The Lone Surviver

S I X

Sunday 22nd August 2074

Author's POV

The next morning, Taehyung rises and heads to the bathroom to shower before finding some clean clothes in a wardrobe. He pulls a cotton grey T-shirt over his head and puts on some black cargo pants.

After rummaging through the kitchen to find whatever food he could as to not waste his own supplies, he leaves the empty house behind on his search for another store to get a map. What good could his phone do with no wifi, data or service?

His feet heavy, his eyes light up as he sees a group of colourful storefronts lined against the bleak grey pavement.

Taehyung had been walking for miles, burning hundreds of calories. He's probably lost two pounds in a single day solely from walking.

This was the single most terrifying experience Taehyung has ever been through. Even his dad had never scared him as much as this. He chose to steer clear of walkers instead of trying to fight them off because the noise could attract more and it was futile to kill so many when he was alone.

As he opens the door, the little bell rings, shaking above his head. His eyes scour the store. The aisles are lined with food and drinks and cleaning products and.. a map!

He walks behind the tills and grabs a map from the wall.

***

Friday 22nd February 2075

Taehyung's POV

It's been six months. Six months since I've seen another human being.

I haven't seen Nayeon in six months. It's her 17th birthday tomorrow. And I'm going to miss it.

I'd reached Croydon long ago. I went to her friend's house and it was completely empty. No one was around for miles.

I went back home, to see if maybe she'd somehow gotten there. She wasn't.

But my father was.

He'd turned into a walker and I don't know how he'd been stuck there for the last few days and hadn't escaped. I didn't expect anyone to be here. I thought he would've died already or left.

But now was my chance. A chance to get my revenge for all the pain and misery he'd caused me. If he could be trusted with Nayeon, then I wouldn't be in this position in the first place. I wouldn't have spent hours, days, walking to find her.

I lured him outside the house and shot him point blank in the forehead.

***

I stayed at home for two days, just so I could sleep in my own bed, but there was no food. So I couldn't stay for long. When I left, I noticed my neighbour's car was still parked in their driveway. And with a little rummaging, I managed to find their keys in their house so I took the car but I couldn't find a petrol station in time and ran out of fuel. So I had to resort to going back on foot.

Nayeon is out here somewhere, I know it. She's still alive. I just have to keep looking.

I emptied out the contents of my duffel bag last month so I left it on the side of the road, the only thing I have is the bag on my back.

I grabbed some sweats from a store, a blanket from home and ditched the clothes I'd gotten from a random house because it had gotten so cold during the winter.

I freeze. I hear murmuring a little way away from me. I creep behind a tree and peer round to see a group of people. There's 6 of them. Three guys and three girls. There's a fire crackling in the middle of their circle. There's people. I thought I was going to go insane before I found another living person.

I'd be better off with them than on my own, right?

My breath shaky, I slowly retract from the tree.

"Hi."

Guns cock and aim at my head.

I put my hands up in fear. "I don't mean any harm. I'm alone."

"What's in the bag?" One of the guys ask.

"A map, some water, a blanket and cereal," I answer quickly.

"Cereal?" Another man sneers.

"It lasts a while," I shrug, my arms still in the air.

"Slowly throw us the bag."

"What? No."

"Do you want to stay with us or not?" A girl growls.

I'm taken aback before I carefully slide the backpack off and hand it over to the closest person.

She opens it and rummages through the bag, finding exactly what I said and nods to the rest of the group.

She tosses the bag at my feet.

"Check him."

Two of the guys stand up and start patting me down, finding two guns on me. One in the back of the waistband of my joggers and another in my pocket. They pull them out.

"Hey!" I exclaim.

"We're just looking."

"Relax."

"Here," they hold them out in front of me and I put them back in their places before grabbing my backpack too.

"Take off your clothes."

"Excuse me?"

"Take off your clothes," a girl stands up and says firmly.

"We need to check if you're bitten."

***

After what was a very long strip search, they finally let me sit down next to the fire with them.

Apparently they don't know each other. They just slowly built up a group, trying to survive.

I don't even know their names.

It's reaching nightfall and it's getting colder so I pull out the blanket from my bag. The guys start stomping on the small fire to put it out.

"Why'd you do that?"

"It'll attract zombies during the night."

And so we went to sleep. It's so dark, everywhere I look is pitch black.

***

The soles of my shoes are so worn out from walking for miles on end. I'm alongside one of the girls. They refer to her as V. I'm assuming that's her initial. They call me, New Guy.

I don't think they have any plan of where to go but regardless, if Nayeon wasn't at home or at her friend's house, then I'll look anywhere.

***

I wonder if the world will always be this way. Will the remaining survivors have to keep running? Will we stay on the run until we get infected too? Until the entire human population dies out?