Just Me And You

Chapter 1: New Beginnings

I hit my back on the tall and slim oak tree that I chose to be my cover, panting and gasping for air.

I look around hastily and wonder to myself, How the hell did they get through our defenses? We had our Wal-Mart Supercenter defended decently well, what were our lookouts doing?

I twist my body, trying to just get my head around the tree to look up the steep hill towards the Wal-Mart, hearing gunshots and lots of yelling. I see nothing of immediate danger, but the moment I start turning back, I start hearing a nearby bush and some tall grass rustling.

I quickly turn around to see my best friend attempting to reach me, smiling at me, though I could see some worry and fear in his face.

He finally gets decently close to me before saying quietly "What happened and how?", letting his voice waver a little.

"I don't even know, it came on us so fast. I barely made it out. The only others that I saw that weren't dead as I was leaving were Jon, Ben, Shayne, Zach, and Allie.

My best friend looked at me with worry in his eyes, and spoke quietly "Let's get going Matty, we can't stay here anymore. Everyone knows our emergency plan to go to the park a few miles away. We can stay there for a day or two to see who comes, but we will have to leave this town... the town we lived in for years... we can't exactly fight them in the state we're in now. Not with so many of our friends possibly..."

He looked like he was on the verge of crying, as did I.

I nod once, "Anything to keep us all as safe as possible. Alright Riley... let's go."

So, we quickly but quietly started heading through the small plot of forest land and set out for the side road, still hearing a few gunshots behind us.

I look at my buddy and stop for a second. "Hey, you have an extra knife or maybe even a gun with you? I didn't get to grab one in my rush out."

He nods and reaches his hand into his backpack, bringing out a suppressed pistol after fishing around for a little bit. "It will work for now. Only 4 shots in it though. Better than nothing, I trust?"

I nod and grab the weapon, hoping only a few zeds got in our way. As we walk, I keep glancing at my friend every few minutes.

"Something you need to talk about?" He looked at me, genuinely curious.

"I know it's probably not the best thing, but I can't stop thinking... I saw a few of us go down... Kayden was shot very close to me, as was Ian. Saige and Mia were on the other side of the store, and I have no idea what happened to the 4 lookouts. I sincerely hope my little cousins got out..." I trailed off.

"... I mean, we can always hope. Jon is strong in every way, he can get Ben and himself out of there." He stops speaking and thinks for a couple of seconds, then he looks at me and says with worry weaved in his voice, "What happened to Kagan, Daniel, Ky, Collin, Evan, and Elzik?"

I shook my head, "They all were either out on a run or on the other side of the store. I have no idea. Hopefully the ones out on a run realize what happened before they get trapped, or even better, someone was able to get word to them over the walkies." I then quizzically looked at my friend, "So, what happened to Jazmyn and Kaelyn? They went out with you on your run right?"

He looked at me sadly, "They... they were both bit. We hit a horde of them as we were leaving a larger home in the woods over off of Fort King road. We all almost got out, but they were grabbed at almost the same time, and I was about to save one when another zed got the jump on me... I almost died with them out there... but I was able to throw it off of me and run before anything else horrible happened. I didn't look back- I... I couldn't." He choked his words as he stopped moving and sat down at a tree we were passing.