America in catastrophe

Chapter 1

BANG!

Hershel strikes the ground.

BANG!

Beth's blonde halo runs red with blood.

BANG!

Maggie takes someone with her before the light leaves her eyes.

It's a slaughter.

I tear wildly through the trees towards the farm, with each haunting gun shot I feel each scream from the Greene family. Slowed by another guilt on my conscience.

I strike the border trees beside the house, it's limbs picking me up to show me the truth.

The sherif brought more people, and they discovered the barn.

Hershel, and Jimmy stand to the side, reeling from the assault. Patricia, Beth and Maggie stand huddled together, tears cascading down their faces.

"Mama!" Beth wails pushing herself from the others grip to find her mother's body. The trees hold me back when it reaches out to bite her. One of the outsiders crushes her head in with the wheat scythe.

Beth falls back, pale and shaking, traumatized beyond help. Maggie quickly picks her up, and the family make their way towards the house. I fail to understand however why the group looks so shaken, or why one is sobbing on the dirt, a gruff looking man holding her back.

"I want you off my land!" Hershel barks.

"Taz, stay." I whisper slipping along the tree line into the house through the back and climb the stairs to Beth's room.

She lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling tears pouring down her cheeks in small rolling waves.

I sit down on the floor at the end of the bed, staring at the wall across from us. "I'm sorry. She didn't deserve a death like that." I whisper softly.

Beth makes no attempt to acknowledge me.

A pit opens in my stomach. I should have done what I wanted to do weeks ago. Killed them all with a quick strike in the back of the head, where no one would have seen. Could have blamed their deaths on the weather.

I sigh pushing myself off the ground. "Don't Leave us." I squeeze her hand before exiting the room. Maggie is standing at the door, tears ready to spill from her eyes.

"Oh Maggie." I sigh as she barrels into me, burying her face into my chest.

"He's gone! Daddy left and I don't know where he went." She cries.

I quickly usher her away from Beth's door, hoping the younger Greene didn't hear Maggie's terrified wail.

"What do you mean?" I pull her away to look at her face. She's to far gone to say anything more. I rub her shoulders gently. "Beth needs her sister right now. Can you do that? Can you be there for her?"

Maggie nods, sweeping away her tears. More spill down her cheeks stealing her efforts. I gently push her towards the bedroom door but she stops me.

"Will you stay?" She begs innocently.

I shake my head. "left Taz in the woods. But I won't go far." I reassure. That's all she needs to hear before slipping into Beth's room.

I slide down the stairs. Slinking out the back door into the dying light. These strangers show no sign of leaving. That sets me on edge.

"Hey buddy." Coo's a gruff voice beside the barn. Sitting in the shadows is the gruff stranger. His short brown hair unkept and his brown plaid shirt sun faded.

I back away, watching taz roll on the ground like a spry puppy, enjoying every second of his belly rub.

I go around, climbing over the back fields gates and into the trees. Making sure I'm a good distance back I whistle lowly, even with the dim light I see Taz's ears perk up.

The stranger looks up too, around him and then behind him but not into the trees.

I whistle again. Almost like a bird call, and taz barks, rising to his large feet and bolts into the trees to find me.

"Hey!" The stranger calls, charging after Taz. He'll see me for sure. I take off into the thicket. The deeper into the trees we run the darker it gets. If we don't get to the campsite soon it will be too dark to find.

I drive into an evergreen, climbing with expert ease. I quickly pull my bow off my shoulder, just in case.

Taz folds into the base, becoming a part of the tree. But the stranger still found his way this far. He barely makes a sound as he passes the evergreen, a large crossbow in his arms.

I lean a little farther into the tree, arrow level with his head. My foot slips on the branch, scrapping the ferns.

The archer whips back around his crossbow level with my chest. "Who's there?!" He snaps roughly.

I lean farther into the foliage, waiting for him to shake off the noise, like a good tracker, he doesn't.

"Who's there?!" He demands again, his finger twitches at the trigger. I'd rather not be shot.

I creep foreword on the branch, confirming his suspicions I suppose. I'm not just a random animal in the tree.

The crossbow doesn't budge. "Who are you?!" He growls. The dark hides the anger in his face.

I lower my bow, tucking it away, and jump down from the tree, Taz quickly presses himself between my boots, snarling at the tracker.

This time he does lower his bow. "He's yours?"

I bolt, making more noise than I need to but I'm gone taz in tow, we sprint into the dark until the trackers calls are silent.

I heave a breathless gasp, dropping to my sleeping mat under our tarp cover. Taz chuffs flopping over beside me.

"You need to be more careful." I rub his ears. He chirps back at me as though starting a conversation. I smile to myself laying back on my bed and close my eyes. Hoping tomorrow the strangers will be gone.