if we survive

s e v e n

a s h

The closer we got to the tents, the more my heart sank. There were still a few lurkers left but they were quickly taken down by survivors. I could see former survivors lying on the floor, I couldn't tell if they were dead or alive. This hoard took approximately ten hours to fully pass by our camp and they didn't leave without destroying a few things here and there. Tents were torn to shreds, supplies were scattered around, pulled by lurker's shuffling feet. Some people were attacked, others hid the whole time. Lurkers were slow, very slow. A lot slower than they were in your zombie apocalypse films before the actual apocalypse, they were like snails in reality. Colman stopped me and pointed at a female lurker lying a few feet in front of us.

"That ones human too, she's still moving." Colman said and approached the female. She was covered head to toe in dirt and blood, her clothing was ripped and she had a backpack hidden underneath her jacket, it wasn't very hidden but at least she tried. The woman stopped moving completely when Colman squatted down beside her, she was playing dead.

"We know you're alive and we know you're human." I stated as threateningly as I could. Before I could lift the female up, a familiar voice yelled through the crowd.

"Ash! Has anyone seen Ashton?" Jade came staggering through the crowd asking everyone she passed if they saw me. A few people pointed at me and I ran to meet her halfway.

"Don't let her out of your sight." I told Colman. She just nodded and placed her foot over the disguised woman's chest to keep her from running.

Jade looked like she hadn't slept in days. Her hair was pulled into a tangled bun on top of her head and dark circles formed underneath her eyes. She staggered where she walked and fell onto me when I came near her. I slowly lowered her and helped her sit on the ground. She was desperately trying to speak but she couldn't seem to form words.

"You should be resting, Jade—"

"Holden is hurt, he needs you." She cut me off mumbling under her breath. I shot a glance at Colman, she just nodded and waved for me to go. I located a male survivor and spun him to where he was facing me.

"Watch after my friend, please." I pointed to Colman before continuing. "Some of these lurkers are human, make sure they're actually dead." I told him. The man just nodded fearfully and turned back to his family. I pulled Jade up from the floor and wrapped her arm around my neck.

"He's up at the farm, it's a few feet off of the exit trail." Jade mumbled, desperately trying to catch her breath. I wanted so desperately to take of sprinting towards Rory but I knew Jade wouldn't stay here and she needed help walking. I prayed her newborn was delivered safely. I still had my knife in my hand, ready to stab any attackers. I never liked the idea of killing humans but honestly, if you decide to play dress up to look like something that can very easily kill me, I have no shame in stabbing you in the neck. The ideal place to stab a lurker is its head, neck, Or directly in the heart. Anywhere else, they'll get to you before you can regain the strength to stab again. I'm not going to wait and see if it's human or not.

I saw Rory lying on the ground with small newborn child laying on his chest. I sighed in relief that the baby was alive and that Rory was well enough to protect a baby. I basically dragged Jade towards him. She sat on the ground and took the baby from Rory, holding it to her own chest to keep it calm. Rory grabbed my hand and squeezed.

"What's wrong? What hurts?" I asked and pulled my bag from my shoulders. I carried medical supplies with me, I only hoped that I had what he needed. I could see blood seeping onto his shirt from his abdomen. He groaned in pain when I lifted his shirt to reveal rather nasty stab wound.

"I've never seen a monster who could stab." He groaned and squeezed my hand tighter.

"They weren't monsters, well some of them were but not all." I said and started digging frantically in my bag. I found some gauze and disinfectant cream. I didn't have any alcohol to properly clean the wound but my main focus was to stop the bleeding. I used the gauze to apply direct pressure to the stab wound. At this point I was panicking and Rory was in pain. Rory's eyes were fluttering closed but every time I caught him slipping out of consciousness I'd lightly slap his face.

"What's the baby's name Rory?" I asked him, desperately trying to keep him talking.

"Asher." He mumbled. "He's my child."

I let myself smile. "He's yours?"

"Yeah, I named him after you." He nodded and placed his other hand on Jade's knee. I smiled and let out a small, joyful laugh. Rory looked to Jade and kept his eyes on her while I used some fabric I found in my bag to wrap the wound to keep the gauze in place. I carefully helped Rory sit up.

"Is there pain anywhere else? Did you get cut or anything?" I asked, examining his head for any signs of trauma. He shook his head and groaned in pain when we stood slowly. He carefully took Asher from Jade so she could stand without waking the sleeping baby. Rory placed a small, careful kiss onto the baby's head. I smiled at how careful he was being, it felt good to know that this child would have the best life Rory could possibly provide.

"Did they destroy the camp?" Rory asked as the three of us began walking back towards the tents. I nodded slightly but Rory didn't reply.

"Has Anon come out?" Rory asked, mainly to Jade.

"Who's Anon?" I asked. Rory shifted his hold on Asher and continued limping beside me.

"He runs the camp. I've never met him but everyone calls him Anon, short for Anonymous because he won't tell anyone his real name." Rory shrugged. He seemed to be controlling his pain quite well and if you didn't see the blood on his shirt you wouldn't even know he was hurt. Every now and then he'd step wrong and groan painfully.

Before I could reply to Rory, we heard a scream. It was faint in my ears but I could still place exactly who it was coming from. For the second time I heard Colman scream, this time it was more in spite of surprise instead of fear. I shot Rory a look and he immediately nodded and told me to see what was happening. So I sprinted the rest of the way to the tents leaving him in the hands of Jade.

Immediately when I arrived, I saw the disguised lurker woman holding a gun against Colman's temple while holding her in a choke hold. The day just kept getting worse and worse.