared of anything!" I started raising my voice. I started to begin again but a zombie came stumbling out of the trees. Carl and Sophia both screamed and I rose to my feet and flipped my knife out. I ran up to the zombie and held his neck with one hand and sunk my knife into his head with the other. The zombie stopped growling and fell to the ground. I turned around and they were both looking at me with amazement in their eyes. "Can we learn how to do that?!" Carl said going up to the zombie and looking at it, then me, then back to it. "Yeah! I need to know how to protect myself if I ever get lost," Sophia chimed in. "Maybe when you're older," a woman's voice filled my ears. I looked up and a tall woman was standing next to Carl. She had long brown hair and looked kind of young. "I'm Lori," she said smiling at me. "Anna," I said returning the smile. "Come back with me, I'll give you a chance to meet everyone." She said taking my hand. I followed her back to the camp.
I looked around and saw a bunch of dead zombies. In some places I saw some dead people. They must have shot the bitten to keep them from turning. I looked over to one trailer and saw a lady crying over a small body. Glenn must have seen me looking at them and tried to explain, "that's Andrea over there crying over her sister Amy. Amy was bit not long ago so she could turn any moment but I trust Andrea will do the right thing."

That night, after Carl had convinced me to stay, everyone sat around a big fire and told stories of their childhood to make us all feel better. I learned that some of the group went out to the city to look for supplies and will be back at any moment. "So anna. Have you been alone all this time?" Glenn asked. I finished chewing the squirrel meat I had in my mouth before I answered, "no. I had a companion not long ago but she was taken by a group of people overnight." "So that's what you were doing when we bumped into you not long ago," Shane said. I nodded yes and took another bite of squirrel. "How long has she been gone because we can still go look for her if it has been recent," an older guy spoke up. He must have noticed that I didn't know him so he added on, "I'm dale." I stared out into the forest, then answered his question. "It was about 3 days ago," I stated. "But you don't have to do this for me I am capable," I said. Actually, I did need help. I haven't gotten sleep since she'd been taken. It would be nice to have company and plus we could cover more ground together. I looked at Glenn and Shane and they chuckled, "We'll go in the morning when the rest of us get back."

I could barley sleep that night.