Chapter Text
You never thought life in the apocalypse would be easy. Since you were young you always had a plan on what to do in different situations but this. This was the worst.
You grunted as your back hit the wall and you shuffled along it to stay out of sight. The groaning of the dead body around the corner grew closer to where you hid. Why did you have to run out of food and need to run to the store today. The small town looked abandoned with only two dead stumbling around the street when you first scoped it out.
A small whimper shook you out of your thoughts and you glanced to the young girl next to you clutching her bag strap in one hand and a small pocket knife in the other. You softly huffed under your breath and adjusted your grip on your axe.
You two had just entered the seemingly abandoned store until you heard the shuffling and ducked around the corner. And now you had to take care of the new problem so you can get the kid some food in her stomach. You glanced at her and gestured for her to stay put with a look as you stood up straight and stepped around the corner.
Luckily the dead thing was facing away at the wall and just turned to face you as your axe swung down onto its face. It let out a gurgle as the top of its head was sliced off and slumped to the ground. You panted as you glanced around the store to double check you were alone now.
When you deemed it safe you clicked your tougne twice and the little girl stepped around the corner. She ran down the isle and started looking under the nearly empty shelves. You chuckled as you pulled out a dirty rag to quickly clean your axe before putting it away on your belt strap.
You remembered how you got stuck with this kid under your care. A loud "Yes!" came from her direction reminding you that you that you would gladly be stuck with her. "Don't be too loud Sammy. we dont want to draw any more to us." You spoke over the short shelf making her nod bashfully and stuffed what looked like a bag of dried fruit into her bag.
When the world first fell and the dead started walking you got out of the area with everything you could carry in your bag and wandered near the woods trying to hunt with snare traps when you stumbled upon her group.
There were about seven men, five women and three kids including Sammy. It was just her and her dad and at first you didnt think anything of them. You were just trying to survive to be able to wake up the next day. But one hot and humid morning when Sammy walked over to the campfire with a long sleeved shirt on you were suspicious. When you handed her a bowl for breakfast the next day and she reached for it, her sleeve rose slighty showing a nasty bruise on her wrist and you immediately became protective of her.
Every morning you made sure she ate next to you and after lunch you took all the kids to the nearby creek to teach them how to fish with your fingers and purify the water by boiling it. By dinner you'd sit next to her and her dad and kept a close eye on him until he stumbled into his tent to take night watch later.
One night when you and Sammy were watching the embers burn out in the fire sitting on some dusty folding chairs, it was dark and everyone but the person on watch and you two were asleep. You blinked at the sudden weight on your shoulder as Sammy had just put her head on you and started snoozing. You were fighting sleep and all you could remember was that it felt like you just blinked and suddenly you hear a gunshot and a man yell. You jolted awake making Sammy's head fall off your shoulder as you quickly stood up and grabbed your small pistol from its holster.
It was total chaos after that. The dead were everwhere you looked, eating all the other survivors with gunshots popping off left and right. You were lucky you made a run that day and still had the bag packed next to your chair as you swung that over your shoulder and grabbed Sammy's hand and quickly ran.
You weaved through the dead, shooting any that got close to you and making sure Sammy stayed next to you. You managed to find a small gap between the dead and ducked though and you both kept running until you couldn't breath. After that you kept to the woods and did your best to hunt small game like rabbits but eventually you had to venture into towns. When the snow started you did your best to make shabby fur cloaks from your hunts and gave Sammy every covering you had. A couple weeks after the event you manged to find a small grocery store that was barely ransacked and managed the find some canned food along with a old shotgun that had no bullets until you found an emergency axe in the back that became your signature weapon.
Since then you both stayed near the base of a nearby mountain since it seemed like the dead haven't ventured towards that area yet and there were animals that haven't ran yet you could hunt.
"You able to find anything?" You asked as you checked the last shelf, finding it empty besides a couple cans of beans that were on the ground. Sammy jumped around the corner with a big smile holding a can of peaches. "Nice score." You mumbled and ruffled her dirty blond hair. She made a disgruntled noise and slapped your hand away making you laugh. "C'mon kid, let's check our traps before heading back to base." You said and grabbed the can and quickly put it in her bright pink unicorn bag that you nabbed for her a week ago.
Sammy hummed in agreement as you both walked out the back of the store and retraced your steps back into the woods. You occasionally stopped to check your snare traps while you watched Sammy check the ones she set and helping her reset the ones that went off. When she checked her last one and saw a rabbit she cheered and announced that you'll both be "Eating rabbit stew." tonight.
As you walked the small path leading up to your base with the rabbit bouncing on your hip Sammy called your name making you turn to her. "Thanks for looking out for me. I didn't have a lot of friends before and when my mom got bit my dad got weird and didn't want me to go too far from him and got super protective of me and would grab me if i went too far until you came. You were the only one near me when it happened and now you're stuck with me and he's..." She trailed off and rubbed her arm. You frowned and reached your arm out, offering her a hug.
She glanced at you and leaned into you making you wrap you arm around her. You couldn't believe that she was only eight years old and was already dealing with so much. You don't know what her father said to her and if he wasn't already dead you'd beat him to death yourself. You took a deep breath to calm yourself and rubbed Sammy's shoulder. "I care about you kid. What your dad did to you wasn't normal, Its not how you protect someone. I could never hurt you, especially like that." You glared mindlessly into a passing tree remembering the bruises on her arms and how'd she flinch whenever a man would raise his voice. You instead looked at her and she looked up at you with her big honey brown eyes with unshed tears.
