the scorch runner

chapter 1.

Chapter song: One- Three Dog Night

Hi.

My name is Y/n L/n and this is me (see photo 1). And I know what you're thinking... wow she is so cool. I don't blame you too much though, because I am fairly cool. How many 18-year-olds do you know that live in the scorch? I bet not many. I've been living out here since the virus broke out and I'm gonna be honest, it's everything I expected it to be. And yes, that's a real gun, I know, it's awesome. I may or may not have stolen it from a random man I found a few years into the apocalypse after saving him and who I assumed was his wife from some people who were hunting them down so I count it as a parting gift for myself... okay fine I may have stolen quite a lot from them but that was besides the point, I wasn't going to see them ever again.
Nothing was really that scorched yet but I could feel it changing, the sun felt harsher and the air drier but I tried to push past it, settling in a city that was also dying a good few miles from my home town. I was at home when the virus began getting worryingly bad, caring for my parents alongside with my brother.
I stuck with another group of survivors for a little while, living in an old, abandoned store, living off of tinned food and Buxton water. It was pretty safe for a while as we had bordered up windows and always had at least two people on the roof for lookout but a huge storm very quickly ruined it all. I think one or two people as well as me escaped but I lost them in the panic of the storm and the cranks and by the time I returned the day after, everything was destroyed. I grabbed all the food and water I could and parted, figuring I could at least try to find the 'safe haven' everyone always talked about.

 This is my stuff (See photo 2), and I would totally be dead without half of it. I keep it all in a rucksack I found in a shop alongside with a bunch of the other stuff. So, let's talk through it all.
1) The first aid. Essential equipment when trying to survive a literal zombie apocalypse, pretty self-explanatory.
2) The map and compass. If I'm being honest, which I am, I lost my place on the map like three months ago but I'm holding onto it in case I ever locate myself again. As for the compass, I'm just heading north. Talk on the street told me there was some sort of safe haven in this direction, which is my final destination.
3) Food and water. Again, pretty self-explanatory. I have to ration them like I'm in the second world war though, but it's been such a long time, I'm sort of used to it.
4) Matches. If I'm lucky, I'll find a stray animal or find some dirty water and fire is a very important rarity out here, it's either you can make fire, or you die. No in between.
5) Flashlight and batteries. There's basically no light once the sun sets, especially in old cities, and there ain't no way I'm walking around blindly. I prefer to see the cranks that are actively trying to rip me to shreds funnily enough.
6) Binoculars. These are my saviour. Let's me see if people I'm approaching are actual people or cranks just looking for a lovely human meal.
7) The photo. That's me and nunya. Who's nunya you might ask? Yeah, that's nunya fucking business. Get your head of my bag and move on dipshit. But assuming the only person reading this is me, that's me and Hailey. She's my best friend... or was anyway. I had been lucky enough to be with her with the virus broke out and everything went to shit, but she died shortly after our runaway, leaving me nothing but a photo and the motivation to find the safe haven.
Oh and this, is my diary (see photo 3). Reserved for my eyes and my eyes only, it holds way too much shit for some rando to come along and read, unless I'm dead, then by all means entertain yourself.

So, that's me, and that's how I ended up here, hanging from the rails of a bridge with a VERY big drop to let some passing cranks through because I half ass everything and only killed three of them.

Word count: 760
total word count: 760