Forever, Now

one: hanging on

Life wasn't fair. Life absolutely was. Not. Fair.

If it was then things wouldn't have changed. Elizabeth would still be in the backseat of Adam's SUV, laughing at the banter between him and Maxine as they sped down the highway towards the airport. Elizabeth would be smiling at the couple as they all discussed the girls' upcoming trip to the west coast, where they would be attending a gaming convention that would lead to even more success for the two of them. When they finally reached the airport, Adam would see them off – he'd give Maxine a kiss and Elizabeth a hug then tell them to be safe.

The truth of the matter, though, was that things had changed and it had happened in the blink of an eye. One moment they had been forced to come to a stop in the middle of the highway and the next Elizabeth had been fleeing from Adam's vehicle, separated from her best friends in order to save her own life.

She could still hear Maxine's voice calling out for her between the screams of others and the insufferable blaring of car horns. She wondered if she would ever forget the sound.

On her way, Elizabeth passed many of the mindless creatures that preyed upon the flesh of others; she didn't want to think of them as human, though they may have once been such a thing. While humans could be vile, disgusting creatures, they were better than this, weren't they?

It reminded her of the horrors she had only seen on the cinema screens or in the violent, gory video games that Elizabeth and Maxine typically stayed away from – they'd always enjoyed games that were more story-driven, or even ones that were full of silly little minigames. Elizabeth herself was also a fan of platformers, though they could test the limits of her patience at times.

... Not that any of that mattered. Not now. Not anymore.

As Elizabeth fled, she didn't have anywhere in particular in mind as to where she would go. Her legs moved on their own accord, carrying her along in hopes of finding somewhere, anywhere safe. Somewhere, perhaps, where things were under control. Somewhere that she could breathe in peace.

She traveled down a hill, past a creek that she had viewed from the road many, many times over the past few years (but she had never seen up-close). For each living person that she encountered she saw at least two of the undead creatures chasing after them, their movements slow and clunky but never without purpose.

She passed several homes full of screams and gunshots, but not once did she stick around them for more than a minute. By the time Elizabeth found them, the families were already in the midst of losing battles.

It wasn't that Elizabeth didn't want to help them, it was more that she couldn't. At the point she found the poor souls their battles were already over, their fates sealed. For as difficult as it was to watch as several men devoured another's flesh straight off the bone, what was she to do when she was so vastly outnumbered? When the enemy didn't seem to have much of an objective other than to eat? To kill?

Elizabeth wasn't a fighter. Adam had taught her some basic self-defense the year prior, once she and Maxine had truly taken off in popularity. She had never expected to use that information, but as she searched through a seemingly abandoned garage, she was hit with the realization that if she wanted to live, she was going to have to fight.

She couldn't run forever. Her legs were sore and her lungs burned. The warm summer sun had burned her skin and caused her to sweat more over the past few hours than she had in the last few years combined, she was sure.

In one of the drawers Elizabeth found a pocket knife that she slipped into the back pocket of her shorts. She had tried to place it in her left pocket first, but upon realizing that the fabric had been torn somewhere along the way, she opted to place it in her back right pocket instead. At the back of her mind, Elizabeth recalled that she had only purchased the shorts the week prior and this was the first day she had worn them.