Dark Days

Getting Home

©JRF2016

Reid is pacing back and forth at the gate. He keeps looking out to see if she is coming up the road. It is getting dark now. It wasn't that far away, she should have been back by now. Reid runs his fingers through his hair as he faces the gate and stares out over the horizon. "She can handle herself," Reid turns around to face Cearra, "She'll be fine. I'm sure she's on her way back right now. She probably just picked up so much stuff that it's slowing her down." Reid gave her a half smile. He knows she's just trying to make him feel better. She is just trying to keep him calm but it's not working. "You know how women are when they're shopping," she adds causing Reid to let out a small chuckle. He notices the glow on her dark skin and he smiles wider, "So, you and Conner picked it back up huh?" She didn't have a chance to respond as his head jerks back up and his eyes dart up the road outside the gate. That engine roared as Darrick appears on his motorcycle. Reid slides open the gate for him as he rides in and parks. Reid walks over and clutches Darrick's hand in their usual brotherly hand shake. "Rachel made it back yet?" Reid shakes his head and he looks back out the gate.

"You didn't see her? See any sign of her?" Reid asks growing more worried by the second and his voice becomes more desperate. Darrick shakes his head this time.

"We'll give her a little bit more time and if she doesn't get back we'll head out lookin' for her," Darrick offer and Reid nods in agreement, "Before it gets too dark to look for her."

Reid couldn't wait any longer. He had to make sure Rachel was okay, make sure she comes home safe to all of them. He straps his gun belt around his waist, checks the ammo in his pistol and jams it into the holster. He starts out the door when Darrick grabs his arm. "You ain't going out there alone. Hold on and I'll go with you." Reid gives him a nod as he stands in the doorway and Conner jumps up from his spot next to Cearra. He kisses her before joining Reid. "I want to come with you too dad," Charlie speaks up from Reid's right. "Charlie," Reid starts to object but Charlie cuts him off. "I want to come."

"Okay," Reid answers as he puts his hand on his oldest son's shoulder and pulls him over into a hug, "Okay."

The four of them approach the gate just as the last of the sunlight fades from the sky and the light of the moon starts to take over. Reid reaches over to slide open the gate but Charlie stops him and points at a shadowy figure stumbling toward them. He stands there and stares for a minute trying to decide whether it was a corpse or someone alive, friend or foe. He raises his pistol and peers through its sights and then squeezes off a round just as the figure in the dark drops.

I had waited for a while after the two sets of footsteps dissipated never have come up with a viable plan to sneak out of there. I was sure they were gone, but I still wanted to wait, just to be on the safe side. I listen for any inclination that the two men are still out there and I hear nothing. I push the corpse off of me. "You stink, dude." I put my feet up on the dead thing's side and push it outside of the crate and wait just a little more.

When I finally crawl out of the box I notice that the light is beginning to fade. "Shit," I mumble to the dead guy lying at my feet, "So much for making it back before dark." I reach down beside the corpse and grab my bag, "Thanks for the cover anyway, dude." I sling that bag over my shoulder and make my way out of that store.

I start back the way I came and had walked for quite a ways before I saw an orange glow up ahead. The way the light danced around I knew it was someone's campfire. I crept up slowly to see that it was two men. I stood completely still, frozen where I was at. Could it be the same two men from the store? I stood there until one of the men spoke and I recognized the voice as the angry man. A growl from behind made me jump but I quickly spun around plunging my knife into its skull and pinning it to the tree behind me. I slowly slid it down to the ground careful not to make any noise to alert the men to my presence and I backed away. I wasn't careful enough because the other man heard me and had walked over behind me. I crashed into him and then spun around to be looking into his eyes as he stared down at me. "Well, well, ain't you a purty little thing, what you doin' way out here in the dark all alone girl?" The other man had run up as soon as he heard and I was standing in between them. "Don't hurt me." I whimpered putting on my weak little woman act.

