Day 216
It was dark, yet I had no other choice but to take my leave now. The dead would be out, that was for sure, but the darkness would give me refuge from the not-so-friendly travelers.
I was scared. I was cold. I was hungry. Most importantly I was alone. Well...not completely alone.
The low grunts and moans coming from outside my door were evidence that in this world, I was never alone. Not anymore.
I let out a small sigh as I pressed my back against the front door, preparing myself for the small herd outside that could possibly be my doom.
I had experience with killing zombies, not a lot, but experience. Yeah you heard me correctly. Zombies. That's a hazard these days.
Suddenly the grunting got louder, making my palm on the door handle sweat.
How many could I kill? Would I be able to stealth past a few if I wasn't too loud?
I shut my eyes and said a silent prayer before I swung the door open and faced my first corpse.
My neighbor, Jonathan. If memory served me correctly I remembered he was a bit arrogant and annoying.
I couldn't help but notice his glasses were missing. He was a fresh corpse, I could tell by how he ran straight for me.
The fresher the corpse the faster it moves. This is because their blood hasn't run completely cold, it's still warm from being alive not to long ago.
Normally, a dead human being turns cold within minutes of death, but the fever caused from the infection keeps the body warm much longer than anticipated.
He shuffled over towards me with arms outstretched, his used-to-be long black hair was pasted to his forehead with blood.
I attempted to dodge his flailing arms but before I knew it one brought me back, and soon Jonathan was pinning me to the door screaming in my face.
More like choking in my face. Saliva and blood blocked out the noise that was trying to come from his mouth.
His death was a messy one, that much I could tell by the hole in his body where his stomach and intestines should be.
"Gruhhh-" Gasped out the dead boy on top of me. I had my arms on his bony shoulders, pushing him as far back as I could. His face was inches from mine, his jaw opened half-hazardly as he tried to use his tongue to get me.
It was dripping on me now. The saliva and blood, it was dribbling slowly from his tongue to my clothes. Disgusting!
I then used my leg to kick him back. Once to get him off me. Again to knock him backwards on his butt. Quickly I pulled my long blade out as I strode back over to the grounded Jonathan.
He was struggling to get back up on his legs that would not move for him. I came up behind him as I pressed the knife into his skull, breaking through it like butter.
"If memory serves me correctly Jonathan, you tried to kiss me before and I refused. Being a zombie doesn't change that." I whispered slyly as I tugged the blade out of his head. That was always the hard part, getting the knife back out.
I stood up and turned around with a proud smirk on my face as I then saw the next three corpses coming towards me. My smile dropped.
"Shit." I said with my eyes bugging out. My brain went into overdrive as I planned an escape route. Over the fence, and into the river.
I made a beeline for the Strauss' fence, dodging the corpses one-by-one, juking a few in the process.
A straggler strayed from the herd and followed my path. I jumped up barely catching onto the fence to pull myself up. I swung one leg over and soon the next, just missing the rotted hand that reached for me. I then jumped off the fence and fell into the river.
Ooh that's cold. The icy water flooded my clothes being both a blessing and a pain in the ass.
And that's how I made it out. For the next hour I swam myself away. Away from my block, my street, my home. It didn't matter anymore. Nothing tied me there any longer. Nothing.
After I made it out of the river I didn't stop. I kept walking. I had no purpose, no reason to be alive. I pretty much was just looking for a way to die.
I mean it's not like I was trying to get killed, I was still trying to defend myself. But come on! It shouldn't be this hard to die.
A girl at my physical level being my age, with having to have hid behind her family the last eight months, I should not have lasted this long. I knew that.
Some time this night I should've crossed some impossible amount of zombies that I wouldn't get passed, but to my dismay I didn't. Just stragglers. Easy kills that I could pick off separately.
I have killed 6 zombies total in the last nine months since this whole business went down, 3 of them being tonight, and one being by complete accident. I think that should say a lot about my training, and why I shouldn't be alive still. Yet, here I was. Shivering from my still damp clothes.
