The other Dixon- The walking dead fanfic

XVI

We were on day 5 of walking and both of us were sick of it. We kept getting held back by packs or stupid things like that. We were running low on food and water and we were starting to slow down.

"How far?" Jay asked and I sighed, it was fair enough for him to want to know, but I was still frustrated.
"30 miles. We can make it today if we don't stop" He nodded. We had just shared our last can of soup so we really had to hurry up, we didn't have much left in us.

"We're going to make it" I reminded him, putting my hand out to pull him up. I groaned as he did but he knew it to, if anyone could make it, it was us. We were living in a zombie apocalypse, I was dying to something as lame as starvation. 

---

We were so immensely close. We stood at the foot of a very long bridge and I could feel a smile forming on my lips,
"What are you smiling at?" Jay asked as he looked down at me. Neither of had been smiling or laughing much recently, there hadn't be anything to smile about.

"This is where I was when it all started" I could see my mum's car about half way down the bridge. I let out a relieved laugh, I couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe I had questioned whether we would make it, but now, we were in a familiar place.

I took Jay down the same bank I went down when it first started, figured it would be one of the safest routes to take seeming as I had already taken it.
"You were here when it started?" Jay repeated as we climbed down the bank, following the muddy path at the bottom. Everything was much more overgrown now, but I suppose it has been over a year.

"Yeah I was in a car over there" I gestured in the general direction of the car, looking up at Jay, "Where were you when it started?" I asked, realising I had never asked him that before.
"I was on my way to school, my mum was taking me because I had slept in." I nodded as we walked, pulling a branch out the way so we could pass through. 

"You know, you're lucky you haven't had to be alone yet" I told him, and it was true, everything was so much harder alone,
"Is it bad?" He asked and I laughed at the stupidity,
"You haven't got anyone to watch your back or anything. You can barely sleep unless you're in a guaranteed safe place, which is hard to come by" I explained. He looked down at me furrowing my brows.

"Then why'd you almost leave me?" I wanted to lie to him, tell him that I didn't almost leave, that I didn't think about ditching him, but he already knew the truth,
"I don't know. I suppose I always did things by myself. Merle always told me that needing people was weak. I guess I know that's not true now" I could see another smug smile on Jay's lips,
"Oh shut up" I laughed, pushing his shoulder playfully, shaking my head at him.

"I didn't say anything!" He defended, putting his hands up in a surrender position, "Yeah well your face did" I informed him, laughing.

That's when I saw it. I grabbed Jay's wrist, stopping him from walking. he was looking down so he hadn't seen it yet,
"What?" He asked, looking back at me. I didn't reply, I just pointed a shaky finger up.

---

We stood in shock at the 12 foot tall metal walls that stood in front of us,
"What the hell is that?" Jay asked. I shrugged, taking my pistol from its holster, just in case. I pointed two of my fingers towards another direction and began following the walls around, Jay following me closely.

I only stopped when we reached some sort of gate.
"Let's just go... get the stuff in your house and get out of here" Jay suggested, tugging on the jacket. I didn't move, taking a deep breath,
"My house is in there" I saw his face drop. 

This was obviously people, I was just worried we were going to be walking into a trap. I shook my head in disbelief, I was about to do something really really stupid. I clutched my hand into a fist, banging on the gate,
"Hey!" I yelled. No response.

"Is anyone there?" I shouted out again.
Nothing.

I jumped back as the gates began to open, revealing two men, standing there. They both had a shocked expression on their faces as they stared at us. They looked clean, a hell of a lot cleaner than us.

"Uhh hi?" Jay said, trying to break the very awkward tension,
"Aaron... go get my mum.." The man on the right said. The other guy, Aaron I'm guessing, nodding turning on his heels and running off,
"Come in, please" The guy said, closing the gate behind him. 

I tightened my grip on my pistol as I could see the man looking us up and down, he must've noticed this,
"Woah, calm it, I'm not here to hurt you" He put his two hands out and I loosened my grip slightly, refusing to let go completely.

"It's okay" Jay whispered, standing behind me, placing a hand on my shoulder. I didn't mind though, it was sort of comforting. I looked further into the walled area, a small crowd of people beginning to form further down the road. That's when I saw it, my house.

I took off, sprinting as fast as I could towards it,
"Someone stop her!" The man shouted as he began to ran after me,
"No!" I heard Jay shout, catching up to the man, getting a grip on him as I stopped outside me house, staring at it with a small smile on my face.

I dropped my bag on the floor. There was a large sign hanging on the front door reading 'free house', I figured it hadn't been taken yet. I could feel everyone watching me and Jay finally let go of the man, who watched me carefully. I slipped my gun back into its holster, placing my bag down on the floor, rummaging through the inside pocket.

I pulled out my keys, holding them up in front of me. Slowly, I walked up to the front door, looking back at Jay who was smiling at me, 
"Is that hers?" I heard the man ask Jay, who nodded in return. I pushed the key into the lock, feeling another wave of happiness wash over me as it clicked, slowly swinging open.

Word Count: 1, 114
Total word count: 15, 232