Doomed - The Walking Dead

Chapter Four

When I make it back to the woods, I stop running. I take a moment and sit against a tree. Images of what I found in that horrible place flash through my mind and my stomach threatens to lose itself again. Cannibalism? Really?
I mean, I get that it's the end of the world and everything, but... CANNIBALISM??? People could really stoop that low right now? Those signs leading me there were just cheese in the mousetrap. Promising people safety and a home just so you can get your next meal. That's sick.
     Oh my god, and I actually cried over it being destroyed. Never mind that, I take that back. I praise whoever did that to that place. I hope I run into them one day. So I can thank them in person.
     I know I should eat but I don't think I'll be able to keep anything down yet, so I pick up my stuff and start walking. I should've looked for food for later while I was in there. Damn it, why didn't I? I guess the kitchen was beyond the Butchering Room. Figures.
As I walk through the woods, I debate taking my walker blood clothes off. It's probably better that I don't yet, I'm not up for killing anything right now. I walk for hours until I finally find a stream. I fill up my canteen and strip out of my bloody clothes. The water is a bit cold, but I still step into it and begin to rinse the blood and dirt off my body.
     Just after I wet my hair, I hear a twig snap behind me. I immediately grab my bow and an arrow and turn to the sound with the arrow at the the ready. Two men come out from behind separate trees. I quickly remember that I'm completely exposed, but I don't dare put my bow down.
"Well looky here, Andy," the larger man on the left says. "We just found ourselves a gift from God." Both men are greasy with smirks on their ugly faces. I can tell what they're thinking, but I don't let my fear show.
"Get out of here before I put an arrow in both of you," I warn. I look at both men's hands. The one named Andy is unarmed, but the other has a revolver in his hand.
The man on the left, I'm guessing is the leader of the two, laughs. "You think you scare me, darlin'?" He looks at Andy. He flicks his head in my direction as if to signal him. Andy takes one step and I release my arrow, sending it right between his eyes. He falls to the ground and I reach for my quiver. Just as I touch another arrow, the big man raises his revolver.
"Don't you do it, darlin'," he says. With his gun still pointed at me, he looks down at his fallen friend. He sighs, then looks back up at me. "Do you know who you just killed?" I keep my expression still. "You just killed the boss's son." The man looks at my hand still on the arrow. "Take your hand of the arrow, drop the bow, and stand up."
I do as he says. I don't have a choice. I'm sure my fear is showing a bit now. He steps closer to me and looks me up and down. His ugly smirk returns to his face. He's right in front of me now. He put the gun under my chin and touches my bare waist with his free hand.
"I'm going to have a lot of fun with you," he hisses in my ear.
His hand with gun moves to my shoulder so the gun is pointing behind me and no longer at me. Rookie mistake. I brace my hands on his shoulders and jolt my knee upward between his legs. The gun fires right next to my ear which discombobulates me for a second. The man is hunched over on his knees in the stream as I retrieve my pistol from my bag. He tries to get up, but I kick his gun away from his reach and put mine against the back of his head.
"What's your name?" I ask. Any fear I had earlier has turned to anger, and it can be heard in my voice. The man coughs but doesn't answer me. I grab his grimy brown hair and yank his head back. I press my gun to his cheek. "What. Is. Your. Name," I repeat.
"Mike," he coughs.
I chuckle at his insanely basic and boring name. "Well, Mike. Today can either be your lucky day or your last day. Say the right thing, and I might just let you go back to whatever slimy, disgusting hole you crawled out of to tell all your friends who not to mess with. So. Give me one reason you deserve to live." I don't know where all this is coming from. I've never wanted to hurt another person before this is in my whole life. I guess it's because the first human beings I run into since everything happened wanted to do worse than kill me.
Mike coughs again. "Go to hell," he says.
"Last day it is, then." I release my grip on his hair and pull the trigger. I don't know what came over me just now. I just ended two human lives, but I don't feel anything. I don't feel as freaked out as I thought I would. I knew the day would eventually come when I would have to kill another human, but I never thought I'd feel so calm about it.
But those men were not human. What they were thinking was not anything humans should think. No, those men were just as monstrous as walkers. I guess now I'm a monster too.