And At Peace

"Courtney, hurry. C'mon!" I scolded as the zombies got closer. "We can't die out here."

Her body fell limp and I struggled to hold her up. I wove in between trees. The others surrounded me as we migrated. We ended up traveling in the opposite of the planned direction. Zombies gathered as they trailed behind us.

I thought I'd never have to run from them again.

"There's a city!" Haze called from behind.

We ran until we finally exited the wooded area. Just as we entered the unknown city, we were swarmed with infected.

"Shit!" I yelled in a panic. We were being surrounded. "There's no turning back!"

"Well there's no going forward, either!" Anna barked as she searched for higher ground.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Gunshots began and a familiar voice called out to us.

"C'mon, move your ass! Go!" Jordan came seemingly out of nowhere. "Let's fucking go!"

We jumped into the little yellow keep that skirted toward us. Zombies dropped like flies around us.

"Where the hell did you come from?" I asked firmly as I sat in the passenger seat. "Where's Christie?"

"Christie?" She questioned, "I don't know. I left alone — found a man who has a shelter. I haven't seen her since California."

"Shit." I glanced over my shoulder at partly awake Courtney. "We have to find her, Jordan. Before Courtney wakes up and realizes her sister is still gone."

"I'll get you to the Wise Man. He helped me. I was coming back for you guys," she explained as she drove. "Those men that saved us — they're the wise man's people."

"Who is this 'Wise Man'?" Haze questioned skeptically. "How do you know he doesn't want to slice us apart and feed us to zombies like that crazy old bat?"

"I looked around, talked to some of his people. They have zombies tied to the fence as defense. Whole damn perimeter is covered end to end."

If you can't beat 'em, use them as defense.

"If any one of us dies, you're dying too. Is this clear?" Haze hissed. "I'm not losing anybody else."

Nista stared at him as if she was going to say something but changed her mind. When we arrived at the shelter, we had to stand outside and wait for the wise man to appear. I stared at the defense zombies, examining their old, decrepit skin and broken teeth.

"Well, well, well," another familiar voice exclaimed. "I never thought I'd see you again, son."

Allen.

"What the hell?" My eyebrows furrowed before a smile appeared on my worn face. "Allen, what are you doing here?"

His gaze fell. "The farm didn't make it. Lost the animals and the whole damn house to those freaks. Radiation zombies were getting pretty bad, too."

"So there was more mutated zombies," I concluded. "Sorry, Al."

"I'm just glad we all made it out alive. Lindsey is still going through detox. We hit the jackpot on painkillers months back and she thought it meant she could keep the habit."

"Just be glad you're alive." I stated, "the plane crashed. Now we're here instead of Canada — we're also missing a friend. You remember Christie? Have you seen her?"

His daughter Hailey rushed out to greet the others.

"No, don't think so. I'll get Courtney some help and I can show the rest of you guys around."

"Well I see you've found a way to defend yourself," a spoke matter of factly. "Never would've thought of it."

He brought us around the perimeter as he bragged of his thoughts and ideas. Each zombie reached out to us as we strolled by. When I approached the new additions, my heart dropped and I immediately recognized one of the zombies.

Christie was tied by her waist to the fence. Her arms reached for me as I approached with tears streaming down my face. Her eyes were a cloudy marble and her mouth hung as she let out low growls.

"Christie," I reached out and grabbed her hand. "I'm so sorry I couldn't protect you."

I turned to the others. "I'm so sorry."

Each one of them had an expression of shock and sorrow on their faces. Barry asked me to keep them safe and I let one die while the other is on her death bed.

"What the fuck did you do to her?" I shoved Allen in anger. "Did you do this?"

"No. I—"

I grabbed the gun off of his hip. I aimed it at him until I realized this was my fault. I turned the gun to myself and apologized once more. I've failed everyone that saved me. My finger wrapped around the trigger.

Bang!

A sharp pain shot through me and I fell to the ground. The gun flew from my hand as blood rushed from the new wound. One of Allen's men shot me. The others rushed to me and my vision went dark.

For the first time since this all began, I felt nothing. Finally, I feel peace.