The Walking Dead

Chapter 13

Diamond ran outside just as Ellis and Sloane came back into view. She'd heard voices, but she was still surprised when she saw the group of people standing on the shore, dragging in an emergency blow up boat. They were all adults, with only one teenager -- but he looked younger than them, around fifteen. A middle aged man stood next to him, with three male and one female twenty year olds. There was also an old couple, who looked in their sixties.

Dalton tried to hold Diamond back, but she walked forward, wanting to greet the newcomers. "Di, wait!" She did stop for Henry's voice.

"Shouldn't we try to be friendly?"

Henry nodded, but shot the group an uneasy glance. "Yeah, but I think we should lock up the house first."

"Okay." Diamond fell in step with Sloane, and kept her gaze away from Ellis. They all went inside, and the boys closed and locked windows and the door, grabbing the keys. She was a little against the boys grabbing their guns, but she didn't say anything as they swung them over their shoulders. Instead she took Mae's hand.

When they got back outside, the group had clustered together just outside the reach of the water. Upon seeing them closer, Diamond shivered at the fierceness of their looks. Of course not the elderly couple, but the men looked buff and strong. Even the girl looked tough, with a fit build and cold expression. Only the boy looked friendly enough -- his smile lines gave Diamond hope.

"Who should do the talking?" Dalton asked.

"Not you," Diamond said with a laugh.

"How about Ellis? You're a good people person," Henry suggested.

The others agreed, but Diamond just shrugged. They walked closer to the older group, and Di made sure her pistol was carefully tucked away. "Hello!" Ellis greeted brightly. "How are y'all doin'?"

The middle aged man -- who Diamond assumed was the boy's father -- stepped forward. "We're getting by, thank you. How about yourselves? You look like a pretty young group." He eyed Willie Mae, whose eyes faced the ground. "What's your name?"

Diamond squeezed Mae's hand, since she obviously couldn't tell he was looking at her. The little girl looked up at Di nervously, so she spoke for her. "Her name is Willie Mae."

"What's wrong with her?" the man asked unsympathetically.

Diamond gritted her teeth and gave him a cold stare. "She's blind. But she's perfectly fine, thank you."

"I wouldn't describe being blind as 'perfectly fine'."

Diamond narrowed her eyes, considering grabbing her knife and sinking it into the man's throat. However, Ellis spoke before she could make up her mind. "Well, I'm Ellis. This is Sloane, Henry, Dalton, and Diamond. Its nice to meet y'all."

The man seemed to inspect Ellis before he replied. "I'm Samuel. My parents are Sue and Johnny, and these are Ryan, Nate, Jenny, and Dan. And this is my boy, Howard."

While the rest of the group kept their emotionless expressions, Howard lit up. "Hi! You can call me Howie. Its great to see more people! What do you know about the zombies?"

"Uh..." Ellis was caught off guard by the boy's eagerness. "We just know that the infection spread really quickly, and seems to be passed by bite."

Samuel nodded. "Probably spread so quickly because the damn government didn't do a fucking thing."

"How long have you been here?" Howie went on. "Where are you staying?"

"We just got here not a long time ago," Sloane said, obviously encouraged by Howie's friendly attitude.