The next day, we were out on the journey, I, Medusa and Mrs Claire. We walked beside the river bank, carefully looking for a change in the coloration of the river.After walking quite some distance, old Mrs Claire was already seeming quite tired and dehydrated, but she refused to say a word about it, "we should stop here!", I said and stopped walking, "why?", Mrs Claire asked, I looked around for an excuse, cause I know that if I told her the reason we stopped, she wouldn't approve of it."I am starving, why don't you sit under the tree over there while I catch some fishes", I said to her, "but weren't you the one who ate a bowl full of meat this morning", she said, "well...you know how us men eat", I countered with something I hear uncle Zack say when aunt Vera complains about his eating habits."Okay, man!", She said and chuckled and walked under the tree while I took of my clothes, "would you like some water?", I asked, "yeah", she replied and I took my water bottle and was back with it full of water, I gave it to her, "thank you", she said and watched as I and Medusa jumped into the river in search of fishes. The truth is we were more of having fun than actually catching fishes, giving Mrs Claire some time to rest, I swam, I saw something glowing in the water, I went in to get it, it turned out to me a green gem, one I have only heard Mrs Claire talk of, I took it and swam out to show her, on getting out, I heard her scream, "Derick!!", she called, "Mrs Claire!", I called back as I swam faster to where she was. I knew I shouldn't have gone this far, at least not with Medusa, she would have stayed back with Mrs Claire, I regretted as I got closer.I got out of the water and ran towards the zombies about to eat up Mrs Claire who was about falling into the river, I had no weapons on me, my clothes and everything, I dropped beside the tree, there's no time to go get them. I ran and stood in front of Mrs Claire tightening my fist at the zombies, they were about 6 of them, "Medusa!!!", I yelled knowing fully well that there was no way I was going to make it out of this alone and weaponless, but Medusa seemed to be too deep or far off to hear me. "I guess it's just me and you guys", I said holding up my fist and anticipating their attack, the first threw his hand at me, I saw it coming so I dodged, "whuuuu!", I exclaimed receiving a hit from the other one which sent me flying back into the water, but not so far in.I quickly got up and rushed back, "Mrs Claire!!", I screamed as Mrs Claire fell into the river, I jumped in to save her. On grabbing her I swam a few distance away from where we both were on the shore, I turned back to the zombies who at this point in time had noticed that we were out of the river and were coming for us, "sh_t!", I exclaimed, my weapons were still far away, and Mrs Claire was still unconcious, "stay with me Mrs Claire!", I said as I tried to resocitate her, and then I heard the hissing, "finally!", I uttered as I turned around to see Medusa going to attack them.Medusa to took care of them while I focused on saving Mrs Claire, she finally coughed, slowing down the pace of my heart beat, "Mrs Claire", I said supporting her head up with my hand, "I am cold", she said shivering, "let's go", I said assisting her up.I rested her back against the tree and picked up an arrow, fired at the last zombie, Medusa was finding it difficult to kill, the arrow went from underneath neck up to it's head, a shot possible because of my position and after it's death, Medusa came closer, watching sympathetically, "stay here", I said to her, got dressed and armed, then went away in search of woods and herbs.I can't let Mrs Claire die, besides the fact I promised I was going to take her through this, she's been like a mom to me, loosing her would be like loosing my mom all over again, and unlike before, I can defend her; I am not the weak 10 year old I use to be when mom died.I gathered up all the resources I could and was on my way back when I heard an animal screech in pain, I listened and located where the sound was coming from and found an antelope whose legs were clamped by some kind of metal teeth on the ground, "a trap", I uttered as I looked around, "who must have done this, traps can't be lying around for this long without catching any animal for this long, the chances are way too slim, someone must have done this recently", I said to myself and then brought out my knife, "poor thing, suffer no more", I said and without a second thought, I jabbed the antelope's throat and watched as it's life and blood spilled out of it, after it's death, I sliced off its leg, the one cramped by the metal teeth.I carried it back to the tree where I left, Medusa and Mrs Claire, when I got back