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Of Blood and Breath

Chapter 2: Left Behind


Forrest blinked his eyelids as his eyes adjusted to the sunlight. He looked at his settings around him; he was lying in a tent on top of a large, soft blanket. On the sides of the tent, there were flaps that could be zipped up or down; currently the tents flaps were down, allowing sunlight to flow in. Outside he could see a few other tents and there appeared to be a couple figures moving around outside.

Forrest hesitantly arose with some struggle to find out where he was. He unzipped the tent and stepped outside. He saw a young Asian man in a red baseball cap who appeared to be in his early twenties, a black man who Forrest speculated was in his early thirties, and a black woman who didn't look much older than the black man.

Forrest wasn't used to people of other races. He grew up in a town which mostly inhabited by Caucasians and the occasional Hispanic. People of other races weren't often appreciated in that town, even the Hispanics who lived there weren't treated fairly.

The three seemed to notice Forrest quickly.

"Good morning," the black man spoke first. "The name's T-Dog. This is Jacqui and Glenn."

"Forrest," he introduced casually.

"You'd been down for nearly three days since we found you," T-Dog continued. "It was Glenn who insisted on saving you. Jacqui and I just wanted to get to Atlanta to be safe."

"Thanks. It's good to know you two were so urgent with helping a young teen," Forrest said, sarcasm evident in his voice.

The three exchanged glances.

"Hey man, don't be like that," T-Dog spoke up. "All we saw was a crashed truck, we didn't have any reason to believe that there was anyone alive in there, but Glenn insisted on checking. You know how things are. The 'dead are walking'; we were in a hurry."

"Excuse my nasty sarcasm, friend," Forrest apologized," but did you say the dead are walkin'?'"

"You've been asleep a whole lot longer than we thought, boy," Jacqui commented.

"What have you heard about what's going on?" T-Dog.

"I heard about cannibalistic attacks on towns near Atlanta," Forrest answered. "I heard that it may or may not be connected to some kind of virus. The town I lived in hadn't been touched by cannibals."

"Turns out it is related to a virus," Glenn replied. "People, they get bit, scratched, anything like that by one of these 'cannibals' and they die... but then they come back, but they're not themselves. They become one of the cannibals themselves."

"That's impossible."

"I'd agree with you if I hadn't seen it myself," Glenn responded.

"I got a question," Forrest said.

"Don't we all?" T-Dog remarked.

"When you found me, was there anyone else there too?"

"There was a geek in the truck eatin' a red haired kid about your age and a couple geeks outside the truck, lookin' for some fresh meat. Judging by that we must've found you quickly after the crash or else the red head would've awoke and eaten you too," T-Dog answered.

"Geeks are what we chose to call the cannibals," Glenn explained.

Forrest nodded.

"My friend, Sam," Forrest began, "he was the red head. That means Andy and Jake are still alive... and they left me for dead."

"Sorry, sweetie," Jacqui sympathized.

Forrest took a moment to process this information. Sam was dead. Andy and Jake left him to die too. Forrest had felt a brotherhood between these three and himself, but perhaps he was wrong.

"You said you were in a hurry," Forrest recalled. "Where y'all headed."

"Atlanta," Glenn said.

"The promised land," T-Dog added. "They say there's food, shelter, all that good stuff."

"That doesn't sound too promisin'," Forrest predicted.

"Why not?" asked Glenn.

"They said on the news that towns around Atlanta were bein' hit the hardest," Forrest began to explain. "All these people'll be comin' through these towns and the geeks'll follow 'em all right in and Atlanta will be the hot spot for the dead."

"Military protection," T-Dog stated. "Think about that."

"I don't need to," Forrest said quickly. "I got family back in my hometown. I ain't goin' to Atlanta."

"You can't go out there all alone!" Glenn reasoned. "Look, if what you say is true, then everywhere is dangerous. You can't go all alone out there."

"I'll be just fine, thank you."

