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JULY, 2009...
CINDY WASN'T A happy girl. Of course, that was understandable. Six years since the outbreak and life hadn't gotten any easier since the day it all began. To be honest, with the things she'd seen by the age of 14, she was surprised she'd made it with her parents this long, independently.
Her mother had always insisted that they'd be better off staying as just the three of them, avoiding communities and groups, and the illusion of safety - she said they only lead to death from raiders, terrorists, other groups. Her dad agreed.
But the fact that they were now venturing into Atlanta, a vow her parents made never to do - to any city - told her that they were desperate. Cindy could see why the public were so reliant on communities to provide for them. There's only so many small villages and suburbs you can scavenge before you become overwhelmed with the lack of food and the temptation of the city being right at their doorstep was too good to pass up. Big mistake. Fatal mistake.
It was a mistake that would leave Cindy an orphan.
She didn't have a clue at the time. About the raiders in the area. The gangs. Not until the three of them were being chaotically shot at. They ran, but it was useless. Cindy didn't even hear the shriek that left her mouth when she saw a bullet shoot through her mother's head, or her own screams leaving her lips, or feel her dad dragging her in the opposite direction.
Breathless and desperate, they hid in a building. It looked like it used to be an office building of some sort pre-outbreak. Bullets were still flying after them and Cindy slammed the door to a room shut and began pushing a desk in front of it, but stopped when she felt her heart stop.
Her dad was on his knees, head down, staring at his bloody hand over the giant gash in his stomach. He was shot too. Brutally. Cindy's hands shook as she almost collapsed onto her knees to his side. His body slowly slid to the floor.
"Stay q-quiet, Cind." He stuttered "O-open the window."
Cindy opened her mouth to form some sort of sentence but nothing came out. She could barely see past the tears in her eyes as she realised their vulnerability.
"Cind, d-do it!" He choked. Cindy rushed to the window and pushed it open, staying low the entire time. A gust of cold wind filled the room. They could hear fast footsteps approaching.
"What do I do, dad? What do I... I-I don't know what to do." She cried.
"Hide." He spluttered. "J-just hide." The footsteps were right outside the door. Cindy bundled herself in a tight ball next to some filing cabinets away from the door. She peered around one last time at her dad. He did nothing but hold his finger to his lips as the raiders burst through the door.
Cindy held her breath and her hand over her mouth. She didn't trust herself not to make any noise. Their cruel laughter made her blood boil as she pictured her dad lying there, defenceless. Especially when another bullet rang through her ears. He was really gone now. She resisted the urge to scream by biting her lip until the metallic taste of blood filled her mouth.
"Where's the other one?" One of the raiders asked. A woman. "The girl?"
A man replied. "Window's open. She got away. We'll keep an eye out." She heard their footsteps leave the room.
Silent sobs wracked her body and she squeezed her eyes closed. Her hands covered her face and her nails dug into her cheeks and forehead in an overwhelming frustration. She couldn't look. She wouldn't.
Time flew. She didn't know how long she'd been huddled in the corner of the room. But now it was getting dark outside and Cindy managed to push herself off the ground. Her numb limbs finally stirring. She avoided looking at her dad's lifeless body, the weight of loss and guilt heavy on her shoulders.
Stepping over the large puddle of blood seeping from her dad's head, Cindy exited the room and made her way through the dimly lit building, stepping over the shattered remnants of glass beneath her feet.
Caught in the crossfire of more gunfire, this time coming from opposite directions - there must've been two different groups of raiders, she thought - Cindy frantically dodged stray bullets. No matter how hard she tried to avoid it, a sudden searing pain flared across her forehead. The graze of a bullet left a trail of burning heat across her forehead and through her eyebrow, narrowly missing her eye.
The ache that rang through her head felt the migraine from hell. She felt dizzy. Clinging onto the wall beside her, she slowly pushed herself to the ground, her vision blurred by the blood from her wound.
In an attempt to clear her sight, she wiped her face and eyes on her sleeve, wincing harshly when she realised just how open the wound was. Her hand shook as she tried again, but to no avail.
Harsh bootsteps towards her made her gaze up, and in a desperate attempt to avoid another bullet to the head, she held up her trembling hand when she realised it was a small group of men in military uniforms. "I-I'm alone!" She shouted. "Just let me go." She cried in frustration.
"Are you infected?" One of the men bellowed.
"No!" Cindy yelled back. "One of you fuckers just shot me in the head!"
Before she could even process anything else she felt a hand grab her arm and a needle was injected into her skin. She looked at the person in horror as she began to feel more and more faint.
"What the fuck, man! Get off me!" She growled. "W-what the... f-fuck." Left her mouth in one last breath before she was out cold.
Back at the FEDRA quarantine zone, Cindy underwent a meticulous examination. The sterile environment felt alien when she finally awoke in somewhat of a makeshift hospital bed. The wound on her forehead was stitched up nicely, but was bound to leave a scar, and Cindy's eyes flickered with a mix of gratitude, but stronger with apprehension. These were the places her parents had always warned her about.
Did she know what her next move was going to be? Not a fucking clue.
