My Safe Space

one

"roman, here boy!" her voice called out against the crashing thunder of the storm that slowly crept in on them. annabelle glanced around for her dog who'd chased a rabbit she'd been hunting. by no means was she a hunter - but she would tend to get lucky. the sky was quickly turning from the most beautiful blend of pillow white and orange into a dark abyss above them. the wind from the storm picked up, blowing the already crisp cold air into her face. "roman come on! we gotta go!"

suddenly her pit came running out from the forest line past her and back to the house to escape the rain the began to pour. annabelle followed behind, quickly barricading the door behind them. she quietly laughed to herself as she watched roman shake off the bit of rain stuck to his coat of fur before she plopped herself onto her sofa. the large dog quickly joined her by curling into her side.

when the virus broke out, she evacuated to the safest place she knew - her parents old cabin. it was a place they'd vacation too during the summers. she'd been held up here with roman since then. she had a garden out back that she created with her mom when she was a kid, she lived off that when a scavenging trip turned up nothing. sometimes she got lucky with rabbits or squirrels. she'd be lying if she said she didn't miss social interaction, but she learned months ago it was too risky.

she was barely 20 when the virus broke out, when the world broke out and the world went to shit so she didn't have any kids, not even a boyfriend. she felt as if love wasn't in her cards. her mind raced thinking back to before everything happened, how not much had changed since then. she was safe here, in this cabin and for that she was thankful. she'd be lying if she said she didn't live in fear regardless of that. eventually she found herself dozing off on the sofa with roman, listening to the crashing of the storm above them.

-

annabelle awoke to feeling roman hop off of the couch. she groaned and stretched out before she stood to her feet and walked to the front door where roman stood, staring at the door intently to be let out. annabelle unlocked the door and opened it only for roman to run out, running straight into the forest. annabelle hesitated for a second. roman was well trained, he knew to stay in the yard. if he left, it was because he heard something. in the last two years they've been here, annabelle's never encountered a walker at her cabin or even in the woods near it.

she quickly grabbed her gun and began running into the forest, looking for roman or any sign of which way he would have gone. there was a small town about a mile from the woods, that's the only place around that has any of the dead. she ran and ran through the forest, running to make it to the road hoping he'd be somewhere out there and eventually she made it. she knew better that to call out for him, knowing that whatever he heard to make him run off would still be around here.

"roman," she whispered as she creeped through the last few trees toward the main road. "roman please we need to get home,"

as annabelle neared the main road, she quickly froze when she heard male voices. "all right, everyone make it quick so we can get the hell out of here."

annabelle watched the man who spoke to the other 6 around him. she creeped behind a tree as she observed them scout around the town across the main road. her eyebrows crunched as she examined the mans clean leather jack, his scarf and most importantly, the barbed wire bat the leaned over his shoulder as he glanced around. the man was nicely kept, his beard nicely trimmered, dark black hair nicely gelled back.

annabelle couldn't waste anytime, she needed to find roman before being seen. she creeped along the forest line looking for him, knowing that this is what he must have heard and is definatly around here somewhere. she made sure to keep far enough into the forest line as she could, knowing that these men were probably much like the last group she'd run into a few months back.