Living Amongst The Dead

Chapter 24

Gina pushed past Calem and Ben to get to where Ned was standing. She then wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him into a tight hug.

"We were so worried about you." Gina murmured. "I was worried about you." I found myself wondering if anything could happen between them when Ned let out a lively chuckle then replied. "You know I've been in worst situations then this. We all have." Then he lent down and gave Gina a kiss on the cheek.

Ben whistled out loud and Calem had a disgusted look on his face. I let out a laugh then walked over to cuddle Ben. "We found him." I whispered as I held him tight. "We sure did." He said back.

I looked over at Gina, who was gushing so badly, it looked like she had a fever. It looked like they both had feelings for each other.

"Right." said Ned firmly. "Let's get down to business. The reason I dragged you all out here is because of one thing. That."

My eyes followed where Ned was pointing and they came across something strange. Something that didn't even belong in a forest.

A camera.

It had a silver rectangle body with a red light flashing in the corner, next to the lens. It was working.

"What the?" Said Ben, who had gone up to the tree where the camera was placed. "How did a camera get all the way out here?  How did it even get up in the tree?"

"Humans." Ned had now gone up to the tree as well and gazed at the camera. "I have a feeling that there might be some survivors living in this forest. All we have to do is find them."

I didn't know if it was such a good idea to go running around in a forest when we hardly knew what we were even looking for so I decided to speak up.

"Do you really think that even if we find some humans they're going to welcome us with open arms? They might even see us as a threat."

Everyone was silent for a while until Calem decided to pitch into the conversation. "You have a point Susan, but we could be some of the only people left on Earth. I think we should find as many humans as we can."

Wise words coming from such a small mouth but I found myself believing them. There might not be many humans around and if we could find whoever was left, the world might have a chance of actually surviving.

"I think Calem's right." Ben added quietly. "If we can get more humans on our side we'll have better protection as well. I say we do it."

After spending ten minutes trying to figure out what to do, we finally came to an agreement.

We were going into the forest. I was a little nervous but I had the others with me so I knew I'd be fine. We all walked into the forest, leaves and twigs crunching beneath our feet. No one made a sound as we kept walking through the shady trees.

I wondered if we'd find anything or if it was all just a waste of time. Still, my heart was filled with a familiar feeling as we trekked along the forest floor.

Hope.