Runaways

o n e

Aching. That was all Rose felt as she pushed herself along the deserted road. Her body ached from running, her heart ached for her brothers.

It had all happened so fast. They were in Atlanta, hunting down a vengeful spirit that had taken the lives of three people. Rose was in their cramped motel room, researching the type of spirit it was, while her older brothers Sam and Dean were out questioning the victim's families. It seemed to be a pretty basic hunt, nothing too dangerous; just a quick salt and burn and they were out of there.

Until a corpse smashed it's face into the motel window. Rose jumped up from her seat, pulling a knife from her belt and aiming it towards the attacker. She stared at the creature with shaking hands.

"What the hell?" she mumbled, warily inching closer to the window. It was a woman, but certainly not a living one. Blood was smeared along her neck from a large gash, her eyes glazed over in an unnatural color. Her skin was deathly pale as she threw herself into the window, groaning loudly.

Rose knew she had to act quickly. In this life, she learned that there was never any time to stop and plan. She knew the drill - she had to get out of there, and fast. Lunging toward Dean's duffel bag, she pulled out a few guns and strapped them to her belt. She patted her legs to make sure her knives were still hidden before shoving handfuls of rounds into her pockets. She couldn't think about food and water at the moment - she could find those once she was safe. She threw an armful of guns and ammunition onto one of the beds for her brothers to have before zipping the duffel bag and tossing it onto her back.

Rose reached for her compound bow and made sure her quiver was secure on her back. She shoved her glove onto her hand and placed an arrow into the bow's rest.

"Here goes nothing," Rose muttered, turning to face the window. She clutched onto her bow as she slowly approached the door, twisting the knob and shoving it open. She drew the arrow back and aimed at the creature, taking a shot towards it's head. She watched the arrow pierce it's skull before it collapsed, but the groans didn't cease. Rose whipped around to see three more creatures stumbling towards her.

"It's the damn zombie apocalypse," she whispered to herself, bewildered at the sight. Her heart was racing, fear taking hold of her as she lunged to pull her arrow from the creature on the ground. She reset it and took one creature down, grabbing behind her back for arrows to shoot down the others. When they were dead, she retrieved the bloody arrows and shoved them back into her quiver.

The air was tense. Rose could only hear the agonizing screams of victims as her eyes grazed over the puddles of blood staining the cement. Everyone she could see at the motel was already dead. There were at least 5 creatures reaching for her, so Rose did what she did best - she ran. Sprinting towards the trees behind the motel, she didn't stop to look back.

Now, three weeks later, she was trudging along a stranded road, the view of the city of Atlanta not far along the horizon. That was where the building with the vengeful spirit was, so that was where Rose's last hope lingered for her brothers.

The past few weeks were spent in empty houses for food and shelter, but she could never stay in one place for too long. The creatures always found her. Before she left each place, however, she made sure to smudge "Poughkeepsie" onto the door. Sam and Dean would be able to track her that way, and at least know she was safe.

Each day tugged Rose's hope further down, each dead phone line bringing her to believe she'd never find her brothers. She had tried circling back to the motel, but the place had been overrun and too dangerous to go inside.

The city was closer. She longed to hear the grumble of the Impala, and the sound of her brothers relieved voices once they found her. She continuously cursed at herself for not grabbing her cell phone before leaving the motel room, or at least leaving a note for them to know where she had gone. Her scuffed boots kicked at dead leaves as she continued along.

The silence was deafening. That's all there ever was since the outbreak - no more radio, no more birds chirping; only the dreadful sound of hungry growling.

That's why Rose couldn't control her fear when she heard the faint sound of a car alarm. Her feet couldn't carry her forward as she froze, her eyes desperately searching for the source of the sound. She spotted a red sports car speeding towards her, the alarm gradually getting louder.

Rose didn't know what to do. Her mind was paralyzed with the thought that it could be Sam and Dean, though it wasn't Dean's car. She knew she should be running, but the car was stopping beside her before she could make a move. Her hand grabbed a gun in her belt as she winced at the deafening noise.

She watched the window roll down to reveal a young man in a baseball cap, looking at her with wide eyes.

"Quick, get in!"

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This is my first story that I'm publishing! I hope everyone who is reading it is enjoying it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Be sure to leave any comments or suggestions you have for me, thank you!!