HEART FOR BRAINS • the walking dead

001: lost and found

Birds squawked from above and light shone through gaps in the leaves, onto the muddy ground that Rio walked upon. He looked down at his feet as he walked, watching every twig they snapped, every rock they stepped over.

The small boy wandered through the forest aimlessly. It'd been three days since he lost his brother in these woods. He'd left in the middle of the night, when Rio was asleep, when he couldn't be caught. Rio had never been good with directions, he had relied on his brother for everything until now. He was starting to regret that decision, he wished he'd taken more situations into his own hands. He wished he hadn't listened when people said he was too young to do this sort of stuff.

Rio was so caught up in his thoughts that he didn't hear the rustling around him. He stopped suddenly when he heard it again, this time the sound of footsteps were more distinct. They must've been getting closer. His first thought: Walkers.

He pulled out a gun shakily as he heard voices; muffled, overlapping voices. There must've been about four or five, no, six. He couldn't hear. As frustrated as he was, Rio eased at the sound of their speech, the walkers didn't talk, the ones he knew didn't. They had to be human.

He turned towards the voices, and started to slowly step back, inching away from the strangers. He wouldn't turn his back to them. Not if he could help it. He was aware that humans could pose just as big of a threat as the creatures could. He'd experienced it already. Rio cursed under his breath as a twig caught hold of his shoelace, tripping him over. The boy scrambled up off the floor in fright and began searching for his gun.

It had been thrown to the side as he fell, sat beneath a tree. Rio crawled over grabbing the gun and placing his back to the tree.

He bit down on his lip, drawing blood at the sheer amount of pain he felt. A jagged stone had caught his leg. He'd fallen on it and dragged his leg across the floor in an attempt to scramble away. It ripped his jeans from his knee to the bottom of his shin and he let out a muffled yell. Rio winced, keeping his head up to avoid looking at the trickle of blood. If he looked now he wouldn't be able to bring his eyes away. Still, he knew the cut was deep. He could feel the growing pain.

Rio tried to stand straight, clinging to a branch as he hastily unloaded his pistol, checking how many shots he could fire. He stepped away from the tree and wobbled as he attempted to stay upright. It was easy as long as he didn't move. He froze when the slurred and suppressed voices drew closer, arm dropping, guard dropping.

He'd been found. Rio knew what a shout was and that was it. There was another holler and Rio tried to run. He held onto his baseball cap as he sprinted away not wanting to lose it. Footsteps were approaching, faster and faster. Soon enough, his leg began to give way. The hot pain took over and he stumbled through the forest, breathing heavily as he leant upon his knee. His hand caught the warm sticky blood trailing down his leg.

He dropped to the floor in complete exhaustion, only to be caught by the man chasing him. The stranger's hands were rough and they hooked under his arms, holding him off the ground as his legs swung numbly.

Rio's eyes fluttered shut for a second, head drooping as the man held him.

"Well shit, that's not Sophia." He announced, frowning as he turned around to face his group. He lifted Rio's head gently and pushed the hair out of his face, getting a look at him. He had a cross bow slung over his shoulder and short brown hair.

"Of course that's not Sophia," Another man replied sounding exasperated, Rio guessed he must've ran too. The man gestured to him, both hands outstretched. "That's a boy!"

He was wearing a blue jersey and a baseball cap, just like the one Rio had, it wasn't the same but the colours were similar, that was enough for him. The smaller boy touched the rim of his own cap, subconsciously thinking of his brother. He smiled a bittersweet smile, this stranger had his hat. Jesse always wore baseball caps, to Rio they'd become his thing.