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Time passes slowly as we drive along the highway. We pass many rusted, crashed, tire stripped cars. So many that Bunny and Scotty have created a game

“Rusted beats your tire stripped cars,” Scotty claims in the back seat.

“How?” Bunny exclaims looking at him.

“You can fix up a rusted car and still drive it, you’d have to find new tired it’s too time consuming, the corpses would get you faster than you could find tires.”

“Fair point, but you lose still,” Bunny says smirking while sitting back in her seat.

“How?”

“If you fix up the entire car, then get in trying to run from a horde of corpses, what happens when you can’t start the engine because it’s been rusted? You would get ripped apart faster than you could say momma. There for, I win.”

Bunny; 1. Scotty; 0.

We have closed some distance between us and the city, but we won’t reach the city with daylight still on our side.

“I’m pulling over,” I state to the quiet car.

“Why?” Scotty asks not surprising me at all.

“It’s going to get too dark, the city won’t be safe without the sun to guide us.”

“Can’t we just I don’t know get torches or something?”

“And draw attention to ourselves even more? No way.”

“It wouldn’t draw that much attention to ourselves.”

Glancing at the sky I point out a fact I notices a while ago.

“It’s a new moon.”

“Meaning?”

“There will be no light given off from the moon, and walking around with a torch or a flashlight will practically give the corpses and strangers out location.”

“Oh,” he says sitting back against the seats. I drive a little longer trying to find a good spot to hide the truck and us. A little spot of woods ahead catches my attention. Two rusted cars lay on the side of the road which would create the perfect cover for the truck. Without consoling the kids I pull over behind the two rusted cars and park the car. It’s got to be good enough for the night.

“I’ll grab the blankets out of the back,” Scotty says his hand already on the handle of the door.

“No,” my voice says before I can even register what’s been said.

“No?” Scotty asks his hand drawing back from the handle. Even Bunny is looking at me strangely.

“I’ll get them.”

I quickly hop out of the truck before they can ask me why I said that. I round the truck quietly keeping my ears open for any sounds of corpses. The breeze is slightly on the colder side which makes me shiver form the thin layer of clothes I have on. I should have put my hoodie back on. I jump up onto the bed of the truck quietly trying to make as little noise as I can. The pallet of blankets are cold when I pick them up. They had to of been out here for a good couple hours. I don’t know how well they will be for keeping us warm. A sudden scream has me freezing in place. I’m instantly looking through the small back window of the truck to see if the kids are ok. Scotty is right at the window staring back at me. He goes to open his mouth to talk, but he doesn’t when he sees my finger at my lips telling him to be quiet.

Instantly my head whips to the road on my left. It’s a single corpse stumbling up the road singing a song of awful groans and moans.

That’s odd, corpses usually travel in groups.

I can feel my eyes narrow without me trying too. With the little light left in the day it’s hard to tell what the corpse looks like, but it’s not hard to tell it’s tall and moving faster than other corpses I’ve seen before. Something isn’t right, I don’t like this, and neither does my gut considering how strongly it’s urging me to get back into the truck. I can’t though, it’s like I’m captivated by this corpse. Something is really different. As the corpse comes closer into my view I notice small things about it. It’s not stumbling like corpses usually do. It’s kind of galloping, maybe even jogging. Its body doesn’t sag toward the ground instead it has a structure. It looks as if it has posture even. The thing that really has me confused is the sound it’s making. I was wrong before. It isn’t moaning and groaning. It’s growling, screaming, and shouting in agony. It’s a terrible sound that only gets louder as it nears us. The sound vibrates through my body and settles near my heart. It’s almost as if I can feel every scream traveling through my veins. It travels through my ears and enters my blood stream before navigating its way to my heart. The sound twists into threads as strong and cold as iron composed of tortured sounds. As it forms it begins to throw itself around my heart and pull tightly away strangling my heart. My heart tries to fight back by beating more frantically.

1. Can’t. Breath.

Distantly I can feel myself fall to the bed of the truck and just lying there. The corpse is still screaming its cry of agony. The threads won’t loosen up around my heart and I think I may pass out. The blackness creeping into the corner of my eyes cancels my original thought.

I am passing out.

“NoName,” a voice calls out to me softly. But I can’t respond, I’m already too far into the darkness.

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Someone slaps me, and it isn’t soft. I jolt up off the hard metal surface I was laying on.

“What happened?” I ask to no one particularly.

“You passed out,” Bunny whispers to the left of me. Her hand was rubbing soothing circles on my back. Scotty must have been the one who slapped me. My eyes find his and I glare at him through my shades. Wait, shades. It’s too light around me for me to have my shades on. The tinted vision I am use to is not there. The sunlight is too raw.

“Where are they?” I ask panic coating my voice thickly. Scotty lifts his hand in front of my unshielded eyes. I quickly snatch them from his hand harshly.

“What the hell guys?” I ask shoving them over my eyes.

“We couldn’t tell if you were awake. We tried everything, and you wouldn’t wake up.” Bunny explains trying to calm me down. Black dots still float in my vision, but I shake my head trying to drive them away.

“Why did I pass out?” I ask looking at Scotty.

“Beats me,” he shrugs, “all I know is once that corpse was right by the truck screaming its bloody head off you passed out and it shut up.”

He looks away from me making me look at him in a confused manner. He’s leaving something out.

“What else happened?”

Neither of them answered me, so asked again.

Bunny didn’t meet my eyes, but she answered my question.

“The corpse did something strange, something we never saw before.”

“What did it do?” I ask leaning toward her my curiosity getting the best of me. This time Scotty answers me looking me straight at me.

“It sprinted away up the highway after looking in our direction.”

What?

“I’m sorry what did you just say?”

“It sprinted away, after you passed out.”

