“-chaos as the rabies-like virus continues to spread. The President of the United States has declared this an official state of emergency and has released a statement urging people to stay in their homes and avoid all contact with infected persons-”
I turned off the radio. There was no way I could stay at home when my sister was alone with a young child. Her husband was on tour in Iraq and she would need help. I called her cell for the fifth time but she still didn’t answer.
"Dammit, Viola," I cursed under my breath. I was going to have to travel to her. I glanced out my window, making sure my property was still clear. At times like this, I was thankful that I lived rurally. I was half a mile from my nearest neighbour and glad for the seclusion.

I’d been following the whole thing right from the start on the news. It had started in Uganda and was spreading like wild fire. They thought it was a virus that was similar to rabies. It was said to make people act crazily, eventually descending into total insanity where they'd attack anyone and anything that came near. It had reached the States before we’d even realised. We’d closed our airports and docks but it was far too late for it to be an effective measure against the spread. I was thankful that I’d always stockpiled non-perishables for times I couldn’t leave the house, though of all the situations I’d planned for, this was not one that I'd imagined.

“Auntie Maz? Where are we even going?” my niece piped up from by my side.
“I don’t know, Hal. We’re just looking for somewhere else to stay,” I replied. We’d been travelling for nearly 10 hours at this point. I was exhausted, but there was no time for rest right now. I couldn’t even afford a lapse of concentration until I knew we were safe. Keeping my eyes and ears peeled for any sign of movement, we kept moving forwards.
“I’m hungry,” she grumbled, justifiably. We'd not eaten since we'd set out this morning.
“I know, we’ll get something as soon as we can,” I promised. Hallie was 11 now, or at least I think she was. It was difficult to keep track of the days and months at this point. She seemed much older than she was though; the hard environment had forced her to leave her childhood behind very quickly. I stepped over a fallen log and turned back to help her over. I caught sight of one of them in the distance behind us, coming out of the tree line. I dropped quickly to the floor with Hallie, using the log for cover. I put my finger to my lips and she nodded, silently. I checked that our immediate surroundings were clear, and then peeked back over our wooden shield. It was crossing the road that we were following, thankfully not headed in our direction. It appeared not to have noticed us so I thanked whoever was watching over us. After all this time, I still hated having to face them, knowing that one of us would leave the conflict without our life. They were still people after all, however inhuman they'd become. We remained silent and still until it was completely out of sight. I grabbed Hallie by the shoulders.
“We have to go now, and quickly. Stay quiet and keep your eyes open, understand?” I whispered urgently. She nodded again before hugging me tightly, her eyes wide with fear. I held her close with all my might. Not for the first time, I felt guilty that a child had to endure this, but we didn't have time for me to dwell on the injustices of life. I broke away from her, and tugged on her hand. We set off at a quick pace once again, trying to remain inconspicuous.

There were no signs of life as we travelled - something that I was infinitely grateful for - and after an hour of walking, we reached the borders of a small town. I put my finger to my lips again, signalling for Hallie to be as quiet as possible. She stayed close to my side, holding onto my stained t-shirt with a grip of steel. Her anxiety was contagious, making my heart rate soar. We stuck close to building walls, checking down alleys as we made our way forwards. I peered into windows hopefully, but the shelves were already empty in most buildings. Clearly someone had already been here. That was the issue with anywhere built up, people raided them for supplies. Towns were just too risky to stay in and cities were deathtraps to even pass through, but there was a good chance we could salvage some provisions on our way through. Hallie tugged on my top and twitched her head towards a building on the other side of the road. A drugstore, bingo. I looked up and down the street a number of times before taking the plunge and running across, Hallie hot on my heels. It never got any easier to run through an open space. It felt so uncomfortably exposed, and after too many run-ins with the infected, caution was something that was essential to have in spades when putting yourself in such a vulnerable position. We practically slammed ourselves into the wall on the other side, pressing back into it as though we could disappear if we pushed hard enough. I caught my breath and gathered my senses as we watched and waited. Nothing came, but it didn’t mean we could relax yet. Hugging the wall, we made our way around the building, looking for a fire exit or back entrance. We’d learnt the hard way that it was never a good idea to use the main doors of any building. Healthy humans could be just as dangerous as the infected. There was a desperate need for survival, and it made competition for food, water and medical supplies fierce. Accompanied with a lack of law enforcement, or just law in general, this made for territorialism and violence. I had no desire to get an 11 year old girl involved in that, or to get involved in it myself, and so we avoided people as much as we avoided the infected. It made us feel so alone, but it was better than the alternative.

