Through Duck's Eyes (Book 1)

Not Bitten

There was little to no conversation during the ride. From what happened at Hershel's, I just had this huge guilt on my shoulders. I hope the family is okay...

Dad drove for a while until we made it to a city. I think we're in Macon? It seems like it, but it looks so abandoned. Cars scattered all over the roads, shops either broken in or boarded up. It's like a ghost town.

The truck slowed, then came to a stop.

"Well, this is as far as we're going," Dad said.

"Then it's far enough." Lee said, already opening the door to get out. Everyone else all followed suit.

We were then walking on the streets of Macon. I walked a little ahead looking around. There is this body trapped under a streetlight... poor guy.

I looked ahead down the street and spot something... Is that a person? It looked like someone is fixing behind that turned over car.

"Look!" I said, pointing to get everyone's attention. The group came up next to me to see.

"Hey there! You friendly?" Dad said, waving his arms in the air to get the persons attention. "Truck's ran out of gas."

The person turned... and snarled at us. It's those monsters!

"Fuck!" Dad said, shocked.

Out came more of those things, limping and crawling our way. They started closing in on us. We all backed away slowly, looking for a way out.

"We're trapped!" Mom exclaimed.

I suddenly heard a grunting noise behind me... I turned around quickly and yelped, noticing it's already on top of me. I put my arm up, trying to not let its mouth come any closer.

"AHHH! NO!" I can't hold it up any longer, "NO!!!" Its mouth getting closer.

BANG

The monster collapsed and I pushed it away, backing up. When I stood, I suddenly felt comforting arms around me.

I didn't have time to register it until I heard a man yell, "RUN!"

You don't have to tell me twice. I sprinted away as fast as I could towards the door everyone's heading to.

I was suddenly picked up by mom, carrying me towards a counter.

"Oh God, let's clean you up." She whispered, already wiping off the grime with her hands. I didn't realize I was covered in thick dry blood, mud and dirt. My face showed disgust.

I didn't say anything as she wiped me down, checking around my body. I held my arm in pain, wincing here and there. I fell down hard on it when I was being attacked.

"Holy shit," I heard a raspy voice say. "Son of a bitch, one of them is bitten!"

My mom stopped wiping and gently grabbed the arm I was holding onto. She looked at the scrape and sighed in relief that it's not a bite.

"He wasn't bitten," I heard Lee say.

"Hell he wasn't!" The old man pointed at him. "We have to end this, now." The old man said, walking menacingly towards me but was stopped when dad went in front of him, blocking his view of me.

"Over my dead body," dad growled.

"We'll dig one hole."

"No!" Mom said, wiping around my face rapidly. "I'm cleaning him up, there's no bite! He's fine!"

The old man nearly cut her off. "Don't you fucking people get it?! We've already seen this happen. We let someone with a bite stay and- and we all end up bitten!"

"Shut up," dad said sternly.

The man continued, "We gotta throw him out! Or smash his head in!" I gasped, why would he do something crazy like that?

Mom noticed this. "Kenny! Stop him!" She said hysterically.

"Lee, what do we do about this guy?" Dad asked.

"Dad, it's just a boy. It's-" A young woman tried to convince but was cut off.

"Lilly, I'll handle this." The man responded.

"But your heart, dad. You need to calm down." She then looked at me, "We'll get this kid out of here." My eyes downcast.

"It's either him or your son. I say it's him." Lee said, crossing his arms.

Dad agreed. "Goddamn right; out on his ass with those things."

Another woman shouted. "Everyone, chill the fuck out!"

Lilly replied, "Nobody is doing anything."

"Shut up, Lilly!" Her dad said, he then turned to the woman. "And you, shut the fuck up." The man turned towards everyone. "They will find us and they will get in here, and none of this will fucking matter." He then faced dad. "But right now, we're about to be trapped in here with one of those things!"

"What the hell are you talkin' about?"

"He's bitten! That's how you turn!" He spat.

"But I'm not bitten!" I wanted to say, but kept my mouth shut because the man is scaring me. I don't want him to focus fully on me.

"He's not bitten!" Mom repeated and continued wiping. "Lee, stop this. It's upsetting him!"

The old man said in sarcasm. "Oh, I'm 'upsetting' him?" He nearly laughed, "Upsetting is getting eaten alive!"

"Dad, we get it. It's a big deal," Lilly said.

"Do you? You're not fucking acting like it."

"I-It's Larry right? Man, this is his son." Lee said.

Larry looked towards Lee. "Look around, dumbass. I got a daughter in here, you got a daughter in here. Get your head out of your ass, boy."

"We've all got people in here and we can figure this out without killing anybody! There's another way."

"Yeah, with a shovel."

Dad is getting angry. "I'm gonna kill him, Kat! Just worry about, Duck." Mom just nodded, almost done cleaning my face.

"Lee?" I heard Clementine's voice say. I looked over to where she's at, she's by the restroom. Her doing a bit of the 'I got to pee' dance.

"Yeah?" Lee responded.

"There's someone in there."

"It's just locked, key's behind the counter." He paused, "probably."

"Hey, I'm not the bad guy here. I'm just looking out for my daughter," Larry spoke up.

"No, you're just the guy arguing for killing a kid!" Dad shot back.

"He's covered in muck! She'll find the bite, WATCH!"

"She won't."

"And if she does?" He almost smirked. "The first thing he'll do is sink his teeth into his mom's face." I shut my eyes tight. I will never do such a thing, because I'm not bitten!

Larry then turned to Lee. "Then once she's dead, he'll probably pounce on your little girl. She'll turn fast and then they'll be three."

He looked me, eyes leering. "And that boy, is the ballgame."

"Then we deal with it then. But right now we're just freaking everybody out," Lee said.

"Then get ready to deal with it because that boy is bitten."

"It's not gonna happen!" Dad shouted.

"It is and we're tossing him out now!!"

Mom is practically all done cleaning my face. She checked all over, not a scratch but the scrape. No bites.

"NO! You don't touch that boy!" Lee shouted, "You don't touch anybody. I've got a little girl I'm trying to protect in here too!" He advanced on Larry, daring him to strike. "You want to get violent you old fuck?! Well, COME ON! You better have a plan to kill me though, because it's me before anyone else in here!"

After he said that, we all heard a shrill scream... it came from Clementine.