Promises

Chapter One

I was sitting in my room, trying to get to sleep but I couldn't. I looked around at my mattered room. The wallpaper on my walls was slowly peeling away, yellowing, trying to go back on its self. I had a set of drawers that were broken, one of them didn't open while the others took days to open so I left them empty most of the time. There was a stained rug by my bed. I kept it so that when I got out of bed, my feet weren't frozen off when they touched the floor. My bed consisted of: a mattress that had been stabbed (by me when I got angry); a thin blanket that's cover was faded; a single pillow to rest my head on; and a teddy bear that my mom put in my Moses basket when she left me on my dad's doorstep.
"GET UP!" I heard dad yell as he ran into my room.
"What is it?" I asked as I sat up, wrapping my blanket around me. "What's going on?"
"We're leaving." Merle yelled from his room.
"Jas, sweetie, pack some stuff and get into the truck. Be quick!" Dad ordered. "We have to leave as soon as we can."
I jumped up and grabbed a bag, I ransacked my wardrobe and put it into the bag. I grabbed a range of clothes for lots of different weathers, I wanted to make sure that I had whatever I needed; even in the most harsh of conditions. I grabbed another bag for an old teddy, food, water and blankets. I grabbed my bags and ran to the car in my pyjamas.
"What's going on?" I asked.
"We're going on a little trip," Uncle Merle answered. "we're just waiting for your daddy."
"Where are we going?" I asked, even more frightened.
"Can you stop asking questions?!" Merle yelled.
"Hey. Leave her alone!" Dad said as he got into the drivers seat. "She's just scared."
"Well she has to grow up." Merle told dad.
"No! She's just a child, I don't want her to change because of this!" Dad yelled.
"Please! Please stop arguing!" I begged.
"Okay, Jas." dad said after a while, admitting defeat. "No matter what happens stay with me or Merle, okay?"
"Yes, daddy." I answered. "I promise."

I fell asleep, leaning on Merle. My legs were against my chest, my blanket covered all of my little body. I woke up when the car just stopped, the sudden jolt frightened me. I grabbed one of my bags, grabbing a hair band to tie my long blonde hair into a messy bun. I couldn't be bothered to tie it up neatly, I didn't really care, I just wanted it out of my face. "Where are we?" I asked.
"Atlanta." Dad replied, not even bothering to look at me.
"Lil' brother, do you see those people over there?" Merle asked, pointing at a group of people.
"We should go and see if they need anything!" I told dad.
"Or we could rob them..." Merle suggested.
"No! That's bad! We're good people!" I reminded dad.
"Stay with your uncle." Dad ordered as he got out of the car and walked over to the people.
"He's going to leave you." Merle told me. "He'll drop you like a sack of potatoes!"
"No! He loves me..." I whispered.
Dad walked back over and jumped into the car. "There's a group of people and they're setting up camp, not far from here." He told us. "We can join them or we can just sit here, your choice."
"Let's go! Maybe they're good people and we'll have a nice trip! It seems like everyone has decided to go on holiday at the same time." I said with a great big smile on my face.
"Or maybe, they're going to kill us in our sleep." Merle whispered, trying to frighten me.
"We're joining them." Dad told us.
Dad started driving, he went off road and drove past the people he was talking to. It was a long drive and I just sat there, fiddling with my thumbs while humming to myself. "Can we listen to the radio? I wanna hear some music." I asked. "Please?"
"No, Jazzy. The music isn't on at this time of night." Dad answered.
"We couldn't we just leave tomorrow? During the day?" I asked.
"Because we're not going on holiday." Merle admitted. "We're here because the dead has risen and are eating the living."
"W-what?" I asked, I felt terrified. "He's lying, isn't he daddy?"
"I'm sorry, Jas, but he's not." Dad finally told me.
I sat in silence. I can't believe it. I thought that that was just a fair tale, I never could of thought that this kind of stuff could happen. We suddenly came into a clearing. We got out of the car but I left my bags in the car, we might need to leave suddenly. I started look around, people started introducing themselves to me. I wasn't really paying attention to what they were saying, I just kept close to dad.
"Hi, I'm Carl. You are?" A boy, about a year older then me, asked.
"I'm Jasmine, how old are you?" I replied.
"I'm 10, you?" He asked.
"I'm 9, nearly 10." I answered.
"Wanna be friends?" He asked, sheepishly.
"I've never had a friend before." I admitted.
"Well, friends are good." He told me.