"Oh don't you worry your purty little head about that." The first guy smirks at me, "We ain't plannin' on hurtin' ya. You're gonna love what we have in store for ya." The second guy moved closer to me and wrapped his arms around my chest, his hands groping at my breasts. I struggled against his hold until my foot came up landing on the first man's jewels. He dropped to his knees as I still struggled against the other guy, I finally brought my hand down remembering a technique Reid had taught me. I never thought I would actually have to use it, it would never work on a walking corpse. I wrapped my fingers around his junk and I squeezed and twisted until he released me. I held on until he was on his knees as well before I released him and I picked up my bag and started running toward home. I had made it a short distance before I heard them jump back up to their feet and they had begun running toward me. I took off running through the woods as fast as I could, still holding tight to my bag and with them right on my heels. I know the bag is slowing me down but it's for the kids, I can't leave it behind. Two misplaced steps landed me face down in the mud and I struggled to get back to my feet quickly. When I managed to get myself upright and look ahead of me I saw three Corpses headed right to me, I looked behind and saw the two men closing in on me from that direction. I reached down and grabbed a stone from at my feet and flung it into the darkness behind her. I watched as two of those corpses started to slowly migrate toward that minimal sound. I turned to see what the men were going to do and noticed that they took the bait as well. I smile as I thought about the meeting of those four. I crept away opposite from the direction they were headed but I didn't get too far when a pair of hands landed on my shoulders and pulled me to the ground. "You think you're a smart cookie huh," that man's voice sounded from the darkness, "I ain't fallin' for it like my dumbass buddy." He held me down on the ground as his hands roamed across my body. I tried to jerk out of his grasp but his weight on top of me prevented me from moving much. His big hand moved up to the back of my head and shoved it into the dirt. I squirmed underneath him more as I tried to get some air before getting to my knife. When I managed to get to the holster I realized that my blade wasn't there. I ran my hand along the ground trying to feel for it in the dirt and the leaves. "Go ahead and keep fighting," the man leaned down to breathe those words in my ear. His raunchy breath filled my nostrils almost making me gag. "I like it better when they fight." He pulled at my shirt and I heard the rip just as my fingers ran into something sharp. I felt the sting on my fingertips as they slid down the sharp edge of the blade but I couldn't focus on that now. I wrapped my fingers around the blade just as the man flipped me over onto my back. He crashed his mouth onto mine and I could feel the bile rise up in my throat at the taste of his foul breath. I brought my hand up and swiped it across the man's face. He clapped his hand up to his cheek. "You bitch! You're gonna pay for that!" I scrambled backward away from the man as he reached out for me grabbing my ankle and dragging me through the dirt back under him. I brought my foot up just as he slid me under his body and landed a kick to his genitals. He fell over onto his side clutching and screaming in pain. I stood to my feet above the man watching him roll on the ground in pain. I started to leave but stopped myself. "You do this a lot huh? You'll just go after someone else won't you?" I sneered at the man. He just looked up at me, he couldn't see the anger in my eyes but he could hear it in my voice. "You couldn't get to me, but that won't stop you from going after someone else. Will it?"

"No, I won't. I promise," he pleaded with her. Before he could finish that lie she knelt down and drove her blade through his eye socket. "Now I don't have to worry about you breaking that promise."

I had been walking for a while when I started wondering if I was even headed in the right direction. Finally in the distance I could make out what looked like a giant wall. I was tired from that fight and from the walk. My fingers were throbbing from the cut, the bag on my shoulder felt like a ton of bricks and my legs were sore but I kept moving forward. I realized I must look dreadful, covered in mud and blood and staggering like one of the dead. I finally see the gate, our gate, and four figures standing just inside of it. I smiled as she realized that I was finally back home, i made it back to Reid just like I promised him. I also realized that one of those figures at the gate had to be him, it was dark and he had to be worried about me. He was on his way to search for me. I stopped when I noticed movement and my heart began to beat heavy inside my chest as I realized that it was Reid and he had raised his gun on me. I raised my hand in response and started to yell when a herd of corpses hit the edge of the woods. I dropped to my knees just as I heard the gun shot ring out from behind the gate.

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