The Dead Walk Among Us

Chapter 10: New Beginning

In the morning, we set out. We walk through the dense forest. Nobody says a word. Elizabeth is staring at the ground. Susan is holding her as we walk. Jake and Alex are upset, too. We all are. I'm just glad Lisa didn't infect anyone else.

"Jade?" Jake asks.

"Yeah?" I say.

"Where are we going?"

"I don't know," I say.

I hear crunching leaves.
Everybody hides. I pull out my pistol and run behind a knocked over tree. A German shepherd dog runs through the woods. He jumps over the tree I'm hiding behind and sits next to me. Suddenly he starts barking loudly. I pet him to try and calm him down.

"Stop! Stop it." I say.

A man comes over to the sound. He jumps over the tree. "You found my dog!"

I point my pistol at the man.

"Whoa! Put the gun down," the man says.

The dog barks at the man loudly. He growls at him.

"Why is he barking?" I ask.

I look at the man's eyes. He's a zombie. The dog jumps on the zombie, knocking him over. I shoot the zombie. Everyone comes out of hiding. The dog runs off. I run after him. Maybe he came from a nearby camp.

"Wait!" Jake yells running behind me.

"That dog belongs to someone. Someone who may help us," I say.

The dog runs into an old house. We all run through it. The dog stops at a woman. She has light blonde hair. She's wearing a blue coat. The dog is happy to see her. The woman turns to me.

"You found my dog!" she says. "I see you're traveling with kids. We have a community up ahead, if you guys want to come."

"That would be nice," I say. I turn to the others.

"I want to see this community. I think we could be safe there," Susan says.

"I agree with her," Henry says.
I turn around. 
"We'll go," I say. She leads us through a tunnel.

"I'm Sam," the woman says.

"I'm Jade," I say.

Everybody introduces themselves. We finally reach the place. It's got giant, wood walls. Sam knocks on the wall. A small door opens just a crack. A woman pokes her head out. She has black hair and green eyes.

"Samantha! What have I told you about sneaking out?" the woman says.

"Mom!" Sam says.

"Oh, I see you have...company. Where did you find these ones?" the woman asks.

Did she really just call us "These ones"?

"They found my dog. I saw them in the woods. Can they stay? They have four kids with them. We can't just leave them out here!" Sam says.

"Give me one moment," The woman shuts the door.

"What was this place before? I can tell you built onto something," I say.

"It used to be Oakwood summer camp. There's a lake, some cabins, there was a smaller wall that we built onto," Sam says.

I hear voices behind the wall. Please let us stay. Even if it's just for one night. We just need shelter. The door opens all the way.

"Come in," the woman says.

We all walk inside. They have a large garden, ten cabins, multiple tents, and a larger building. This place seems defendable. Sam shows us where we'll be staying.
It's a small cabin with several bunk beds. I explore the camp a bit. It's pretty safe. There's people watching the areas outside.
Sam walks over to me.
"Jade, me and a few friends are going on a trip to the grocery store, would you want to come?"

"Yeah, sure," I say. 

It would be nice to go out and get my mind off the subject of death. We walk outside. Two people meet us outside the wall.

"This is Tom and Taylor," Sam introduces them.

It's a woman and man my age. Tom looks a little like Jack. Taylor has black hair and brown eyes.

"I'm Jade," I say.

After a few minutes of talking, we start heading out. We go through the tunnel, and after ten minutes, of walking we finally reach a large grocery store. We walk up to the doors. Sam pushes on the door.
"It's locked," Sam says. She kicks it a few times but it doesn't budge.

"When is anything not locked?" Taylor asks.

There's a window above the door. I grab a rock. I throw it at the window. I know it was loud, but we're far from any zombies. If there were any inside, the noise would draw them out, instead of us going in and being attacked so maybe it's a good thing.

"What the hell?" Tom yells.

"What? Now we can get inside," I say.

"You're going in first then," Taylor says.

"Fine, is anyone going to help me up to the window?" I say. No one answers.

Sam pulls a bench up against the door. I stand on the crate and pull myself through the window. I drop down. The lights are off. I turn my flashlight on. I unlock the door and they walk in.

"Alright split up. You know what we need. Food and water," Sam says.

"No, we shouldn't split up. We don't know who or what's in here. It would be safer to stick together," I say.

"Who's the leader here?" Sam says.

"I know you shouldn't be a leader. I've survived long enough to know you should never split up," I say.

"We will split up. Remember your place, Jade. I'm the leader here," Sam says. "What are you people waiting for? Go!"

I walk away. I grab some canned food. Sam is being so stupid! We have no idea if this place is filled with zombies or not. I'm guessing she thinks since her mother is leader of the community that she's got some kind of authority but she doesn't. She doesn't even know to lead.

I hear running and a scream. Sam and Tom run past me.

"Where are you two going?" I ask.

"That might be Taylor!" Tom says. I run after them. I hear another scream. We all stop. I look around.

"That's not Taylor," Sam says. "I don't know who that is."

"Then there's someone else in here with us and we're going to find out who it is soon," I say. Another scream and then a gunshot. Sam starts running again. We run after her.