The scream was a high pitched shrill. It sounded like a mixture of shock, excitement, and terror. It stopped just as abruptly as it began. A few seconds later, the same scream came again, but it was in terror. It was getting closer and closer to us. Allen, Morgan, Justin, and Hannah lined up with their guns pointed towards the sound. I stood behind them, daggers in hand, machete on my side.
From the woods emerged a little girl, no older than four or five. She was running towards us and Justin yelled, "Hold your fire!" She wasn't one of the undead. Hannah knelt down and caught her before she fell face first.
"What's wrong?" Her question was answered pretty quickly. From the woods emerged a grey wolf and a red fox, an odd combination that would often be quarreling between themselves. They were striding side by side with each other. Neither seemed in any hurry to get to us.
Allen asked, "Shoot or you want to do your animal magic and domesticate them into chihuahuas?"
I walked past the line and towards the wolf and fox. The fox ran into the woods, and the wolf snarled. I bent my knees and took a stance like a sumo wrestler. I smiled and growled back, and the wolf charged me. Just before it got close enough to bite me, I pushed the side of its face and backed away. It sneezed then tried again. I kept slapping away its nose. On the sixth charge, it leaped at me, and my reflexes kicked in. I took my right hand and pushed it against the wolf's throat as it was in the air, and used the grip to put it on its back. It started squirming and fighting for freedom, but I wouldn't let go. When it became exhausted and could only snarl, I snarled back at it to state dominance, and it whimpered.
I released its throat and it stood upright, licking itself clean. I looked towards my friends who were gaping at me and said, "Not every situation has to be solved with blood." The wolf nipped my shoe then ran off into the woods. I rejoined the group at the camp fire.
I bit into a nutrition bar. Morgan asked, "Do you think animals can turn? Imagine seeing an army of mice turn and charge at you, or mosquitos that turn, or a flock of birds, or a group of bears."
"Scariest thing would be," Allen added, "if both of the guys that are hogging the weapons turned." Everybody turned to me and Justin.
Justin justified us, "There's a bag full of weapons in the trunk, we're not hogging them. You all can grab a gun anytime you want. I didn't think to grab any knives. To be fair, whenever we played Sticks and Stones on Call of Duty, Shawn always used the ballistic knives and I used the crossbow. He's the knife guy."
Allen was the only one to get up and walk to the truck. I guess the others would get their weapons when the time came. I turned my dagger in my hand, running my fingers along the blood stained blade. I cleaned it off with my shirt. I heard somebody call my name then looked up. I realized Hannah was introducing the little girl to everyone. I slipped my dagger into my pocket and smiled.
"This is Shawn," Hannah gestured towards me. I smiled at the little girl. She looked tired and confused, but surprisingly not scared. "Shawn, this is Maddy."
"Nice to meet you, Maddy," I waved at her. She waved back but didn't say anything. I asked Hannah, "What's her story?"
"Her parents went to the store and never came back. Around ten she decided to go exploring in the woods near her house - she's a huge explorer. She was having fun with her pet dinosaur," Maddy held out a small, stuffed dinosaur. "She found tons of butterflies and flowers and ladybugs when she ran into Wolfe and Foxy. She ran and now it's nearly midnight and her parents haven't come back. They didn't even call."
I smiled at her as an attempt to comfort her, "We'll be your babysitters until your parents come back." I knew good and well her parents either left, thinking she was dead, or they were turned. But you don't say things like that to a kid. "How old are you?"
"Five," she spoke properly. Well, proper to be a southerner, anyway.
"Do you like ninjas?" I asked, laughing even as I said it.
"Yes, and dragons and dinosaurs and plants!" Her eyes lit up as bright as the stars and a smile spread across her sleepy face. I'm gonna like this little girl I thought.
"I can teach you to be one tomorrow if you're up to the challenge. I can help you find flowers too, and we can search for dinosaurs." She didn't even have to say anything, the expression on her face said it all. "Well, I'm gonna hit the hay for tonight." I shoved the wrapper in my pocket (don't litter kids!) and sat in the middle seat in the back of the Jeep, dozing off slowly.
