Shadows Over Hensely (Walking Dead FF)

Prologue

My name is Hensely. I recently turned 16 years old. Me and my small family group are simply surviving this deadly zombie apocalypse. It's been going on for a couple months by now. We've already lost my puppy, Marley, and my baby brother, Thomas, to this cruel world. The dog was sick and my dad had to shoot it, my baby brother was left unguarded for mere seconds before a walker came out of nowhere and finished him off. My group is made up of six other people, including my mom, my dads girlfriend, my dad, my two uncles, and my older sister who is nineteen and knows absolutely nothing about survival. She used to be one of those popular, prissy brats... no offense to her now. Oh yeah, if you didn't get it, my parents are divorced and don't get along whatsoever.
Including us, we have Marley's father dog, Cane (they are German Shepherd by the way), three horses and an ass. I hate that donkey. It makes too much noise. I still firmly believe it's what drew that walker that killed baby Thomas. The group insists we might need her, but if I get the chance I swear I'm gonna slit it's throat.
The mare was an Appaloosa named Jojo, and the stud was a quarter horse called Jake. The third one was their two year old colt, which my father gave to Ari, my sister. His name was Dash. What a stupid name. She didn't even like animals, and I'm always stuck with tending him. He is pretty though, a bay coat with a blanket of Caramel and white spots and a multicolored mane and tail.
Anyways, enough about the animals. I'm supposed to be gathering wood, not daydreaming about my current life story.
I look around, scanning the forest before quickly and quietly going to grab dry wood. I hate this place. It's crawling with walkers, and if the group doesn't decide to pull up stakes soon, then I can promise I'll be packing alone. I won't stay here and risk my own life, regardless if I have to leave them behind. That's their own fate their signing.
I took several armfuls of sticks and hurry back up the ridge into the clearing where the makeshift camp was, dumping my finds on the ashes from yesterday's fire. "Gale, where is dad?" Gale was the oldest of the three brothers, my dad was the middle child. Gale glanced at me over his shoulder from fiddling with his old, rusty Glock. "He's out hunting," He said, turning back to his work. "Don't bother him now."
I sighed and cursed under my breath. "He shouldn't be out there far enough to hunt when we've spotted so many of those dead.... things." Gale sighed. "Leave it be. And did I just hear you cussing? You daddy won't like to hear about that, no," he shook his head but didn't bother carrying it out, so I turned and walked over to my tent. Just before I could go in, I heard the loud 'hee haw' of that stupid donkey. I turned on my feet so quick you'd think something was wrong. "I'm gonna give that old ass something to bray about!" I growled through my teeth.
"Ah, hell. Leave 'er be, Hensely." It was my mom. I glared at her. "Mom! That stupid donkey is gonna attract even more-" my voice was cut off by another cry from the donkey, followed by my mom screaming hysterically. I turned my head to see a small swarm of walkers. Two of them took turns bitting at the donkey, which kicked and brayed even louder. I hit my mom hard in the arm with my elbow, glaring at her to shut up. My uncle and sister where already grabbing useful items and weapons, sticking some arrows in a few of the walkers.
I grabbed my mothers hand and took off towards my tent. We didn't have time to grab much, and all my stuff was scattered in the tent. Why am I so stupid? I didn't even think to put it up in case something like this happened! I grabbed my fathers old extendable metal baton, which he gave to me after this whole thing started for self protection, and stuffed a few extra things in my pockets. My mother had already left to join the others. I ran out of the tent to see them hurrying through some trees into the large field on the other side. I knew couldn't catch them, and the dead were beginning to swarm the camp. The horses, which were tied up beside me, reared and whinnied in fright. I loosed the colt and mare and quickly mounted the stallion. I kicked his flanks hard and we took off through the thin tree line after the others. The other two horses ran in the opposite direction, and the stallion almost tried to follow, but quickly changed his mind when he saw the hoard growing thicker. We soon burst into the field. I didn't see the others but I kept urging the stallion on. Cowards! They left me, they freaking ditched me to save their sorry selves! After several long moments I began to slow Jake. Once we came to a halt I could hear as he sucked in a large breath through his nostrils before exhaling. He was hardly winded.
I looked around, expecting to see the group. Nothing. How did they get away so fast? They were just there... Jake pawed the ground expectantly, wanting to move on. His head shot up and his ears swiveled in several directions before locating a sound ahead. I held my breath, prepared to run him again when my father stepped out of the brush. "Dad!" I cried happily, dismounting Jake. I made sure to keep tight hold on his reigns in case he bolted or tried to wonder. My dad hurried up to me and embraced me in a tight bear hug of his. "What just happened? I heard all that commotion and came running. Why are you out riding? It's not safe."
I looked around once again for the others. "Dad, that stupid donkey brayed again and the next thing we knew the camp was swarmed. Please, promise me you'll never ditch me like the others just did. I was collecting supplies and they all ran, whithout me! Even mom.." His eyes squinted slightly and he frowned while listening to my short story. "I was almost swarmed by walkers so I freed the horses and took off on him," I nodded in the direction of my fathers buckskin stallion. "If we didn't have those horses, I'm sure I'd be dead right now!"
My father didn't waste any more time. "Mount up," he told me. I did so without question. He began to hurriedly make his way towards the camp in a sort of a crouching position. I nudged Jake so we could follow but he held up his hand, so instead I just sat there, waiting impatiently. Why would he go back to the camp? Minutes passed before I saw my father again. He was hurrying towards me waving his arms in all directions, a green pack slung over his shoulder. I began to laugh at how he looked before I saw why he was doing that. The swarm came out of the trees right behind him. "Oh no!" I kicked Jake hard and we made straight for dad. Once we got just ahead of him I slowed the horse and turned him around. My father caught up, threw me the pack, and jumped on behind me. I handed his bag back and once again kicked hard on Jakes flanks. He took off, not having any trouble carrying us both, so it seemed. I ran him until my dad reach over and took the reigns from me, pulling the animal to a halt himself. "You'll kill him!" He gave me a dangerous look before sliding off. I didn't realize how far and fast we'd traveled in mere moments. Jake was panting heavily. We definitely gave him more weight than he could handle at running pace, and all at once. No wonder.
I looked behind us to see the dead in the far distance, stumbling around one another, the thought of us totally gone from their pitiful beings. I looked back to my father. "What now, dad? They are gone, the group I mean." He was about to respond when another thing stumbled out of the woods and took a bite of his leg. He screamed, I screamed, and the horse bolted again with me on him.
"Dad, no!" I screamed in horror as Jake kept going. My dad yelled out my name one last time before I heard a shot go off. I could feel my eyes beginning to water, the first time in a long time I have cried, even before my baby brother passed. I couldn't think of anything now, all I did was hold onto Jake and let him run. He ran until he felt like slowing down, and then once he realized I wasn't going to influence his choice of direction, he began to walk, as if he had a destination. At dusk, we came upon a large, half eaten corpse. It was a large animal, maybe a cow. For some reason Jake stopped now. He just stared at the carcass like it meant something to him. After a moment I realized it was the mare, Jojo. I leaned over to see Jake. He was standing there like a statue, staring at his dead mate. I looked back over to see the body twitch.
Zombie animals too? I wasn't so sure, but I wasn't doubting it. I took the reigns and turned the stallion around. He didn't resist, but he walked on as if he too were reanimated. My father is dead, the group is gone.... what do I do now? Go on alone? I decided the first step was getting that green pack from my father. But first we needed to find some place to stay. It was getting dark, and quickly.