Stray

The smell of blood and rotting flesh wafted into my nose as the stench leaked from my skin. The dirt, blood and sweat-stained my body like it was the current perfume of the new world. Gore, death, and misery were what came with the art of survival now. Everything I once knew was gone. My heart was beating heavily in my chest, so hard that it sounded like it was banging on the drums of my ears to get out. I gasped for air while stumbling over bodies that littered the road, trying to keep my footing as we searched for a place to hide. Turning a corner we found a building that appeared to be empty and raced in, away from the creepers that followed us.

"Quick, give me something to shut the door!" my brother, Ben, ordered.

Thinking as fast as I could in this situation, I took off the belt that held up my torn apart jeans and wrapped it around the handles of the door. I clipped it in place just before that creepers slammed against the glass trying to get in. We were safe. The sound of multiple bodies crashing against the door was startling, causing me to jump back into a cold, rotting body. Screeching, I turned around as it grabbed my shoulders. It groaned in the presence of its next meal, a gurgling noise coming from deep within its throat.

Ben still being frozen in place from the chase didn't react in time to help, leaving me to reach for the crowbar I had sticking out of my backpack. Shoving it through the creeper's skull, the smell of decaying flesh filled the air. A new layer of splattered blood coated my arms and the right side of my face. The feeling was almost relieving to know that at least it wasn't my own. This was the new world now, all those zombie apocalypse movies we use to watch as kids became our very reality. Creepers ruled the planet, all we could do was survive.

"Shit," Ben exhaled.

"Let's clear this floor, then make our way up to the roof," I said, pulling my Glock from the holder that rested on my hip, "from up there we can get a good look at the city and how to get the hell out of here."

The Glock was never my favorite weapon but, it got the job done and was an easy shot. I preferred the use of my AR-15 sniper rifle, but that one was better for the distances, not so much for the up close and personal it can get when clearing the rooms.

I was a pretty good shot myself; I learned from a young age. With my father being the strict military man he was and my older brothers following in his footsteps, I quickly learned my way around how to work a gun. Being the youngest and the only girl from the family with three boys, I always wanted to be right there with them, not only trying to keep up but outshine them.

"Clear!" Ben yelled from the room across the hall.

"Same," I responded. Making my way to the stairwell, I took a step back when I caught a glimpse of my reflection in one of the office windows. I sighed when looking at the mess that the new world made me. My strawberry-blonde hair had been stained an even darker shade of red from the creeper's blood, and my skin was damp with sweat which allowed the dirt to easily stick to me. The bags under my eyes were horrible as I couldn't remember the last time I slept for more than forty-five minutes. Shaking it off, I focused back on the task at hand.

"So, any ideas on how the hell we are gonna get ourselves out of this shit show?" Ben asked as we approached the stairwell door to the roof.

Swinging it open, the sun was blinding and for the first time in the last five days, I was able to breathe in the fresh air. Walking to the edge of the roof and looking over the city of Atlanta there were creepers limping around as far as the eye could see.

"I don't know yet," I shook my head, defeated, "I mean even if we get ourselves past the creepers and out of the city, we lost the horses when we got here. We have no way back to the farm, and walking would take too long for the little amount of food and water we have left." I ran my hands through my hair, frustrated with the impossible situation.

We had lived on a little ranch a couple of miles out from the city, until now we rarely had any problems out there. The creeper count was low and we were fairly stocked on supplies. It wasn't until about a week ago that my second oldest brother's wife went into labor, that Ben and I were sent into the city to find any medicine and equipment that we needed.

We were only supposed to be in and out. We had done it before when the outbreak started, leaving in the morning and returning by nightfall. This time was completely different though. The city was overrun and our horses had been taken down by the creepers the second we were spotted. That only gave us enough time to escape into hiding. That was five days ago, and now we are trapped on this rooftop and my brother's baby most likely didn't make it without us.

"How'd we end up in this mess for a girl we don't even like anyway?" I chuckled, attempting to lighten the mood.

"Oh come on, she's not that bad," he shook his head. I took a seat against the wall with Ben joining me. I furrowed my brows at him defending her. "Okay, you're right, she's fucking awful," he burst out laughing. This was nice, it was the first time we truly laughed in a long time. There were so much heartache and fear around us that I hadn't had the time to think about any short of joy. But, hearing my brother's ugly laugh over the nightmare of a wife Roy had, made me feel almost normal. "Hey, at least he found someone. Lincoln is nearly thirty and I don't think he's ever been in a relationship longer than five months," Ben now brought up our oldest brother, silencing the laughter.

"I hope he's okay." My mood changed when thinking of him. Before the outbreak of the virus, Linc was enlisted on another tour to Iraq and we haven't seen or heard from him since.

"Are you kidding?" Ben nudged my shoulder with his own, a smile playing on his lips, "Linc is probably walking around right now wearing creeper body parts as accessories while saving little girls from being eaten alive."

I smiled back at him, thinking of the hero that is our brother, we used to think he was invincible when we were kids. "Yeah, you're probably right." I was cut off by the loud bang of the rooftop door swinging open.

"Oh shit," Ben muttered. Our moment of relief was cut short. We watched as a herd of creepers stumbled through.

"What are we going to do?" I was flustered, the creepers caught me off guard. I pulled the crowbar out of my backpack and rested my hand over my Glock, prepared to attack.

Looking over the edge where the fire escape sat, Ben pulled out his knife. "I choose to take down these fifteen over fifty down there."

"Try not to use your gun, it'll attract more to the building!" I yelled before forcefully slamming my crowbar down the middle of the first creeper to approach me.

It became a repetitive motion, stabbing, slashing, and stomping. I had to have taken down at least eight of them, but after three I lost track. I grunted with the strength it took to force a metal object through someone's skull.

There was one remaining, limping towards me as I tried to pry my weapon out of another. It fell against me, knocking me to the ground. Clawing at my face I held my crowbar across its neck, trying to keep its mouth as far away from me as possible. Mustering up enough strength, I threw it off of me, rolling on top of it before shoving the crowbar into its forehead. Exhaling, I fell off of the creeper and laid on the concrete floor that was now stained red.

"Jesus Christ," I huffed, trying to regain my breath, "that was a close one." I waited for my brother to respond with some sort of witty comment or begin to cuss out the dead creepers like he always did. But there was nothing, just silence. "Ben?" I furrowed my brows when there was still no response. Sitting up from where I laid I looked over to my brother. I was met with a blank stare while he held his shoulder.

"Fuck, you won," he said. He lifted his hand off the crook of his neck to reveal the gaping indent of where one of the creepers had bitten him.