The Purification (From the Ashes We Will Rise: Book One)

Chapter 3

"Dale!" Glenn called out once we reached the RV.

This older man with a fishing hat emerged from the backside of the RV. This was not who I was expecting at all. I thought he was going to be some younger guy with something to prove...guess I was wrong.

"Glenn, who is this?" The older man questioned.

"Dale, this is my younger brother Liam. Liam, this is Dale."

"The musician?" Dale questioned and I nodded. "Well if you're anything like Glenn told me, you'll be a great addition to the group."

Sharing a smile and a firm handshake, Dale turned his attention to Lincoln, "and who is this little guy be?"

"This is Lincoln," I spoke for the younger boy.

Lincoln poked his head out from behind my leg and gave Dale a little wave. He hasn't seen another person in a damn near three months, he was scared.

After Dale and Glenn talked about to RV for a while, Glenn guided Lincoln and I towards the house. Once we were inside, I was delightfully surprised. The family that belonged to this house wast here, not all of them, but most of them. I think that is what amazed me the most about this place so far. This house had everything is it. There was a piano, a working refrigerator, beds, nice warm beds...these people got lucky.

After Glenn introduced us to Herschel, the owner of the farm, he properly introduced me to Andrea, the blonde woman with the gun, and then Lori, the wife of their groups leader. There was someone special who Glenn wanted to introduce me to, her name was Maggie, Herschel's eldest daughter. She was tall and lean, with short brown hair, and bright green eyes. Just from the way Glenn interacted with the woman, I could tell he was in love and I couldn't be happier.

"Hey, Liam!" Glenn called from the dining area of the house.

I walked back inside the house after making sure that Lincoln was fine. Lori had offered for her son Carl to read with Liam and help him with some "school-work" that she and Carol, another exceedingly kind woman, came up with. Of course I accepted the offer, I don't need my child losing any brain cells on account of the world ending. As I walked into the house, Tuck planted himself right next to Lincoln.

"What's up brother?" I asked after I found him.

"Dale and I found this a little while ago on one of our supply runs. No one here knows how to play it and I think this beautiful instrument deserves to be played," Glenn rambled on as he held up a guitar.

It wasn't anything special, but it was a guitar. I never thought I'd see one again. The sweet refrain of the acoustic spoke a musical language to my soul. The strumming sound had a hypnotic soothing quality that I craved. To lose myself to the melody of a guitar was my idea of a heavenly afternoon.

The second he handed the guitar over to me, I took it to the piano to try and tune it. "Excuse me, Herschel," I spoke, catching the man's attention, "is your piano in tune?"

"Yes son, the last time I checked," the man replied with a smile.

I spent the next few minutes tuning the guitar so that it was level with the piano. After tuning the instrument to my liking, I walked back outside taking the guitar with me, I found Glenn sitting outside by the fire.

"Looks like they made fast friends," I laughed, sitting down next to my brother.

"No kidding," Glen spoke.

Looking out a head, you could see Lincoln, Carl, and Tuck running around and playing like they've known each other their whole lives. I'm so happy that I could at least give this aspect of life back to him, social interaction.

"Are you okay?" I asked, seeing the look on his face.

"It's just Maggie. I think I could really, really like this girl. But she's giving me whiplash with all the yes and no, wanting me then not. It's just confusing," Glenn ranted.

"I'm sure she'll come around man. I mean, how could she not, you're a total catch," I laughed, playfully punching his shoulder.

Just as I was getting a smile to stay on his face, Lori walked by and Glenn got to his feet, "I'll be back in a minute."

As he followed her, I could hear her say, "mind your business Glenn."

I wonder what he knew? She wouldn't be so upset about it if it was nothing. Leave it to Glenn to get stuck between a rock and hard place.

A few minutes later, two men came walking back into camp. It was the leader of the group, Rick, and his best friend Shane. I could see Rick giving me the side eye, but I could only assume that Lori was explaining what had happened.

Rick made his way over to me and stuck out his hand, "it's nice to meet you son."

"It's a pleasure to meet you to sir," I spoke curtly, clasping his hand.

That was the end of that conversation, but I guess it could have gone a hell of a lot worse than that. Shane just walked past me like I wasn't even there. I climbed onto top of the RV just to find Andrea with a gun.

"Hey," I spoke, announcing myself.

"Hey kid, how's it going?" She asked, eyes trained on the field ahead of us.

"Fine, fine. Just adjusting ya know. It's just been Lincoln and I for so long," I sighed as she looked over at me.

"Walker!" Andrea screamed, "Walker!"

All of a sudden, the men from the group came out and swarmed the field. Rick ran out there, Shane was shirtless, while T-Dog and Glenn brought up the rear. I'm surprised, it shouldn't take four men to take down one walker. They came to a slow when they reach the walker.

Andrea, picked up the rifle and lined up her shot. She pulled the trigger once and she missed, causing the men to whip around. They were all shouting something, but I couldn't make out what. She lines up shot number two and the walker goes down.

Just as the shot rang through the air, I could hear Rick shout, "No! It's Daryl!"

 The look of shock on Andrea's face was enough to know that Daryl must have been another member of the group. Andrea, Dale, and I all raced out the the field. Thankfully, Daryl was okay, the bullet had only grazed the side of his head, but Andrea was profusely apologizing.

I don't blame her for taking the shot, I had thought he was a walker too. They carried Daryl back to the house and Herschel fixed him up. Unknown to myself, Carol and Lori had made dinner for everyone. I found Lincoln already sitting down, excited to see whatever it was that we were eating.

The dinner was awkward at best. Everybody's stuffing their faces and no one is talking, the only sounds were coming form the clank of forks and knives against the plates. 

Shane and Rick were exchanging pissed off looks and I was getting tired of the silence, so I spoke up, "does anyone know how to play the guitar? I do, Dale found a cool one. Somebody here's gotta know how to play."

"Ottis did," one of the women from Herschel's family spoke.

"Yes, and he was very good too," Herschel spoke up. 

After that, everything fade back out into an awkward silence. It was already dark out, so I set up our tent in the back of the truck like normal. I helped Lincoln into the back of the truck and Tuck hopped back in behind him.

I zipped up the flap of the tent after I could hear the soft snores of the young boy before sitting against a near by tree. Though it was dark, I knew inside an out how to play a guitar. I settled in and the music began flowing through my body. Before I knew it dark had turned to light once more.