The 365 Day Challenge

Day 5

Eden's steps were silent and cautious. She walked as quick as flowing liquid and as lucid to the forest trail as any old aged trail blazer. You couldn't guess she was a teenaged girl accustomed to paved sidewalks and a warm bed at night. But anything goes during a zombie apocalypse. Three months ago she was a walking time bomb of emotion and zombie guts, but miraculously, she had gotten her shit together. She held the black leather hilt of her machete so tightly she feared her knuckles would be permanently white. And don't assume she just came across this eighteen inch stainless steel angel sitting in a field. It was merely the first defensive instrument she could find, the melee weapon in her moment of need. Everything was thanks to her father. All the limited knowledge she had of the world outside her bedroom window was from dad, an avid hunter. The machete was actually a beloved item tediously sharpened every night. When that first grey corpse cornered her on that fateful day, she knew in which direction to run. Since then, she had learned the art of avoiding everything, dead and undead, and skewering whichever came in her way with her machete. The slightly worn deer trail she was currently walking through led a winding path through the slanting slope of a mountain. Little to no grass grew on the ground, which was covered in loose dirt, dry leaves, and pine needles. The trees grew high and wide so even on a blistering hot day like today, a cool shade was offered. The chill only made Eden feel more uneasy. To one side of her was a steeper uphill battle and to her left was a drop off. A long ravine ran along the side of her path, a shale wall straight down to god knows where. She made her way cautiously towards a bend in the trail, blocked from view by a cluster of hemlocks. As she turned the bend, her eyes widened in unpleasant surprise. Three walkers were feeding on a dead deer. The stench was horrendous; the deer was freshly killed and the plump red entrails were smeared all around the ripped and rotted skin of the undead. They hadn't noticed Eden yet so she hastily backed up, careful not to make a sound. Once she had back tracked behind the hemlock clump once again, she turned on her heel to run. She turned and blindly ran into a rambling corpse. There was a split second of horror as she looked at the callused face of the creature. It's eyes were a sickly yellow and its torn aging flesh hung by bits of muscle on its jaw. The lips were peeled back, revealing rows of pointed brown teeth harboring chunks of flesh, which gnashed involuntarily. The creature lunged at Eden, breaking her reverie, and she jumped into action. She pushed it to the ground and struggled with it for a few moments. She dodged its pasty arms which sprawled to grab her and ignored the bloodthirsty screech flowing from its mouth. When she finally had it pinned down, she fluidly slid the forceful machete through the corpse's rotting skull, piercing the brain. The sound gurgled from its lifeless jaw and the eyes rolled back into its head. She sighed audibly and stood up, brushing dirt and zombie grime from her jeans. Behind her, several sticks broke and the sound of leaves crumpling as they were walked on rushed to her ears. She whipped around to face the three deer-feeding zombies. And apparently, they were still hungry. They stumbled towards her, at an alarming speed, and she dove to retreat her machete out of the other walker's head. She quickly realized, to her unfortunate horror, that the machete had traveled through the zombie's molten cranium and went straight into the ground. She tugged at it but to no use; the walkers were already less than ten feet away from her. She had no other option besides to run. She took off down the trail in the opposite direction in which she came. The zombies' groans and whines told her they were very close behind. She pumped her arms and ran, ran for her life. She swung quickly around a row of blue spruce trees, momentarily blocking her from the view of the walkers. She panted heavily and surveyed the area. To her dismay, she realized she was screwed. The path continued on in a straight line for what seemed like forever, and following her stunt with these zombies, she knew more would show up. Looking up the hill, her guess was correct. More walking corpses shuffled down the hill. Behind her lay the ravine. She looked over the edge and saw a clear yet hidden area which was an intelligible hideout. An intelligible escape. But first she had to get past the two story free fall. A knot formed in her stomach and while her body told her it was impossible, her head was screaming to jump. The walkers were about to round the corner and she had to jump before they saw her. "But you can't," her mind wagered. "It would be suicide... You have no other choice..." She started to lean over the edge. She took one last deep breath. "Hell, you're dying either way," the voice in her head cackled. Her feet left the ground and suddenly, she was falling. The air formed a wind tunnel around her and her knotted stomach flew up to her throat. She dared not scream lest the walkers head her but the rushing air around her made it seem as if the world was screaming. Her legs flailed looking for the ground and she reached her arms behind her, grasping for a foothold or outcrop on the wall. Anything to break her fall. The skin on her hands ripped against the sharp shale jutting out of the wall, pain searing through them, but there was nothing, nothing. Fear crept into Eden's mind at the thought of dying. She had been close so many times before and in this world death was oh so common, yet she had been too confident she was going to live she hadn't had time to think about it. Now she had seconds left on this world. She hit the ground. The impact was body shattering and she was sure her body was a crumpled mess. Her eyes, which had been squeezed shut, suddenly opened. The world was spinning, but she could make out the strong tips of trees, a high shale wall, and a blue, blue sky. She realized with a start that she was alive. She didn't know whether she should laugh or cry, or even if she could after the fall. She tried pulled herself up, but her hands were terribly injured. She winced at the mangled mess of her hands. They were going to get undoubtably infected if she didn't get medicine soon. A dull ache was in her left foot and she imagined it must be broken, sprained at the least. She finally managed to sit up and look around. How had she survived? She was lying in a bed of stacked pine boughs, which must have broken her fall. The already soft loose dirt and pine needles covering the floor of the ravine also helped. Apparently, she had found the ideal place to cliff jump. Suddenly, a voice startled her. "'Ey, lassie, what sorts a bloody hell got you here?"