The Walking Dead (One Direction)

Chapter 30

Julia's POV:

I'm cold when I wake up. I don't know if it's that or something else that ultimately brings me back to consciousness, but I refuse to open my eyes either way. My body is tired, my eyelids are heavy and I instantly know that it's too early in the morning to be awake.

And then I receive another kick to the shin.

Why the hell is someone kicking me? Who has the balls to even do it? All of the guys know that I’ll just kick them twice as hard back.

“Fuck off,” I growl and cuddle closer to Harry’s side, my eyes still closed.

“Get the fuck up,” a female voice snaps back and I freeze.

I’m the only girl in our group. None of the guys are good enough impressionists to pull off such a good imitation, not even Niall.

My heart beats fast and hard in my chest as I open my eyes wide. I’m staring through the dark at a girl with brown hair and ripped clothes. She’s pointing a shotgun at me and her hazel eyes are burning with a mixture of fear and hatred. She’s wearing skinny jeans, a brown singlet and boots.

“Harry,” I say in a harsh whisper and nudge him rather forcefully as I slowly sit up.

I raise my hands in the air in surrender and quickly peek at the rest of the guys. All of them are sound asleep. What the fuck happened to the round of guard duty and why do heavy sleepers surround me when I desperately need someone to wake up?

“Who are you?” the girl demands harshly. Her eyes warily scan the rest of the guys to make sure they’re still asleep before they return to me. “What are you doing down here?”

“I’m Julia,” I tell her calmly. I want to nudge Harry again, but I’m fairly sure the stranger will shoot me in the kneecap if I even try. “We were just trying to catch some rest. Who’re you?”

I wonder whether she’s a part of the human sanctuary we’re so frantically looking for. If she is, they appear to be as wild and unruly as we are. Her tattered clothes and heavy weaponry tell a story of a hard life.

“I’m Katie,” she says cautiously. She nudges her weapon in the general direction of the sleeping guys before she continues. “Who’re your friends? Can they be trusted?”

“Can you?” I retort. “You’re the one pointing a weapon at us.”

“Sorry,” Katie says curtly, but she doesn’t lower her shotgun. “I’ve become careful like that.”

As Katie speaks, I notice someone moving to my left. The unwelcomed girl is too caught up in me to even notice and I refuse to avert my gaze from hers. I don’t want to sell out whoever is finally waking up to save me.

“Are you alone?” I say to keep her attention aimed at me. “Where have you been staying all this time?”

Katie opens her mouth to answer, but she doesn’t have the time to say anything before Jason has snaked up behind her to point a gun at her head. It’s the sound of the safety switch of his Beretta that makes her freeze in place. Seconds later my brother is pressing the cold barrel against her temple.

Jason voice is filled to the rim with malice when he speaks up. “Who the fuck are you?”

Katie doesn’t answer. For a moment she is completely paralyzed, but then she moves in one rapid movement. Her hands abruptly rise to point the shotgun directly at my head.

“If you pull the trigger, I will too,” she says. Her voice seems to be permanently hoarse as if she has spent most of her life screaming.

“Why don’t you try?” Jason whispers. His tone is dripping with a promise of violence. “I think I’ll beat you to it.”