AN HOUR LATER

Everyone crowded around the small stage we built. We built it so I could do a speech on it. Also because apparently people from Port Adelaide were in a band and are going to perform later today. I stepped up onto the stage and walked up to the middle of it. I looked around at everyone's faces as they all looked right at me waiting for a speech.

I saw Anastasia and Gabriella smiling at me in the crowd. Gabriella came out from the infirmary just to listen to the speech. I saw Lauren standing next to Ana and standing next to Ana was Kane who had Prince on his shoulders. I saw Tyler standing alone with his head down probably still sad about not finding Luke. I saw Isabella, Alice, Erin, Taia and Hayley all standing together in a small circle. I saw the Worth family Jemma, Claire and Paul all standing together. I saw Cooper, Bethany and Debra near each other. Debra was a big help these couple of days, she really helped a lot with the fair especially. Finally I saw Megan standing next to Brooklyn with Samantha in Brooklyn's hands. I smiled as I looked around at everyone and then took a step forward.

"Out there we had to keep quite. We had to have one eye behind our backs the entire time. But not today! Today is different. Today is a new world. Be as loud as you want, keep your guard down, because you are surrounded by people who protect each other no matter the cost. That's the thing I love about our communities. You may not even know each other but I know that you would still protect each other no matter what. So trade with joy and have as much fun as you can. We will make history for our future generations to come! May the first annual fair begin!" I yelled.

Everyone screamed and clapped their hands together in enjoyment as they all walked off to enjoy the fair. I walked off the stage and saw that Brooklyn who was still holding Samantha was waiting for me with Megan next to her. I walked up to them.

"Are you gonna have a look around Megan?" I asked.

"Yeah. I already know what I'm gonna try to get. I wanna go get a new knife from Kane. I'm hoping he will make me one I can use" Megan said.

"He sure will. I mean he made my prosthetic leg really well. I'm sure he's as good with knives. Go ask him what he would trade them for and if you don't have it at that moment come get me and I'll work something out" I said.

"Ok dad. I love you" Megan said.

"I love you too. Be safe" I said kissing Megan goodbye as she ran off towards Kane's stall.

I looked at Brooklyn and played with Samantha's cheeks.

"Do you want to look around?" I asked.

"I sure do" Brooklyn said.

Brooklyn put Samantha down on the ground and we all walked down the stalls checking them out as we walked past. I could see lots of clothing stalls and a few food stalls. There were even a few stalls giving people lessons about certain things, like one of them was a knitting class. We walked past Bethany who had her own stall. It looked like she was making teddy bears.

"Oh! Sam! I've got something for your little girl!" Bethany yelled out.

All three of us walked up to her stall. Bethany sucked down and grabbed something from a box behind her stall. She put it on the stall counter. It was a brown bear with a white stomach and white paws. It has a cute little nose and small little eyes with fluffy ears. She picked it up and handed it to Samantha who was hiding behind me.

"Here you go. I made this one especially for you" Bethany said.

"It's ok Samantha don't be scared" I said pushing her in front of me.

Samantha slowly took the bear from Bethany's hand and hugged it tightly swaying right to left constantly.

"What do you say Sam" I asked.

"Thank you" Samantha said in a muffled shy voice with her mouth hidden behind the bear.

"My pleasure" Bethany said.

"Thank you so much. What would you like in return?" I asked.

"What? Nothing. Because of everything you've done you can have it for free" Bethany said.

"Thank you" I said shaking Bethany's hand.

I would of gave her a hug but she was behind the stall. Brooklyn, Samantha and I all slowly walked away and continued to walk down the stalls. I nudged Brooklyn.

"See anything you fancy?" I asked.

"I've seen a lot. I might head back later and get one of those jackets I saw. It looked so cute" Brooklyn said.

Brooklyn was holding Samantha's left hand and I was holding Samantha's right hand and we swung Samantha every now and then like a swing and Samantha would laugh and giggle while I held onto her teddy bear. Up ahead of us I saw Isabella, Taia, Erin, Hayley and Alice all were contributing to a stall. It looked like they were trading all sorts of 'do it yourself' items.

