Shambles- The Walking Dead [Alden x Maggie] [1/2]

1- Opportunities

For weeks now Alden and Rose had been wandering around aimlessly, hoping to find a place that would last. Today they believed they'd found one such place; a small cottage in the middle of the woods. It was only accessible by a dirt road. Alden had already knocked on the windows and attempted to peer in through the blinds. For as far as he could tell it was abandoned.

Alden didn't want to take any risks. He'd lost everybody else already. He'd been in a camp with other survivors together with his brother. Their camp had fallen to an onslaught of walkers, only ten people had managed to make it out. Alden and Rose had been among them. With no supplies and not enough weapons the group had been slowly picked off one by one. When there were only 5 of them left they ran into other people. Those strangers promised them food and water. The group had believed the strangers were safe, believed that people helped each other, and they'd joined their campfire, finally allowing their starved and exhausted bodies to rest.

Now Alden knew that they had been very wrong, too naive. He remembered clearly how his other brother had gurgled on his own blood after his throat was slid. Blinded by fear and grief Alden had lost it. He pulled his gun free, of which he'd spared his bullets, and gunned three of the people responsible down. His blind attack had cost two others from his group their lives. His memory of all that happened that night isn't clear. All he knew is that Rose, a little girl, had saved his life.

The attackers had Alden pinned down by his wrists on the forest floor. His gun had been knocked from his hand. Rose had picked it up and shot the last remaining attacker right between the eyes. From then on it had only been the two of them and their wandering had led them to this cottage.

Alden stood in front of the door and turned back to face Rose. "Get your knife and stay here on the porch. I'll head inside and make sure that it's safe. When you see something that you don't trust or scares you, you yell and I'll come back."

"Okay," she replied, pulling the hunting knife from her belt. The blade was about the same length as her forearm. To Alden it was still a strange sight, children shouldn't have to wield such weapons. Yet he'd rather have her armed and capable of protecting herself. Her matted red hair flowed down till half way down her back and she looked tired and scared.

"I'll be back soon," he promised with a faint smile. He checked the door, which was luckily left unlocked. He raised his knife, ready to plunge it down in a walker's head if they were there. He cleared the cottage room by room. It was small and only had one floor. The front door led straight into the living room and kitchen area. It was dark inside because of the closed blinds. Every surface was covered in a thick layer of dust, it appeared to be long abandoned. He cleared the whole place and returned to the deck.

"It's safe," he announced. "Come in." He stepped back inside and Rose followed him closely.

Being responsible for someone else's life was completely new for him. He'd been the younger sibling, the one to make a mess and act out, not the older and responsible one. It would've been better for Rose if it were his brother that had survived, he would've known what to do. He always knew. If Alden was honest with himself he had to admit he was barely an adult when the dead started rising again. Back then he never thought he would find himself with a child he considered as much family as his own brother.

"We should check the cabinets," Rose said as she walked straight to the kitchen. She climbed up on the kitchen counter and pulled one of the cabinets open.

"Shit," Alden mumbled as soon as he saw the contents. It was packed to the brim with canned goods. Rose whipped her head around with an angry scowl. "Sorry," he apologized, placing a hand in front of his mouth. He really needed to learn not to swear.

They went to check all of the other cabinets, taking stock of everything inside. Each and every one of them was packed to the brim with canned goods.

"This'll last us months," he smiled. Finally something went their way. "The owners must've stocked up just before things went bad."