"Goddamn fatso, run!"
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Inside the forest, a group of five people are currently running for their lives with a horde of walkers hot on their tails.
Escape would have been possible normally, but due to the complicated structure of the forest and that it is currently night time, it made navigating through the forest floor an arduous task.
With these unfavorable circumstances, it's already a miracle that none of them had fallen down and got left behind.
Well, that was their circumstances before, but now one of their companions who is obviously overweight from the way the others addressed him just had to tripped onto a tree root and fell down hard.
"Come on, get up!"
"I think sprained my ankle, I'll just be a burden if you try to help me! Don't look back and go! Save yourselves, don't worry about me!"
The other two men hurriedly went back for him and tried to help him up, but the sprain on his ankle in addition to his weight had made it impossible to lift him up, and they too have become tired from all the running and weren't able to exert force they normally can do.
"Shut up, man! No man left behind, that's what we all promised each other when we decided to take the trip down to Fort Benning!" A young man in a varsity jacket and seems to be a college student like the others from their young appearances, angrily rebuked his companion.
"He's right. Help him up, we'll cover the sides." said an auburn haired young woman dressed in a pair of black and white gym clothes that shows off her curves and armed with a pointed short steel pole that she used and struck a walker in the head.
"You heard her, Ron. Come one, let's go! Up!" The two college kids, while flanked by two women protecting them, slowly carried their friend up and continued their escape. But their reduced pace caused more walkers to slowly catch up to them and it's clearly having a toll on the two women as they too have started to breath heavily while soaked in their own sweat.
Seeing his friends having a hard time because of him, the chubby man going by Ron felt guilty. "I told you..just go. Leave in that direction, I saw some lights earlier over in that direction. It means there are survivors nearby and they must have heard the gunshots earlier."
"Can you please just shut your mouth? We're almost out of the woods." The young man in the varsity jacket rebuked him in between breaths while eyeing the treeline ahead of them.
With possible escape on sight, Ron became more hopeful with his friends and this caused an increased pace in their steps.
"We're almost…there?"
The five friends were just feeling relieved as they ran past the treeline. Only for their hopes to be dashed away when they were greeted with a horrifying sight of another herd of walkers, albeit a small one, around a hundred or so down the gradual slope in front, and the horde making headway towards them.
"Fuck!"
The young man in the varsity jacket couldn't help but let out a curse, but it seems like he still hasn't lost hope as he frantically looked around them.
The other young man, a brown skinned young asian surprisingly remained calm and was also looking around for a path to survival, and the auburn haired woman just stood there and calmly accepted their fate while the other woman was letting out an eerie chuckle, it looks like she would lose her mind soon if they can't find a way to escape.
With the way ahead also blocked, the two men can only turn their sights on their left and right.
The left leads back to the forest, which is a bad idea.
The right path on the other hand leads to a fence with a dirt road on the other side.
"We've already come this far. Are we seriously going to die here when we're almost at our destination?" The young asian man who had remained silent and calm until now finally opened his mouth to speak.
The auburn haired young woman checked her gun and saw something that surprised her. "I don't want to die getting chewed on. I still have five bullets remai –"
Varsity jacket guy quickly cut her off and while squinting his eyes. "Not yet! Look over there! I think there's a road leading somewhere on the other side of that fence."
Listening to his words, Ron's eyes lit up as he also saw the structure that stretched far onto the distance. "I think we've arrived at a farm. Come on! I'm sure that road leads to that place where I saw the lights earlier."
"Let's go!"
With a renewed hope, these youngsters resumed their path to survival while under a constant siege of either three or five walkers at a time.
While making their way towards the fence, the other woman had just taken down a walker when another one suddenly grabbed her arm and was about to take a bite out of her. The woman looked horrified and was about to let out a scream when the sound of something sharp pierced through the wind and whistled past her face, and that something struck the walker beside her right through its nose, sending it tumbling backwards.
The woman quickly turned her head around and witnessed the auburn haired woman easing back from her throwing stance.
"Thank you, Alex."
Alex just nodded her head in response and drew the two small hatchets strapped on both sides of her waist and continued her job of protecting them.
The group successfully arrived at the fence with more walkers behind them.
