Me and Luke had been separated from the group after the latest events at Howes. We had got through the herd together, I heard Sarah scream. A noise that I know will now haunt me forever. I kept running with Luke a few paces in front of me.
"Come on Clem, we can't stop now!" He shouts and we run through the forestry to get a safe distance away from the hardware store where everything had just gone down.
I thought about Sarah, Carlos, Rebecca, Kenny and Jane. Did they make it out alive? My heart raced at the thought of them no longer being with us.
"I need to stop!" I yelled to Luke. I was out of breath. We had finally covered enough distance to slow down. I could no longer hear the constant groan of walkers or the gunshots from Howes. Luke stops. He holds onto his knees and breathes heavily. I sit on a log and do the same.
Anxiety and guilt bubbles inside of me. We lost everyone, there was no going back.
"We shouldn't have left them" I choke, still struggling for breath.
"We loose people Clem, we can't let it hold us back" He rubs the sweat off of his forehead and turns towards me. I didn't expect him to give me such a harsh comment in response.
"Kenny!" I say in shock as I remember him. I know he's strong even if he is a broken man. I look back into the dark forest for some sort of hope that they would come out of the bushes any second. I waited in anticipation, nothing happened.
"We can find them soon, we need to get somewhere safe to stay. Let's keep walking" I agree with Luke and begin to walk beside him.
I think about my parents, how much they looked after me before all of this began. My parents raised me in the broken yet semi-functional world, although people like Lee and Luke raised me in this messy world we now had to call home.
I treated Lee like a second father and Luke like an older brother I never had. Sometimes I didn't agree with what they were doing but I followed and nodded upon their decisions to keep them happy. No point in added more flames to the fire when you're already warm enough.
It was over an hour later when we came across a house. Oak wood built it up strong, a bit like the cabin but this house only consisted of one floor. No stairs.
"It looks abandoned" I say as we crouch down near the bushes near the house in case there's something or someone nearby we don't like the look of.
It was a small house in the middle of the forest with a singular road leading to it.
"Maybe we should follow the road?" I suggest. Luke ignored me as he studied the front of the house for a plan to flank it.
He gets up and doesn't say a word. I see a sign by the house it read '342 Swan Court'. I think about this for a little while and realise what this could be.
"It could be a cabin, for holidays?" I say waiting for my answer to be proven right.
"Could be, usually there's multiple cabins though. I only see one. Let's go check it out. If things go south and it's not what we expect, run back towards Howes. It's best to go in a direction we're familiar with and we'll work it out from there." He tells me. I acknowledge his information by giving him a nod.
We both walk up to the front door and I draw my pistol. Luke pulls the machete out of his holster in his dirty back and puts it in front of him for defence.
"We go in quietly" Luke gestures as he puts his finger to his lips. I stay as quiet as I can, the decking below me squeaks when I lean forward. It was getting cold out and my teeth begin to chatter.
Luke puts his hand on the door knob and pushes it open slowly. He is presented with a dark room. Remaining eye contact with the inside of the small cabin he speaks to me.
"You got any light Clem?" Luke whispers.
I remember I have a lighter in my back pocket and pull it out. I hand it to Luke and he flicks it on. He walks inside, the floorboards creak.
"Hello, is anyone in here?" He mutters under his breath.
It was horrible searching houses in pitch black. Anything could jump out from the shadows and that thought made my spine shiver. My teeth continued to chatter. Suddenly my foot knocked against something and I tripped. I fell and knocked Luke in the back and into the darkness.
"Jesus Christ Clem, are you okay? You scared the shit out of me!" Luke could of pulled the machete down onto my head right then and there. I'm glad he didn't. I reach down and realise I tripped on a candle.
"It's a candle, light it quick. We can have two lights going at once that lighter isn't going to last forever" I say as I hand the candle to him. He lights it and I use it to guide myself. I find another candle on the side. I light it as well.
I get a better view of the cabin. It only had one floor, the room we were in was obviously the lounge and it had a kitchen on the back. It looked like a holiday log cabin. I had stayed in one like it with my parents one summer when I was younger.
I remembered the smell of the pine trees outside as the sun shines down on them every morning. The way my dad would take advantage of the grill outside the back and cook everything he could on it. The way we smiled together. A family holiday. A memory.
"We should rest here" I say. It was a sensible suggestion in the circumstance.
"You should get some rest, I'll stay guard" Luke says, he wanted to protect me but his sagging eyes told a different story. It looked like he hadn't slept in days.
"If I sleep first, you promise when its light you'll get some rest too?"
"Promise" he reaches out his pinky finger. I smile and commit to the sacred pinky swear.
"I can sleep on the couch, Since we haven't searched anywhere else yet." I ask, I didn't really want to go in the other rooms, not without daylight. I settle down on the couch and lay my head on the pillow that was there. Luke comes and sits by my feet.
I decide to turn around and lay by him, he puts his arm around me. It reminds me of the time with Lee in the RV. I begin to son gently. I didn't want Luke to hear my emotions.
"Don't cry Clem we'll find them soon. They will be okay" he tries to comfort me. I knew he was lying to me.
"And what if we don't?" I wipe the few tears from my eyes with a clean part of my sleeve.
"Well, we have each other and that's all that matters. As long as you're not alone you'll be fine"
"We shouldn't have left them" I interrupt. I wanted to tell the truth, to tell him what was morally right.
"I know Clem, but there wasn't a lot else we could do."
"Do you think Rebecca and the baby are okay?"
"I don't know Clem. I really don't know" Luke mutters, at least he was being honest.
"Luke?"
"Yeah"
"I miss the way things used to be" I admit. I can hear his heartbeat, it's the only thing human that I've heard in a long time. It just feels, normal.
"So do I, I miss Ice cream" he smiles and tries to lighten the mood.
"Don't say that, now I want some" I laugh.
"Mint choc chip" He rubs his stomach, he reaches over me to do so.
"Strawberry" It felt good to talk about normal things. Rather how we will survive or who's going to be put who out of their misery next.
"Nick was allergic to Strawberries." Luke seemed sad, but he still managed to smile slightly. I guess he never had the time to grieve or even think about his best friend.
"Really?" I was now intrigued by the story.
"Yeah, one time we were on a field trip in school. We went to a farm, the farmer had picked fresh fruit and vegetables for everyone to try. Whilst I was eating a freshly picked Carrot with my other friend Steven, Nick probably wasn't thinking at the time and ate a strawberry right in front of me. It was only on the way back to the school his face went red. I asked him if he was okay and he replied by vomiting all over me" Luke begins to chuckle, sending vibrations to his stomach and making my was move.
"That's disgusting" I giggled, it was a funny story. I never got to know Nick very well. He seemed like he was an alright guy before the apocalypse, but wasn't everyone?
"That's Nick for you, ever since then he knows that he was allergic and stayed away from the things"
I laugh once again and close my eyes. These silly little stories from the past were all we had to keep us entertained but they made us happy, even for just a few minuet seconds. Before I know it I was asleep and dreaming of the time before people's flesh was ripped apart in the most unorthodox ways.
I dreamt about school, which I missed. Everything I learnt now was from the people around me, I wish Lee could of taught me more about history and the perks of being a teacher. He could have taught me so much more about the world.
I roll over on the couch and open my eyes. The room was light and well lit by the huge windows that dominated the room. I look around and see a man in a dirty brown sweater looking out the window.
Luke.