Taylor is a college student home alone when the outbreak hits her small town. One minute she is working on a project, the next she is hiding away from the monsters outside. Taylor will have to find it in her to survive until her parents can -hopeful...
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30 days. 30 days is my limit. The 29th I packed my things and told everyone I was leaving on day 30. Some of my newly found friends tried to get me to stay, some just hugged me good bye. Reid had debated on going with me, he wanted to check for his family, but then just put a address in my book with three names. If I could, I'd go by and put a note in their house. Reid didn't want to leave the firehouse, he had made friends with basically everyone and I knew the feeling of being responsible for their safety. But I couldn't, I needed to find out if my parents were alive or not. I needed the truth. At least I could always come back.
I packed up all of my clothes, my hiking bag and all the arrows I felt comfortable with taking. Kendra and the kitchen had packed me a large tote box with enough food to last me at least a week or two. Beth gave me a large first aid kit with much more then a normal one would have. Reid had packed me two large fuel tanks in my trunk and showed me how to siphon fuel. He had also said it was about a good 30 hour drive before all this shit went down, and that was without any stops. He had no idea how bad it would be now, none of us knew. We hadn't been outside of our town, we had enough to deal with with the zombies wandering in.
The send off was tear filled as I left, and I sniffled as I drove away from the firehouse. I had all the tools to get to where I was going, and yet I was scared. Scared of the unknown, also sad that I was leaving but determined to find some answers.
The road I took wasn't the main road that ran east and west, it was the only other road that ran out of our small town. A very long two lane road that runs between countless fields and small patches of trees. My stereo blasts and I chew on some jerky, one hand on the steering wheel. There is no traffic, and so far the long two lane street only has a few cars. Most of them had been driven off into the ditch on either side. The others are easy enough to drive past, along with the small amount of zombies that had found their ways on to the street.
It takes me ten minutes, a turn onto the highway for a minute, then down an even smaller road. Reid and I had planned a route, mostly taking back roads avoiding highways as much as physically possible. Before I knew it, I was entering into north Illinois. That's when I slow to a stop just outside of a Lena, a small town surrounded by fields. The grocery store is at the most southern point. If there was another one I wasn't sure, but this one was packed with bodies around it, much like the Piggly Wiggly back home. But you know what had only two zombies meandering around the front of it? The dollar store.
The dollar store is within eye shot of the grocery store, but the mass of zombies weren't near it. I roll the Jeep to the side of the dollar store, did I need food? No. I had room in my car though, so I slip out of my Jeep with my bow in hand. With an arrow notched I round the side of the building to the front, pulling back the arrow and taking a second to aim before letting the arrow fly. It hits it's mark and I notch another arrow. The second zombie drops in seconds, I walk over and pull my arrows from their heads. The sound is disgusting, the smell of the slowly rotting bodies is even worse.
Looking into the dollar store I squint my eyes into it. The front is shadowy but lit from natural lighting by the windows in the front. The back though is a dark void that gave me anxiety. I did have a flash light, but that would use one of my hands. Slowly I move inside, just to the cash registers with an arrow at the ready. I have to wait a full minute to let my eyes adjust to the darkness before I feel comfortable enough to move forward into the store. Well comfortable wasn't quite the word for it, I still had anxiety about moving into the store. Just not as much.
I was lucky it was dead silent in the store, or I might of jumped at the smallest noise and let an arrow loose and shoot at nothing.
My body was wound up so tightly as I moved. I had to walk through the store three times before I holstered my bow into its make shift holster. I then grab a cart and begin loading it up with easy to eat foods, drinks and some hygiene products. I'm beginning to leave when I notice a pack of things at the end of one of the shelves. I angle my cart and pull up next to it. Grabbing it I note it's a pack of neck gaiters, one in the pack is all black, another with a white skull, and a third that's the American flag. Two out of three is good, I toss it into my cart then peak around to the isle.
Battery's, flash lights, candles. For a moment I felt stupid for not thinking of looking for these as a first pass. Medical supplies is something that pops into my mind and I shake my head. I needed to remember these things.
I grab as many battery's as I could, along with the candles, then I spot small lanterns that are only about five inches tall. Grabbing a few I see they are battery powered, good thing I had a ton of battery's right here. Those make their way into the cart, but I grab one, rip open a pack of battery's and load it up. Flipping the little on switch it lights up surprisingly bright and I feel a whole lot better being able to see clearer.
With the light I feel more comfortable taking my time actually picking through the store, picking up what I believed to be the most useful items.