I made my way passed many safe-zones and many not-so safe-zones. As the sun began to rise, and the hours began to pass I kept on walking and my kill number slowly increased.
Seven zombies. Eight zombies. Nine.
This is how things went for a bit. A month to be exact.
I traveled during most of the night and some of the day. It was usually the afternoons I'd loot and lay low until nightfall.
I didn't have a destination, I just became a mindless wanderer like the dead that surrounded me. That was until I met him.
After about a month of this cycle I had made: wander, kill, loot, sleep, wander, kill, loot, sleep, I ran into him.
It was just like any other normal day of the cycle. I had spent the last four hours walking down the streets of this caution zone, that meant it wasn't city protected, until finally I met the herd of zombies that was worthy of my death.
There was at least 15 of them blocking my passage further into the city.
Sure by now I had killed at least that many zombies if not more, but my chances of survival were getting slimmer every passing second.
See I have this motto when it comes to knowing your challenge limit. You cannot take out a herd bigger than the number of all the corpses you've killed in total. You just can't.
So I stood there in the middle of the street for another second until I saw it. It. The small white market that stood to my left. Like a beacon of hope in this craphole that was left of the world.
It then came to me now that I could actually die, that I seriously didn't want to die! So I made a run for it, right to the entrance.
Shit. The doors were locked. I then ran behind the building looking for a backdoor of some sort. Again, nothing. Double Shit.
The zombies were getting closer, I could hear their simultaneous moans as they wrapped around the building in a swarm. My good luck had surely run out.
Finally, I turned the last corner of the building and I saw a small ladder screwed to the side of the wall leading to the rooftop. Bingo.
I jumped reaching my arms up for the thin metal. Miss. I jumped again with more bounce in my step. Another miss.
Finally, a challenge that my luck could not win for me, but only my physical strength that I had none of.
I looked around to see the first of the herd of zombies make its way across the corner. This is it.
I shut my eyes preparing for the worst walking a step closer to the zombies until I stumbled over something hard buried half-way into the ground.
A bucket? It then struck me. I could live. I could make it through this one too!
I grabbed the bucket and positioned it on the grass below the ladder. I stepped on, wobbling at first, but then gained my balance and readied myself for the final jump. One. Two. Three. Go!
I jumped reaching for the ladder and graciously my fingers met the cold metal. It creaked slightly as I hanged on there for a bit.
I pulled myself up in just the knick of time before the first zombie got to me. As I clutched to the rungs of the ladder I stared down at the herd pool in below me. Mindlessly reaching for me as if they had a chance to catch me airborne.
I grinned and let out a chuckle before I looked up and climbed the rest of the way up the building. My arms nearly gave out.
As I swung myself over the railing of the rooftop I took in what I had to work with. Not much.
'SAVE US!" was written very widely on the rooftop...in blood. It wasn't fresh, thank goodness, but it was recent.
I then saw the ceiling door in the center, it's handle also covered in blood, and took it with my own hand as I heaved it open.
I closed my eyes preparing myself for the scene I was sure to see, but nothing could prepare me for what was going to be in that market.
At first sight it was empty. All there was was a rope so I could slide down onto ground level, as I did. But when I reached the floor I heard the most heartbreaking word I would ever hear.
"Mommy?" A small voice called out from a corner of the room. I heard movement from the same place.
"Mommy is that you?" The voice called until I saw its owner. A little boy stepped out of the darkness and into the light.
His body and clothes we're dirty, but to my good fortune, not with blood. He looked terrified, and I didn't make the situation any better.
I wish I could say I was comforting, and that the maternal instinct in me kicked in right away, but it didn't. I still had my survival instinct.
Quickly I pulled out my gun that I only use in emergencies and pointed it at the boy. I didn't hesitate to ask questions.
"Are you bitten? Where is your group? Did any of them get in here?" I asked sounding cold.
The child's eyes bugged and instantly he was filled with confusion.
"I'm alone, and no monsters have bothered me or Momma. Mommy did good at keeping them out." He said with a smug little smile, not even being phased by my gun.