We walked past Cooper who was constantly looking around at people.

"Everything ok Cooper?" I asked.

"Yeah everything's fine. I'm just sort of trying to keep the peace around here" Cooper said.

"You don't have to do that. You can relax and trade" I said.

"No. Before all of this I was a police officer so this is the kinda thing I love doing" Cooper said.

"Well you got anything to report?" I asked.

"Nope nothing. I doubt something bad would happen though. Everyone here is so friendly and nice" Cooper said.

I pat him on the back and we walked away as he continued his sweep around the fair. I saw Jemma with her parents Claire and Paul. She had a teddy bear as well from Bethany except it looked more like a panda. Lauren was near them and she was trading a loaf of bread for what it looked like to be a new holster.

"Wanna go sit down for a little while?" Brooklyn asked.

"Alright" I said.

We all walked over to the benches and sat down. I saw Ana and Prince over on the other benches. I waved at her and she directed us to come sit with her. The three of us got up and walked over to her. We sat down with her. She had Prince next to her and they were eating tomatoes from Port Adelaide.

"It's so nice isn't it" Ana said.

"It is. I love seeing everyone happy" I said.

"You said the annual fair. We having the fair next year?" Ana asked.

"Well it seems like this fair is going well so far so yeah, we will definitely have another one sometime" I said.

I started to hear singing and looked up. I saw one of the bands from Port Adelaide on the stage. One of them had a guitar, another had a makeshift drum set and the other was singing. It sounded like they were singing their own written song, because I've never heard it before. I saw Debra walking over to us.

"Hey I need some help with something. Could one of you help me please?" Debra said.

"Sure" I said standing up.

"No, no. Sam sit down. You need to relax, I'll go help Debra out you stay here. I'll meet up with you when I'm done right here. Ok?" Brooklyn said.

"Ok" I said.

I stood up and gave Brooklyn a long kiss. She looked into my eyes with love. You can tell when a woman looks at you with those sort of eyes they truely do love you. Just like Hunter did. That's how I knew she loved me.

"Love you" Brooklyn said.

"I love you too" I said as she was walking away with Debra.

I sat back down and Ana looked at me with a smirk on her face.

"So Brooklyn, huh?" Ana said.

"Yeah. It only happened yesterday" I said.

"You live each other already?" Ana asked confused.

"We've sort of had a thing before that. It's hard to explain" I said.

"That was gross" Samantha said.

"What was?" I asked.

"You kissed her" Samantha said.

"Well Samantha when you're older and find the man of your dreams you will be kissing him nonstop" I said.

"Eww" Samantha said.

Ana and I both laughed together. I looked over at the band who were still on the stage.

"They are pretty good. I've gotta say" I said.

"Yeah. They are" Ana said.

"I've never been to a concert. Never had the time to go to one before all of this" I said.

"Wanna go over there?" Ana asked.

"Sure" I said standing up with Samantha.

The four of us all walked over to the stage and stood still listening to them play. I closed my eyes and let the beat go through me. I then heard someone shouting my name. Their voice got louder and louder as I opened my eyes and faced Lauren.

"He escaped!" Lauren yelled.

"Who escaped?" I said.

"Harry! Harry escaped!" Lauren said.

"Shit. Ana! If you see Brooklyn tell her where I went" I said.

"Ok I will. But where are you going" Ana said.

"I'm going to catch this bastard. Lauren you want to come?" I said.

"Yeah I'll come" Lauren said.

We quickly walked to the armoury and I grabbed my holster that I left there. As we walked to the gate I saw a massive line up at Kane's stall. It looked like he took abreak or something. We unattached two horses from a wagon and both got on. Someone opened the gate for us and Lauren and I quickly rode out.

"Where do you think he went?" Lauren asked.

"I don't know. But he couldn't of gone far" I said.

"Where are we gonna look?" Lauren asked.

"I think their border might be at Crafers. Harry said we crossed into their border so maybe that's their border. We head to Crafers and hope that we catch up to him before he gets there" I said.

We rode out as fast we could. Harry must of escaped earlier then we thought because we couldn't find him anywhere. Unless he went another way but that would be a longer route. We got to the freeway. As we entered the freeway I saw a zombie walking down the road.