"No you won't," Glenn said. "It seems to me that you haven't really experienced what it's like out there. I'm sure that if your family's alive, they're waiting for you there... and if they're not then I'll go with you myself and search all of hell and earth for them."

Forrest sized Glenn up. "You seem capable... Fine. I'll go with ya to Atlanta, but they ain't gonna be there and yer just gonna have to leave right away. I suppose there ain't no chance that my dad's gonna die anytime soon... or my uncle."

"Good," Glenn said. "Trust me, you'll thank me later."

"We'll stay at this camp for one more night," T-Dog said. "In the morning, we pack everything up and go to Atlanta."

A few hours passed, the skies darkened, and the hot day cooled down. It must have been about 6 PM. Jacqui was in her tent, probably reading a book by candle light; T-Dog was keeping watch as Glenn and Forrest played against each other in a card game known as 'War.'

"I won this round," Glenn bragged.

"Pure luck," Forrest replied. "That's all this game is."

"Don't be jealous," Glenn jeered.

"Uh, guys," T-Dog interjected.

"What is it, T?" Forrest questioned as he and Glenn approached him.

T-Dog stood rather stately, looking through a pair of binoculars at something in the distance. He handed the binoculars to Glenn, his eyes glued to the same spot.

"Geeks," Glenn informed Forrest.

"About ten of 'em," T-Dog added. "I'll go tell Jacqui. You two, stay alert. Start putting our things into the van."

Glenn nodded and ran off, Forrest began to follow, but was stopped by T-Dog.

"Here," he said as he pulled a knife from his belt and handed it to Forrest. "You're gonna need it."

"Thanks," Forrest nodded.

T-Dog went off towards Jacqui as Forrest joined Glenn in loading T-Dog's van with their belongings.

"We don't have enough time," Forrest observed. "The geeks'll be here before we're done."

"Well, hurry!" Glenn suggested. "We might have to fight a little, but we'll be alright."

"Glass half full kinda guy," Forrest said as he loaded a folded tent into T-Dog's truck. "I like it."

"Thanks."

"Any time."

"That's everything" T-Dog noted. "Get in, we need to go, like now!"

The smell of dead intensified and Forrest could here stumbling feet shuffling through the long, Georgia grass

T-Dog ran to the driver's seat and Jacqui to the passenger's. Glenn stuffed himself into the back as he gestured Forrest to join him, but as Forrest stepped forward, he felt a rotten hand squeeze around his wrist. He turned around to see what could have once been a beautiful woman with her teeth beared, ready to feast upon the flesh Forrest's arm. Forrest pulled away from the woman as he reached for the knife T-Dog had gifted him. He raised it to the geek's forehead and stabbed her in the brain, sucking what was left of life out of her. Forrest heard the sound of a gunshot. He looked up and saw Glenn holding a familiar shotgun shooting towards the surrounding geeks.

"Let's go!" Glenn urged.

Forrest ran to the back of the van and climbed inside, slamming the doors behind him. T-Dog drove off in the direction of Atlanta, leaving what was left of the geeks behind.

Notes

Comments

Hope to see this fic continue, its super good

Twitterpated Twitterpated
10/7/17

@thewalkerinme
I have some plans for the future. Thanks so much, your feedback means a lot to me. You'll have to wait and see :)

ForrestDixon ForrestDixon
4/17/16

@thewalkerinme
I have some plans for the future. Thanks so much, your feedback means a lot to me. You'll have to wait and see :)

ForrestDixon ForrestDixon
4/17/16

Ahhh! God, I freaking adore Forrest. He's such a great dude. The future of this story excites me to no end. How will you play out the zach thing, and her death, and just her whole story ark in general agh I'm so excited to find out! Beth and Forrest have the cutest scenes together, and he even fits so well with other characters like talking to Rick and Dale *sobs agh my heart*
Keep this up. I look forward to many many more updates!

thewalkerinme thewalkerinme
4/17/16

@thewalkerinme
Sorry for not seeing this until now. I'll do my best to get this story fully back in action. Thanks for commenting!

ForrestDixon ForrestDixon
4/10/16