A Walk Among The Dead

Chapter 7

"Rowan, get behind me!" Dad screamed over the humming noise of gnarls and growls that came from the distant dead.

"You too Daisy," Bill shouted. Neither of us had guns, or knew how to work one, so I'm assuming that's why we were told to hide behind the human wall of loaded magazines.

Amelia ran and retrieved her gun from the ground where she had put it. I was kind of jealous that a fourteen year old knew how to use a gun and I didn't.

The sound of multiple gun shots that echoed through the air made my ears ring. I stood helpless behind everyone else, wanting so desperately to do something.

"Shit, I'm out!" Bill yelled to no one in particular.

"Me too!" Brady pulled his trigger only to hear an empty click.

"Everyone, head back to the car! Let's get the hell out of here!" Dad shouted. We all started back toward the car, except for Amelia.

"Amelia!" Brady cupped his hands around his mouth in hopes it would make his voice louder. Amelia kept shooting the rotters in front of her until she ran out of ammo. She pulled the trigger multiple times vigorously, thinking there might be one last bullet. The dead drew nearer to her as she stood there trying to make a new magazine magically appear in her gun.

"Amelia! Come on!" Brady shouted again. This time, Amelia looked at him, back at the car she was living in, then finally back to Brady. Her face had frustration and desperate written all over it. The rotters had completely surrounded her automobile home. After a few heartbeats of just standing there hesitantly, she decided to come with us back to our stolen truck.

Amelia, Brady and I hurriedly jumped in the bed of the truck and told Bill to step on it. The tires spun, making smoke rise from the area of friction. The truck finally backed up and Bill did a complete 180 to head back in the direction we had come from.

The four of us looked back at the horde of the dead. Amelia's eyes swelled with tears, one escaping and rolling down her cheek as she watched them surround all of the cars that sat lifeless on the interstate. I looked at her curiously, wondering what she left behind that was important enough to make her cry.

"What'd you leave behind?" I asked bluntly.

"A picture." She answered without looking at me. "It may sound stupid, but it was the only picture I had of my family and I, all together."

My heart hurt for her. I couldn't imagine what it was like for her to be out in this shit world without her family by her side.

"It's not stupid," I said in almost a whisper. "Do you want to tell us what happened?"

"No, not particularly." She said. I felt hurt that she didn't want to tell us, but then again, we'd only met about ten minutes prior.

"Well, can you at least tell us what they were like?" Daisy butted in. I was getting tired of her invading everyone's conversations.

"Uh," Amelia hesitated. "My mom, she, she was a real-estate agent. One of the best in the whole state." She began to tear up again.

"And my dad, well, he was a business man. He somehow always managed to leave his cubicle and make time for us, everyday." At this point, I was beginning to choke up.

"I had a sister too. She was about a year and a half older than me. We fought a lot, but I miss her, and I'm not to sure she isn't alive." We all turned to her, questionably.

"What do you mean? You think she's still out there somewhere?" Brady asked, skeptical.

"I watched my parents get consumed by the undead. My sister ran off to find help, but never came back. I believe it's possible that she's still alive." Amelia was confident that her sister was still out their.

"But, why wouldn't she have come back for you if she was still out their?" Brady shot me a look when I said this.

"She could have gotten held up! Or- or maybe she got lost, I don't know! She's out their and I know it. So just leave me alone alright?" Amelia snapped.

I felt bad for being so nosy and negative, but it was really unlikely that her sister was still alive. After seeing what we saw when we left home, there's just no way.

"Do you ever shut up Rowan?" Brady spat. I looked at him in utter disbelief.

"I'm sorry?" I raised an eyebrow.

"The little hope that's left in this world, Amelia has it. Why do you step all over everyone's positive thoughts and hope? Why can't you just believe that maybe there is a possibility that her sister is out there? Why can't you just keep your mouth shut?"

My jaw dropped as I scowled at him. He was furious, his face so solemn it was scary.

"Close your mouth, Rowan. Your gonna catch flies like Daisy and I did," he started.

"Or choke on your negativity."