A Walk Among The Dead

Chapter 12

The sound of gunshots and bodies dropping to the ground filled the barn. None of us knew what to do, so we just sat still and listened to the violence that was taking place outside.

"We have to do something!" Amelia whispered harshly.

"Amelia's right. What if that's Mark and Laura shooting those things out there? We have to help them." Alex whispered.

"Ok, ok, cool it. I have a plan." Brendon hushed everyone. We all stared at him expectantly.

"So, we'll go and-" Brendon was interrupted by a sharp scream from the outside. We all jumped out of our skins and looked at the door with fear.

"Brendon! Alex! Get your scrawny asses out here and help me!" A female voice screeched desperately. It sounded like whoever it was had been crying.

"Shit, that's Laura." Brendon raced for the door with his gun in hand, followed closely by Alex. When Brendon tried to open the door, the fallen bodies of the dead leaning up against it prevented it from opening. Dad, Brady, and Amelia jumped up and ran after them to help, leaving Rachel and I standing there helpless. After they shoved the bodies enough to get out of the door, they squeezed their way through the crack, guns blazing.

"Fuck this." I whispered to myself, running over to our bags and grabbing a handgun out of one of them. I ran outside to "help" as quickly as I could. By the time I got out there, Brendon had shot the last rotter in sight.

"Damn. This is going to be hell to clean up." Alex said, wiping his forehead of sweat.

"Laura," Rachel burst through the barn door and practically tackled the poor, blood-covered girl. Laura's face was swollen and covered in tear streaks. She'd obviously been crying like I'd thought when I heard her earlier.

"What happened? Where's Mark?" Rachel frantically looked around for this Mark guy, but no one else was to be seen. Laura started to tear up again, trying so hard not to break down. Rachel looked at her, wide eyed, realizing what had happened.

"Oh no, oh shit, Laura. What happened?" Rachel asked. We all slowly started inching our way closer to them to hear the conversation.

"He, he saved my life. I was about to die, but, Mark he," Laura paused, trying not to let out a sob. Rachel looked at her impatiently.

"He what?" Rachel blurted out. This made Laura flinch and cry even more.

"He jumped in front of the corpse that was going to bite me. I watched the thing dig it's teeth into Mark's neck! I watched my husband give his own life for me, and die right before my eyes. Oh God, Rachel, it was so horrible." Laura finally broke down and began to sob onto Rachel's shoulder. Rachel hugged her tightly, hoping to calm her down.

"Mark's dead?" Alex asked no one in particular. Tears filled his eyes as he watched Rachel and Laura comfort each other in the middle of all of us. I felt like we were invading their privacy by just standing there watching everything fall apart.

"Come on guys, let's go back inside." Dad said. Brady and Amelia followed him back to the barn, but I hesitated.

"Rowan? You coming?" Dad turned around and saw that I hadn't followed. I nodded and mouthed "just a second." He nodded and closed the barn door behind him.

Alex had joined Rachel and Laura in the middle of the field, crying along with both of them. Brendon quietly made his way over to me and stood close enough to where his arm touched mine.

"Why'd you stay?" Brendon suddenly whispered after a few minutes of awkward silence.

I shrugged. "There's a lot of tension between my family and I right now that I didn't want to deal with." I whispered in response.