Protect | Rick Grimes

ZERO

| BEFORE |

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The sun was beginning to slowly set when the gas meter in the car ticked down to the 'E'.
A perfect way to end an already shitty day. It had been about three weeks into what might be the end of the world and I've managed to run into absolutely no one.

Usually I wouldn't mind being alone, but after a while it had gotten annoying especially in this god forbidden death world where the undead were trying and mostly succeeding to eat the living. I've had once to many close encounters with those biters than I'd like to admit.

A sign indicating that a motel was less than a mile away sparked just enough hope that I needed to keep going.

As I drove I thought about my younger sister, Josie, who became another unfortunate soul lost in this world. I found her sprawled across her kitchen floor stuffing her hands into her now dead fiancé and eating his organs like it was a buffet.

Throughout the past couple of weeks reports on the news had been talking about the dead returning to life and feeding off the flesh of innocent people around the globe.

Naturally I, along with the rest of the human population, shook the thought away and thought it was all a hoax of some kind and moved on with our lives because I thought I had better things to worry about.

I use to worry about making sure my hair was neatly combed, if I left my front door unlocked or whether my phone was charged before I went to bed. The little things my mind use to fret about back then now became insignificant today as I struggled to find my next meal, shelter and survive somehow without getting turned into one of the dead.

I turned over to glance at the brown pack that occupied the passenger seat of the old rusty suburban I managed to start up at an empty car lot. It had become a habit of mine to check if all my valuables were still in my possession because without them I wouldn't be alive.

My bag carried two bottles of water, one empty and one full, extra clothes, and a handy beretta I looted from an empty house. Although I did feel bad stealing from innocent people it was a must in this world now.

In the small pockets on my bag I held miscellaneous objects I had picked up along the way like batteries, lip balm, lighter and a small clear tube of hand sanitizer.

Strapped to my thigh was a dagger covered by a sheath to protect itself. Memories of when I was a young wide eyed girl came to mind when I glanced down at it; my father took me hunting every other weekend back when I was thirteen. I always showed disinterest in the activity but still gave it my all and became quite skilled with a knife in my hand.

The last I saw of a dagger was when I left for medical school years ago, and never in a million years would I have guessed the skill would come in handy while I stabbed the biters dead for good.

When I first found my sister I had to improvise with what little time I had after she realized I was staring at her in horror and she came charging at me. I gripped a large kitchen knife, once used for cutting chicken, and now turned it against Josie.

At first nothing seemed to work as I stabbed her chest, trying to get to her heart, next her neck in order to cut the Carotid Artery to cut off the blood supply to her brain, but nothing worked.

Lastly, after much struggle to push her off me I stabbed her in between the temple and she grew motionless immediately.

Do I feel bad? Absolutely.

I didn't want to kill her, but I had to do what was necessary.

The warm wind blowing through the open window snapped me out of thought and back into this horrible reality.
The sun was long gone and a dark blue sky was left for all those out there including me. A barley visible sign shone through the darkness, it read "Travelier Motel".

The motel wasn't in that bad of a condition so hopefully there were still some things left to scavenge. I parked the car little ways back as to not cause commotion to anything that might be lurking.

I slung my pack around my shoulders and stuffed the gun in the waistband of my jeans and slipped my dagger out of it's sheath. I took a few deep breaths to calm myself down because it was always a risk going out, especially at night and alone.

Taking fast steps, I swiftly hid behind a small brick barricade outside the motel to scope out the area. Peeping over I saw a few of the dead roaming around with rotten faces and loud moans, and I waited for the nearest one around me to walk closer to the motel so I could catch him from behind.

A noise in front of me caught my ears, stopping me from taking out my victim. There stood a now battery drained soda machine with a green icebox taking the space next to it. As I stared for a couple of moments nothing happened and I shook my head to clear all thoughts and prepared to —there it was again.

My head snapped to the iceboxes doors as they jolted up slightly, but enough for me to catch them. The doors continued to rattle and I pulled out my gun in order to seize whatever is in front of me quick enough since I was still getting the hang of killing the dead.

As I approached the icebox closer the doors suddenly pushed open and startled me, but before I could act upon it a voice quickly broke out, "Don't shoot! Don't shoot."

The voice rapidly spoke and I sighed in disbelief.

It was another human who happened to be alive and breathing.

I quickly put my gun down and gripped the strangers forearm and brought him behind the barrier I was before.

"Oh man, am I glad to see you." The man whispered with heavy breathing.
"You're not going to hurt me, right?" He continued with wide eyes.

I smiled at his worry and chuckled, "I wouldn't count on it."

A smile came across his features and his small eyes crinkled in happiness. I took this as an opportunity to take in his appearance. He was most certainly a couple of years younger than I was, and he had black hair covered in a striped baseball cap, and his ethnicity was most certainly Asian.

There was something about him that just screamed trustworthy, but I couldn't pin point what it was.

"Are you alone?" I wondered and looked around for any sign of company.

His tone noticeably saddened, "Yeah."

I watched his eyes as they reached the floor and sighed, "Me too," I admitted slowly and reached out for his hand reassuringly. "But now we have each other."

He leaned against the brick wall and spoke, "I was out scavenging for gas, which I managed to find, when these walkers suddenly came out of the woods over there and I couldn't fight them alone so I hid." He revealed while scratching the back of his head.

Gas. Those words caught my attention as my predicament had now been solved thanks to this guy. I stuck my head over the barrier and saw a red container littered on the concrete and assumed that's what he dropped.

"I'll tell you what, I help you get that gas and take down those, what did you call them, walkers?" He nodded and let me continue, "Then we get the hell out of here, how does that sound?" I offered him with a smile.

"Absolutely." He agreed and picked up a crowbar stained in blood at the tip, but I stopped him before he could stand up.

"I'm Mona." I held out my hand and watched him expectantly as he took a hold of it and shook.

"Glenn."

Maybe this day wasn't so shitty after all.

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Peep the twd telltale game reference, hope you all enjoyed.
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