Ellie Dixon

Don't Taunt The Dead

Me and Sophia were still at the top of the tree. We'd been there for about ten minutes. "What are we going to do?" Sophia asked.

"Still a good question." I nodded. "All right, I got a plan."

"A plan?" Sophia repeated.

"That involves you holding Teddy and Dolly, praying to whatever God you believe in and waiting for me here." I confirmed, passing her my bear.

"What are you going to do?" Sophia looked panicked.

"Do whatever it is that I have to so I can get you back to your mum and brother." I answered.

"Jacob... Do you think he's okay?" She wondered.

"I'm pretty sure I saw Rick running in his direction. Jacob will be okay. We'll be okay. My dad will find us eventually, I just don't know if these walkers are going to figure out how to climb by then." I explained, pulling a branch off the tree. "Do not leave this tree until I come back or someone from the group finds you, you understand?"

"Yes." Sophia nodded.

"Good." Then I threw the branch away from the tree. It distracted the walkers long enough for me to jump down. "Hey, uglies, over here!" I taunted them. They looked at me and instantly started making their way for me. "That's right you dead freaks, come on!" Then I turned and started running, or fast jogging. I wanted them to keep up so I could lore them away from Sophia, but I didn't really want to be caught. 

I ran for a while, longer than I thought I could, but I hadn't really thought out the next part of my plan. I found a creek, muddy and disgusting, but it would do. I turned to make sure they were still following me. They were. I walked into the wet mud. It was deeper than I thought it would be as it went up to my mid-thigh. I cringed at the cold as I did my best to get through it.

Under any usual circumstances, three adults would've been able to get through it much easier than me. I was struggling a lot, but the adrenalin kept me moving. I crawled onto the grass bank on the other side before I turned. They were stuck halfway through. They weren't able to catch up because walkers are a lot weaker than normal people. Still bitches to fight off though when they're all double your size, but not as difficult as an alive person is to fight off. I smiled and laughed as they waved their arms around trying to grab me, but they were about fifteen feet away from me.

I sat down and caught my breath; my legs were aching as the adrenalin stopped, making me feel the pain that I was in. My throat was burning, my legs were aching, my stomach still groaned for food, my vision started to blur as my head was pounding. Slowly, my head and body fell back so I lay on my back. I stared up at the canopy of trees, a small smile stretched onto my face as I knew I'd saved Sophia and either my father or Rick would find her in that tree. It didn't matter if I died now, I'd saved her.

I woke up to soft humming. My head was on something soft, there was something wet over my forehead. I slowly blinked open my eyes, I looked up and saw Sophia. She smiled at me. "You're awake."

I sat up and looked around, letting the wet flannel drop to my lap. "Where are we? Where is everyone?" I questioned.

"I carried you to some cottage and brought you to the basement. You're really light, you should probably eat more. Here." She handed me a chocolate bar. "I found this upstairs."

"Have you eaten anything?" I asked.

She showed me her empty wrapped. "They're pretty good. Only food left in the entire house though."

I opened the wrapped bar and took a big bite; I swallowed my food before speaking. "Where is everyone?"

Sophia looked down. "I don't know."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"When you didn't come back after ten minutes I got scared. I came to find you." She handed me Teddy. "I didn't run into any trouble, don't worry."

"You didn't give anyone a chance to find you." I pointed out. "You didn't go back to the highway?"

"I couldn't leave you out here by yourself." Sophia shook her head, holding her doll to her chest.

I shook my head and looked down, I slowly looked back up to her with tears in my eyes. "I don't know how to keep you safe."

"It's not your job to keep me safe, Ellie. We'll survive together." Sophia insisted.

"Will we?" I asked.

"You gotta have a little faith." Sophia told me.

I stood up, taking a bite from my bar as I peered up the stairs to the closed basement door. "Where has faith ever gotten me? Oh yea, abused and stuck in a zombie apocalypse, then in a basement with my best friend who was also abused. If there is a God, he's not a man I want to know." I answered.

"You're angry." Sophia stated. 

"Of course, I'm angry." I replied.

"Are you angry at me?" Sophia asked.

I hesitated. "I don't know. You should've saved yourself. I didn't need you to come and save me."

"You were passed out with three walkers slowly making their way to you from the mud. If I didn't come for you? They would've eaten you-" I interrupted.

"Then maybe you should've just left me to die!" I raised my voice at her, and I saw her flinch. I sighed, dropping my head. "Sorry, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have raised my voice-"

"It's okay." Sophia shook her head.

"No, it's not. I won't do it again. There's no need for raised voices. I'm sorry." I apologised.

"Thank you." She smiled.

"Listen, we can stay here tonight but then we have to get back to that highway tomorrow. If we leave now, we'll be stuck in the dark." I went over and sat down next to her, taking another bite out of my bar.

"I don't really remember the way. I just wanted to get you somewhere safe." Sophia admitted.

I chucked the wrapped on the floor since I was done with the bar, before I grabbed her hand. "You don't need to worry about that. We'll find it. We'll find the way."