"Shadows all around you as you surface from the dark, Emerging from the gentle grip of night's unfolding arms, Darkness, darkness everywhere, do you feel all alone? The subtle grace of gravity, the heavy weight of stone,"
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"Truth sits upon the lips of dying men." _
We all have a specific memory or two that really gets under our skin. It fills our stomachs so we dont want to eat, our eyes glaze over so we cant see. We dont know what's real and what isn't.
There was a day I almost died. I can still see the world through the ice I was trapped under. The silver fractures that branched across whispered how fragile something so strong could be. Attacking it with everything in me wasn't enough. My knuckles were a field of bluebells and violets and poppies.
To die would be an awfully big adventure. But one I was not ready for.
Despite feeling like an iron weight I sunk so slowly into the lake's depth. The silence was a deafening voice that screamed "no one was coming".
Its arms wrapped tightly around me, pulling me further into purgatory. I greeted unconsciousness like an old friend.
I should have died.
But I didn't.
A millennia had passed when I felt the winter sun kiss my frozen body. Large hands pushed at my chest and coarse facial hair tickled my chin in the most reassuring way. It was strange to be both unconscious and aware.
Thank you.
The small ocean inside of me worked it's way up my sore throat and spilled from my mouth. Taking in the icy air was like being born all over again.
I'm still here.
Through muted hearing I picked up faint shouting. The distorted figure stood up as I emptied my stomach and lungs before walking towards the shouting. The last thing I recalled wad my face pressed against the dirt, nails sinking into it desperately. His leather boots walking away stuck with me as my eyes closed once more.
My siblings found me shortly after. Fetal position. Frozen. In a leather jacket. Danica had cried into my shoulder as I lay in the hospital bed; "Your lips were blue and you looked so peaceful. Dammit Lina! I thought you were gone." Her beautiful face full of grief.
Alec kissed my forehead and stroked my hair; "You really scared me, you know that?" Swallowing tightly he seemed lost for words. His dark brows were furrowed tiredly and his shoulders heavy with the expectations he placed on himself.
Only the gentle are ever really strong.
We were a family of three after losing our mother to cancer and in the typical male fashion he became our protector. We were capable of being our own saviours but what he feared most was losing us. I was told that the triangle was the strongest shape in nature, I hoped to God they were right.
He was never the same since the outbreak, not that any of us were, but he was the one who chose to do it. Roseanna Wolfe should've taken her last breath in that hospital bed. Instead her milky eyes reopened and her hands clawed at the air. That was when we knew to aim for the head.
Alec didn't smile much anymore.
Danica and Alec were conflicted with my hero; I'd been saved from my watery grave, "butby the skin of your teeth", Danica had screeched angrily.
"The jackass left you in a leather jacket! That wouldn't have been enough to stop the hypothermia setting in." Tears dripped down her face.
That must have been why the wind didn't nip at my raw skin. But I didn't see it that way. It was an unpayable debt I now gladly owed. I valued my life immensely so to be given a second chance gave me a new outlook.
Everything paled in comparison to the life we now lived.
Four weeks.
Four weeks of life in the new world.
This new world was full of hands and teeth under napalm skies. We lived and breathed tragedy.
I still feared death, felt it stalking me at a distance. But it was no longer a rare occurrence. My siblings and I lived from day to day; abandoned buildings became our playgrounds, streets our mass graves.
Northern Georgia was a wasteland. Maybe the whole world had become a wasteland. There was only one way to find out; Next destination: Atlanta, Georgia. Before all contact was lost we caught wind of the emergency broadcasts that declared Atlanta a safe-zone.
The promise of safety and civilisation was enough to reel us in. There had to be more than this.
Living as a drifter was liberating but being so alone broke the spirit. I wanted to wake up in the morning in a real bed, knowing that the sun would rise and the sun would set. I wanted to see Danica smile and take pictures of the things she loved the most. I wanted to hear Alec laugh at my piss poor jokes and draw things that made him happy.
It was ironic that I was reasoning humanity as I sent my swords through the heads of two walkers. Their rotting carcasses dropped without a complaint. I try to remind myself that no one would want to walk the earth like this.
"You're doing them a favour." Alec's words ran through my mind.
Placing my swords into the sheaths on my back, I ran to catch up with my siblings. We were all tired and dirty but the Wolfe clan was known for their resilience. The breeze played with tendrils of Danica's hair.
"Yes Lina?"
I hummed looking away.
"I know when you want to say something. You get quiet and stare at things."
Caught red handed.
Blowing a strand of hair out of my face, I squinted up at the sun that was peaking through the trees. I wanted to say and ask a lot of things but that didn't mean I should. Some things just couldn't be answered.
"I was wondering how far we were from the safe zone. If we'd ever be okay."
Danica subconsciously touched the gun tucked into her waistband. Alec was listening in but kept quiet, not having an answer to the latter question.
"According to this map I'd say another 2 miles. I don't know Lina, all we can do is treasure the time we have together."
"Through thick and thin." Alec cleared his throat.
What could someone say to that?
Instead I slipped a hand into each of theirs. I would protect them until the very end.
It was approximately 1 mile later when the snapping of a twig echoed around us. Immediately we spun to survey our surroundings. I was ready to take down any threat.
My swords were raised aswell as Alec's gun and Danica's pickaxe. Tension was building as the forest came to a standstill. Danica and Alec prowled past me slowly, checking for any sign of danger. They were incredibly light on their feet. A desirable trait to have. My sweaty palms gripped the swords even tighter if that was possible.
We'd had many close calls over the last four weeks. Humans had become just as dangerous as walkers. Maybe it was time we stopped trying to outsmart the truth and let it have it's day; humans were always this way, always this calculating.
Some men wanted food, some craved sex, others demanded power.
Some men just wanted to watch the world burn.
The mechanical click I heard next didn't quite register as I felt cold metal being pressed against my head.