"Stay alert. We don't know if they are people or not" I said.

The zombie stopped in it's tracks.

"why did you follow us?" The person whispered.

"We are looking for a man, he escaped from our cell" I said.

"alpha wants to speak to you. alone" the person whispered.

I got off the horse and walked over to the person.

"It's ok. Stay here and I'll come back" I said.

The person and I walked along the freeway. We then walked into the Crafers exit and entered Crafers.

"Where are you taking me?" I asked.

"only time will tell" the person whispered.

I followed the man to Crafers. I saw a large group of them, about ten all standing in a line looking at me. They were very creepy. The skin made them look exactly like zombies but then you look at their eyes and hands and they look like humans. But it's kind of hard to tell. One of them walked forward. They took out a double barrel shotgun and aimed it at me.

The person had a zombie mask with long hair and I could see the person had blue eyes. The person slowly took off their mask. I was shocked at what I saw. It was Debra.

"Debra?" I said.

"Debra is a fake name. A made up word. Alpha is who I'm called, and you shall call me by my name" Debra said.

"So you're Alpha? So you pretended to be one of us to gain what? To see what our weakness was?" I asked.

"Yes and no. I was there for other reasons. You crossed into my land. Right now we will not cause you any harm. We are just simply wanting to have a chat, that's all" Alpha said.

"And what do you want to chat about?" I asked.

"I want to show you what we are capable of, and maybe when you see the danger you are in you would be happy that we have a peace treaty. Follow me" Alpha said.

I started to follow Alpha. She nudged me in front of her and aimed the shotgun at my back. She pushed me deeper into Crafers. I spotted the car Luke and Tyler were held in. As we walked down the road just Alpha and I. As we got further into Crafers I started to hear moaning. Ahead was a coal mine. I never even got close to the mine because I didn't think Luke would of gone out this way.

The mine was a massive ditch probably as big as two or three football stadiums. Alpha stopped and poked me with the gun.

"Go on to the edge look. I want you to see that when I tell you that I will destroy everything you've built in this world everyone you love, everyone you know" Alpha said

I stepped up onto the edge of the ditch and looked over. I saw the biggest horde I have ever seen. It was huge. There could of been millions. Maybe even over one million zombies.

"That is not an empty threat. You see all of this. My people are down there right now guiding them. This is what I wanted to show you. I just have one thing you need to know. You cross into my land ever again and my horde will cross into yours" Alpha said.

"What do you want from us?" I asked.

"I don't want a single thing you have. You have nothing to offer us. As you know I've seen how you live. I have walked your streets. It's a joke. You think you have accomplished so much, but I look around at what you've done, and I see children playing a game of make believe. You've built a shrine to a long dead world" Alpha said.

"I created hope for those people. They wanted the world back to what it used to be. I'm making it a reality for them" I said.

Alpha looked at the horde and then back at me.

"My people. The Whisperers. We are true. Our lives are true. We live the full lives we were always meant to. You strive to return to a life as slaves to our petty desires. Instead of recognising the gift this world has to offer. The gift of freedom" Alpha said.

"So having freedom to do anything in the world and you decided to wear skins from zombies. That's bull shit" I said.

"They protect us from the dead. Our guardians. We are animals Sam Rose, and animals need a leader. There is the dominant and the submissive. The Alpha and the Beta. If the Alpha doesn't assert itself there is chaos. I only fill the role as needed, until another steps up and takes it from me" Alpha said.

"You have a Beta as well. Wow. You guys are taking this role play way to far. I can't believe you believe in this crap. What's gonna happen now. You going to kill me?" I said.

"No. You have already had your punishment. We marked the boarder to the north. As you leave you will see it. Like I said, if you cross into our land, if you cross our boarder I will send my horde into yours. Got it" Alpha said.

"What do you mean we've already had our punishment and what boarder?" I asked.

"I said you will see it as you leave. Now go" Alpha said.

I slowly walked away walking back the way I came. I saw that Lauren was waiting for me at Crafers. She must of came in and waited for me there. I hugged her.

"Let's get the hell out of here. These people are fucking crazy" I said.

