Return of the dead

Chapter 12: Civilization

It seems like forever since we all fell asleep. Beth's eyes are returning to normal but she still needs a lot of help. After Charlie died, I felt like I had died with him. Henry and Mary weren't talking to each other and Matt was helping Beth. I stayed in front of everyone but I was so careless. I almost fell into a hole filled with walkers but Henry helped me. They could tell that I wasn't ever going to be the same. Beth wanted to be left alone most of the time too. Not that I blamed her. A couple of times I will hear her crying whenever we stop for a bathroom break and I feel guilty. I wish Charlie were still around but he isn't and he wont ever come back. We reached the end of the woods which surprised me since it seemed like we had just entered. We reached a big road that looked like an empty freeway. It meant that we were getting closer to the city and that soon we would be faced with more walkers.
"Katie, can I ask you something?" Beth asked, trying to keep up with me.
"What is it?" I asked coldly.
"Why do all the people I love die? Do they hate me? Is that why they wanted to become one of those monsters so that they wont have to deal with me?" She asked.
I looked at her and she stared at the ground. She was trying to cover up the fact that she was crying but I could see the tears. She sniffed and wiped away her tears and my heart ached.
"No, Beth. They don't hate you. They loved you so much that they wanted you to be safe. They wanted to protect you by letting themselves get hurt." I said, my voice shaking.
"Does that mean that you're going to die too?" She asked, sobbing.
I stopped walking and bent down. Henry, Matt and Mary stared at us as Beth continued to cry.
"No. I'm not going to let anything happen to me or you." I said.
"Does that mean you don't love me?" She asked.
"Of course I love you. I love you so much that I know what it's like to have to lose everyone you love." I said.
Beth cried louder and I felt tears in my eyes too. I didn't want to get mushy over a moment like this but I had already cried once. I hugged Beth and cried into her shoulder. Beth had lost her whole family and so did I. We both lost them when we were small and I knew how she felt. She felt alone and now she didn't have anyone. She was wrong though. She had me, and I wasn't going to let anything happen to my Beth.

 "Why are you sticking out your thumb?" Mary asked me.
"I'm hitchhiking." I said, walking slowly.
"No one's here. So stop it. Now isn't the time for jokes." Henry said.
Matt smiled at me and stuck his thumb out too. Beth stuck out her tiny thumb and pretty soon so did Mary. Henry sighed and grinned at us. He stuck out his thumb and hummed a song.
"Help, I need somebody. Help not just anybody." I said, and laughed.
Henry smiled and laughed as Matt broke out into song. The Beatles. Beth stared at us with a confused look on her face as we all sang along. We still had our thumbs out but we didn't seem to notice. Beth sang the apples and bananas song for us and we laughed. We seemed to forget about the walkers. We were like a family. Matt tried singing a high note and his voice cracked. We all laughed loudly and I almost fell onto the road. A car drove past us and we all gasped. Matt still had his thumb out and the car stopped. It went backwards and we saw a group of people in the back of the truck.
"Need a ride?" The man asked, tipping his hat.
We all stared at them and Beth smiled. We nodded and climbed onto the back of the truck. Three guys were there and two guys were in the front. They all looked at us and grinned. Mary hugged Henry and Matt hugged Beth. I was still shocked. Five guys and they had been driving around for how long? If they had survived then does that mean there are more people?
"We're going back to the city to get the supplies to our troops. There's about five other groups there." The man said to us.
My heart began to beat faster. My hopes were going up. It looks like there might be some civilization after all, but for how much longer? The wind blew my hair back as the man drove faster. The other guys didn't even bother talking to us.
"Look! I can see the city." Beth said, pointing.
I turned around and frowned. A big black smoke of fog was in the air. The city was getting closer. We were getting closer to our doom.