Hero

o n e

Lenora Drake was starving. She didn't know where she was, and she was lost in the woods surrounding Georgia a couple miles from Atlanta. This would be somewhat less of a bad situation if the dead weren't walking and if she was just a tad older than 11 years old and had some experience surviving.

She trekked through the woods, wrapping her arms around herself. Lenora wasn't cold, but it provided some comfort that the girl didn't currently have. When she had woken up this morning, her parent where gone, without a trace. Nothing was left of them, it was almost as if they had never existed in the first place.

They didn't leave any food, water, or shelter for the girl. When she had gone to bed, she was on top of a sleeping bag. Despite it cooling down at night, Georgia was still hot and Lenora's body typically overheated at night. Yet when she woke up, the girl was on her stomach in the grass.

It was obvious what had happened. Her piece of shit parents had left her, alone in the woods with dead people roaming around. Sure, not many had made their way into the woods of Georgia yet as most still roamed the city of Atlanta, but essentially they'd left her to die. It's not like they cared for her anyways.

Her father was a drug dealer, and her mother was a prostitute. Despite being below the law, they seemed to be excellent at their jobs and had some wealth to their names. Lenora could have anything she ever wanted if she asked, but for the most part, all she wanted was love from her parents. Too bad she never got it. Lenora Drake was an accident, and not a happy one either.

Lenora found herself sitting on a fallen tree log and her lip started to quiver. She'd die out here. She needed help, yet the heavens didn't seem to inclined to give it to her.

Furiously wiping her tears away, she stood up. The universe wanted her to die, that had to be it. She was 11 years old, without an adult or weapon, trekking through the woods with only the clothes on her back.

Suddenly, she was grabbed from behind. A cold dead hand had grabbed her shoulder and she shrieked. Attempting to pry herself out of the dead things grasp she tripped and fell. The jaws of death were now snapping open and close a meer six inches away from her face. She held the dead thing as far away as she could. She was at a disadvantage, the things weight was on top of her and she had little to no upper body strength.

With a cry, her finger nails dug into the things skull in attempts to keep the jaws from taking a chunk out of her. She prayed she wouldn't be it's next meal.

A twig snapped beside her. She figured it was another one of the dead things. Little to her knowledge though, it wasn't. An arrow flew through the brain of the dead thing and this time, it stayed dead as it fell unmoving on top of her.

She panted, trying to catch her breath before she realized a man was staring at her with hard eyes and squirrels hanging over his shoulder. Pushing the dead off of her she scrambled to her feet and put her hands up.

"Please," she whimpered softly, still trying to regain her breath. "Please don't hurt me."

"Girl?" He scoffed with his glare remaining strong. "I just saved your life."

"Oh yeah, I guess you're right." Lenora sighed wiping her hands onto her jeans, attempting to get rid of the things feel in her grip. "Thank you sir."

"Where's your parents?" He asked her and she shrugged.

"I woke up this morning," she explained looking at the man with sad eyes. "They were gone, took our stuff and left me there."

"What kinda shit parents leaves their kid to die?" He asks scoffing.

"Mine." She whispered with a shrug.  "Dad was a drug dealer, and mom, she was a prostitute."

"Course." The unknown man said under his breath before shrugging. "Grab that arrow kid. If you want, you can come back to my camp, or if you wanna meet more of his buddies, stay here."