Ashes - A Walking Dead Fanfic

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

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As the gate was nudged open, a small flock of robins fluttered into the sky, landing in one of the nearby trees. Margo jumped back, obviously surprised at the sudden movement. I don't blame her. For what's she's seen in the past few days, she's holding up pretty well. Except for the part about losing Aimee...

I shake my head, attempting to clear the thoughts from my head before tears, which were already threatening to spill over my eyes, rolled down my cheeks. I moved forward, Franklin in front of me and Mom and Margo behind. I was slightly surprised that there were no rotted corpses lying around the property. Had this place gone unnoticed by the dead?

"Have you seen any of those...thing here?" I asked, raising a hand to swipe my dark brown hair out of my face.

Taylor, who was walking alongside Mom, shook her head.

"Not really," she explained. "I mean, there's a few here and there, small groups occasionally pass by, but nothing serious."

I nod, relieved. Aaron's pace slows, and I nearly run right into Franklin's back, which is as sweaty as mine.

"Well, here it is." he says, stepping aside so that we could see it better.

The walls of the cabin were a bleached white, worn out and weathered from the years that it stood tall and proud. The paint on the wooden slabs were chipped and peeling, and the roof was missing a few shingles here and there, but it looked perfectly fine, almost exactly how I remembered it.

As we got nearer the main yard, I could spot a lean figure reclining on the porch. When it spotted us, it rose up from the rocking chair it was seated on, leaning up against the railing of the porch.

It was a girl, probably a year or less younger than me, by the looks of her. Aaron jogged ahead to meet her, and I could barely make out them exchanging a few hasty words. I hesitated before carrying on. Was this some kind of trap?

The man must've noticed my cautiousness, because he waved Mom, Margo, and I over to him.

"I suggest that you go and meet everyone before settling in," he explained. "They're either inside or in the backyard. If you need me, I'll be around."

Patting my shoulder, Aaron meandered around the girl, opening the front door and slipping inside. I was about to open my mouth to say something to this girl, but my mother started first.

"I'll...I'll ask where we can stay." she said, voice still wavering.

Wrapping one arm around me, she pulled me into a hug before following Aaron into the house, Margo trailing behind her. I watched them go. Distracted, I barely heard the words of the girl standing before me

"So, where'd you come from?" she asked, planting her hands on her slender hips.

"Uh," I stammered, trying to think. Did it even matter anymore, now that the world had gone to shit? "We're from Woodfield." Of course we were from Woodfield, this was probably the same city. "Up the road from Sycamore High."

She studied my face for a moment, olive eyes boring into my own light blue ones.

"What's your name?" she asked next.

"Murphy. Murphy Zaroff."

"Well Murphy Zaroff, the name's Maylah."

She held out her hand, and I tentitively reached mine out to grasp hers. We shook hands, and Maylah's serious expressions melted into a lighter one, complete with a half-smile.

"I see you've already met Taylor, Frankie, and Aaron," she said. "They're pretty cool, just don't get on Aaron's bad side. He's the leader here, and if ya' do something bad, hell kick you out for sure."

Oh great, I thought, what classifies as bad around here? I nodded to indicate that I was listening, then peeked around the girl to stare into a window. I could see Margo sitting on a leather reclining chair, Mom kneeling in front of her, squeezing her hand gently.

Margo was nodding her head occasionally, and I assumed that our mother was explaining something to her, probably about Aimee. Turning back to Maylah, I ran my hand through my wavy hair.

"Could I get a, uh, tour?" I asked, feeling stupid. This place was larger than a normal cabin, but still, he could mistake something for another thing and that wouldn't be good.

Quirking an eyebrow at my request, Maylah shrugged.

"I don't see why not." she replied. "Just set your bag down on the porch, you can get it later."

"Alright."

Walking over to the porch, I climbed up the few stairs and carefully rested the back of my bag against the base of the railing, leaving it alone with the wooden chairs. I hurried back down to meet Maylah, and she started towards the backyard.