[b]Buck Bradley – On the road – Farren North[/b]

Buck’s thoughts raced.

He had been quietly picking his way through the landscape, making his way towards the new source of light on the horizon. But he was growing impatient, and that sometimes meant he could get careless. Three times now he had almost stumbled upon groups of walkers and only at the last minute had he stopped and selected a different route. To be honest, he was lost now. He had never been on this road before. His only focus was on the lighted building somewhere up ahead. [i]Who could it be? Why did they choose now to turn on the lights? Could it just be some sort of malfunction? A timer that for some reason had chosen to kick in now?[/i] He couldn’t answer any of these questions yet, all he could do was keep moving forward.

Lost in his thoughts he practically tripped over two figures on the ground in front of him. Instinctively he raised his 2x4, ready to do some damage. But then he really looked at them. It was a woman and child. Both very much alive. His breath caught in his throat. People. Real, living people. It had been weeks since he’d seen anyone else out here. And now that he had he was speechless.

It took only a moment for him to realize again the vulnerability of their situation. He never liked to stop for too long out in the open. He looked at the woman. She was very pretty. Buck had never done well around pretty girls. “Uh…hello,” he started. “Are you guys ok?” He looked around, thinking he might have heard a noise behind him. Maybe there were more people? Maybe there were walkers.

He turned back to the woman and cleared his throat. “Listen, it’s not safe out here. I’ve got a shed not too far from here. We should go there now.” As soon as the words were out of his mouth he closed his eyes and bit his tongue. That was possibly the creepiest thing he had ever said to anyone. [i]Great Buck. The first real people you see in months and you’re gonna scare them off![/i]

He opened his eyes and tried to start again. “I mean…no, not the shed…what we should do is…” He paused again. What exactly should they be doing? First impressions were never Buck’s strong suit.