Peter's Journey/Issue 9

It was around eleven am when Peter woke up to an empty tent, he could hear talking outside, he then heard someone laughing, it sounded like a girls laugh, he then decided to get up and he got dressed, he went outside, and saw everyone doing something, Scott and Jonny were doing the water runs, Henry was beside the fire along with Susan who was eating her breakfast “morning sleepy” said Susan “morning, how long has everyone been up for?” asked Peter, who was still stretching “well Scott and Garry have been up since 7, the rest of us kind of got up around half seven ish” replied Susan “Oh, he’s waken then?” joked Jean “no this is just his...I got nothing” replied Peter as he laughed. He then gave her a kiss, “eww” said Henry, everyone that heard him laughed “do you want a kiss?” laughed Peter “no, get away!” replied a disgusted Henry. Peter then walks over to the cottage where Scott and Sarah are talking “good, you’re up, we didn’t want to waken you” said Scott “thanks” replied Peter, “so what’s the plan then?” asked Sarah “well I’ll take them up to the horse shoe valley, practice there, have lunch, comeback and that’s all I got for now” answered Peter “Who’s staying to watch camp?” asked Scott “You okay for that” asked Peter “sure, I’ll pick who else can stay” replied Scott “make sure that you have two people here that can use a gun, Susan and Henry are going to stay as well, and take another male or two for the safety and company” laughed Peter. Peter then rounds everyone over to the front door of the Cottage. “Okay, so as most of you know we’ll be doing gun training, now we are taking a great risk but a necessary one, as we need to teach you all to shoot, properly and safely. So what the rough plan is that I’ll be taking most of you up to an area called the Horse Shoe valley, it’s about an hour’s hike up the mountain and then another hour from the mountain at the top to the valley, there is of course fresh water there, under the circumstance you’ll be able to drink the water there, as it starts a few miles up the mountain so it is much fresher there. Now for the really important part for you all to listen, we’ll be leaving six people behind to look after the camp, we’ve only got two people, Scott and Susan, Henry will also be staying but he doesn’t really count, now I need everyone here that has had proper gun training to come to the front please” said Peter, then Ben, Sarah, Jamie, Scott, Jim and Sam all step forward. “okay, Scott and Ben I know that you’ve had training at school, but the rest of you where have you had gun training?” asked Peter “School” replied Jamie “In the CCF” he added “okay, you’ll come with me” said Peter “we got it at school in the CCF” said Sam for both him and Jim “I just know how to shoot, never got taught or anything, but I’m a good shot” replied Sarah “okay, Ben and Sarah, you two stay here with Scott, the other three you come with me to the training to help me out” ordered Peter “what if we don’t really want to go?” asked Kathryn “well you can stay here, but that’s all, everyone else has to go to the training” replied Peter, “When do we leave?” asked Chris “whenever everyone ready, bring your water bottles or canisters” replied Peter “can I have all of the drivers and senior boys, aged 18 and above over to the RV please, the rest of you get ready” ordered Peter, So Peter, Scott, Ben, Sarah, Shannon, Mark and Susan all walk over to the RV “okay, now as I said before we’re taking a big risk with the noise, so you ‘all have to be on your guard” said Peter “what if we get loads of walkers?” asked Scott “ try and hold out, if you can’t get everyone into the RV and drive off, go to the next house to the left going away from the city, don’t go too far so that we won’t see you again” replied Peter “will you take the bike?” asked Ben “yeah, I’ll take that” replied Peter, “tell you what, take it” told Ben to Peter “wh-what?” asked Peter “take the bike, from now on you can drive the bike, I’ll take the RV or something” replied Ben, he then chucks Peter the keys of Ben’s bike “thanks” said a shocked Peter, they all walk back to the others “okay guys, let’s get going” said Peter in a loud tone so that everyone would hear him. They all walk away and over the stoned wall, they walk up a steep hilltop, they look down to see the sea, when they looked left they could see the cottage, which was reasonably small, they all walk over the Mourn wall, and start to walk up the mountain.

Three hours later they notice the horse shoe valley “be careful going down this place, the stones are very loose” said Peter, Peter was one the last to go down, Mark was the first. When they got there they saw about three walkers coming from the forest “don’t shoot!” whispered Peter “what’d we do?” asked Jonny “stay here, Mark and Sarah you come with me” replied Peter, so Peter, Mark and Sarah all went towards the three walkers, when they got nearer them they readied their melee weapons, Peter took the first walker and sliced its jaw off, the walker feel to the ground, he then kept on attacking the walker as Mark and Sarah took their walkers to the ground, when they had finished they all walked back to the others “is this a good idea?” asked Adam “I don’t think so, not here anyway” replied a saddened Peter, he then walks off to the river, he walks acrosss the river and sits at the side of the river bend.

Meanwhile back at the Camp, around 3 pm, Scott and Kerry are on watch, while Ben and Kathryn our out for a hunt, as he made a bow and six arrows, Susan and Henry are playing on the swing.

