Hope Without You

Cool steel

Just along the border of North America, laid empty camps, abandoned towns and nothing but heat. Most of the heard had drifted to the coast, maybe it was the cruise ships that were set alight, lots thought the virus was sea-borne. But when it started to rupture the cities and towns, the dead overran the country. That was a good few months of hell, real hell. Then those cruises exploded, fuel doesn't sit well unattended.

Now the dead guard the coast, hoarding water and trapping us all inside. Hellfire had dimmed as days went on, now it was just, numb...I'm Stef, by the way.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was a Monday , I think , I'm not sure why I try to remember , no day counts anymore. I sat up in the car , it had no gas, it wasn't even mine, it was slumped outside of an empty barn just outside of Mexico , I had cleared any corpses from the car , there was still some blood, but it was secluded enough that no stowaways would find it. The infected? Well, come to think of it, I hadn't seen any in days, at this point, they've started to form groups, herds, they make a single Walker look like a lost child in comparison, I've had one encounter with a herd so far.
Roads have started to splinter and crumble under the constant heat , it was obviously summer, most days were filled with walking, mindlessly sometimes, a river, a camp, a sanctuary , those are myths now , people lack humanity nowadays, to group up is a death will , i was sure I was one of the last ones left, Am I vain? I don't think so, it's probably selfish, nature clearly wanted it this way, who am I to cling to existence?

The only thing that took me from my thoughts was the heat , shade was ecstatic, but you couldn't avoid the sun, it's a constant, my face was already splotchy and flaking , I tend not to look for mirrors anymore.

"Agh-" I grumbled to myself , rubbing my eyes, hoping it would generate some moisture, I stretched my hands out in-front of myself , resting on the wheel, I let out a croaky sigh , the sun would be rising soon, I could see the terracotta knocking at the horizon, eager to cook, and this car, I'd be roasted Stefania within the hour.
I pulled my bag close to me checking I hadn't been robbed, not that I had much, an empty flask , a kitchen knife, a silver pistol with a remaining bullet, and a left over Twinkie.

Once I had woken up my legs, I jumped out from the car , the infected had a tendency to grab your ankles from under the car, and humans? Well that's an old trick to mugging someone.

The first hour of travelling , I could have easily been infected myself, my eyes heavy, my mouth drooping , dribble dried on my chin from my rest. I was only a few miles away from the next town , there was a slim chance there would be anything useful, but I had to try, I haven't given up yet, as tempting as it is.
I needed water, since yesterday I had been sipping at what little I had left, now I had none, and I had a timer ticking until my time was up and I became one of them.

But death is always just a door away now, it's choosing to open it or walk past, or have it slammed open in your face, and today I had no idea what I would face.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

An infected could be seen further down the road, I sighed, grabbing the knife from my bag, wincing as the material scraped against my skin.
Then, out of nowhere, the silent air was disturbed by a single gunshot, it snatched the breath from me, my veins, pulling , me behind and pushing me down behind a car.

It could have come from anywhere, but my left ear rung slightly , I edged to the right of the car and forced myself to take a breath before my head went. My lungs hated me, hot dust catching and tugging at my throat, it felt like sandpaper , I could have sworn I tasted blood.

When the fuzziness calmed down , I heard the voices, I tried to count them , a woman , she must have been a mom, she had that scolding tone. Another woman, younger, she sounded thrill but assertive , she was talking to a man, he sounded young too, it could have been siblings.

"Jesus Christ, you could have warned us Nick, we have knives , sound only draws the, closer -" the young woman told him off, whether she was older than him I don't kn
"Alicia, haven't you noticed the giant herd on the coast? I think they're a little busy at the moment " He sounded calm, but weary. He had a point , but a bullet was unnecessary, especially when it nearly gave me a heart attack.

"Your sister is right, we don't have much ammo left , we don't know if there's anyone about " the older woman sounded cool, collected, she was definitely a mother figure.

My curiosity got the better of me, I kneeled up peering through the windows to match the voices to a face.
There was four, someone who hadn't spoken , he looked like an old man, a scornful look on his face, he clearly wasn't happy with what happened.
The mother, she had shoulder length blonde hair , her eyes showed enough power to intimidate me , lines sculpted her face to show her age , yet it didn't decline her appearance at all, in fact, she was quite pretty.

The young girl, well she looked my age , longer caramel hair , her face was slim, she was gorgeous , lean, and definitely had more common sense than her brother.
Her brother was even lankier , floppy, blood stained and what I guessed would be brown hair covered his face, he held the gun , he was practiced, but who isn't these days?

Maybe I was looking too much, as soon as his head shifted I through myself down again , holding my breath until the voices faded. I could tell they were moving away now.
I could follow them, I could screw my own rules, in the chance of getting some water out of it, or I could let them go, and chance it alone. Again.

I didn't expect to yell at myself, a blubber of words, cursing at my stupidity, I knew it could get my killed, but the fear of death , wasting away and drying up to become of of them.
I was careful about following them throughout the day, constantly giving them distance, I couldn't chance getting too close, at least not yet.
We passed through a town, and then another, and another. And I still didn't have water.
My throat was closing up, I could feel the tightness weigh on my lungs, hunching my over slightly. It wasn't nearly as bad as the headache , which hammered at my cranium , I wondered if that's how the infected feel like when they get shot.

I was rally slacking , because for a second time a walker caught me off guard, it came from the side, I should have seen it coming.
the next thing I knew I was on the floor, it's jaw snapping at my face, the god awful noise coming from it's chest , I couldn't reach my knife in my bag , I could only prevent as much as I could from it tearing into my flesh, I heard myself growling back , frustration that this is how it would end.

The next thing I knew, a gunshot, the walker fell on top of me , it's hot blood spewing over me, the stench made me gag.
The body was pulled off of me , I tried to sit up, but then felt a cold steel barrel pressing against my forehead.
My body went stiff, and I slowly lifted my gaze to meet the eyes of the the brother.