Hope II

The Apple Tree

I've been out of the village for almost two months now, and I am yet to even meet one of the crazies... yet here we are, standing in their home. It was Bryan who first told us about the Crazies, back in my old estate when we all escaped. I remember every word he said. How they were tactical, how they would act normal when threatened, but they are something completely different. As he said, they are the cannibals of the apocalypse... only they are completely insane.

'How many?' Brad asked cautiously, our entire group riddled with fear that we are standing inside the cuckoo's nest.

'Five' replied the muscle built man who had remained silent all this time 'Maybe six'

'Listen friend' Charlie interrupted, clearly put off by our presence here. He made it clear by the way he looked at me that all they wanted was to be left alone. And for us to leave them be.

'You need to leave' he said.

Slowly he moved for the door to close it on us, I looked at him sorrowfully, the first decent man we had met in a long time and he wants nothing to do with us.

'I need to take care of my family' he informed me... I wouldn't argue. I couldn't. This is a man trying to protect his wife and his son, and I wouldn't want to get in the way of that... but maybe we can help them.

'We can help you' I said to him.

'Jerry' Aaron interrupted, he wanted to keep the group small, but I wouldn't go on knowing I left them here to be prisoners in a home.

'There's six of them, and together there's eleven of us. We outnumber them'

Charlie slowly released his grip from the door and lowered it to his side again, catching his grip on the carbine rifle.

'They have heavy artillery' he informed us 'They haven't found this panic room yet, and we never left it for that very reason... we may outnumber them in bodies, but they outsource us in weapons'

'How long have you been locked up in here?' Kate asked from the back of the group.

It was the woman who replied 'Just over a week'

Just then all of our ears focused on the creaking sound of the front door opening, and what followed was the laughter and heavy footsteps of who I can only assume to be the crazies entering the home.

Charlie stepped out from the panic room, looked me in the eye and lowered his weapon on the ground before me.

'Sorry friend' Charlie mumbled as he backed up towards the panic room 'Your on your own' and with that he slid the door shut on our faces, and we were left staring at the door to the panic room once again.

I've seen people kill people, I've seen animals kill people, I've seen the infected kill people... but I've never seen people eat people... and hope I never have to.

I grabbed Charlie's rifle, loaded with a full clip of thirty bullets, a full untouched clip. It was a fully functional assault rifle, I recognise it. A beautiful silver Colt M-4 carbine with a leather fore grip and a smooth shoulder rest.

I had my pistol tucked into the leather holster wrapped around my waist, the heavy carbine rifle firm in my grasp I slowly moved to the door, the sounds of chattering voices came only from downstairs, not up.

I could barely make out what they were saying, but I was so curious to find out.

As I took another step forward, I heard the snappy calling of my whispered name from Aaron in the room, gesturing me to come back in.

I snuck back into the bedroom, slowly closing the door behind me without shutting it... that would cause too much noise. The first step is to get everyone outside, then I'll go find Ash.