The Walking Travesty

Chapter 1

The trees. I've decided that the trees are the only things to have remained unchanged. They continue to grow, tall and lively, stretching up to the sky until they can grow no longer.

I envy them. They have no families to worry about, no walkers to slay, and no group to keep up with. I'm exhausted. I always am now days.

"Savannah, keep up." My older brother, Peter, waves at me from ahead. A huff escapes as I readjust my backpack and walk a little faster to catch up to him.

Now I'm a mere few feet behind him and the only sound I hear is the crunching of bloodstained leaves beneath our boots. It's hard to remember what leaves looked like before they were crushed and stained.

"Pete," my voice calls up to him and he answers with only the slight turn of his head in my direction. Pete's changed the most. He used to be full of life, always looking for the best in everything and everyone. Now it's all about killing and surviving. His sandy blonde hair has turned a light brown from it's lack of cleaning and his perfect skin is permanently stained with dirt and blood. My hair used to be the color of his but now I imagine it's also turned to a light brown.

"You have to kill these things in order to survive. It's a part of life now." He once told me. At first it was hard to kill them. Since then I only kill when I absolutely have to. I still don't like it but, like Pete said, it's a part of life now.

"Pete, can we please take a break?" I'm mentally and physically fatigued. Even from behind him I can see the frustration growing on his hard face.

"Not yet, Savannah. The group has to keep moving." He gestures to our large group behind us and I sigh. There are women and children with us which makes my heart drop for all of them.

"They're probably tired too. We've been walking all day, please." I beg and grab on to his arm. He snatches it away and keep trucking forward, not even stopping to check on the group.

"The kids, they're tired, Pete." My annoyance grows when he completely ignores me and keeps walking. "Peter! Would you please stop?" I'm yelling now which is incredibly dangerous, especially in the woods, but it catches his attention. When he whips around I nearly run into him but catch myself quickly.

"Do not raise your voice at me." He points a long finger in my face and I smack it away. I ignore the large audience behind us and keep my focus on my stubborn brother. "I know they're tired, I am too. But we have to keep moving, Savannah. I will not be the reason these people die. I can't let that happen and if we stop that's what will happen." His voice is strained and my eyes move from the dry blood on his hand back to his dirty face.

"I understand that, Peter, I do. But if we don't stop soon these people will die. We're in charge of keeping them safe so that means that I have a say in this and I say we stop." I try to make myself sound stern but I'm not sure if it came out that way.

He stands still for a few seconds, darting his eyes from our group and then back to me. I'm not a child so I refuse to be treated like one. Finally, he drops his bag off of his shoulders and sits down on the forest floor. The exhausted faces behind us look at us, then at each other before copying my brother's actions.