The door to the side of the drug store was padlocked but completely intact. That was good news, it meant there was a chance that this building - or this part of it, at least - hadn’t yet been looted. We could probably salvage a great deal from here, and from the town in general, if we stayed nearby for a little while. The door stared me down. The chance that a live biter would be inside was slim, so I fumbled in my backpack for the bolt cutters and got to work on the lock while Hallie kept a lookout. After a little effort, the padlock dropped to the floor and I slid the bolt open. With one last look to make sure outside was still safe, I cracked the door slowly and listened. I was only met with silence, so I cautiously edged the door open all the way and peered in. It was all clear and, more importantly, it was untouched - a welcome stroke of luck. I stepped in as quietly as I could straining my ears for any noise. I motioned for Hallie to follow me in and gently closed the door behind her. We wouldn’t even need to go onto the shop floor, there was all we needed right here. I did a quick sweep of the room, ensuring all doorways were blocked in some shape or form before allowing myself to relax slightly.
“Ok,” I nodded to Hallie, who immediately went wild digging through boxes in search of food. I was more concerned with medicine myself, always stocking up on bandages, antiseptic, painkillers and antibiotics whenever the opportunity presented itself. You could never be too careful, and we nearly always needed them for one reason or another. I heard Hallie whoop in celebration as she found boxes of protein bars. Sufficiently stocked in the first aid department, I joined her as she furiously tore the packaging open and grabbed a handful of bars. We shovelled as many as we could into our backpack before opening one each and taking a bite. Even the most boring things tasted wonderful when you were starving, and these were no exception. I savoured every mouthful of it, before greedily opening another and returning to search through the remaining boxes.

“Water over here,” Hallie called, triumphantly brandishing a bottle before tossing it to me.
“You’re an angel,” I exclaimed, catching it and twisting the top off. I swallowed it down, letting it soothe my parched throat. “Have you got space to carry some?”
“Uh-huh,” Hallie replied in between gulps of her own bottle, stashing a few in her bag. She then began rolling the bottles along the floor to me and I loaded up as many as I could carry without hindering myself. That would see us through for a little bit.
“Are you ok to go on?” I asked, anxiously. “We can rest for a bit if you like, but I’d rather find a more secluded area before nightfall.”
“No, let’s go. We’ll find somewhere soon, right?” Hallie replied, pulling her backpack onto her shoulders. “Maybe I can get some fresh clothes.”
I stood back for a moment, admiring her resilience and optimism. She’d been through so much and yet she was always ready to keep going.
“Ok," I answered, "you know the drill.”

We crept back out of the building carefully, and I looked to the sky. The sun was beginning to set and we didn’t have much time to find shelter. We’d have to get moving. We set off at a quick pace, staying close to buildings and keeping our eyes peeled as usual. It was such a small town that it only took us 15 minutes to get to the other side of it. The road ahead was just as empty as it had been before the town, so we stuck to the tree line and kept up our pace. We were losing the light and I was beginning to get desperate, when a building cropped up on the horizon.
“There,” I whispered to Hallie, pointing it out. It was a good distance away from the road, which meant more walking, but a better chance of it being empty. Judging by the mostly untouched town, this was an area that had seldom been travelled through, and it definitely hadn’t been targeted by those who were well-versed in raiding. Our pace quickened as the sky darkened and before long we were at the boundary of the house. I was desperate for it to be empty, I needed it to be. We never walked in the dark unless it was an emergency, it was just too risky. The infected had far better night vision than we did, it was a recipe for disaster to give them the upper hand. I put a hand on Hallie’s shoulder and squeezed it. She nodded and crouched low to the ground. We had a routine. I always went first to check out the surroundings and if anything happened to me then she was to bolt and get as far away as possible. I’d taught her some survival skills as best as I could and I’d just have to hope that they would serve her well. It made me uneasy to think about, because in reality how far could an 11 year old get on her own? But she was a smart girl and I hoped that her determination would see her through until she found someone else who could look after her.

