ZombiePalooza - Anthology

#TeamVoodoo Pt. VII - @angerbda's "Knockin' On Heaven's Door"

The inventory of her meager resources was shortly forgotten when she heard some noise that startled her. It was not an animal, or the wind blowing through the leaves in the quiet bayou. The sound was human. People were talking, to be more precise.

"I tell you, K, I heard something. I don't think it was a croc' or a bird." The voice came from her left, slightly above her. The girl was hidden in a hole well protected by tall roots, as if they were walls in a maze. As they approached, she tried to make herself smaller than she already was, to make herself invisible.

"Ty! It's the tenth time, today!" A second voice, more mature, answered the first one with a sigh. "I hope for you that you really found something. I swear it will be the last time I take you on the team!"

"Found it!" The younger voice, Ty's one as it seemed, almost deafened the girl.

Shyly, she opened her eyes and lifted her head. Just above her, two shining orbs encased in a joyful face was greeting her. There were no place for her to hide anymore.

As gently as he could, the young man extended his hand to the girl, flashing a reassuring smile. She gave him her own hand, tentatively. The newcomer did not rush her, nor force her out of her rabbit hole. He was patient. And smiling.

"What do we have here?" The older man was standing a few steps away, as not to crowd the two others.

"Look what I found, K!" Ty sounded as excited as a pup playing fetch. Hopefully, he did not start yapping as one.

"Did you learn nothing, Ty?" The man named K asked in a brisk manner. "How can you get her like that without checking first if she is one of them or not. I thought you had learnt to be more careful. Do I need to remind you of Gary?"

Ty looked annoyed by the remark, though he rapidly forgot it and focused on the girl. "Look at her, her eyes, the way she wrings her hands... She does not show any signs of an infection."

K observed her intently. He could only conclude Ty was correct on his diagnostic. "Little one," he addressed her, "you are a lucky one. There are still some monsters in this area, and you could have ended up in bad company. What are you doing here alone? Where are you coming from? Did you lose your group?" The questions seemed to have no end. K asked them, and some more. The girl kept looking at him, trying to figure out the answers.

He had called her Little one. She realized she had no idea what she looked like. She had no idea, either, about where she was from. About who she was. This morning was the only recollection she seemed to have.

She started explaining it to the two men. They were not, however, too intent in listening to her. In few words and less movements, Ty took charge of her bag and K was guiding her through the wetland. The girl wondered who they were and what was happening. Was she to be rescued and fed? Or was she to be feeding them?

Keeping her thoughts to herself, listening to some more questions coming from the two, yet not even interested in knowing the answers, she followed. Her day had been a long and tiring run from the darkness, to end up returning to it, or so, it felt like it to the tired girl. Soon, they reached their destination, the sun setting down, bathing their surroundings in a soothing pastel.

What appeared to be a wooden house was standing in the middle of nowhere. The house in itself had no specific traits; it was almost invisible, in fact, blending among the trees. The girl, however, had been startled by the sudden onslaught of activity. People were coming from the house, from the ground, and from the trees at the back. K and Ty, the two men who had found her, led her among those trees to a clearing of sort. There stood two metallic gates, rusty and rickety. Beyond these doors, she could see stones and vaults spread over the ground.