Tree branches scrape harshly against my exposed skin as I scramble deeper into the brush of the woods behind the place I’d once called home. A chorus of hissing and snarling trail in a constant, never-ending symphony of noise behind me as I race through the woods, striking me with such an immense amount of desperation that it might as well be palpable. An invisible war wages inside of my body, one in which I ferociously battle against the urge to curl up into a ball on the ground and shut my eyes, even if it’s only for a few seconds. We have to find Mother and Rachel, my subconscious whispers in my head. That small reminder sends another wave of panic straight to my brain, causing me to pick up my speed as I distance myself from the undead creatures practically salivating over the mere thought of digging their disgusting teeth into my flesh.
My hair sticks to my face, obscuring my vision as I run for my life, bloodcurdling screams ringing throughout the air with every twist and turn I take. “Come on Rachel.” I pant helplessly. “Where are you, baby sister?” Complete and utter fear races through my veins as I imagine finding her tiny, broken body among the millions of other dead bodies littering the ground like white rice at a wedding. The very thought of the possibility makes my hurried steps come to an abrupt halt as I take in my immediate surroundings. Instead of the bare, naked trees I have grown so accustomed to in these particular woods, ripped strips of clothing dangle from the limbs of these trees that seem to beckon to me, begging to imprison me with their sharp, gnarled fingers. The dirt ground is drenched in pools of rich, ruby red, staining my boots like a fine, red wine on New Years. Before the emotions of despair and compassion can even register in my mind, I’m on the ground, crawling towards a dead police officer, his face frozen into an expression of permanent horror that will forever haunt him into his next life. I close his empty, glassy-eyed stare as my other hand scrambles to free the pistol from the holster in his waist belt. I whisper a hasty ‘thank you’ as I tuck the pistol into my waistband before fleeing the relentless zombies threatening to cease my existence with every second I waste.
After several more minutes of running as fast as my quivering legs will carry me, I’m forced to stop to catch my breath or I’ll die of over-exertion before the zombies can even sink their greedy teeth into me. When I’m done throwing up in a nearby bush, I stop to listen, noticing that the zombies aren’t as close as they were before. Although they’re still an obvious threat, the zombies are the last thing on my mind when I hear my sister calling out for me. “Hillary!” she cries out, terror dripping from her voice. “HILLARY!” she screams out louder this time.
I’m trudging down a muddy slope leading down to a mucky creek of water that now runs red from all the blood seeping into it before I can even blink. “Rachel…” my hoarse voice catches as her name slips through my cracked lips. My seven year old sister thrusts herself into my arms as I cuddle her to my chest, her cries quieting as she buries her head into the crook of my neck. My eyes instinctively scan every inch of her body for any fire injuries that need any immediate attention. Aside from various cuts and scrapes, she seems to be in decent condition.
My eyes snap to my all but silent mother as a heaping sob rips from deep within her chest. That’s when my eyes note the large chunk of flesh missing from her left shoulder that she tries to discreetly hide from my sister’s eyes. “Mother…?” my voice trails off in question. Rachel’s head turns to look at our mother, but I position my body to block her line of sight. Tears begin to flow freely down my cheeks like rivers. Please let that wound be from her own clumsiness rather than those infectious zombies, I silently plea, though I know deep down in my gut that the latter is the truth. My mother’s wild eyes snap up to meet mine, insanity glinting in her black eyes. Bubbling, white foam collects at the corners of her lips as she snarls at me, her fingers wringing her wrists in restlessness.
With no hint of humanity left in her body, my mother jumps to her feet with a manic war cry and starts toward Rachel and I. My heart clenches in sorrow as I shut my eyes in anticipation for the inevitable. One, single gunshot rings through the air before everything falls silent. My eyes flutter open to find my fingers curled around the pistol still poised away from my body and at my mother’s forehead where a bullet is now embedded into her skull. “We’ll love you forever and always, mother.” I flinch away from my own voice, now sounding foreign even to my own ears.
Without a second glance at the destruction being wrought behind us, Rachel and I race forward into the woods and away from the nearing zombies, the gunshot still ringing in our ears.
