Ellie Dixon

They're In

Dad was slowly pushing his bike along the road. I was walking in front of him. The road wasn't really a road yet, it was a narrow path through the trees, therefore too narrow for me to walk on the other side of the bike and help push it. There was something strange about the forest; it was dark, like burnt. There were walkers scattered every now and again on the floors, their bodies had been burnt to crisps.

We got to a part of the path that was pretty steep and pretty much a ledge. I turned around to help but had to quickly jump to the side when I realised dad was losing control of the heavy machinery. He fell to his side, still holding the heavy bike. "You okay?" I questioned.

He was breathing deeply. "I'm fine." He confirmed, stepping over the bike to be by me as he tried the walkie talkie. "Sasha? Abraham, you there?"

I noticed blood dripping down my dad's hand, through his fingerless gloves. "Dad, your hand." He looked to his hand, taking off his glove and passing it to me before going to take off his jacket. He was wincing though. "Let me help." I ordered, standing behind him. He stopped putting himself through pain to take off his jacket and just let me slip it down his arms. He had his angel wings leather vest on top of his jacket, so before he moved his arms I slipped the sleeveless leather back onto him. I carried the jacket for him before standing in front of him. 

"Thanks, princess." He said quietly, looking for the source of the blood.

I noticed a deep gash in dad's elbow as I draped his jacket over my shoulders instead of carrying it. "That looks nasty." I said quietly. I heard some sticks snap behind me, after a quick look and I couldn't see anything, I turned back to dad who had also been looking for the source of the sound.

"It'll be alright. Ain't so deep." He responded gruffly, grabbing his crossbow as well as a small bag off of the bike. He then covered the motorbike with the bush it was next too. "Stay behind me." He said quietly, he walked with his crossbow in a defensive position in his hands. I had to hold onto his jacket that was around my shoulders because it was way too big for me. We very slowly walked for about twenty seconds before dad quickly rounded a tree. I saw two girls, both with their hands up. One looked early twenties, the other late twenties.

"You found us, okay?" The older brunette one said with her hands up. The younger blonde's eyes trailed to me. "Here we are. We earned what we took." The brunette continued, also looking confused by my presence. 

All of a sudden a yelp was pulled from my lips when something hard hit my head and I fell to the floor, the last thing I remember was my dad falling next to me.

I felt shaking on my leg. "Don't you touch her!" My dad's voice was cold and angry... Colder and angrier than his usual gruffness with people who aren't me or Sophia.

"Then you wake her up." A man ordered.

I felt rope around my wrists and I forced myself to blink open my eyes. The sun momentarily blinded me. My whole body was cold as I realised I'd spent quite a long time on the cold ground. "Come on, baby." Dad's voice told me quietly as the three stood to the side.

"What's going on." I asked as dad helped push me to stand up, his wrists were also bound with rope but he grabbed my arm and gently pulled. The jacket fell from around my shoulders so I grabbed the material with my bound hands.

"Get up." The man ordered, pointing a gun at my dad who then stood next to me. A cold wind ripped around us and nipped at my exposed arms. I realised my black leather belt was gone, I looked over to the duffel bag they had and realised it must be in there, along with my dad's crossbow. "Follow them." The man ordered.

The two girls started walking, so dad made me go in front while he stayed behind me, the man behind him. I was shivering so I tried to put my dad's jacket around my shoulders again, but I couldn't pull it tight and with how oversized it was it fell off. I went to grab it but I was met with the barrel of a gun. "Hey!" My dad's voice yelled, getting between me and the gun. "You point that thing at her again it'll be the last thing you ever do."