Breath Of Death

Lost

    Imagine being a 14 year old girl alone in a world filled with un-contained zombies that want to eat your face off the second they see it. Imagine how I felt when everywhere I went was abandoned as if everyone on earth packed up their shit and decided to leave to god knows where.
No matter how many times I tried to call her, she never answered. The phone never even rang. I got to a point where my phone eventually died and I couldn't even see the pictures of us over the years. That hurt the most. When her face started to fade away from my memory, my heart broke even more. I was all alone.
It was rare but sometimes I would see people. I learned quickly, however, that no one trusted anyone. I learned that when I saw two women have a shootout over a car. Only one of them left in it.
   It was like every human had to fend for themselves. I never stayed in one place for too long but I would scout abandoned neighborhoods for a little while before searching through the houses. I had been by myself for weeks and would often find myself too tired to even move a finger from how much I walked. I learned what I needed pretty quickly. Water, food, and somewhere safe to sleep.
   I picked up some kid's book bag inside of a home one time and emptied it so I could put my own stuff in it. I was surprised by how many people just decided to leave canned carrots behind. I would find them often and throw them in my bag. If I was lucky I'd come across a can of peaches every once in a while. I found a knife along with a pistol in someone's cookie jar another time and felt like I won the lottery.
   I tried not to stay around places with too many houses or buildings as I was scared of running into anyone. It was terrifying to run into people just as much as it was infected. In a way I was lucky that I hadn't come across people in a while, but it was also a curse. I would often feel very lonely and cry myself to sleep thinking about my mother.
   But a new day would appear and just like everything else, I moved on. I would wear a hat for the hot days and a jacket for the cold nights. I couldn't really find any pants to fit me so I was always wearing my shorts. But even those grew to not fit me as I had lost weight. I stepped on a scale one time and saw I only weighed 90 pounds. I found a fishing pole that I decided to take and used some of the fishing line as a belt to hold my shorts up.
   I did decide to stay in this trailer for a week just to eat all of the food in it. It had well water too so I drank from the sink when I got thirsty.
I left not long after though because I heard infected. They don't move fast but if they're hungry enough, they'll hunt like they haven't eaten in months. Probably because that's true for them.
   I watched a group of three one time for a little while just to study them. They wouldn't really hunt animals unless they were big enough and they'd start eating themselves if they stayed in one spot for too long. I almost got caught from falling off of the roof of a fire truck so I decided to leave them alone and move on.
   Months had gone by and the loneliness started to get to me. I'd find myself disassociating quite often. I was so tired of being paranoid all the time and having to stress about finding enough food that I began to lose my mind. Honestly I don't know how 14 year old me even survived that long. But after a while, I came to the conclusion that I didn't care to survive anymore.
   I started wandering big neighborhoods without scouting. I went right down the middle of a road in a city without ever looking around. I even found a car and held the gas pedal all the way down with no care if I were to hit something. Ended up driving myself right out of the city. While I was in the city, however, I did take note to a leaf symbol painted on building walls, glass windows, and cars. I decided to ignore the strange sign and keep pushing. I didn't need to care about it if I didn't even care about myself.
   I had gotten so depressed that I found a pack of beer and drank the whole thing until I was on top of a house holding my moms gun under my chin ready to blow all of the traumatizing memories I'd been through right out of my head. Not so fun fact, I did indeed attempt to pull the trigger. But I forgot to take the safety off. Before I could get myself to focus on actually doing that, I heard a scream from underneath. It was a girl's voice.
   I stumbled back from the ledge I was on and made my way to the ladder I got up there from. I slowly made it down and held my gun close. I don't know how I was so quiet because I was literally too drunk to hold my own body weight but I managed to creep downstairs. I stopped when I came upon the girl I heard. She had her hands up to some guy in front of her who was holding a shot gun.
"Please! I don't want to die!" She was hysterically crying.
"Give me what I want and you won't have to!" The man yelled. He was an older man. His voice was deep too.
   She gave him nothing but tears and weeps. I could tell he didn't like that because he kicked her back and made her fall into the couch behind her.
"STRIP BITCH!" He yelled even louder.
"So the world goes to shit and men like you think you can just take advantage of women like me?! Fuck you!" She spat at his face.
   I've never seen a man so angry before and at that moment, he pulled his zipper down, grabbed her by her thick hair and snatched her head back. Then he held the shotgun with one hand up to her throat.
"Suck it you stupid black bitch." He said pressing her face against him.
   I stepped down one more step and it decided to creak, startling the man into whipping his head in my direction. Out of panic, I fired first before he could even think. I had acquired great aim by practicing with a different gun I found months ago. He fell straight to the ground and blood quickly surrounded his busted head. That was the first time I ever killed a human that wasn't infected. Sobered me up real quick.
   The girl, in tears, trembled at the sight of the man. I slowly stepped down the stairs and held my gun up. I didn't know if I could trust her. As I came closer, I kicked the shot gun away from her and let my gun down.