Living for What?

Chapter 1

Unfortunately, I don't own The Walking Dead the video game, TellTale does ;( R.I.P to life.

Also, this series is a variation/spinoff from after episode 2 of The New Frontier.

I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it.

Also, much criticism and reviewing is welcome! Thanks and enjoy!

Chapter 1

The van reeked. Like, worse than the walkers. We had been driving for 8 hours, only another 6 to go! We definitely couldn't head back to Texas, so mom was right, Littleton was the safest option. We had family there, and it was a nice town. Unfortunately, the chance my cousins were still alive were very slim. Everyone knew that going too far north was a terrible idea; staying in a city was even worse. But Littleton CO, 45 miles east from Denver was a small town with sparse housing and a lot of nature, so why would walkers care about it? I had no idea where my cousins were, but if they were there, we had to at least try to find them. Mom and I had already lost too many people, and I didn't want the feeling to continue.

"Will the plan change if our family isn't there?" I asked mom, who was sitting in the driver's seat of our banged up '97 Ford E-150. I was a splitting image of her, except she looked alot better than I did at the moment. She had deep green eyes and lighter brown hair pulled back in a ponytail, with a tan complexion. I wasn't pale, but still white, and my ruffled brown hair and hazel eyes never helped.

"No. It won't. We would still camp in Littleton. We at least know something about the place, right?" She glanced at me, with worry in her eyes. "Noah, we can't think about them now. We just can't. Or I'll start to cry, and then we end up stranded in the middle of New Mexico running on tissues and tears." I turned towards the window to watch the rolling fields, thinking about my brother and sister.

We were only an hour away from Littleton, and my gut was wrenched. We hadn't passed nearly any walkers since Amarillo, and I had been in this car so damn long, I'm sure even one of the fat ones could outrun me. "What if Denver's overrun? Littleton is isolated enough to where we wouldn't be able to make large supply runs. I'm just saying we should have a plan B just in case." I said. Its smart to have a plan B, right? I mean you never know.

"I agree, but we can figure it out. We always have."

"If it doesn't, I say we head towards the center of the States. Like along the Missouri and the Mississippi. Lush environments, natural water, no cities, and we can grow crops or catch fish. It sounds better the more I hear myself say it! If we went north, we wouldn't have the proper supplies, south is basically a barren wasteland at this point, and the east is way too populated. I don't see anywhere else to go, unless we want to head west where the air is still cleansing from all that marijuana in the air."

"Noah, that's not funny. And besides, the more people in the east means there's the best chance of finding survivors. We could be live with a group rather than primitive caveman."

"Yeah, but there are probably 20 times more walkers than people."

"Sure, but what about infrastructure? If we live in the country with 'no cities' then where would our walls be? We would have no protection."

"Safer than with a group of people we don't know or trust. We saw what the apocalypse can do to people." Mom grew quiet, so I just stared back out the window. Mountains, escarpments, plateaus and hills rolled passed us as we sped down the abandoned highway.

After a solid half an hour of silence, Mom finally spoke. "You know, I've always wanted to give this to you." She reached into the backseat and fished around in a bag. She kept her eyes on the road, so it took her about a minute to snag the item. She finally handed it to me. It was a three foot long wooden staff, about three inches in diameter, and I couldn't break it easily. On one end it was blunt, but the other side showed a razor sharp point, with four fashioned ridges, like a Phillips Head screwdriver. On the blunt edge, the initials R.Q.S were engraved into the wood. There was a holster that came with it, that I slid eagerly around my back.