Instead of running the two walked at a medium pace. The forest was quite not even the sounds of birds chirping could be heard.

Both Aj and Kenny have grown accustomed to it. Of course every survivor who made it this far into the apocalypse have also been forced to accept this is a their new world they live in now.

A small shivered went down Aj's spine as a small gust of wind blew past them.

"Looks like falls coming soon" Kenny sighed. If supplies weren't already hard enough to find it would definitely get worse.

At least the walkers would slow down for the most part. Once fall arrives then will come winter.

Kenny could still remember the winter when Aj was born. It was miracle but also a tragedy. Aj never got to meet his mom nor did Kenny get the chance to grief over Sarita before even more people lost their lives.

"Do you think we can get through it?" Aj peered up at him with a slightly worried expression

Aj met his eyes for a mere second before turning to look at the road ahead "of course we will buddy, after all we made it this far"

He nodded then followed his gaze to the road. Kenny couldn't help but feel his heart sink to his stomach. They barley got through last winter.

Supplies were scarce, the temperature made it hard to move around, not to mention the lack of warm clothing.

Not even a month in and Aj fell ill. Aj was still quite young so his body wasn't able to keep up with moving around.

As much as he wanted to settle down somewhere for winter to pass they couldn't. Either the supplies in the area would widdle down till they were forced to go scavenge some more, or the herd would eventually catch up to them.

Kenny wasn't sure how long he had left and without Clementine around to help him he had to make sure Aj knew how to survive.

He wasn't getting any younger, so he made sure to teach Aj everything he knew. He wondered how Lee enjoyed being a history teacher, everything he teaches Aj goes through one ear and out the other.

He does a decent job of retaining most of what he tells him though, but not enough to be able to go alone to hunt, or scavenge for supplies. He can do look out pretty good, so that's something.

Aj looked like he had something on his mind, but refrained from speaking.

Kenny raised an eyebrow but the small boy refused to speak. He shrugged it off and continued walking.

Their feet ached. Throats parched, shoulders sore, yet the two continued on.

Soon they came across a sight so familiar that their hearts felt slightly heavy. They seen this sight so much that over time the feeling of pity and sadness was no longer that strong.

A girl laid limply on the floor. Drenched in her own blood. Her face was contorted into one of extreme horror and pain.

A gaping hole adorned her abdomen, with a few bite marks littering neck.

Looks like the dead got her

Kenny nudged Aj's shoulder motioning for him to continue onward. The small boy averted his eyes, his legs walked at a faster pace than before.

Death was now a common thing, but no matter how much you see it, no matter how much you experience the overwhelming feeling of dread will forever be attached to you like a leach attached to human slowly eating away at you.

The contorted faces of the dead will appear in your nightmares. The scent of the decaying bodies leaves a sickening feeling in your stomach. The way the life in a persons eyes disappeared will pierce your soul.

Kenny subconsciously raised his hand to touch the worn out brown eye patch that covered an old wound, also known as a near death experience.

However this wound wasn't his only encounter with death. He and death weren't strangers in the least bit.

Kenny take goofball, and get out of here! Don't worry about me I'll catch up. We're survivors after all

'Survivors' that's what Clem had called them, before she was ripped away.

"..grandpa... grandpa ken!" Aj pulled on his sleeve while calling out to him.

He immediately let his hand fall back down as he focused on the small boy. "What is lit kiddo?"

"There's a small town over there!" He said excitedly. His once tired body moved with such energy it made the older man wonder if he was faking his tiredness.

Nonetheless he smiled. The small boy let his hand go and ran to the town, despite Kenny calling out to him, he continued to run causing him to start chasing after him.

If his throat didn't already hurt it was definitely hurting now. Aj arrived at the houses two minutes before Kenny did.

"You know the rules"

"Sorry grandpa"

Kenny motioned to the door he had opened "And?"

Aj pulled out a knife from his pocket "make sure the place is walker free before opening the door"

"That's right, but since you already opened the door.." he walked over to grab a stone off the ground. Aj grabbed it from his hand and tossed it in

When nothing was herd they went inside, kenny leading the way.

Once they were sure the house was clear they began their scavenging.

The first house was empty, the second house had half a full water bottle which Kenny finished in secret.

Till they reached the last house they had found nothing else. Luckily the last house was a water bottle left in the fridge and granola bar hidden under in between the couch cushions. The couch looked sad, it's cushions were sunk in, tears formed at the seems, the color was faded.

Getting bored at looking at the couch he turned to Aj "Let's go back to the first house to rest for the night we'll continue in the morning"

Aj's face lit up once again at the mention of rest and happily followed him.

❤︎ E N D  O F ❤︎
❤︎ C H A P T E R ❤︎
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❤︎ W O R D  C O U N T ❤︎

1073

❤︎ N O T E ❤︎
I Hope you enjoyed the first chapter of this new book! And I Hope you have a wonderful day or night

❤︎ ꪶꪮꪜꫀ ꪖsꫝ ❤︎
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