The Dead Walk Again

Chapter 2

Picture of Cassie

Chapter 2

Max Fox had been walking through the same forest for days. The trees were thick and blocked most of the sunlight. The leaves and sticks crunched under his boots.

It had been around three months since the zombies first hit. Max was glad he wasn't from the town of Sunny Point. That town had been the first town to be hit by zombies. Most of the residents didn't make it out. The rest of the world had time to prepare, but the monsters moved quickly.

Max stopped thinking he had heard something, but he shook his head when he didn't see anything.

"Come on, Max, just a little longer and then we'll take a break."

Max quickened his pace, so he could catch up with the rest of the group. Max wasn't alone. His father, Jason, was with him along with a young couple from his home town.

"Are we almost out of this forest?"

"Almost, Paul."

Max watched as Paul rolled his dark, brown eyes at his wife. The young couple always made Max laugh. He was only fifteen and didn't know much about love, but he thought Paul and his wife, Missy, were a great example.

The three of them stopped after they noticed Jason had stopped. None of them were worried. If something was wrong Jason would have said something instead of just stopping, but to make sure they didn't move until Jason spoke up.

"We can rest here for tonight."

"Finally." Paul said as he sat down.

"Oh, stop complaining." Missy said as she narrowed her light, brown eyes at Paul.

Max shook his head as he sat down and leaned against a tree. He knew that come morning they would be back to walking to nowhere. He wasn't stupid. Max knew his father had no idea where they were going, but any place was better than the cities they left behind. In the cities, not only were there zombies, there were people. Not everyone could be trusted. Jason and Max only trusted Paul and Missy because they had known them for years and had been with them since the beginning.

The group froze as they heard some sticks and leaves cracking. The noise was coming from behind Max, so he slowly turned around to see if he could see anything.

Nothing.

Max looked around at the others and they were as confused as him. Zombies didn't hide. This was something else. The question was what? It could just be an animal, but Max wasn't sure. He knew they would be overreacting, but, in the world he lived in now, there was no such thing.

"It was probably just a animal, right?" Missy assured us.

Nobody answered her. They were all too focused on the noise that was getting closer. It was definitely footsteps and by the sound of it whatever it was was running.

The group got their weapon ready. It sounded like a single set of footsteps, but you could never be sure.

Max jumped when he heard a voice. It was the most beautiful voice he had ever heard. He couldn't tell what it was saying, but, like the footsteps, it was getting closer.

Jason had heard the voice as well. He had also noticed Max's reaction. Max knew how important it was to pay attention and not get distracted. So why was Max listening to this voice that was definitely further away than the footsteps?

Both Max and Jason snapped out of their thought when they noticed the footsteps had stopped. If it was a zombie it wouldn't have just stopped. It would have came after them.

Jason signaled to the others to stay as he slowly, with his gun in hand, made his way to the place the footsteps stopped. He pushed some branches out of his ways and sitting there on the ground was a girl. She was small and could only be around nine or ten-years-old. Her blonde hair was tangled and had leaves in it. Her green eyes held fear in them.
Jason lowered his gun and bent down. He set his gun to the side, so the girl would see he meant no harm.

"It's okay," Jason told her. "I'm not gonna hurt you."

"Melody!"

Max couldn't see what his father was doing and was about to call out and ask him, but instead he jumped at the sound of another voice. It wasn't the wonderful voice he had heard earlier. No, this was a male voice and it was closer and clearer.

"Dad?"

Jason didn't respond to his son. Instead he keep his attention on the little girl who had perked up the moment she had heard that voice.

"Is that your name?" Jason asked.

Melody nodded her head. She knew her brother and sister were near. Cassie and Michael would help her.

"Is someone looking for you?" Jason questioned.

Melody nodded her head again. She was just hopping that this man and his friends wouldn't shoot them. Melody had seen other people do it. What would make this man any different?

"Jason!" Paul snapped.

Jason turned around to see a boy and a girl standing there. The boy looked to be around sixteen and had the same blonde hair as the girl, but had blue eyes instead. The girl looked to around Max's age with the girls green eyes, but her hair was brown.

Melody jumped up and ran to her siblings the minute she saw them. She hid behind her sister and waited for them tell her what to do.

Max and the others lowered their guns. Jason stood up and walked over to his friends. He knew that the two older kids were the girl's siblings. They were so similar in appearance that there was no denying it.

"Hello." Jason said.

"Hi..." the older boy hesitantly replied.

"Are you three alone?" Jason asked.

The boy was about to answer when Paul interrupted, "Jason! What are you doing? They could be bit."

Before Jason could reply the older girl spoke up, "None of us are bitten. You can check if you want to."

Max immediately recognized the voice. The beauty voice had come from this girl. She was even more beautiful than her voice and she just made Max feel so calm. Max wasn't the only one. Even Paul relaxed when she spoke.

It was quiet until Missy broke the silence.

"It's late and you must be hungry. Please, eat with us."

Melody watched as Michael and Cassie looked at each other. The three of them had always been able to tell what the other thought by their face. They knew each other that well.

"Okay." Michael agreed.

"Well come help the boy set up camp and I'll get started with dinner." Missy turned to Melody. "Would you like to help?"

Melody looked at her older sister for permission and at Cassie's nod she ran over to help Missy.

They were a long way from trusting each other, but there would come a time where the would need that trust more than anything. That time was closer than any of them would know.