luna mortimer-smith had long learned not to trust anyone, staying in the middle of the woods as to avoid any contact with the dead or any other humans.
one evening, she'd gone out to check her hunting traps like usual. little did she realize, thoug...
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"What do you wanna do?" Luna asked, her voice light. Carl sighed, leaning farther back into the couch. It'd been nearly a week since they'd found the prison, and since they'd cleared out the neighborhood. Carl had wanted to wait and see if anyone would come through, but no one had. The most activity they saw was a few animals and a group of about five walkers.
"I don't know." He admitted. "I...I can't help but feel this was all a big waste of time, now." He sighed again, running a hand over his face. "I was with you for three months before we came here, I don't know why I thought I'd find anything."
"Don't be so hard on yourself, you had to hold out hope." She frowned, putting a hand on his arm. "I did the same thing." He looked at her, confused. "After my dad left...my step-mom killed herself-like, that night. I woke up the next morning to find her tied to her bed with a plastic bat on her head, and note addressed to my dad sitting on the dresser. I...I was so scared, but I thought he'd come home. I thought he'd make everything okay. So I shut the door, and I never opened it again. Three months I stayed, and he never came back. I only left because the amount of walkers in the area was increasing and I didn't feel safe. He...he might still be out there but I really don't know."
"Do you think he could've gone home?" Carl asked.
"Maybe, but that would've been years ago." She said. "He wouldn't still be there."
"Maybe we should just go back home." Carl spoke after a few minutes of silence, and his words surprised Luna. "There's nothing here, if any of them had come through it would've probably been during that week I was passed out on your couch. There's no telling where any of them went, or if they even survived at all. I never saw anyone get out."
"Are you sure?" Luna's eyebrows furrowed together. She didn't want Carl to give up, but she couldn't help but agree with his sentiment.
"Yeah." He nodded. "We might as well return somewhere safe, for now at least. Maybe we can come back out and look again someday."
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"What's that sign say?" Carl's words made Luna look up from the map. It didn't take her long to find the sign in question, prominently displayed amongst the overgrowth of trees.
"Amusement park, I think." Luna strained her eyes, but the dim light combined with faded sign didn't make it easy.
"Maybe we should stay there tonight." He suggested. "Seeing as we don't really have anywhere else."
"Sure." She shrugged. "We'll check it out." A few minutes later, they pulled into a parking lot that would've been easily missed had they not been looking for it. "Woah." Luna stared wide-eyed at the large rollercoasters that loomed in the distance.
"This place looks awesome." Carl turned the car off, and they both got out. "Do you think there's anyone here?"
"Unless they climbed these walls, I don't think so." Her eyes fixed on the entrance, where vines were wrapped around the turnstiles. "C'mon." They collected the things they wanted to bring and started on the vines. Nearly twenty minutes later, they were wandering the overgrown grounds. There were water slides, pools, stalls, and a few gigantic wooden coasters twisting around above everything else.
"This place is crazy." Carl said, turning in a slow circle as he looked around. "Where do you think we should set up?"
"Maybe in like the gift shop or something, but I wanna go walk around some more before it gets dark."
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Luna took Carl's hand, pushing herself up as he lifted her. Once her feet her planted, she turned around, unable to help the small smile on her face. The sunset was beautiful, painting the sky in shades of purples, oranges and yellows, the clouds hanging low over the horizon line. "Wow." Luna breathed, leaning against the wooden railing. "Have you ever seen something so pretty?" Carl didn't say anything as he joined her at the railing. Luna was too busy staring out at the sunset, pointing out the lightly twinkling stars in the sky to notice the look on Carl's face as he watched her.
