chapter eight !
❪ suffocating smoke ❫

START OF THE APOCALYPSE

when riley and her dad came back home, her first thought was to take a nap. she was coming down with a fever and didn't have energy at all.

after hours went by she finally woke up.

her eyes were squinted and she was sweating like crazy. she looked around and saw on her bedside table a cup of water and a bottle of pills with a note on it.

'only take two riles'.

she opened the bottle and took out two pills. riley placed them in her mouth and took the water to easily swallow it down.

once she was done, riley got up from her bed and left her room.

"dad?" she called out.

there was no response.

except for walker groans that were coming from the next room.

she felt her heart race and stood there frozen. why was their a walker in her house? where are her parents?

thoughts kept filling the poor girl's mind. riley let out a shaky breath before walking towards the door.

'please don't leave me like this ♡'

she stared at the written words on the wooden door and entered the room.

riley gasped as tears filled her eyes. it was hard for her to even speak because her words came out as a sob.

"mom," she chocked out.

the woman who read riley bedtime stories, taught her how to read, brushed her long hair smoothly when she was stressed, helped her with homework when she didn't understand...

the woman who used to be her mother was now dead.

"no..." she shook her head. the walker had one arm raised, eager to grab the human for a meal while the other was tied up against the bed.

a plastic covering was around the walker's neck and a bunch of empty pill bottles were laid out on the bedside table.

riley slowly sat down on the floor and leaned her back against the bed. her ears listened to the dead's groans and roars which made her breakdown and sob until nighttime fell.

when the sun vanished, the young girl was exhausted as tears continued to fall from her eyes.

she got up from her spot that she had been sitting in for hours and made her way to the kitchen.

riley opened the drawers and grabbed a lighter, then went over to grab a gasoline tank that was in the cabinet, under the sink. she spread the gasoline all over the house, even in her parents room which was hard for her to do.

she dropped the tank and grabbed her backpack that was filled with her things and had her knife in her waist band.

riley entered her bedroom and grabbed a small picture that showed her and her family smiling into the camera with party hats on their heads and a cake right in front of the young girl. she wiped her tears and stuffed the image in her bag.

riley went into her parents room and sighed. all the memories that was made in this house are now going to turn into ash. she started the lighter and dropped it on the floor, fire extending quickly.

the walker continued to roar as the smith girl walked away and out of the burning house.

riley didn't even know where her dad was.

she whistled for him but he didn't come running back.

NOW

riley stared at the picture in front of her while the others got their weapons ready. carl looked at the girl and frowned, "you okay?"

riley turned her head towards him and nodded, quickly stuffing the image in her back pocket, "yeah, i'm–i'm fine."

he gave her a small nod before daryl spoke up, catching everyone's attention, "all right, got four of them pricks coming our way."

riley reached to grab her knife from her waist band but then she remembered.

gareth took it.

she sighed and grabbed some pebble rocks that she found in the corner of the space she was in.

"y'all know what to do, go for their eyes first." rick stood up, riley and the others following. "then, their throats."

everyone stood in their position with weapons raised. riley felt her heart race, it felt like hours waiting until a noise from the roof caught them off guard.

riley looked above her, seeing sunlight. an object fell on the ground, causing a clatter noise. "move!" abraham warned them.

riley felt someone push her away and cover her from the loud bang that echoed. a suffocating smoke filled the air as riley covered her mouth and nose.

the others chocked on the air and the doors opened. people with gas masks went inside and took some of the men out.

one of gareth's workers strolled towards riley. she couldn't even see him because of how foggy it was. "gareth wanted this one." the man spoke, receiving a nod from his friend.

the girl was lifted up from the ground and was taken down the steps before throwing her on the hard concrete.

her vision became blurry until all she saw was complete blackness.

DRILLING NOISES. that's what riley heard when the men carried her into the room. she was forced into a kneeling position with zip ties around her hands and ankles. a piece of cloth was in her mouth for her to stay quiet.

riley was next to glenn and a stranger. she heard the workers sharpen their knives, which made her grew more anxious.

"all right, let's get started."

the two men went behind a boy, his buzzcut hair was a light blonde. the male looked scared and terrified that he was shaking.

the bat swung at the back of his head, his body falling forward onto the silver container. the second man pulled his head back and sliced his throat.

riley squeezed her eyes shut, trying to control her fear at this moment. the blood continued to spread as the two men went on to the next victim.

they did the same order into killing him and rick tried to get out of his zip ties due to how they were getting closer to the smith girl.

"hey, guys." gareth walks in with a note pad and pen. "what were your shot counts?"

"38." one of them answered.

riley flinched at the sound next to her and seconds later heard the blood pouring out. all four strangers were dead, which only left ricks people left.

the girl's breathing quickened, her eyes shut closed while she waited for the harsh impact to come. the man was about to swing at her head before gareth interrupted, "hey! you're shot count?"

the man with the knife was silent, "crap, man, i'm sorry. it was my first round up."

"after you're done here, go back to your point and count the shells. kaylee won't be gathering them until tomorrow."

"hey!" a muffled voice called out. "hey, let me talk to you." the guy at the end of the line was bob.

"four from A, five from D?"

"yeah."

"let me talk to you for a minute." bob shouted. riley slowly opened her eyes and turned her head to bob and gareth.

"what?" gareth took the gag off his mouth.

"don't do this," bob pleaded. "we can fix this."

"no you can't."

"you don't have to do this. we told you there's a way out of all this. you just have to take a chance. we have a man who knows how to stop it. he has a cure. we just have to get him to washington." bob explained. "you don't have to do this man, we can put the world back to how it was."

"can't go back, bob." gareth stated before putting the piece of cloth back inside his mouth.

gareth moved to rick, pulling his gag out. "we saw you go into the woods with a bag and come out without it. had to pull my spotters back before we could go look for it. what was in it?"

rick stayed silent as gareth sighed, "you hid it, right? in case things went bad?" he glanced at daryl, "smart, still we'll find it but it's too dangerous to go out there right now."

gareth pulled out riley's knife and strolled over to the young girl. "missed this?" he teased her before pulling her hair forward and placing the blade on her throat. she yelped at this action while he looked at rick with a grin, "what was in it? i'm curious and it was a big bag."

rick didn't say nothing and continued to stare down the man. "you really gonna let me do this?"

"well, let me take you out there. i'll show you."

"not gonna happen. this might." he pressed the knife harder on riley's throat, her hissing in pain.

"there's guns in it." rick admitted. "AK-47, .44 magnum, automatic weapons, nightscope, there's a compound bow and a machete with a red handle. that's what i'm gonna use to kill you."

gareth chuckled and moved the knife away from riley. he placed the gag back on rick and patted his shoulder. "you have two hours to get them on the driers. i'm gonna go back to public face. now's the time we can get messy but we need to dial it all in by sundown."

"got it."

"yes, sir."

two gunshots rang from the outside, gareth pulling out his walkie-talkie. "hey, chuck?"

the man with the bat was about to raise his weapon at riley until one more gunshot rung.

riley shared glances with the group before a huge explosion shook the whole building.

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AUTHORS NOTE:

well hello i'm alive!!!

also i haven't even started my summer assignment and school starts in 9 days for me LMFAOAO

anyways i'll try to update more for you guys bc i was was supposed to be doing my assignment but instead i wrote this chapter so

look at me choosing my readers over my education 🥰🥰

please vote for the next chapter and DONT BE A GHOST READER <3