Lauren and I both walked out of Crafers walking past all of the Whisperers which is what they call themselves. As we were walking up a big hill I saw something in the distance. I saw what looked like twelve sticks in the ground with something on the top of them. We kept walking slowly getting closer to them. As we got closer I remembered this was probably the boarder Alpha was talking about. But as we got closer I realised that the things on top of the sticks were heads. Lauren started to shake a little.

"No. Holy shit! No!" I yelled.

I looked at the first stick.

"Hey do you know where Bethany is, I asked her to make a bear for me but she hasn't been back for a long time" A woman said.

It was Bethany's head. Her head was cut off and put onto the first pike.

"Hey have you seen Alice, Erin or Taia anywhere? They left before to help Debra but didn't come back" Isabella said.

I slowly looked at the second pike and saw Alice's head. They were zombies because they didn't take out their brains.

"No. No. No" I said starting to cry.

I looked at the third pike. It was Taia's head. I saw blood still squirting from Taia's head and I could see ripped skin from her neck. I slowly looked at the fourth pike. It was Erin's head. I didn't want to to see who else was there but I had to.

"Isn't Cooper taking watch?" A woman said.
"He was meant to but he's not here. I'm happy to take his place though" A man said.

I looked at the fifth pike. Coopers head was on it. At the time all I could hear was the wind blowing past me. I looked at Lauren and she looked shocked.

"Jemma!" Paul yelled.
"Jemma baby come on where are you!?" Claire yelled.

I looked at the sixth pike and saw that Jemma's head was on it. She was only about ten and they killed her. They cut her head off and put it on a fucking stick. I slowly looked at the next spike. It was Luke. Through all this time Luke was dead.

"No. Fuck" I said as I looked at the next pike.

It was Tyler. He had blood running down his face. It looked like he put up a fight. I started to cry even more and I just wanted revenge for what they did. I slowly looked to the next pike.

"Have you seen Kane?" Ana said.
"No I'm sorry. I haven't seen him since this morning" A man said.
"Daddy!" Prince yelled.

It was Kanes head. I slowly fell to the ground. I sat on my knees crying into my hands. I slowly moved my hands down and looked at the next pike.

"Anastasia you wouldn't believe what I just got... Anastasia?" Gabriella said.

It was Anastasia's head. I started to cry even more. One of my best friends from the start was mutilated and put up for display right in front of me. I slowly looked to the next pike.

"Have you seen Brooklyn? She's meant to look after me" Samantha said.

I looked at the pike closely and couldn't believe my eyes. It was Brooklyn.

"Brooklyn! No! Argh!" I cried.

I got up and slowly walked over to her pike. I put my hand on the side of her face as she tried to bite me.

"I'm sorry" I said.

But I noticed there was one last pike left. I slowly looked to my right.

"No! Sam! Don't look!" Lauren said running to me.

Lauren grabbed me and pushed me back standing in the way of the pike. She was crying but she stayed put not letting me see who it was.

"Who... who is it?" I asked crying.

I pushed Lauren out of the way and saw the pike. I fell to the ground crying. I completely broke down. I laid on the floor crying at who was on the pike.

"Ana! Have you seen my sister! I can't find her!" Samantha said.

It was Megan's head on the pike.

Lauren tried to comfort me but nothing could help me. I lost my daughter. I lost loved ones. My spit and snot were all running down my face and onto the dirt. As I lifted my face dirt was all over my face stuck by sweat, tears and snot. I slowly stood up and took out my knife. I walked up to each and everyone of them.

I walked up to Bethany's head and put her down. I walked up to Alices head and put her down. I walked up to Taia's head and put her down. I walked up to Erin's and head and put her down. I walked up to Coopers head and put him down. I walked up to Jemma's head and put her down. I walked up to Luke's head and put him down. I walked up to Tyler's head and put him down. I walked up to Kane's head and put him down. I walked up to Anastasia's head and put her down. I walked up to Brooklyn's head and put her down. Then I slowly walked up to Megan's head. I slowly put the knife through her head and she stopped moaning. I put my head against hers.

"What do we do now?" Lauren asked.