Love and Death (The Walking Dead - TWD)

Survivors

A smile was frozen on my face realising that I'd finally found another person or people that had survived the mess the world had turned to. I clicked my fingers lightly signalling for Starstruck to come to me, she did and I held her reins for a few moments trying to figure out what to do.

There were survivors. That's all I knew, I didn't know how many, what they were like, what they would do with me or if I should trust them. I decided to go through the forest, this way I would be able to look through the trees without being noticed.

I climbed on Starstruck and neared the forest with one hand on the sword behind my back, just in case I would need it. Being careful not to make any noise I found a small clearing to ride Starstruck through. Once I was close enough to the camp I heard voices of the people staying there.

'They've been gone too long Shane, something's wrong' a female voice said.
'I'm not going after them just to find out where they've got to, Lori" a male voice I assumed was Shane argued back. Wow, he seemed a bit selfish.
'We can't just sit back and wait, what if they're in danger?' The first voice, Lori said.

I climbed off Starstruck and walked closer to the tree line able to make out 2 people standing away from the rest of the group, a woman with chocolate coloured hair and a man in a cop uniform. I guessed this was Shane and Lori, still having their argument. Away from them there was camp fire with more survivors sitting around.

A Mexican looking family with 2 children were sat on logs although the father didn't seem to be there, next was a young boy with brown hair covering his forehead, next was a blonde girl, then an old man with white hair underneath a fisherman a hat and lastly after him sat a dark skinned girl. They were all nervously chatting although I couldn't hear what about. Away from them near a brown coloured tent sat another man with a young girl who held a doll tightly in her arms and a woman with a shaved head, both looked scared and kept avoiding the mans gaze.

I turned my attention back to Shane and Lori who were nearing the end of their discussion. 'Its late Lori, I'm not risking my life for them' Shane stated.
'They have family here, they're our friends' Lori retorted.
'They'll be back tomorrow and if not they'll probably be dead' Shane finished bluntly and walked away.

There were 12 survivors still in camp, with Shane and Lori arguing I figured there were more survivors elsewhere. I assumed there was maybe 15 - 16 people in the group and turned to go back to Starstruck.

I stroked Starstruck for a moment arguing with myself about whether I should go into the camp or leave as if I'd never been there. That's when I felt a cold piece of metal on the back of my neck. 'Drop yer weapon' a southern male voice ordered. I did as he said and placed my sword, knife and hand gun on the ground gently kicking them away from me. Starstruck started to become restless so I decided to try to calm her down 'easy girl' I hushed stroking her mane.

'Who are ya?' The southern voice said.
'My names Ruby, Ruby Keeling' I said calmly. The weapon on the back of my neck moved and I slowly turned around with my hands near my head. A redneck with shaggy brown hair and a crossbow stood before me. He had a leather jacket with no sleeves and a single rabbit slung over his shoulder.

'Pick up yer weapons and get yer horse' he ordered I did as he said and he gestured for me to follow him. We walked a little and the redneck motioned for me to stop, I waited as he went to the camp and walked towards the group around the camp fire. Shane and Lori had joined them while the redneck was talking. I couldn't hear what was being said but I knew it was to do with me.

The young boy with the brown hair looked round and stared at me. The redneck came back over to me a pushed me towards the group. I brought Starstruck with me, the blonde girls eyes became wide as soon as she saw the horse, she moved off the log she was sitting on and cautiously moved closer to Starstruck. Once in reach she held out her hand and stroked her mane.

'She's beautiful!' The girl stated. I smiled back proudly in response. 'I'm Amy by the way' the girl said smiling sweetly.
'Ruby' I replied returning her smile.

'Let her stay Shane, she's young and on her own, she won't do any harm' the guy with the fisherman hat said.
'I found 'er in the forest, didn' seem to be doin' no harm' the redneck said. Shane nodded and walked towards me.
'You can stay for now, but you put one foot outta line and you'll be as dead as the freaks, got it?' he stated bluntly.
'Um, sure, got it' I said, frowning at how cold this guy seemed to be.
'Good, I'm Shane, see you 'round' he nodded and walked away.

Amy stood beside me. 'Hey come meet everyone' she smiled. I nodded and walked over to the group. 'This is Lori' she said motioning to the woman who was arguing with Shane. Lori smiled.
'Nice to meet you, I'm Ruby' I said loud enough for the whole group to hear so I wouldn't need to repeat myself. We moved in a circle so I could meet the people at the campfire.
'This is Carl, Lori's son' Amy told me pointing to the young boy who had stared at me earlier. 'This is Dale' she told me, placing a hand on the old mans shoulder, 'this is Jacque' the dark skinned woman smiled sweetly and gave me a small hug. The Mexican family was next the woman's name was Miranda with her 2 children Eliza and Louis.

We walked over the the brown coloured tent where the man sat with the other woman and young girl. 'This is Ed' Amy said bluntly, he stared at me and just grunted.
'I'm Carol' the woman with the shaved head said 'and this is our daughter Sophia' she finished motioning to the little girl by her side. I could tell she was forcing her smile.
'I'm Ruby, nice to meet you' I smiled.

We walked over to where the redneck was skinning the rabbit. 'And lastly this is Daryl, the rest of our group are out getting supplies they aren't back yet but you'll meet them when them when they're back' she smiled and jogged back over to Starstruck leaving me with Daryl. He looked up at me.

'What were ya doin' on yer own out there? Dangerous on yer own' he said gruffly.
'That's no different, any way I survived this long on my own' I replied. He grunted in return, taking that as my cue to leave I went to sit at the campfire.

'Where am I going to sleep tonight?' I asked Amy who giggled at me. 'Whats funny?' I asked again.
'The only space we got in a tent is with Daryl' she giggled again and I frowned. 'He's in the green army tent I'm sure he won't mind'
'Fine we'll I'm going to bed then, night' she waved at me and I headed to the green tent. I set my stuff I'm the corner and laid in the sleeping bag assuming Daryl would have another one.

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Confused I rubbed my eyes. The sound of snoring had woken me up and I had no idea who would be snoring. I rolled over to find Daryl in my sleeping bag.
'What the hell are you doing?' I yelled moving away from him. He stirred in his sleep then yawned and looked at me.
'Sleeping, what the hells it look like?' He replied sleepily.
'Your in my sleeping bag!' I shouted.
'Think yer'll find its my sleepin' bag' he chuckled.
'Oh, sorry' I mumbled 'I thought you'd have another one' I looked away embarrassed.
'No worries I don't mind sharin'' he laughed again and got out of the sleeping bag holding out a hand to help me up.

I pulled my boots on, placing my knife inside and my swords on my back and walked outside. Amy was petting Starstruck and Lori was cooking. 'Want some food?' She asked and my tummy rumbled loudly, she laughed and placed some rabbit stew into my bowl. My mouth watered and I gobbled it down having not eaten in at least 3 days. The sound of a car made me set the bowl back on the tree stump I'd used as a table.

I walked over with the rest of the group, except Daryl as he had gone hunting, to the car, a Korean looking boy steeped out smiling to himself while a van pulled up behind him.

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So if you've seen the programme you'll know what happens next but hey if you haven't be prepared for a little surprise!

Thank you for reading and I really hope you've enjoyed the story so far.

- Chloe xx