75 Days of a Zombie Apocalypse (Complete )

Chapter 7 - Screams

It has been a few days since my mother's passing, and it's hitting us like hell, only my father is receiving the worst end of it. Even though the three jugs my father managed to get before she died, the car slowly began to gas, making us get on foot as soon as it broke down on us. No one has said a word about it and when the thought came to their mind to say something, we would just shut it out and pretend that it didn't exist. My father always believed that when someone passed, that they'll stay with you in spirit, something my mother didn't believe, but it was just how my father raised. They had talks about it and when he would bring it up to his friends when they came over, she would laugh or smile; she always had to state her opinion in it and my father didn't care. He liked how she had something to say about it, he would always smile when she put her nose in the conversations between him and his friends. But now he'll never get to see or hear her do it again, and I believe that hit him the most.

The car ran out of gas when the sun was setting. Once we got our things and headed out on the road, the sun was already down. We didn't have time to prepare or even think about the plan that we should've created. It was a chilly night, my dad giving me one of his jackets he had taken from a clothing store a few days ago. We each had a backpack, and Dave was carrying his bag of weapons as my father carried the bag of food. The road was surrounded by trees and wildlife, making everyone on edge about seeing what was really in front of us. The moon gave off it's light, but it ended up being covered by the trees with every step we took, and the one thing we didn't find on our supply runs was flashlights or any other light. The sounds of our footsteps moving together was the only thing my mind could think of, for if I stopped thinking about that, my mind would run to the loss I recently received. I didn't know why we kept going, maybe to get our mind off things or that we're trying to find a place to sleep. We were all tired and each other knew it, but not one of us said anything unless a scream came from the forest beside us. 

We all stopped and looked to our right, seeing the first few outlines of trees opening the way to blackness.

"What was that?" Dave asked, him being behind me.

"Zombies don't scream," I said and looked at my father who was standing beside me.

"Maybe we shouldn't find out," my father said before the sound of running came closer to us but turned a different way. 

I heard a gun cock behind me as I saw the movements of my dad pulling out his. Our eyes followed the sound of the footsteps leading a few feet in front of us, still coming within the woods. All that was heard was the footsteps, nothing else, and nothing came out of the darkness yet. But my father didn't start running to the sound until we heard a human voice.

"Ross! Hurry!" I women yelled from within the forest, getting closer to us. 

With that, we all took off into the forest, trying to see but trying to find the people in need of help. I soon saw flashlights move quickly along with the runner who was holding it. We ran through what felt like a few minutes before I tripped over a tree log, hearing two pairs of footsteps continue running. I quickly got up and looked around, seeing nothing but darkness.

"Dad!" I yelled, my head turning in every direction until I turned my head and saw a white light. I put my hands over my eyes as I tried to see who was holding it. 

"Dad?" I asked, even though I knew it wasn't him

"Who are you?" A woman called out

"I'm not gonna hurt you," I said, looking down as I raised my hands, "My father, my friend and I came running to the screams, we came to help."

"Where are the men now?" she asked again

I shook my head, "I don't know, they continued to run."

Footsteps appeared next to me as they stopped and looked at the woman.

"It's okay Cher, they came to help," a man said as footsteps appeared next to me, I looked to see my dad.

"You alright?" my dad asked, checking my face for cuts

"Yea," I nodded as he stopped and placed his eyes on the women again. 

The flashlight then turned to Dave, two men, and a woman. One of the men had a small beard and was wearing a grey tank top with jeans as the other man wore a heavy brown jacket. The women wore a black vest with only a black bra under it, her red hair fitting the frame of the clothes she wore.

"It's alright Cher, we're good." The man before said, who turned out to be in the tank top. His voice was deeper than I would expect, coming from a man that looks like him. 

The flashlight then got pointed to the ground, where now you could see everyone. Cher was wearing a white shirt with light blue dirty jeans as a man stood beside her, his arms around her waist. He wore no shirt and baggie black jeans. There was another women behind them, a short-haired blonde woman who had her arms around two children. The boy couldn't have been thirteen but was tall for his age, with his hair tucked under a baseball cap, he was wearing a plain blue t-shirt as the little girl wore a flower dress, she couldn't have been at least five or six. 

"Why don't we make it to the main road and talk," the man said. 

Few of us nodded as we made sure to keep in our groups, walking to the road a few feet ahead of us. Once we did make it to the road, with the help of Cher's flashlight. We all just looked at each other and didn't say anything at first until the leader spoke up.

"Thank you again, we were in trouble," the man said, walking forward to me and my dad, holding out his hand.

"Of course,"  my father said, taking the man's hand and shaking me.

"I'm Zedd," he said "With me was May and Yon. Cher had the flashlight and was in a group with her husband Louis, Demi and her child Rosey and Ross."

May and Yon held up their hands, giving us a "Hi" as the other group stayed silent, the children, of course, looking at us like they have never seen another human being.

"I'm John," my dad started, "This is my daughter, Jess and her friend Dave." 

Zedd nodded at us "It's nice to meet you," 

"You guys too," Dave said as Zedd walked backwards to his group.

"I understand if you guys want to head in your own way, but we would like some more people." Zedd said, "I guess more protection purposes and such." 

"You're willing to take us in, like that?" I asked

Yon and May smiled, so did Louis, "We think it's for the best." 

Yon's voice was deeper too, but more deeper than Zedd's.

"Where are you guys going?" My dad asked

"Somewhere out of state," Zedd said, "I heard there was a sanctuary along the way, might see how that goes."

My father thought for a moment and then nodded, "Sure."

Zedd's face lit up as well as May's and Demi's. "Welcome, we're glad we have you." 

Yon and Louis picked up their bags as them, Cher and May started to walk. 

"You too," Dave said.

But we didn't move yet, we stood there and watch them leave, seeing Zedd still in front of us, giving a small grin and Demi with her kids. 

"We don't bite," Zedd said, "We'll have fun and protect each other, I promise. But I understand if you need a little time to settle in."

"Thank you," my father said, starting to walk, "We appreciate it," 

Zedd nodded with his smile and made a hand movement to Demi and her kids, Rosey running to him and taking his hand. He surely got her trust. Demi patted Ross on the back as they started to walk, leaving me and Dave in the back. 

"Do you trust them?" I asked him

 "No, but do you think they trust us?" he asked 

"I hope so," I said, as we caught up to the rest of group.