To the Edge and Back

To the Edge and Back: Chapter 5

Chapter 5

The man and I stare at each other with our weapons drawn. "Move one muscle and I'll blow your brains out," he threatened. I aim my bow at his right hand before he can react. I shoot an arrow into his hand and he drops his rifle. I throw a punch at his chin. He loses consciousness. I pick up the rifle from the ground and sling the strap over my shoulder.

I drag him back to the farm house where Amy is on watch duty on the roof. She rushes inside to see what is going on. She examines the man and the arrow that is sticking out of his hand.

"What happened!" She shouts. "This man was on the outskirts of the perimeter. He drew his weapon on me so I did what I had to." She pulls out the arrow and begins to dress the wound with several bandages.

As the day begins to draw to a close, everyone comes inside the house. I tell them about my attacker. "What are we gonna do about this?" Keaton asks. "We have to kill him. We can't stand for things like this," I say. Zach and Taylor have shocked looks on their faces. "What?" I say to them with an angry glare. "We can't go down this road. We'll never come back from it if we do," Tony says. "Maybe he could be our prisoner," says Zach.

Everyone agrees with Zach's more rational thought. Keaton and I grab the man and drag him down to the basement. We tie him to the wall. Keaton leaves the room while I stay with the prisoner. A few minutes pass before the man begins to stir. He notices me standing in the middle of the room staring at him.

"Who are you?" I calmly ask him. "I'm not telling......you anything," he replies weakly. I pull my handgun out of its holster and aim it at his kneecap. "Tell me what I want to know, and you get to keep your left knee," I say with the most serious face I can muster. "All right man, calm down. What do you want to know?" He hastily responded. "What is your name?" I whisper in his ear. "Dereck," he answers. "Why?" He asks me. "So I know who I'm gonna kill," I say. I walk away slowly. I glance over my shoulder to see the terrified expression of the prisoner.

Three months go by and things start to get into a routine. We each take turns with the watch duty and we all pitch in to build a bigger wall. The prisoner is still of no use to us but we keep him locked up and alive anyway. Biter attacks are starting to occur more often. It worries the group greatly. Zach has also taught me to hunt for animals. As our food supply becomes shorter, I head out into the woods to hunt for meat while everyone else is busy.

It is silent in the forest. All I can hear is the rustling of the trees and my quiet breathing. It feels peaceful out here. I'm dressed all in black. I begin to sweat from the humidity of the summer air. My thick blonde hair starts to get in my eyes. I move it out of the way.

I find a nice spot to sit and work on a project I had begun a week ago. I pull some welded pieces of metal and wire from my bag. I wrap some wire around the metal. I also brought knife tips with me to make claws. I place the knife tips on the metal and wrap them tight with more wire.

My finished product looks great. I made gauntlets. They fit onto my hands like gloves. The claws are the main weapon of the gauntlets. I made them to combat the biters easier.

When I finish with them I slide them onto my hands. I put on black leather gloves before them so the metal wouldn't cut my hands. I can't wait to try them out.

I walk farther into the woods. I hear a moaning coming from my right side. I turn to see a shambler. It's an old man wearing overalls. He would have a full head of gray hair if a big part of his head wasn't missing. I sneak up behind the biter. He doesn't even notice me. Quickly I grab the top of his head and then claw the open wound. The claws sink deep into the brain and the biter falls to his knees. The gauntlets work great.

I hunt for four more hours. All I manage to kill is one rabbit. It's gonna have to do for now. I walk back to the farm with a smile on my face. I love my new tools of death. Keaton is the first greet me on my way back.

"Kill anything?" He asks. "Just a rabbit," I reply. He notices the gauntlets on my hands. "What the hell are those!" He exclaimed. "I made them. They're called gauntlets. They'll help me survive in this world," I say. "I don't think you should have those," he tells me, "they seem dangerous to have." I bitterly reply, "Why don't you mind you mind your business and leave me alone."

I storm back into the house to show Zach what I killed. He places it on a cutting board and begins skinning the animal. As he's doing this I take off the gauntlets and put them in my bag. At dinner that night, all ten of us sit and discuss what we're gonna do next. "We need to focus on the wall," Jonny insists. We all agree with his statement. "What about the Charter buses down the street? We could use those to make a much better wall than just a tiny little fence," Zach inquired. "Zach, Keaton, Tony, Barbara, and I can go and get them," I say. Everyone else agrees to this mission.

In the morning, we all ready ourselves for the trip. I grab my bag and sling it onto my back. I can feel the bulge of the metal gloves on my back. I would only bring these out in combat so no gets alarmed by them.

Zach arms himself with a shotgun, a hatchet, and his hunting knife. Keaton grabs his sharpened katana and puts the strap around him. Tony takes the assault rifle. Barbara takes the other shotgun. We head out to the edge of the driveway. The end of the driveway goes straight on to the highway. As we look into the distance a monsterous horde of biters await us on the road ahead. We begin to walk straight for them.