“As in it ran, not stumbled, not crawled?”

“Yes NoName, it sprinted away.”

“That’s new,” I say standing to my feet. The sunlight hits me full force. The sun’s high in the sky.

“How long was I out?”

“You were out while the sun rose, and a couple regular corpse stumbled by. No more of those weird ones passed by again.”

“We need to move out and get into the city before night falls.”

“Are you sure you’re going to be able too?” Bunny asks standing beside me.

“Of course.”

I jump out of the bed of the truck and open the back door to the truck. I grab the weapons bag. A black duffel bag that’s large enough to hold a body. I quickly unload the bag throwing my bow over my chest and grab my arrow bag, a small draw string bag, throwing it over my shoulder. I grab the duffel bag and close the door before placing the bag in the trunk.

“Load up,” I say beginning to test out my bow. I pull the bow over my head and quickly load an arrow. Its as easy as breathing. My sight focuses on a tree about fifteen yards up. My breathing slows as my heart races calmly. My arm draws back a bit father before letting go. It soars through the air smoothly before meeting its target. It hits the tree with perfect accuracy.

“Yep she’s fine,” Scotty says jumping down from the truck bed.

“What made you doubt I was?”

“Nothing,” Bunny quickly cuts his brother off from talking.

Hmmm, yeah ok.

“Let’s do this thing shall we?” I ask looking at them. Bunny gracefully gets out of the truck and stands beside her brother.

“We shall.”

Before we leave the truck, we make sure it’s well hidden behind the two trucks clear out of sight. After placing two small blankets in the empty weapons duffel bag and loading the rest of our food and supplies we leave for the city, the city of the dead.

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“They weren’t kidding when they said city of the dead were they,” Scotty mumbles looking upon the piles and piles of decayed bodies.

We had only just entered the city and already there are piles of dead bodies, bodies that aren’t roaming around trying to eat people. An eerie atmosphere surrounds the city streets as we carefully make our way through its streets. Something in the pit of my stomach tells me we need to find an empty building and get out of the open. We’re too exposed this way.

“Maybe we should have stayed at the barn a little longer?” Bunny says glancing at the piles. Her face is pale, and she looks petrified.

Sounds of groans echo all around the city, but we can’t pin point where they are exactly coming from, the sky scrapers make the noises bounce around and echo.

“We should get out of the open.” I state firmly already scanning from a building. My eyes find nothing. The buildings are either to blown apart or too over ran with weeds and dead bodies. This wasn’t a good idea.

“NoName,” Scotty says clenching his daggers so tightly that his knuckles are white.

“Yes?”

“We need to get out of the open, we’re too exposed and I have a bad feeling.”

“Already on it.”

There’s nothing that looks suitable. Just as I go to respond Scotty beats me too it.

“Maybe we should try on of the alley ways?”

Not the smartest idea, but it’s better than anything I got. We take the next right into the ally way. Bunny and Scotty walk in front of me while I stay to make sure nothing is following us. For the first time since we entered the city I see the two of them relax a little bit. They let their weapons sag against their bodies as they begin to banter softly.

“You were totally scared back there Bunny, I thought you were about to cry,” Scotty says trying to rile her up.

“I was not, you were the one who was partially peeing yourself,” Bunny shoots back. As we walk deeper into the ally way something makes me anxious. A feeling of awareness suddenly washes over me so unexpected that I stop in my tracks. Something is wrong. My eyes quickly scan the ally way. The kids continue to talk softly amongst themselves relaxing more with every step they take. I study the wall of the ally way searching for any sign of danger. Two tall brick walls parallel to each other create the ally way. Three dumpsters line the ally emitting an awful smell of rotted food. A glint catches my eye and makes my gut twists terrible. An extremely thin wire runs down the side of one of the brick walls and hides behind a dumpster. There, in front of Bunny and Scotty, a little ways up is a hair thin wire floating about an inch above the ground. Instantly I’m moving toward the kids.

“Stop!” I yell, but it’s too late. Scotty turns to face me, but his feet are still moving forward. He trips the wire before I can get to them. But that doesn’t stop me, I throw my hands out grabbing fists full of the back of their shirts and pull them back. I yank them back and shield them with my body. I quickly wrap my arms around Bunny and Scotty making sure no part of their body is exposed to the area outside my arms.

I hear the shot before I feel it.

The loud bang of the gun echoes through the alley way, no doubt alerts every living and dead thing to our location. A searing white pain rips through my side as I shove the kids toward the nearest dumpster. Bunny’s sobbing and Scotty’s kicked into adult mode as he ushers her into the dumpster. I try to continue moving toward the dumpster, but the pain is blinding. I can’t move. My legs give out and I tumble to the ground. The distant sound of the kids arguing blurs with the world. A haze of confusion settles over me.

So, this is how I die? Getting shot in an alley way filled with the disgusting smell of rot and bleeding out with no hope of survival? I always knew I’d die, just not this way. A familiar voice is back in my head.

“Get up NoName, forget about the pain.” It commands.

Too tired to care, I retort back in an almost sarcastic way

“What about the kids? They can’t survive on their own, they need you,” it says softly changing tactics.

This alone is enough to pull me out of the haze that had fallen over me. I tiredly push to my shaking legs clenching me red stained side.

Kids, where are they?

My vision is unfocused and it’s hard to tell what’s what. For a single moment I get enough clarity to see a few silhouettes. They’re fighting. Correction one silhouette is fighting many. My vision clears up a little more and I can see its one person fighting a couple stumbling corpses. With my remaining energy I lift the lid of the dumpster I pushed them toward to see them. Bunny has her head buried in Scotty’s shirt as he has one of his daggers pointed at me.

Good boy, never underestimate the enemy.

I faintly smile at them before my old friend darkness claims me once more.