"I know this world is a lot more dangerous now and it's very scary but ill do my absolute best to keep you safe and happy. You deserve to be happy. Plus I'm not stuck with you, you're stuck with me." You laughed evily and poked her cheeks with both hands. She started laughing and wrapped her arms around you and dug her face into your stomach.
You held her for a moment before patting her back and gently pulling away. "You know, I have a little something for you. I was waiting for your birthday but I think now is good." Sammy immediately stepped back and nearly vibrated in place at the idea of a gift. "What is it? How did you hide it I've looked everywhere!" She paused as she rubbed the back of her neck. "I mean, I don't look through your stuff when you're gone ignore what I said." You laughed as she pouted at you. "I have my secrets." You winked at her.
She stormed off to the old abandoned hunting cabin you live in now while avoiding all the traps you set out to catch or alert you to the dead. You laughed again and followed her to the porch. "I did a water run yesterday so why don't you take our bags in and wash up while I skin this, I'll let you built the fire if you do." You said to her as you slid your bag off and plopped it onto the porch.
She quickly grabbed your bag and walked inside as you slid your axe off your belt and sat on the porch step with it laying next to you. You unclipped your small hunting knife, thankful that it was left behind in the cabin and got to work on the rabbit. When you were almost done you heard the door open and close and small footsteps coming closer. Sammy plopped on the single step a good distance away from you as she scrunched up her nose at the smell.
"You gonna let me built that fire?" She asked while crossing her arms over her knees and layed her chin on them. You peeled the last of the skin off, happy you got it in almost one piece. "Yeah, you know where the wood and sticks are. Just remeber to never-" Sammy quickly interrupted you. "Never built it higher than the rock stack." She droned as she stood up.
You made a face at her and stuck your tougne out as she did the same. You both giggled as she started to gather the wood. Once she got it built you handed her your cheap zippo lighter from your jean pocket. She made a face at your bloody hands and you blew a raspberry at her. "You're gross." Sammy giggled as she took it and lit a small fire with some dried moss she stuffed in the center.
Once you got the rabbit cooking you washed up and changed your now bloody clothes from the dead thing and rabbit. You walked outside in a tank top and the baggy worn down jeans you've had since the beginning of the outbreak. "How's the food looking?" you asked as you sat on the ground next to Sammy and looked at the rabbit chunks on sticks cooking. She shrugged and grabbed one of the sticks to turn the meat. "Good enough to eat for a dog. So yours is done." She smirked at you and you gently pushed her.
"You're a little shit." You said as she tried to push you back, making you push her over as you both laughed. As the food finished and you both ate it down to the bone, making sure she got extra portions, she turned to you and stared. "What?" You asked. "You need something?" Sammy immediately started pouting as she whined your name. "You said you got me a present. Where is it?" She demanded as she leaned forward and back trying to peak behind you like you had it hid behind you.
You chuckled as you stood up and stretched. "Let me grab it from inside." You let out a groan as your back popped making Sammy laugh. "Yeah yeah I sound like a old person. I'm not even that old you know, sitting on the ground is just uncomfortable." You walked inside and headed towards the couch to your secret hiding spot. you glaced out the window to make sure Sammy didnt follow you and that she was still safe before laying on the ground in front of the old sofa.
You felt the edge of the fabric covering the underside until you felt the hole and you stuck your hand in. As you blindly felt around, accidentally grabbing your emergency cigarette pack. You quickly hid that again, as you grabbed the other small box that you were looking for. Sammy asked you to not smoke anymore cause it was bad for you and now you do your best to not smoke when she's up. You'd feel guilty about lying to her about not smoking anymore but its one of the few things that help after a day of killing the undead and worrying about keeping Sammy fed and safe.
As you walked outside with the small gift hid in your palm Sammy quickly whipped her head around to you and started bouncing up and down where she sat. You grinned as you handed her the small red velvet box. "I saw this when I went on a run to that mini mall a while back. It reminds me a lot of you." You said as she opened the box and let out a small 'oooo'.
Inside was a silhouette of a silver rabbit with a tiny green peridot for the eye, her birthstone. She carefully pulled it out and held the silver chain and watched the rabbit spin in circles. "You wanna wear it?" You asked softly while leaning forward. She nodded with a big sniff and handed it to you as she pulled her shoulder length hair up to expose her neck.
When you finished clapping it Sammy turned around to face you as she played with the pendant. "Thanks. It's pretty." she muttered as she kept staring at it. You gently smiled at her and rubbed her back. You both watched the dying embers until she let out a loud yawn. Seeing as it was close to sunset you started to herd her inside to get her ready for bed. Once she was in her room under her bed covers you came in to check on her.
"How're you feeling kid?" You asked her as you started stroking her head and gently untangling her hair. She hummed and she played with her necklace again. "I'm ok now. I really like the necklace you got me, its really pretty. Thank you, you're like my cool older sibling I saw in movies before." she said as she yawned. You felt your eyes burn as you tired to not cry. "Well I'll happily be your cool older sibling Sammy." You leaned down to kiss her forehead and went back to petting her head. She muttered a small 'gross' making you chuckle.
Once she started to sleep you quietly snuck out of the room and walked to the couch where your pillow and blanket greeted you. You took off your knife and belt and you laid down, making sure to keep your axe within reach. As you slowly felt sleep claim you the wind started picking up. 'guess it's gonna storm tonight' you thought to yourself as you closed your eyes and fell asleep.