“do you ever think that this will ever blow off?” asked Kerry “To be honest, no” replied Scott, Suddenly a bell went off, Sarah, Susan and Henry go to the front door to see the first gate’s bell ringing “well?” asked Scott “It’s at the main gate” replied Sarah “it’s only us!” Shouted Ben, Scott then saw Kathryn and Ben walking down the lane with five squirrel and three rabbits. “is that all?” asked a worried Scott “yeah, I’m afraid so” replied Ben as they got to the second gate, Sarah then greeted them, Henry and Susan also meet them “aw cool” said Henry in delight as he saw the food “that’ll have to do us tonight, we’re going to need to go into town, today, at the latest, we can’t live on this for tonight and tomorrow” said Ben in a softer voice to Sarah and Scott, “I’ll go into town when Peter gets back, I’ll bring four people with me, head in and see what we can scavenge” added Ben, “what happens if the city is completely swarming with walkers?” asked Scott “we don’t have a choice in this world, we’ve got to go into the town and get what we need, which for now is food” replied Ben “well I hope they get back soon” said Sarah, just then Kathryn shouted down to the others “hey guys, the others are coming down the path now”, Ben and Scott run towards the gate and see Peter and the others nearing to them, they soon get to the gate “we didn’t even here the gunshots” said Scott “that’s because there wasn’t any” replied Jim “why?” asked Sarah as the others opened the gate “we saw walkers, and I thought it was best not to attract any unwanted attention” added Peter as he locked up the gate “we got a problem” whispered Ben to Peter as the others walked off towards the camp “what is it?” asked Peter “we’ve got no food left, only six squirrel and a couple of rabbit, but apart from that, we’ve got nothing” replied Ben “okay, thanks for informing that, We’ll need a group of people to go into town, I’ll go for sure” added Peter “I’ll also go” said Ben, Peter nodded, the four of them walk back to the camp fire, where everyone is sitting around, drinking some water or talking about the hike that they had there. “Okay guys, so heres the thing” said a nervous Peter, everyone stopped what they were doing and are looking at Peter “so we’ve got very little food, in fact not enough for the morning, so what’s going to happen is that Ben and I are going into the town to gather any type of food that we can get, now would anyone like to help out?” asked Peter, everyone was silent for a moment, nobody wanted to speak, Jamie stood up as did Jean and Shannon, Peter smiled “you going?” asked Peter to the three standing up “yeah” said Jamie and the two girls just nodded “okay, we’ll be leaving very soon, get your packs ready, ask Scott for your guns and take an extra pistol and make sure that you’ve got enough ammo for the guns, also that you have your melee weapon, when you’ve got all that done just wait by the campfire, then we’ll head off” orders Peter, he then walks off into his tent along with Jean. Jean takes her hatchet out rucksack and puts it the strap were the belt runs through on the trousers, Peter changes his cloths into lighter wear. The two kiss and then walk outside to get their guns. Over by the RV Scott was giving Jamie his Shotgun and a Bersa Thunder 380, he gave Shannon her Desert Eagle and a Glock-17, he then Gave Peter a spare Mossberg 500 as he already had his Magnum, Scott then gives Jean her Glock-17 and another Berretta 92. “has everyone got enough ammo?” asked Peter “I’ve given them a box of ammunition between them.” replied Scott “will that be enough?” asked Ben “we do need to look out for our ammo” said Scott “here, take this as well” said Scott as he gave Ben a Glock-19 “thanks” replied Ben “that rifle won’t be good at close range” said Scott, they all go to the campfire “okay guys, that’s us ready” said Peter “let’s go!” said Ben in a louder voice, so they all begin to leave camp.

About fifteen minutes later they arrive at the bottom of the rocky lane, it is now around 5pm “I’ve been thinking” said Shannon “what’s that?” asked Peter “well we could try and find somewhere that plants vegetables and fruit” said Shannon “listen as much as that is a good idea but you know this isn’t just going into Newcastle for a dander, this is a quick and quiet mission to get as much food as possible” said Ben “if we come across a place that does do that stuff then we’ll go into it” said Peter.

Back at camp Mark and Susan are on watch, the others are either sitting around the campfire or in their tent. “I hope Peter and the others will bring back food” said Susan “you and me both sis” answered Mark “what’s happening?” asked Scott “it’s all good” replied Mark, suddenly a noise comes from the forest that is behind the cottage, “Mark, something’s moving” said Susan “it could just be the wind, it’s been picking up for the past three days” reassured Mark “okay” replied Susan..

About half an hour later they come across an over turned truck “okay, whisper from now on, we’ll go over to the truck, and see what it’s like on the other side, okay?” whispered Peter, the other just nod. So they all walked over to the truck, Peter was the only one that peered over, he then moved back to the ground “well?” asked Ben “this ain’t be easy” replied Peter as he looked at the others.