I crept towards the building, keeping low to the floor. There were no lights that I could see, no movement. I kept scanning the area around me as I moved closer, occasionally looking back to check on Hallie. It was all quiet so far, but I heard a familiar sound as I got within a few yards of the house, a sound that made my heart almost stop.

Click, click, click.

I didn’t know where it was exactly, but it was without a doubt the distinct sound of a biter cracking its jaw. I steadied my breathing and my nerves, there was no other way around this now. I was too close to it to run. I swept my eyes from side to side, watching for movement. It had be around the side of the house. I hugged the wall, pulling my knife from its sheath, and crept towards the noise. I’d heard it before it had heard me – that was at least in my favour. I peeped cautiously around the corner, and there it stood tall, with its back to me. Its silhouette in the sunset showed pronounced ribs. Great. They're so much worse when they’re starving. In humans, starvation leads to a lack of co-ordination and a loss of strength. Not for these fuckers though; they get faster, more attuned to their surroundings and frenzied. They go into overdrive in a desperate attempt to live; a second wind before their bodies finally succumbed to the lack of nutrients and shut down. I took a deep, but quiet, breath and tiptoed towards it. No matter how many times I did this, I was always so goddamn terrified and this time was no exception. One step at a time, Marina, keep going, slowly, softly…

Snap.

I stood on a fucking twig. The biter whipped around and immediately caught sight of me, shrieking as it lunged. It ploughed into me, knocking us both to the floor. I was completely consumed by shock as the creature pinned me down. Its bloodshot eyes were completely devoid of human emotion and it drooled as it snapped at me. I held its chin back with one hand as it clawed at me. Using all my strength, I threw my knife wielding arm upwards and drove my blade into the side of its neck. The blood spurted down onto my face and I closed my mouth tightly to avoid swallowing any. I ripped my arm away and then drove the knife back into its neck over and over again with as much force as I could muster, until its thrashing slowed to a stop. I let my arms bow and the body dropped onto me. I stayed there for a moment, trying to catch my breath. Fucking hell. Choking back a sob, I heaved the corpse off of me and sat up, listening out for any sound. The air was still, silent. I hadn’t attracted anything else, at least. It must have been just the one that had been here. I circled the house warily (noting the unlocked back door), but found no other signs of any infected. Hallie looked at me in horror when I finally made it back to her. I had a good deal of blood on me, so I must have looked pretty terrifying.
“You found one?” she asked, her eyes full of fear.
“It’s gone,” I reassured her. “Come on, we need to get inside.”
“You didn’t get bit?” she checked, cautiously.
“Nope, not this time,” I replied, quietly. “Now, inside. Let’s go.”

We followed the usual routine – I slowly, quietly opened the back door while Hallie kept watch. Once I was sure there were no infected in the immediate vicinity, I pulled her in and closed the door gently. We stuck close together as we crept through the house, listening out for any sound. It was silent. The stairs creaked as we climbed, but it seemed to alert no one, human or otherwise. I motioned for Hallie to wait as I checked the first bedroom. It was empty, but it looked fairly recently lived in. The biggest clue was the half eaten pot of ramen on the bedside table. It’s not uncommon to come across old half eaten food or dirty clothes, but there wasn’t a speck of mold on this stuff. I picked the pot up. It's goddamn warm… I heard a millisecond of shuffling come from outside the door and the hair on the back of my neck stood up.
“Hallie?” I called, softly. There was no reply. I made my way over to the door, drawing my knife out ready. I pushed it open quickly, half expecting someone to jump out at me, but there was no one there. Hallie was not where I had left her. Fuck. I lost my cool and ran out towards the stairs to try and find her, but someone had been waiting for me behind the door. A blow to the head sent me face first to the floor. Before I could pick myself up, my arms were pulled behind my back and a black sack was pulled over my head. I fought and kicked until a male voice rang out, stunning me into stillness.

“If you want your kid to live, you do what we say.”

Notes

Check it out, a good old 'zombie' tale! If you like it, do let me know. I'm on the fence about whether to dive into this one or not.