Alone *UNDER CONSTRUCTION*

Chapter Thirteen: Into Danger

Hundreds of walkers, maybe even thousands, moving in one direction. The overpass is to our right, and the walkers are going straight under it. Despite being far away from the herd, the smell is terrible. And I thought only one walker's smell bad.

I grab Anthony's shoulder and yank him to the ground with me. We crouch on our knees, not wanting to be seen.

"What is it?", Anthony asks me, in total shock.

"It's a herd", I tell him, "A fucking herd."

Pardon my french.

Anthony just stares at the enormous herd in disbelief. The sound of the herd by itself is unbelivable, too. It's just this loud chorus of moans and snarls. The walkers are blocking our way across the highway, so we have to move across the overpass. But just as I'm about to tell Anthony, I spot something at the end of the overpass.

No, it looks like a person.

Now I can see another human shaped figure. And another. Now there are three, and they don't move like the dead.

Then from where we kneel, I can barely make out the hoods, the weapons...

The hunters from the rest stop.

How did they get over here? More importantly, why? Were they hunting us, just like the countless innocent people they've probably killed? Were they waiting on the other side to ambush us? I have no words. I just stare at the hunters who are standing around on the overpass, then back at the herd.

Then, I think about our options. We can either go around the herd to the end of it, or we can just go straight through. And I know how.

"Anthony", I say to catch his attention, "Come on."

I pull him by his shoulder and lead him back down the hill towards a gray minivan. A walker approaches, and it's just what we need. I pull out the hammer from my backpack's side pocket and quickly walk into its reach. I raise the weapon and smash the walker's forehead, killing it. Then after its corpse falls down, I command, "Anthony, check the car for suitcases, backpacks, anything."

Anthony confusingly nods, then slides up the trunk door and digs around in the minivan .He takes out a fairly large suitcase and sets it on the ground. I search the suitcase, rustling my hand through shirts and pants. and find two large jackets, one navy blue and the other gray. I tell Anthony to put one on and he does. I grab the navy blue coat and slip it over my jacket.

"What are we gonna do?", he asks.

"Look", I start, "Walkers are stupid, but they can tell if someone is one of them or not, and I know why. It's the smell."

I pull my knife from a side pocket of my backpack, and I walk over to the dead walker. Anthony grimaces in disgust as I shove the blade into the walker's stomach, slicing it open like it's surgery. The smell is just so awful that I wanna puke, but I hold it down. No need for adding more smell to the already putrid stench. Without hesitating, I pick up some guts, and I smear them on my new coat. I continue to hold down the vomit, an itchy and hot feeling building up in my throat.

"Come here", I said to Anthony.

"Jesus, David! Do I really have to put that on myself?", he almost shouts.

I nod, and Anthony comes over. With a lot of hesitation, Anthony scoops out some dark red guts from the dead walker's abdomen and spreads them all over the chest area of his coat. We need to get this done, and fast. I tell Anthony to turn around, and I smear some intestines on his backside. He does the same for me, and after some more smearing and spreading on our chests and arms, we're ready.

We make our way up the hill and once we're at the top I tell my brother, "Just stay calm and walk."

Anthony nods, and then we slowly walk down the grassy hill and onto the highway, joining the herd of corpses. I gently tug at Anthony's sleeve to remind him to stay close. There's just so many walkers, we could easily get separated from each other. The two of us slowly walk past countless walkers, all ignoring us. Through the herd, I spot a road sign that reads: Woodford: 8 miles.

I then see the highway exit we're supposed to go to, that'll set us on the right path to Woodford. I walk towards it with Anthony right behind me. We're almost there when I hear, "There! I see 'em!"

I jerk my head towards where the sound came from and I see the hunters on the grassy side of the highway, weapons in their hands.

I shout, "Anthony, run!", then we start running through the herd, shoving our way past dozens of the undead. The hunters run after us, but a few walkers block their path and they're forced to kill them, buying us time to get away. Once we're off the exit, Anthony asks, "What now?!"

"Keep running!", I shout.

The two of us, now out of the path of the herd, throw off the gut-covered coats and leave them behind us.

We soon reach a small neighborhood, with only about a dozen or so houses, all two-stories tall. I pull Anthony towards the nearest one, and I push at the door, surprisingly open. We rush inside and I lock the door behind us.

"Did we lose them?", Anthony asks out of breath. I shake my head because I'm not sure.
From outside, I hear, "We know you're in there, dumbasses."

I peek through the window built into the door and see the three hunters standing near the front of the house.

They really found us, found me after killing one of their own. And now they're gonna storm their way in here and kill both of us.

This has to end.

I have to do something that I'd never thought I'd do.

I have to kill them.