Medusa was wrapped around Mrs Claire, "Medusa!", I said as I hasten my steps in fear, thinking Medusa was about killing her, then I realized it was trying to keep her warm, and she wasn't really contracting.It was already mid afternoon; I set out the wood and began to cook up parts of the antelope I had chopped, till it was night. Just like Mrs Claire taught me, I made a hot soup to get rid of the fever, after drinking she fell asleep and I and Medusa had the antelope to ourselves.The next morning we were up again, Mrs Claire's temperature was still a bit high but she seemed fine, so we had her on Medusa's back and continued on the journey, Medusa being a really large snake could hold up Mrs Claire, the only disadvantage was the grip Mrs Claire had on it.On our way, "Help!!", We heard someone scream, looking foward and in the river was a drowning girl and a guy just like myself, fighting some zombies by the river bank, "Medusa! Stay here! Protect Mrs Claire", I commanded pointing at Mrs Claire, "Derick!", She called as I ran off, "I'll be right back Mrs Claire!", I said aloud and jumped into the river, swam as fast as I could till I got to the drowning girl, I caught and held unto her, swimming till I got out of the river with her."Are you okay?", I said as I tried to get the water she had swallowed out of her, and after a short while she did, "are you okay?", I asked as she sat up after coughing, she began gasping for breath.The first thing she ultered was, "June!", she said quite scared as she looked around, seemingly searching for someone, "please help my brother!", She said pointing at the guy single handedly fighting with about 5 zombies, "wait here!", I said and ran to where he was, bringing out my arrows out and setting my bows up to fire, two arrows flew out of my bow, one after the other, and two of them went down.When I got closer I realized that about 3 had already been killed, their lifeless and disfigured body laid on the floor and the rest were struggling with June's gun, which served as a really nice distraction for them as my cutlass went through their heads, two and went down and the lasts head was metal plated and so it sent my cutlass flying out of my hand, "sh_t!", I said as it immediately turned to me.Its insides flew out of it right after the loud sound of the June's gun. "Where's April?", June asked after looking around, "she's over there", I said, "I hope you didn't touch her", he said harshly as he walked to where she was, "what!", I exclaimed as I watched him walk away.I felt an immediate spark of hatred as I sensed another Uncle Zack and Aunt Vera in him, I walked to where they were as he hugged her, "my leg hurts", I heard her cry, "Let's go back to the car", he said as he struggled to carry her up, "should I help you?", I said feeling pity for the girl, "get away from us!", he barked, "but you are hurt", she said and as she touched his wounded arm, we were soon accompainied by Medusa and Mrs Claire, "Snake!", she screamed and fainted as June immediately pulled out his gun, "don't shoot, it won't harm you!", I said as I stood infront of Medusa who had flared up as well, "move out of the way before I shoot you too", he said trying to point his gun at Medusa, "June!", Mrs Claire said and we all stopped looking at her in shock, "Grandma!", June yelled, "grandma?", i said surprised Stay back, so this cave boy and his snake don't hurt you!", he said still pointing his gun at me, "they are with me", Mrs Cliare explained, "what!", he exclaimed, "yeah!", she replied as she walked towards him, "June!", she called out again looking at him this time crying, he hugged him, "you've grown so much", she added as she looked at him smiling while he watched me tame angry Medusa, "it's okay buddy, I don't like him too", I said to her as she became calm."Where's April?", Mrs Claire asked, "she's there", he said pointing at her, "what happened to her?", she asked with a sudden drop in mood, "she's fine, she just fainted from seeing the snake", he replied, "oh!", she exclaimed, "where have you guys been, where's your mom?", she asked, "...we lost mom some years back now", he replied, "May!", Mrs Claire cried using a hand to cover her mouth, "it's okay grandma, we are here", he said hugging Mrs Claire, "where's Grandpa March?", he asked, "I lost him too", she said as she continued crying, "it's okay grandma", he added, "he would have been so happy to see you guys", she said as she wiped off her tears with her hand.I turned to the fainted girl and walked closer to her while they continued talking; I couldn't explain what I felt as I looked at her, I just squated really close to her as I stared at her face.to be continued......
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