Chapter Text
Their voices were muffled but he could make out the fast and panicked tone in their voices.
“Where do we go?-”
“Uh- uh Jack- h-he’ll know what to do-”
The memory is hazy and blurry as it plays in his head nevertheless as it has times and times before.
The taller man sighs shakily. “We’ve got no other choice!”
No..
“No… theres got to be to be some other way!-”
Thud
No… stop..
“We dont have time!” The man angrily shouts.
Thud
No… No stop.
“We h……, but we have to protect him!”
Stop.. no he doesn't want to remember this.
The man steps away ready to close the hatch.
“God loves you.”
Thud
Stop! No..
“We love you…” The sound of the lady's voice a drip away from a sob
The lady shoots a look at the man as she gasps.
Thud- crack!
The unholy sound of an undead breaches the door as the hatch is lowered on him
Stop- stop!
The screams ring loud in his ears.
Stop! please he doesn't want to remember this!
He's running through the street as the undead, jaw now dripping red and stained but still hungry, chases him past the cars and fires.
Please! Stop..stop!
An engine explodes as he runs past.
He trips.
Whipping his head around to see the undead closer that ever-
The car beside him- snap, crackle of fire– he needs to move!
He look at the car and the undead as the sound threatens to burst- hot fire hits him-
Crack!
“No!” he gasps, waking in a cold sweat, on his bed in the church.
He sits up fast and blinks away the blurry tears in his eyes as the side of his face stings with a long unhealed pulse. He sighs and throws the ratted blanket off him and swings his legs over the side of his bed.
He was about to get up and get some fresh air, not that the hole in his roof didn't supply him with enough but in the metaphorical way, to help clear his mind of the memory that haunts him even 50 years later, when a shifting sound alerts him from further in the church.
He snaps his head to the noise and quietly and wearily gets off his bed and to the sound. He expected an undead or rat had snuck in past his walls he built. But as he peered around the corner he wasn't expecting a…. Child? …. In the middle of the most dangerous city, the place the undead first rose… a child.
He watches astonished as the kid checks the barrels scattered around his church. Don't get him wrong he hasn't interacted with someone in what?- a year almost? So the fact the first one hes met with is a literal child leaves him speechless.
“Uh-uh i-i have a knife too!” she laughs nervously and shakily holds up the knife.
It took him a considerable minute but soon he realized that holding a knife probably wasn't a good idea when faced with a scared child. He slowly sheathes it back into his inventory and raises his hands up to show he's unarmed, hopefully calming the child a bit. She seems still uneasy but her eyes look up with less fear as she takes a shaky breath and loosens her tight stance. How did she get in?
“Uh- ha… hi w-whats your name?” the girl asks as she inches further away, looking like she could bolt at any second but still making introductory small talk? He notes shes very strange.
He ignores her initial question but still not wanting her to run off into the very unsafe city, he tries to make himself less intimidating by lowering himself to a kneel.
“Hey… how- how did you get past the fences?” He asks, still on nerve but also curious. I mean who wouldn't be, a random what 6-.. 7? Year old just showed up out of nowhere.
“I-i just walked right in…” She seems less tense seeing he is not on the defensive now and she lowers her knife.
“Ok… come on, lets step outside.. maybe? Are you parents out there?” He steps closer and to the door with a hand out for her. She reluctantly follows much to his relief. He watches her scurry to get out and keep her distance from him.
“Whats a child doing in this city…? Where are your parents?” He gestures outside at the setting sun, he notes the sun setting and makes the decision to try and convince her to stay here for the night, or at least until he can find her parents. There's no way he's letting a child wander this city alone at night.
“Uh… i-i… my parents aren't here. I got on the bus alone.” She shrinks into herself, arms hugging her sides and he can tell theirs more to the untold story but he decided not to pry on it tonight.
“Bus?” he whispers confused, automobiles still work? Where did it even come from? And why was a child on it, alone too.
“Alone?” He makes a quick check of the area and starts to inch back to the door, hoping she would follow.
“W-well there were more people b-but i lost them when we broke down…” She nervously tugs at her hair as she speaks before perking up again, how is she so positive at this time?
“My name is Spidey! W-whats yours?” she looks up at him expectantly and eyes that have seen no evils.
“Uh … its.. I- its nothing.. you said there were more people on the bus??” He mutters and walks fully back into the church confident shes following now. Still, why is a kid alone in this city?
He made a note to find the other people she claimed to have come on the bus and drop her off with them. They probably know her more than he did, plus he's a lone survivor he doesn't have time to care for a kid.
So his plan was made, keep the kid here for the night safe and send her off tomorrow.