Zombie Survivors

Madi

I slid down the rungs of my tree and landed in the woods, I ran towards the burn pile towards Samson and saw him grinning as well. "Come on. We have to get to the gate!" He said as he clasped my shoulder. The thick working gloves keeping most of the feeling of warmth to himself and then we grinned. And then we were off running towards the house glad for something good and something better than shooting zombies and keeping up the patrol. I took the lead in front of Samson to jump up and grab the rope and pull up the gate as he ran through. I held it til I got close enough to slip through and let go without being crushed. Sliding under the gate before it slammed into the ground and dug into the dirt.

The others were already there as we ran up to them. I skidded next to Sean as he grinned my way, grabbing his arm in a tight hug. "Gave us a heart attack for a bit there didn't you?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Sorry, I couldn't tell who it was until I got to the high point and pulled out my scope." I said patting the tool on my hip. "They saw me though." I finished with a wide grin. He rolled his eyes before chuckling.

"I heard." He said smiling as he started towards the gate gently taking my arm off of him before calling, "Sam come on!" He shouted as he started to the pulleys on either side of the gate. They both grabbed the rope at the same time and pulled them down and tied them to the stakes nearby as the front of the clan came to the gate. Their leaders hopped of their horses and smiled at Sean and Samson. I couldn't help walking forward as I looked to see some of our old friends. The ones who made it this far.

"So can we stay for a few days?" I looked over to see Savannah her hair pulled back as her twin rifles dangled from her hip. The leather holding them there reminding me of when we were last together last Spring. We had a great time celebrating another visit with their latest hunt.

"Course you can." Sean said easily. Kayleigh nodded along in her usual manner of stoic, "I don't care" attitude.

"Come on everybody!" Savannah called as their small clan came in. They had twelve people all together that included some of their families surprisingly. I smiled and went to go hug my old doppelganger Madison, that grinned as she saw me.

"How are you?" I asked as I looked to her and saw Hayden talking to Emily while Natalie hugged her younger cousin with a wide grin. I saw Dawnya grab her little cousin from the house and let her hug Kayleigh and Savannah.

"Great, how are you?" She asked drawing my gaze back to her.

"Tired, we've been in harvest for hours." I said stretching my arms over my head, before a soft playful sigh caught my attention.

"Though you kept watch in your tree's." Sean said as he smiled at me and grabbed my hand easily.

"And shot more than my fair share of Zombies." I said grinning at him as I leaned onto his shoulder. Which wasn't a lie.

"Of course." He said nodding to me before turning back to my friend. "Do you have any mail for us?" He asked anxiously, I gripped his hand in mine as I thought about his sister who was among some of the more nomadic clans.

"Yes we do actually." She said as she adjusted her glasses and walked to the horse she just got off of. She pulled out a small pile of tied letters and untied the small bow and began to sift through them. She nodded and grinned as she not only pulled out a few other letters she also pulled out a small parcel that wasn't bigger than my arm. She smiled as she handed two letters to Sean and handed me the parcel and a letter. She held up two more letters and smiled. "Now I have to deliver the rest, if you excuse me." I nodded to her and looked at the parcel in my hands and recognize my mothers handwriting with a fond smile. The large loops and elegant script was a familiar sight that often times when I reread her the letters they sent from the colony that was so far away now.

"Thanks." I said as I looked at her. She returned my grin and walked away to see Dani and Emily. I smiled towards the box and decided to save it til after the trades were all said and done. Save it for a nice surprise after all there aren't many surprises like this anymore. Not any good ones at least. Not any from my family, my parents, or my little sister.

Once everything was said and done, including the "hello's" and "glad you're alives", we came to agreement with Kayleigh and Savannah's clan that in exchange for room, or well space in our camp, they would help us finish the harvest and take care of the chores around the camp.

By the time that was taken care of and pulled together they agreed that their best mechanic and Sean could work on the tractor together, because we still haven't been able to get that hunk a junk to move in the past few years because it was so damn finicky. Savannah joined me on guard duty as they all worked, it was nice having another set of eyes up there, and a whole lot of people with guns to watch everybody's backs.

"Yo, Madi!" I looked over to see Savannah toss me something. I had to lunge to catch it, because as good a shot as I was, I still couldn't catch anything but a cold. The lid of the bottle was barely snagged by my fingers and I nearly fell off the bridge to catch it. "I heard you liked this stuff from Madison." She said and I looked over the bottle and saw an old timey root beer logo. Still sealed and still bubbly.

"Thanks." I said smiling. I'd have to save this, stuff like this was rare nowadays, sure you'd hit an abandoned storage place sometimes, but not everyone's that lucky all the time. We only got that once, and that was when Dawnya had found a chip companies storage box full of fresh pringles.

Best day of that whole damn year. Especially after part of the Springfield colony came to visit, and a hard decision was made all around. Thankfully though we stuck together, and after all that's what's keeping us alive out here. What else can you do?