Death to Life

*6 months later*

"Josh wake up" A young female voice whispers above me. Amber is tapping my shoulder trying to wake me up even though its only four in the morning.

"Ugh what?..." I ask wearily. It isn't uncommon for me to wake up early or go to sleep late nowadays but it still annoys the living crap out of me when I have to. "You said you were going on the supply run with us today remember?" Amber says quietly.

Oh... yeah I did promise that. After reaching Miami a few months ago, the six of us that survived the outbreak at the school met up with another group of survivors that seemed to know their way around the city pretty well. They were no fighters however, they only survived long enough for us to get there because they were able to hide on top of a roof. So despite me being one of the youngest members of the group, I am the leader of my part of the group. The overall leader is Mr. Martin, or Ed. He was the only one that actually had the balls to leave with us to go on supply runs.

For the past six months we've been hiding out in a warehouse near the outskirts of town. The warehouse used to manufacture hunting supplies, unfortunately it had been raided before we got here, so there were only a few rifles and bows when we arrived. Currently, whenever I go out on supply runs or go on watch, I carry the revolver I found in the school, as well as a compound bow.

"Alright... where are we going exactly?" I ask Amber as I sluggishly get up from my cot.

"The abandoned Walmart downtown, we're running low on food again."

"Ok, who all is going?" I ask while loading up my revolver. "Well there's you, me, Ed, Jake, Logan, Mary, and Sarah" She says looking down at a little list that she made. Ever since we got setup in this warehouse she's really learned to earn her keep. She went from being a helpless little kid to being one of our strongest members. She still worries about her brother sometimes, but I have to keep her hopes up that there's still a chance he made it out of the school. I miss him too, he was my best friend since elementary. To think he might be gone forever really bothers me... but he isn't there only one I miss. My parents are gone to, whether they're alive or not is unknown but... I doubt they made it out of the city before shit finally calmed down after the initial outbreak.

"Ah, Josh just the man I wanted to see!" Ed says enthusiastically as we near the entrance. Everyone else is already geared up and ready to go. "I assume Amber already told you where we're going?" He says giving a small smile towards Amber to which she giggles and shyly hides behind me.

"Yeah, Walmart downtown right?"

"Yep, gonna go hit the produce section and see if we can't ourselves some canned food. So, are you ready to head out?"

"Yes sir!" I say as he opens the door to the loading bay. The only vehicles we have are my truck and a motorcycle that we found in a parking lot. Everyone piles into my truck except for me. I've taken a liking to the sports bike that we found and usually take it when we go out. I hop on the bike and start the engine up as I wait for Ed to start up the truck. When I see Ed pull out I follow, revolver in hand. Yeah, another perk of using the bike is that I can easily shoot my revolver while I drive, though I'm not very accurate at those kinds of speeds. We pull out onto the main road in front of the warehouse and begin riding into what used to be Miami.

We arrive about half an hour later just as the sun began to come over the horizon. The Walmart itself seems to be pretty intact, but there are walkers scattered throughout the parking lot. I think there may be a few inside too from what I can see inside.

"Alright we go in silently, we get what we need, and we get the hell out." Ed whispers to us as we gather together. He and the others screw silencers onto their rifles. Unluckily for me, we have yet to find any that will fit on my revolver so it looks like I'm stuck to my bow for now. In fact if it weren't for the risk of being surrounded, I probably wouldn't bring the gun anymore since it just seems to weight me down. On the bright side, since I almost never use the revolver, we have a surplus of ammo that can only fit that particular model. I currently have about thirty-two rounds on me that I most likely will never use, thirty-eight if you count whats already in the chambers.

"Alright I'll take Amber and Sarah and check out the sporting goods section for weapons." I state firmly. I decided to take them with me since they can actually fight and they're the only two I really care about in our group other than Ed. The end of the world really changed me, it made me hard on the inside, I stopped really having emotions towards anyone besides Sarah and Amber. I'm protective of Amber for obvious reasons, but Sarah was one of the students that we saved at the school... and I think I might have a thing for her. She's athletic as well as a good fighter. She also has that "I-don't-give-a-fuck" attitude that I have. I've learned not to let anyone else get too close to me out of fear that I could lose them at any second. Another thing that the apocalypse has taught me is to trust nobody, not even your friends. I trust Amber and Sarah with my life, but I can't say the same for everyone else.

"Alright y'all head in there, we'll head over to produce. We'll meet you back here when you're done." Ed says with a calm smile. I hate it when he does that, its like he thinks things are still good in this world. I don't believe him, the world we knew is gone and that one was far from perfect as it was.

We sneak through the parking lot silently. Thankfully we brought the vehicles pretty close to the entrance so it shouldn't be to hard to get to the store entrance.

Once we get to the glass doors, I put my bow over my shoulder and pull the doors apart as hard as I can. With enough force I'm able to get the doors open enough to squeeze through.

"Good job, Hercules" Sarah jokes as she runs through. "Oh just shut up already." I say with a smirk as I follow the two inside. Once we're in I can see the internal damage that the store has taken. There are corpses everywhere, most of them are dead thankfully. Blood is splattered on the floors and it smells like a dump. We sprint to the sporting goods section in hope to find something useful.

We search for about fifteen minutes with no luck. All the supplies that could be used as a weapon are gone or destroyed to no repair.

That is when I hear the most horrifying scream I have heard since that first day at the school. I run towards the entrance where the scream emitted from to find Jake covered in blood and screaming with at least five walkers on top of him.

"Shit!" I yell as I see just how many walkers are coming through the door. I can see that Jake had tried to get my bike inside probably in an attempt to escape the huge horde of walkers approaching the store. I run over to the bike, but before I get on I fire a single bullet into Jake's skull to put him out of his misery, no longer caring about the sound it makes.

I drive the bike over the Amber and Sarah... but I'm too late a walker has Sarah by the neck and sinks its teeth into her arm just as I arrive.

"NOOO!" I yell as I shoot the walker right between the eyes from the bike. I want to fall off an cry but I remember Amber who is just staring at a bleeding Sarah on the ground. I don't even have time to put her out of her misery before walkers start funneling into the aisle from the side I entered into. I grab Amber by the arm and force her onto the bike as I speed off into the depths of the store.

I can hear the rest of my group screaming throughout the store as well as gunshots and explosions from what I can only hope are the two emergency grenades that we brought along.

I come to a screeching stop when I realize I just drove into a dead end in the corner of the store. I just made a decision that could kill us and I didn't even think about it! Damn it I'm such an idiot! Amber is going to die because of my dumb ass!

"Josh..." Amber whines as she sees hundreds of walkers cornering us. She can't die like this, ripped to shreds by some undead bastards. I won't let her suffer, not like Sarah.

I slowly bring up my gun while a tear streams down my face. I place the gun next to Amber's head as tears start pouring from my eyes.

"Im so sorry..." I whisper as I place my finger over the trigger.

The second before I pull the trigger a bright pinkish-purple light surrounds us and the bike. Electricity is sparking around us and a strong wind forms around us. The light becomes so intense I have to close my eyes shut as hard as I can.

The next thing I know, it feels like I'm falling into a bottomless pit. My screams are drowned out as everything around me turns to darkness and I fade out of consciousness.