Living Among the Dead

Gabe's POV

It's been five weeks since Kate was killed, and we haven't had much trouble since then. Drew took over his father's position of sending out radio signals, which brought more survivors to our group. 6 new people have joined our group out of the 21 that showed up. as for the other 15, they didn't respect that we, a bunch of teenagers, run this place, so they either just left, were forced to leave, or, if it came to it, we executed them. The newcomers were all 18+ years old. There was Chris, Ben, Erin, Luke, Susan, and Derrick.

Kai, Hailey, Savannah, and I were going to clear out a new section of the lodge from walkers. What with all of the new people, we needed more space. This was the only part of the entire complex that still held walkers. I brought Derrick with me to show him how we like to fight. I met Kai and Hailey in the lobby, talking about what they hope to find on some sort of future run. Savannah arrived last before we left. Derrick and I had a conversation about myself.

"So," he started. "How did you lose your leg?"

"A biter got to me."

"And cutting it off worked?" he asked, seeming unconvinced.

"Well, I'm standing right in front of you," I muttered as I rolled my eyes. "In fact..."

I pulled out the katana that formerly was owned by Katie.

"...this was what cut it off."

We finally reached the wooden door that led to the wing of the hotel the was infested with walkers. I looked around. Kai held his axe tightly, Hailey gripped her machete, as did Savannah to her hatchet. I looked my reflection of the shiny blade in my hand. Kai kicked open the door and we all got into formation. Savannah stood furthest to the left of our line, Hailey next to her. Kai stood in the middle, right next to my on his right. After decapitating a few corpses, I looked to my right to see how Derrick was holding up. But he wasn't there.

He broke our formation and simply ran into the horde. Derrick bashed in skulls with his sledgehammer smoothly. Soon, walkers din't come to attack us, for all of them focused on the only adult in this fighting group. Being that his weapon was so heavy, Derrick couldn't keep up. One of the dead bit his the bicep of his right arm. He shrieked out loudly.

"Fall back!" Hailey commanded.

I grabbed Derrick by the back of his shirt and yanked him away. Hailey and Savannah blocked the door once we were all out. I still had my bloody sword out, and Kai must have been thinking what I was. He ran up and pinned Derrick to the ground.

"No! Please don't do this! It's just a scratch!" he pleaded.

But it was too late.

I swiftly swung my blade through his arm, just above the bite. He screamed for about seven seconds before he fell unconscious. The cut was so high on his arm that we couldn't tie off the wound to stop the bleeding. Luke had been studying to become a doctor before this whole apocalypse thing broke out, so he serves as our medic. Kai and I dragged Derrick's limp body to Luke.

"Dear God," he sputtered out. "What happened?"

"He was bit," Savannah answered.

Luke got straight to work on him.

The four of us went back to the wing of the hotel that we were attempting to clear, and tried again. It wasn't too hard while we stayed in formation. By the end, we were all worn out and covered in blood. Each of us went to wash up before we met in the lobby. I told everyone jokes and made impressions of Kai's voice. Everyone laughed, even Kai.

"Hey, guys," Erin chuckled as she entered the lobby. "You all seem like you've been together for ever."

"That's because we have," Savannah pointed out.

"Yeah," Hailey added. "The four of us, Sarah and Macie have known each other since this all broke out about five years ago."

Erin laughed, "And you all still put up with each other? If I were you,-"

Bang!

We all sprang to our feet. Kai and Hailey pulled their pistols out, Savannah loaded an arrow into her bow, and I slowly yanked out my katana. The shot came from the medic office, where we all went.

Every light was off, except one that just flickered over the unconscious Derrick. His wound was treated, but he looked pale. We continued moving until we discovered the room that the shot had taken place it. Erin shined a flashlight all over the wall, and the light stopped moving in front of a horrific sight. Savannah gasped at what she saw.

Before us, Luke sat against the wall with his mouth wide open. A large hole caused by a gun leaked blood out of his forehead, while the yellow wall behind him was coated with a thin layer of his red fluid.

Kai inspected the scene.

"He doesn't have a gun on him," he stated. "So he couldn't have killed himself."

We all knew what this meant. Someone in this group shot him in cold-blood, and we figured that it would only be a matter of time before it happened again.