After 30 Days

One-Day 33 *

Please be aware, this story is currently undergoing major editing before being submitted to the publisher. There will be discrepancies until editing is finished.

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As far as ways to die went, freezing to death was starting to sound like the better option.

Freezing to death had to be better than slowing roasting alive, the unrelenting sun beaming down, and the heat bouncing back up at us from the blacktop that we were currently walking along. I swore I could even feel the heat through the soles of my shoes when I walked on the road for too long. Worried about the feet of the big dog that stayed close to my side, I had taken to walking in the grass along the side of the road. If Rex's feet were scalded, and he was unable to walk, I wasn't sure if any of us had the energy left to carry him.

It had been a very long three days.

It seemed like a long time ago, and just yesterday, that we had been welcomed into Maggie's community within the abandoned strip mall. The people there had offered showers, and clean clothes, and a place to sleep where you didn't have to worry about zombies biting off your face in the night. They had offered something that had almost resembled normalcy. As close as we were going to find anymore, anyhow.

But then an enemy bent on revenge had found us. I still had no idea how you would even calculate the odds of that happening, though I guessed it didn't really matter, because it had. He had found us and used fire and zombies to destroy our refuge. People had died. Maybe a lot of people.

Probably a lot of people.

In the end, murdering Mack was also one of the casualties, but that didn't make anyone feel better. Innocent people were still dead. And here we were, slowly cooking to death as we walked along some back road, hoping that we would find water soon because we were down to our last few sips.

Sweat rolled down my back and stuck my shirt to my skin. The sunburn that I knew had to be making my nose look like I belonged in a circus was starting to itch. My jeans, equally sweat soaked, were becoming more ill fitting by the day. Too large, damp jeans, were a pretty uncomfortable thing to wear when the sun was this angry.

A large clump of grass tangled around one of my feet, throwing me off balance and bringing me out of my musings. The last thing we needed was another injury to contend with. Our group was banged up enough already, with a few members struggling to keep up. I reminded myself to watch where I was going. 

What I wouldn't give for an ice cold drink right at that moment. I had a feeling that things like ice cold drinks were a thing of the past. Maybe gone forever, just like so many other luxuries that I hadn't known were luxuries until they were gone. Things weren't the only loss that I was feeling, either. Walking along that road from hell, contemplating better ways to die than heat stroke, was a reminder of the people that we had lost along the way.

I missed Evie. 

My roommate had been the first victim of the sickness that I had seen. I had literally watched her die, tried desperately to bring her back, and then ran in terror and confusion from the monster that she had become. I hadn't had much time to think about Evie in the recent weeks, too busy trying to stay alive. But I was thinking about her now, along with Carrie and Fallon and Devin, and even Austin, who I hadn't really known all that well but had seemed like one of the good guys.

They were all gone, along with luxuries like ice cubes, and the way that things used to be.

But even as bad as it looked, I had to count myself lucky. I wasn't alone. In fact, looking around myself now, I saw more people who mattered to me than I had ever had before.