"Where is your mommy?" I asked with the same edge in my voice.
The boy opened and closed his mouth not knowing how to answer.
"I'm all alone, and hungry. Do you have any food?" He asked sweetly. It was then that I slowly lost the coldness in my heart and crouched down to look at the little boy.
"What is your name?" I asked offering him a small smile.
"Cal Nicholson. I can spell my first name for you. C-A-L. What's yours?" He said with a proud smile.
"Nice job Cal. My name is Amy. Now how old are you?" I asked trying to sound affectionate.
He thought for a bit and counted on his fingers before he held his hand up to me.
"I'm four. How old are you?" He asked quizfully.
I thought about it for a bit before I answered. "Fourteen. Soon to be fifteen."
I rummaged through my bag looking for a granola bar to give to him. As I handed him one his eyes lit up, and he asked me to open it for him.
After I did the boy snatched the bar out of my hands and ate it merrily.
"You were hungry, huh?" I said in a small voice.
The boy smiled up at me shyly and continued to eat. We stayed in that position for a while: him eating hunched over himself, and me crouched down watching him eat. Soon I returned to my questions.
"Cal, are you hurt? Any scratches or bites I should know about?" I said in a sweet tone.
He looked at me confused and then shook his head quickly after knowing what I meant.
"No monster bites. They don't hurt me, Mommy makes sure." He said matter-of-factly like little kids do. I smiled at him, but then suddenly my smile dropped.
"Cal, where's your Mommy?" I said slowly looking at him puzzled.
Cal lifted his shoulders and shrugged. "I'm not sure. She went back there and hasn't come back since." He said pointing to the freezer room in the back of the market.
I didn't know what my face looked like but I was sure it resembled confusion.
"How long ago did she leave, Cal?" I asked eyeing the freezer room door, it had a small window in the center. Cal paused briefly to count on his fingers, but eventually gave up.
"A long time. I miss her." He said looking up at me.
"Did she say where she was going?" I ask the small child. Cal isn't so sure he understands and instead of waiting for an answer I walk to the freezer door and pull on the handle. Locked.
I tug a few more times to be sure and then I peer into the filmy window on the door. I can barely make out a message written in...blood...and it says...SLAM!
Suddenly a corpse slams itself on the opposite side of the window. I jump back at the surprise and then take in the creature. She is recent, maybe four days old. Cal's mom.
She presses her face to the glass snarling at me making it impossible to read the message behind her. I had no other option but to take her out.
I use one of my longer knives to pick the lock on the door, and when it finally opens for me I kick her back so Cal won't see us.
I make the kill quick and drag her to the side. After I am done I step back and look at the message she left behind for me. It reads "keep Cal safe."
"Is mommy in there?" Cal asks from the front of the market.
I suddenly snap out of the solemn sorrow I feel for this parent and this kid, and I realize what I have to do.
I turn around to face Cal, and walk back to him shutting the freezer door.
"No." I lie. "She's going to be gone for a while, but she wants me to take care of you."
Cal looks confused but shakes his head and says, "Okay, and I remember now where Mommy said she was going."
"Oh really? And where is that, Cal?" I say encouragingly.
I then walk up to him and he offers me his small hand that I take with my own.
We walk to the front of the market, and look out the doors that were locked from the inside.
"Heaven. Mommy said she was going to Heaven to see Daddy. Where is Heaven?" Cal says knitting his eyebrows together in curiosity.
It takes me a second to answer the boy and then I say, "Well, I don't know Cal."
We look outside the door where it's clear enough from the zombies to just get by. If we were going to leave it'd better be now. More corpses would show up by nightfall.
He looks upset by my answer and makes a pouty face, then asks a new question.
"Will I go there soon?" He asks looking up at me.
I think for a moment, deciding whether I should answer honestly or not.
I'm about to tell him that it's most likely he'll die...possibly even tonight, but then I stop and look down at his little hand in mine. He squeezes my palm so tightly.
"Well Cal, by your Mommy's orders, I sure do hope not."