Breathing the Dead ~ H.S

Chapter Fifty-Seven

A/N: I'm sorry for the long wait. I really am. But I had bad Writer's Block for this one and just when I was starting to get over it I received some really sad news about some old family friends. But I finally finished it, and I tried to make this chapter a little...different. See what you think :)

CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN: MOVING ON

My eyes slowly opened that early morning only to be met with a still-dark room – making me frown and reach out for my old pocket watch and hold it up to the small amount of light from the window to check the time. It was only about 4:30AM.

I groaned softly and set the watch down before I collapsed back into bed – turning my head towards Harry and making my eyes widen as I realised that he was actually awake as well – sitting on the edge of the bed and looking down towards the floor.

"...Harry?" I squinted at him tiredly and began to sit up, "Haz...are you OK..?"

After I received no reply, I bit my lip and shuffled closer to him – hugging his back and kissing his shoulder before I tried to figure out what he was looking that.

"Look at them," he murmured – a soft smile beginning to spread across his face, "they're both such heavy sleepers..."

I followed his gaze and realized that he was actually watching Lilly & Eric sleeping – with Lilly curled up cozily inside her crib and Eric sleeping peacefully in the single bed beside her. Upon seeing them, I couldn't help smiling as well.

"Yeah...I know," I let out a soft chuckle before turning serious again, "Harry...what's wrong? What's on your mind?"

Harry sighed. "I've just...I've been thinking that..." he lowered his eyes, "...Liam was right, Laura. We can't...stay here anymore. This camp has already run its course...it's probably only a matter of time before the whole place starts crumbling around us..." I saw him bite down on his bottom lip anxiously.

Oh, dear.

"Harry..." I began slowly, "you know what was happening to Liam, honey. He was losing it...most of the things he said were complete & utter nonsense."

"Not what he said about our situation," Harry replied, "we ran out of building supplies months ago, love. We're even running out of supplies in general. And so is Norcrest. We haven't even been able to reinforce the walls anymore. We've picked this place clean, Laura. There's nothing...left for us here," he shook his head and sighed again, "we can't let the kids live in these conditions. Walker herds are filling up this town more & more each day. There...there has to be some place out there where we can keep them safe. Someplace so much safer than this..."

I sighed. "Haz...I can understand where you're coming from, but...but where else can we go?" I asked him, "This...this is the only safe place we've known all these years...and all the other nearby towns...Greyfort, Lochpine...they're all filled with walkers, too."

"The forest goes out in dozens of directions," Harry said, "maybe something good could be waiting for us in one of them," he gazed out of one of the windows thoughtfully, "our group isn't what it used to be. Right now we're just two adults, one preteen, and one toddler in a town like this. We'll never survive."

I lowered my eyes and sighed again. "I know, Harry. I know, but..." I bit my lip, "it's so...horrible out there. There's zombies around every corner...lurking in every shadow...and hidden inside every building. How are we going to do this? We don't even know where we could go. Even that 'community' Liam became obsessed with might not even exist."

"I'm not...suggesting we try and follow Liam's footsteps. God forbid we ever go down the same path he did..." Harry began to nibble anxiously at his bottom lip, "but there has to be somewhere else...there has to be..."