The Arising: A New Start of Life

Chapter 26

I got back into the drivers seat and sat there looking in front of me for a while. I thought of how Hunter, Anastasia and Stella would take it when they find out he's dead. I looked down at the steering wheel.

"Sam?" Alleigh said trying to get my attention.

I looked at her.

"What are we going to do with his body?" Alleigh asked.

I thought for a moment.

"We can drop his body off on the way to Adelaide Oval" I said.

"For now. We need to continue"

I started the car and drove forward. It felt like the drive to Murray Bridge took forever. But it's only been an hour. That's when I saw a sign saying that we are entering Murray Bridge. Ana looked up.

"We are here" Ana said.

I looked closely in front as we drove over the hill. As we got over the small hill I could see fences with spikes all around it. I drove up to the gate and waited. Ana opened the van door and waved to the guards. They realised it was Ana and opened the gate. I drove in.

"Just park in here" Ana said pointing to a large area of parked cars.

I turned left and stopped the van. I took the keys out and put them in my pocket. I got out of the van. I looked around and saw crops. I noticed that people were looking at us. Everyone got out of the car and also looked around.

"Holster your weapons" I said while looking around at all the houses.

"What do you think?" Ana said.

"It's big. Not as big as Mount Barker but it's huge" I said.

"Follow me and I'll introduce you to Anthony" Ana said.

We all followed her to the middle of Murray Bridge. We walked up to a big building. She stopped in front of the door.

"Try to be as nice as possible, and ignore the things Anthony say. He can be a bit of a jerk sometimes" Ana said.

I nodded as she opened the door. I saw a man leaning on a table writing something on a piece of paper. The doors closed and he turned around to face us. He smiled.

"Ana, nice to see you again. You have friends with you this time" Anthony said.

"Who might you be?" Anthony asked.

"I'm Sam. I'm the leader of the Underdale Safe Zone. With me I have Alleigh who lives in Underdale with me, this is Mabel leader of Tungkillo, you've meet Ana, and this is Brianna. Nice to meet you" I said.

It was quite for a little bit.

"Ha. You're a leader. What lunatic made you the leader. How old are you? You look like you're thirteen" Anthony said laughing.

"I'm fourteen" I said.

"How did you become the leader?" Anthony asked.

"I was co-leader and the leader died" I said.

"Ok. So. What's the reason you're here? Did you forget your lunch money?" Anthony asked laughing at his own joke again.

"We both are against two groups of people. Thomas and Heath. They have both terrorised us and killed many of our people. Heath killed everyone in Underdale. They both deserve to die a million deaths. If you join us we will fight along side with Arman from the Adelaide Oval. Together we can get rid of the pests that annoy us, and we can go back to living again. All three of our communities can work together and make a world like before. But first I need you on my side. Will you join us?" I said.

Anthony looked down at me.

"You are a fourteen year old what could you do?" Anthony said.

"I can do a hell of a lot. We already have the upper hand over Thomas as well. As we were on our way here we drove into a large horde of Walkers, the biggest I've ever seen. They were most likely heading here. We turned them around into Mount Barker" I said.

"Hmm. Screw it! Welcome to the Bridge. We will help you. But how will we communicate?" Anthony asked.

I took out a walkie talkie from my belt.

"I have three of them. Arman, you and I will all use them to communicate without having to use Ana to go back and forth. Have it on Channel five and I'll keep you updated" I said handing him the walkie talkie.

Anthony took the walkie talkie from me and put it on his table. He moved to the side and showed me the thing he was drawing.

"What you said about making the world like it was before. I've started to plan out what the Bridge will look like in a year or two. I think you should do the same" Anthony said.

"Not just yet. Once this is finished we're taking Underdale back. That's when I'll start to make plans" I said.

Anthony patted me on my back.

"Well. I've got places to be. Nice meeting you guys" Anthony said.

I stepped back.

"Same with you" I said as everyone turned around to leave.

We all walked out of the house and saw the sunlight again. As a group we all walked back to our van. We all got in. I looked at the rear view mirror and saw Mabel looking down at Josh's body.

"That went well" Alleigh said.

"Let's drop Josh off at Tungkillo before we go to meet Arman" I said turning on the car.

The gate opened and I drove forward out of Murray Bridge.

"You might want to turn right up here to avoid Mount Barker as much as possible" Ana said.

I slowly turned right. We got back to Tungkillo. I stopped at the gate. Frances ran over and opened it. I drove in and stopped the van. Frances walked up to the window.

"That was quick" Frances said.

I got out of the van and walked to the back. When I opened the back a strong smell gushed out. I flinched at the smell and picked up Josh's arms. Mabel picked up his feet. We carried him with a blanket over him past Frances. She looked shocked. We kept walking to the backyard. Once we got to the backyard I saw Hunter, Anastasia and Stella all sitting at a table laughing together. Stella was clinching her left arm which I amputated, Hunter was taking a sip of water and Anastasia was smiling. It was like it was slow motion. Like many times these days when deaths occur and love ones find out. As we walked in the three of them went from being cheerful and happy to crying. Anastasia stood up and walked over. We put Josh's body onto the ground. Anastasia lifted the blanket off of Josh's corpse and started to cry. Her cry was the loudest and most dramatic cry I have ever heard. It makes sense for someone to be like this when they have known each other their entire life.

"I'm sorry" I said.

"How did it happen?" Anastasia asked.

"We got stuck in a large horde and our car got stuck. We pushed it out but he fell over and got bitten" I said.

I looked down at my hands and still noticed his blood over them. The blood was all dried up but I knew who's it was. As I saw Anastasia, Stella and Hunter all crying all I felt was guilt. I was the one who chose not to listen to Ana. She told me I should go straight. If I did he would be alive right now.

He died because of me....
He died because of me....
He died because of me....
He died because of me....
He died because of me....
He died because of me....

That's what was playing through my mind non stop. It was never ending. I felt too guilty.