Remarkably, these young people continue to show how much courage and camaraderie they have with each other that they ignored the danger just lurking behind them and slowly helped Ron over the fence before they saving themselves.
The five of them were about to continue fleeing when they saw a small light flickering ahead.
They looked at each other and were suddenly unsure of what to do.
"Let's head over. It's still better to face enemies we can hold negotiations with rather than facing mindless monsters who just want to eat us." Mr. Varsity jacket guy remarked and urged his companions to continue.
While on the other hand, a small argument broke out between Glenn and Hershel.
"What are you doing?" Hershel glared at Glenn and took the small flashlight from his hands.
Glenn looked at him and calmly responded. "Saving them."
"We don't save people unless they need saving." Hershel lightly scowled in an eerily calm tone.
Glenn turned towards the multiple silhouettes in the distance. "And I think that applies now since it's clear that one of them is injured."
"No, we immediately head back to the farmhouse and braced for tonight's activities." Hershel did not care since he had already realized how much trouble those people were bringing with them as they head towards the farmhouse.
Glenn finally snapped and grabbed the old man by his collar. "I've endured your snide remarks at me everyday, but your nonchalance towards people who need our help is starting to rub on me, in an annoying way. We help, because only when we keep our morality intact means we still haven't lost ourselves into this shitty world it has turned into."
"Hey, come on. Let's all calm down here. This is no time for us to be arguing right now." Otis tried to smooth things through between them.
If Michael had witnessed Glenn's actions tonight, he wouldn't be surprised since Glenn had shown time and time again that he can even forgive enemies who had once tried to kill him or those he cares about.
Hershel looked at Glenn and angrily shoved the torch light back to Glenn before turning around and hastily returning back to the farm.
"Go with him. I'll stay with Glenn." Otis turned to Jimmy and instructed him.
Jimmy just nodded his head in response and quickly went after the old man.
"Thank you, man." Glenn smiled at Otis.
Otis also smiled. "I also think what you said is right. Come on, let's go see these uninvited guests before that herd catches up to them before it endangers us."
"Okay."
Glenn and Otis hurriedly made their way towards the young college kids and soon met up with them.
The two groups were at first wary of each other, but with the incoming danger behind them. They had to ignore everything first and focused more on living through the night.
Glenn helped in carrying Ron and took over the young asian guy's spot and led them towards the farm.
Surprisingly, when they arrived at the now bright farmhouse.
They saw the scene of Maggie and the others packing their things on the back of their truck.
"Maggie, what's happening?"
Glenn handed Ron back to the young asian guy and quickly approached Maggie with a worried face.
Maggie slammed the plastic container as she loaded it on the truck before locking it up and turning towards him.
"We're leaving this place. With a herd that size, this house will never be able to hold them back. You know how strong those things can be."
The young college kids could only stand there and watch. The only thing they need to know is that they are now escaping with this group of people they just met and allowed themselves to get loaded inside the worn out SUV.
Otis and the two women are inside the truck with him while Jimmy is riding on the back.
The only one missing now is Hershel, and they group started waiting in silence, with every passing second wracking their nerves.
It was probably the longest time they had waited in their entire lives and the most uncomfortable one since they could now see the herd closing onto the farmhouse.
"Shit."
It wasn't until the herd was almost on their doorstep when the door to the farmhouse blasted open and Hershel walked out with determined steps as he made his way down the steps and towards the SUV while taking down walkers with the shotgun in his hands.
Mr. Varsity jacket guy came out of the car and shoved him inside the SUV and squeezed in with them.
Only when everyone was onboard did Glenn gassed it and the SUV hummed with a roar and escaped towards an alternative road.
With the SUV on the lead, it slammed onto the fences with the truck closely following behind them.
"We're finally out of that place."
Only when the horde was finally out of sight did everyone let out sighs of relief.
Finally safe from danger, the adrenaline finally wore off and the fatigue quickly overtook the bodies of the college kids. They weren't able to control themselves and slowly fell asleep while leaving their fates onto this group of strangers they just met fifteen minutes ago.
"How carefree."
Glenn chuckled as he looked at them through the rearview mirror while driving through an oddly familiar road that leads to a familiar correctional facility.