Living With The Dead

A Year Later

"How are you feeling?" I asked Chloe who had been sick a few weeks. "I'm okay." She said weakly, but I knew she wasn't. We've met a few survivors in the past few year. They called themselves Tomas, Andrew, Oscar, and Axel. Oscar and Axel seemed cool but the other two scared me so I left them. Then, while I was out hunting, I was almost eaten but a woman saved me. She had a katana just like mine. She said her name is Michonne and she offered to take me with her but I told her I was fine. Now, I'm alone with Chloe again and she's sick. I felt like crying. She can't be like one of them. She's all I have left. I heard footsteps coming and I jumped. I grabbed the keys and unlocked the cell. The guy stood there with a gun. There was another man with a crossbow and a little boy with a gun. "Who are you?" I asked. They lowered their weapons. "I'm Rick." The guy in the front said. "This is Daryl and my son, Carl. How old are you? How long have you been here? Are you alone?" He asked. "I'm fourteen. A year and no, I have a little sister. She's eight and she's sick." I said. "We have a doctor in our group. We could care for you two. You're too young to be alone." Rick said. I led him to our cell. My sister was pale. "Please don't let her die." I said as Daryl picked her up. "She'll be fine. Hershel's a good guy." Carl said. I smiled at him and grabbed my book bag. "Nice sword." Carl said as we started to walk. "Thanks. Its a katana. It was my father's before..." I started. "Its okay. You don't have to tell us." He said. I smiled again. We walked into a cell block and it had a bunch of people. I spotted Oscar and Axel. "Now, what's your name?" Rick asked me. "Its Brooke and that's Chloe." I said pointing to my sister. "Okay. Carl, introduce her to everyone. I'm going to get her sister to Hershel." Rick said. Carl led me around. First to a woman with short hair. "Carol, this is Brooke. We found her in another one of the cells alone with her little sister." He said. "Hey. I'm Carol." She said. I smiled at her. Then, Carl introduced me to his baby sister, Judith, a Korean boy named Glenn, and Hershel's daughters Maggie and Beth. I told him I already knew Oscar and Axel. Then, I got to see how things were going with Hershel and Chloe. "How is she?" I asked. "She's dehydrated. " Hershel said and I couldn't help but to stare at his legs. He had one full one and a half of one. "What happened?" I asked. "I was bit." He answered. "Does it work?" "Only time will tell." I stared at my sister. "She'll be up and moving by morning." Hershel said breaking the silence. I didn't say anything. I just looked at him. "Brooke, honey, dinner's on the table." Maggie said sticking her head in. As I ate, I started to think about Michonne. She stuck around the prison for a few weeks after we met. She had two walkers chained up but she cut their jaws and arms off so they were harmless. We became really close but then she said she had to go and I haven't seen her since. "So, you wanna talk about your family?" Maggie asked. I sighed. "It happened a few weeks after all this began. I heard screaming downstairs so I grabbed my father's katana off of the wall. Its the one I have now. When I got downstairs, it was too late. The walkers were feeding off of my mother and one had just bit my father. He told me to go and be safe. I couldn't kill him so I took my sister and left. She's only eight but she's really good with a knife and gun and she's really mature so I took her into the woods where we found a small abandoned house. We were only there for a day when a herd came through so I took a car from the street and drove here. We've been here for a year. We met a few survivors. Oscar. Axel. A woman. And two guys that were with Oscar and Axel." I finished. "Tomas and Andrew." Rick said. "You know them?" I asked. "One of them tried to push me to walkers so I killed him and the other ran." He said. "Oh.." I said continuing to eat. "What do you like to do?" Daryl asked me. "Well, before things got bad, I was captain of a dance team in Macon. Besides that, I like to sing." I said. "Hey! I like to sing! Maybe we could sing together sometime." Beth said. I smiled at her. She seems pretty cool. "Were there more of you?" I asked. Rick looked at me but soon answered. "Yes. There were a lot more. Carol lost a husband and a daughter, Sophia. We lost two friends who were sisters. Amy and Andrea. Then there was Shane. Patricia, Maggie and Beth's sister. And their brother. A guy named Dale. Otis. Jim. Jacqui. Daryl's brother Merle. My.... my wife, Lori." "I'm sorry." I said. "How come you took me in?" I asked him. "You're fourteen. No one should have to be alone at that age." He answered. I just played with my food. "Excuse me." I said taking my bowl of oatmeal to the cell that my sister was in with Hershel. "You should go eat. I'll look after her." I told him. He patted me in the back and left. Chloe had her eyes barely opened. "We met some new people. They're nice and they're gonna take good care of us." I told her. She smiled slightly. A few minutes later, Beth came in and sat by me. "I'm sorry about your parents." She said. "Sorry about your mother." I said back. "You know, sometimes I wonder if there's a place where people could actually be safe." Beth said. "I know there is. We just have to find it." I said back. We talked for a few hours, but I soon got really tired so she went to her cell and I crawled on top bunk of my sister. Rick came through and locked all the cells. As I drifted off to sleep, I wondered if we were safe now, with these people.