The Boy in the Sheriff Hat (Book 1)

Chapter 12 - For Carl

That night, I dreamt of my family... not of their deaths or anything awful... just that they were still alive... that the end of the world never happened, and zombies only existed in comic books and horror movies... happy endings all round... it was a good dream... the first I'd had in a long, long time.

The next day, I woke early. I opened a can of pineapple chunks and ate all of it before leaving the bedroom. 

Before I set off for Alexandria, I decided to take one thing with me – there was a photo in the hall, taken not too long before the outbreak, of all of us at Christmas. I removed it from its frame, rolled it up and slipped it into my bag.

I left through the front door and emerged onto the driveway just in front of my uncles' garage. I looked at the giant three car metal door for a moment noting that it looked very shiny and new and completely out of place. There appeared to have been several attempts on its security but none of them successful. Even the side door looked completely impenetrable. 

I smiled. 

My uncle drove several high-end cars and I knew his garage would be pretty difficult to break into. I'd bet the vehicles were still in there and wondered if the key was still in the house somewhere. I'll admit, I was a little tempted to go back in and look but there wasn't much point - I couldn't drive.

I decided to let what was hidden stay hidden...

I began the long walk back to Alexandria giving one final glance at my family's grave before stepping over the fallen gate.

The journey back felt much quicker than the journey there. Although, there seemed to be a few more walkers about than there had been yesterday... I snuck past as many as I could and put down the ones I had to. Nothing was going to stop me from getting back to Alexandria, back home... I was looking forward to seeing Carl again – it had barely been two days, but I missed him like I'd been away for a month and like I'd known him my whole life.

"Hey!".

I hoped he wasn't too mad at me for not listening to him... he did say he understood...

"Hey, wait!".

If I return home in one piece then surely he'll have no reason to be angry at me...

"Wait!".

I'd been so deep in thought, that I hadn't heard the voice that had been fast approaching from behind. I drew the gun from my belt just in time. I flicked the safety off and whirled on the man before he got too close.

"Woah, don't shoot, I'm one of you!" the man said holding his hands in the air looking a little offended that I was pointing a firearm at him. 

I recognised him almost immediately. 

"Shit, sorry..." I said, flicking the safety back on and holstering the gun. 

The man nodded, overlooking the fact I'd nearly shot him. He stood a few feet away from me now and brought both hands to his knees trying to regain his breath. 

I looked behind him. There were no walkers, no one chasing him... I couldn't figure out why he would be in a hurry. Perhaps he was just incredibly unfit and running down the road to catch up with me and had warn him out... he didn't look unfit though...

"You're Carl's friend, aren't you?" he panted, looking up at me from his crouching position.

I nodded.

"Am Glenn, we haven't met but—"

"I remember, you came in with Carl's group, right?" I asked cutting him off, not impolitely.