The Wilderness Within: A Fanfiction (Draft)

Chapter 26

After a mostly uneventful night, we heated up yesterday's soup and got back on the road. The boy I caught snooping through my things was doing his best to avoid both me and Barley, but the little girl from yesterday immediately asked to ride on Barley again as we walked.

Before lunch we came across another Stronghold. The settlement appeared out of nowhere, growing out of the trees. We stared as wooden stakes formed a tight wall. Human chatter floated through the air. Some of the group we walked with cried in relief and ran up to the gate.

"What is that?" I asked, a bit stunned.

"I believe it's called a palisade," Kami supplied.

"I got this, no worries," Alex cleared his throat. He cupped his hands around his mouth and bellowed, "Hello! Anyone there?"

I rolled my eyes and helped the young girl down from Barley's saddle.

A moment later a guard peered over the fence. After noticing that our group consisted of three horses and nine kids, he decided to let us inside.

The group we accompanied tried to hold themselves back to prevent helping force the door open, but once they were allowed inside, they stared at the settlement in awe.

It was way smaller than Redhill, only about fifty people of varying ages worked and chattered away.

Alex and I help the man who let us in close the door behind us. "The three of us are just passing through this way, but these nine kids need a place to stay," Alex explained.

The man nodded. "That's no problem. As long as they work for their keep, they're welcome here."

I looked towards the group at the boy who was snooping through my things. He caught my gaze and quickly looked away. "I don't think that will be a problem," I assured.

"You haven't by chance heard from a woman named Deborah Emerson, have you?" asked Alex. "I'm her grandson, and we're trying to locate her."

The man shook his head. "Afraid not, no."

Kami wandered over with a bag of items in her arms. "Could we make a trade for some food?"

"Sure, just go talk to her," the man pointed towards a teenage girl with intricate beads woven in her hair that was walking right up to us.

"Lunch is ready if you'd like a bite," she said.

The man nodded to her. "Thanks, Davina. Be there in a minute."

Kami and Alex walked away with her, while I pulled out my map. "One last thing," I said. "We've been a little lost lately, could you point out where exactly we are?"

The man pointed out our location, and I marked it with a pen as he walked our horses to a makeshift stables. From there I found Redhill Stronghold and labeled it, marking it with a big 'x' before taking the map to a table near a fire. I sat beside Alex and Kami, who had swapped some of the items we gathered from the store for some dried meat and other things. Davina saw me and swooped by, placing a colorful plate of food in front of me. I gaped at the wild carrots, green leaves, and fresh fish before digging in.

After I ate, I looked for the leader of the group we accompanied. "Could you show me where your last Stronghold was?" I asked. He pointed out a spot on the map by a river and I marked it with another 'x'. "Thank you," I said, "And good luck."

He nodded. "The same to you."

After a little while Kami, Alex, and I packed up and got our horses ready.

A woman ran up to me before the gate opened. "I heard you're just passing through, but if you're heading east, could you deliver this letter to a Zach Dyer? I can pay you."

Before I could say anything, she held out an envelope and a bag of lollipops. Kami eagerly took the candy from her. I took the letter. "Of course."

"Thank you so much!"

The gate was pushed open and we headed out. Looking back, I saw some people on the wall waving to us. I waved back, and we kept on the road.

The next day, Barley was being a bit difficult. I struggled to get him to move forward, and he kept turning around and snorting at me.

"Guys, I think something is wrong," I said, stopping and patting Barley on the neck.

Kami noticed she was having trouble with her horse too. "Isn't there a town just up ahead?"

"Yeah," I admitted.

Kami studied the road ahead. "Horses have a really good sense of smell. Maybe we should stay away. Go the long way around."

"Maybe it's fine," suggested Alex. "Roxie isn't acting up."

I scoffed. "Alex, do you think it's possible that Roxie is as noseblind as she is deaf?"

Alex hugged Roxie's neck. "Don't listen to them."

"She literally can't," I pointed out.

Alex shook his head. "I'm sure it's fine. Besides, we can't be sure unless we check it out."

Barley stepped back and I steadied myself. "I really don't think that's a good idea."

Alex and Roxie took off at a steady canter.

"Alex, no," Kami ran off after him. "Come back!"

I sighed and followed them at a distance, trying my best to edge Barley along without spooking him too much.

To my relief Alex led Roxie a little off the beaten path, but stopped once they got to the top of a hill. He didn't make any move, only stared.

Kami hopped out of her saddle and tied her horse's reins to a nearby tree. I did the same and we walked up to Alex and his horse.

We stared in horror at the town below. Several buildings were burned down, leaving only black scorch marks in the earth. Wandering around the town were zombies, growling and walking back and forth down streets and in and out of broken shop fronts.

I prayed that none of them would notice us from our high vantage point.

"Let's go," I whispered, pulling Kami back from the edge of the hill. Silently we went back to our horses and climbed on, starting to go the long way around the infested town. A glance behind me showed that Alex and Roxie had no problem following us.

A few hours later we had cleared the town and made it back onto a highway. I pulled out my map and made a marking for the town we left behind. Soon we stopped for lunch and let our horses have a graze on the side of the road.

As we heated up some soup and pulled out a little bit of dried meat, we heard rustling in the underbrush. I grabbed my bat.

Three men emerged from the branches, heavily armed.

"Hello there, fellow survivors," the one in the middle said. "Could you spare some supplies? We got separated from our group."

Kami stood up and moved closer to Alex and me. "We just started getting lunch together," she said.

The men stepped closer to our little fire. "Where are you headed?"

"North," I lied.

The man nodded. "We're going south."

"That's not a good idea," said Kami, thinking of the infested town we passed earlier.

One of the other men stepped forward, brandishing a knife. "It's a bad idea to try bossing us around, miss," he slashed at her, but she fell back and tripped over the log we were sitting on. She grabbed a handful of dirt and threw it at his face. Alex knocked over the soup struggling with the man in the middle as I rushed to help Kami, but another man grabbed my wrist. I wound up the bat in my other hand and swung it at him, but he easily caught it and threw me to the ground, knocking the wind out of me.

He put a foot on my stomach. "Don't struggle too much, and we might let you live for a while longer."