Lifeforms | The Walking Dead

Prologue.

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The Moon is over 220,000 miles away from Earth. If I were to walk in a straight line non-stop for 220,000 miles, then it would take roughly 8 or so years to reach the end. Meaning that if it were possible to walk through space, and I started walkin' there when I was just a baby, then I would probably be on the Moon by now. I wonder what it'd be like to live up there, all by myself. I guess it would be quiet. A lot more quiet than down here. There'd be no Mommy or Daddy, no Kyle or Mickey, no school or anythin'. It would be peaceful. There'd be nothing to do but watch the stars, and look down upon the very Earth that I'm on right now. I think I'd like it up there, but I'm not entirely sure where I'd rather be.

"I just don't see how Georgia's the best bet." Mommy says, gesturing to the standstill of traffic that we've been stuck in for the past 2-maybe-3 hours. I pull my gaze from starry sky, and look out ahead of us.

It was Daddy's plan to go to Georgia, that's where my Uncle Kyle lives, and Daddy thinks we should go stay with him. He says that all those people who've been getting sick are going 'psycho' and that staying with his brother will be the safest bet. 'That son of a bitch has a shit load of guns.' I remember Daddy saying about Kyle's boyfriend Mickey. I don't see why we need guns, these people are just sick and bullets aren't medicine. But Daddy thinks guns will keep us safe, and he's a grown-up so who am I to argue?

Mommy doesn't like the idea, she hates guns. She wishes guns were banned. Daddy says that if guns were banned then we wouldn't have any means to protect ourselves, but then Mommy says that there wouldn't be any need to protect ourselves if everyone else didn't have guns. That would always stump my Daddy, but not anymore. Now he argues that it ain't other people that we need to protect ourselves from, but the 'sick-uns'. I hate it that he talks about the sick people like they aren't people. That doesn't make sense to me, because being sick doesn't make you not a person, and it don't make you dangerous, unless you think being contagious is dangerous. Like when I got a cold, I was still me, still a person. Daddy didn't need a gun then.

"Mickey has guns." Daddy snaps back at her, his grip tightening around the steering wheel.

She turns to face him. "This is the same Mickey that practically threw us out, remember? You sure they're gonna be cool with the three of us just turning up? Especially with all of this going on?" I don't remember when we used to live with Aaron and Mickey, but apparently we did when I was a baby. I haven't seen them since they stayed with me when Mommy was in hospital... Kyle looks like Daddy, but if Daddy were a little bit older and bigger.

"The world is fucking ending Mel!" He yells, making me jump a little. "So Yeah! Especially with all this going on! He's my fucking family, and his house is safe and they've got guns."

It's gone silent all of a sudden. And I hate it. I hate it when Daddy yells.

I hear him take a big sigh before reaching his hand out to rub Mommy's thigh, "Look, he's my big brother alright? He always knows what to do."

I wish I had a brother or sister. Daddy talks about his like he's some kind of superhero. I would want my baby brother or sister to think of me like that if I had one. But I don't. It's just me and Mommy and sometimes Daddy. And soon Kyle and Mickey too.

I wish he didn't live so far away, I didn't wanna leave home. I didn't even have time to pack all of my stuff. Daddy called Mommy about five minutes before he came home yesterday and told her that we need to 'pack some shit cause we're getting the hell out of here.' And that's what we did. I packed some clothes, my Piglet plushie from Winnie the Pooh, my hairbrush and toothbrush, and the book I got for my birthday last week into my purple backpack which I wish was pink, and by then Daddy was back home making sure Mommy didn't forget anything, and then we left.