Surviving the Impossible

Chapter 10: Traveling Once Again

"Welcome to your life, there's no turning back. Even while we sleep, we will find you acting on your best behavior, Turn your back to Mother Nature. Everybody wants to rule the world."
Those lyrics were replaying in my head as walkers stumbled around Mark and me. Our fingers were interlocked, and I swear I wasn't going to let go. "SOMEONE HELP ME!" I looked to the source of the sound as a person was being cornered by a walker. I wanted to help them, but I'd risk my safety. "YOU WITH THE BROWN HAIR PLEASE! AGGHHH!!" The tall blonde guy screamed as a walker ate the flesh from his neck. He was screaming in agony, and I wanted to run away and be the scared little girl I was deep down inside, but it's time I've toughened up. I looked away and kept walking with Mark as we made it to the torn down wall. "Follow me and watch your step." Mark whispered to me as I nodded. We stepped over a bunch of steel and debris and made it to the gravel road. My fingers were still intertwined with Mark's but this time I wrapped my arm around his waist and walked by his side. There were surprisingly no walkers where we were walking so, I start quietly humming the song:
"I am a lost boy from never land, usually hanging out with Peter Pan.
And when we're bored we play in the woods, always on the run from Captain Hook.
Run, run lost boy, they say to me.
Away from all of, reality."
A tear streamed down my cheek as Mark turned to me. "Call me cheesy, but I will always be your Peter Pan, Anna. We can run away together. Someway, somehow we can make it out of this." He hugged me tightly and kissed my forehead, despite the smell of death that lingered on me. We held hands as we slowly walked down the never-ending road of gravel.

We continued walking until sundown, as we started to get tired. We came upon a clearing with a large brick, fenced-in house. The lights were surprisingly on until a figure came over to turn them off. Mark looked at me with furrowed eyebrows as we walked towards the fence. I un-hatched the hinge as we walked in, then I closed it back. Mark let me walk in front of him as we came closer to the door. I looked at him as I raised my hand up to knock. He nodded so I knocked a couple of times until I heard footsteps get louder and louder. "Who's there?" I heard a woman's voice say as a male voice whispered something to her. "You don't know us but we are looking for a place to stay for the night. We will give you our weapons for the night if you don't trust us, but we are really desperate for a place. Please I'm begging you." I said trying to sound convincing as Mark nodded approving of what I said. "How many people do you have with you?" "It's just myself and my boyfriend." I said as I lightly smiled at Mark causing him to smile back. "Put your weapons in here and we'll let you in." Said the man's voice as he opened a cat door and slid a bucket through. I took my knife and gun, and I was about to put them in the bucket until Mark grabbed my hand and said, "Hold on a minute I need to talk to my girlfriend for a second." Mark pulled me down the front porch steps after him. "What was that for?!" I asked whisper-yelling to Mark with furrowed eyebrows. "Are you sure you want to do this? We can be risking our lives for shelter, that we might not even have." I looked at him in the eyes and said, "Every time we walk outside with walkers, we are risking our lives. I think we can trust these people, Mark. I know you are concerned but I feel good about this." I said going on my tiptoes to kiss him on the cheek. I walked over to the door, and I placed my gun in the bucket, but Mark took my knife to keep just in case these people were bad. He too placed his gun, but he also placed his knife into the bucket. After all of our weapons were in the bucket except my knife, I slid the bucket through the small door. "Is this all?" The woman's voice asked. "Yes, ma'am that's all." I said as the male unlocked the locks to the door. He slightly opened the door, and Mark instantly moved in front of me. When he looked out the door to make sure we weren't about to kill him and to see if walkers were nearby, he finally let us in. We stepped inside, and instantly the girl grabbed me and put a knife to my throat and covered my mouth. Mark jerked forwards at the girl until the she said, "Sorry just making sure you aren't going to kill us." As soon as she said that she let me go and I ran over into Mark's arms, heavily breathing. "Well since you guys seem like decent people, you can stay here for the night. I'll have to know at some point, so I might as well ask what your names are." The girl asked. As Mark introduced us, I examined the girl. She had blonde hair with faded blue streaks and bright bluish/grayish eyes. She looked at me and I smiled and acted like I wasn't looking at her before. The guy she was with had brownish hair and was very tall. Mark is 5'11 and this guy has to be like 6'3. Anyways getting back on track, the girl introduced herself as Joy Jackson and she said the guy's name was Matt Smith. Hmm...Matt Smith, that name sounded really familiar to me, but I couldn't think of where I've heard it from. They shook our hands and led us to a room with a king-sized bed. "This is a spare bedroom we have, and we hope it's good enough for you." Joy said as she twirled her faded blue/blonde hair with her fingers. "Oh yes thank you so much for taking us in! We really appreciate it." I said as Mark walked over to sit on the bed. "If you are hungry just come into the kitchen and get a snack but please don't turn on the lights, use a candle. The last thing we want is walkers to come because they see a light in the house on." I smiled as Joy went to the other room but came back with matches and a candle. She smiled and closed the door and went into the other room. "I'm glad she didn't hurt you or she would've been dead meat." Mark said as I walked over to sit on the bed with him. I hugged him and laid my head onto his shoulders and sighed. "I love you Mark, you are so caring and sweet, but you will not let anyone dare to hurt me. That makes me smile, a lot. It's nice to know someone actually cares for me and what happens to me." I said kissing him on the cheek as I got up and went to the door. "Where do you think you're going missy?" Mark said as he walked behind me and picked me up off my feet. He finally put me down when I said,"Umm, to go eat since we haven't eaten in about, 6 hours." I said grabbing the matches and the candle. "Okay, grab me something too please." He said as I lit the candle and went into the kitchen. I grabbed a couple apples and granola bars and then headed back to the room. "Thank you Anna." Mark said as I closed the door and gave him his apple and granola bar.

We ate the snacks like animals who haven't eaten in weeks, but it was nice to have a quick meal. I took the apple cores and granola bar wrappers and threw them into the trash, then I rolled down the bed sheets. "Hey Mark I'm going to bed, so goodnight. I love you." I said to him as he was looking at the pictures framed on the walls. "I'll go to sleep in a few minutes too, but I love you Anna." I smiled as I closed my eyes and went to my dreamland of peace once again.