Breath Of Death

Canned.

   More months passed and my shoulder started to feel like it was getting back to normal ever since I fell on it. I couldn't even lift it for a while because the pain was excruciating. I had to carry everything on my left side too. I maybe used my right arm three times since but now I was able to carry things with both arms.
   I made it to a big city as well. I found out later that I was in Baltimore Maryland from a newspaper on the ground. I couldn't tell because half of the buildings were collapsed from the air strikes. Walking into a big city like that made me very nervous and I was on my game more than before.
   I did come across a couple zombies but they were all easy kills. I was used to killing the dead from being with Javier and Serene on their hunting trips. They taught me how to sneak up on them and kill them without making any noise. I wasn't scared of them anymore but I would feel uneasy whenever one came across my path.
   I try not to see them as humans even though they looked like them. They weren't humans anymore, they were monsters. Demons that only wanted to eat my face off and rip me to shreds. Ugly demons too. The radioactivity made them lose their hair and made their skin bubble as if they'd been sitting in fire. But they move fast and if they're newly infected, they're strong as hell.
   Back in the community, I saw one of our own turn into one of them. His name was Daniel. He had been attacked on a previous hunting trip but tried to hide it when he got back. His wife found out and told everyone. We tried to keep him separated from everybody by holding him in a horse trailer. We were all holding onto false hope that he wouldn't change. He was a good man who loved his family.
   One day it was my turn to give him dinner but when I reached the trailer, he was huddled in a corner murmuring to himself. My heart dropped along with the plate of food I was holding when he whipped his head around and jumped to the bars of the trailer almost shaking them off. He looked like a monkey that turned rabid in a cage. I screamed and fell back terrified that he was going eat me alive. Serene was the first to hear me and she came running out with her shotgun. One gunshot and the screams from Daniel were no longer tearing my eardrums up. The echo of the gunshot followed through the woods and me and Serene stared at each other until we heard a scream. Daniel's wife had come to realize what happened.
   She left the farm the morning after and we never saw her since. If Serene hadn't been there for me, I would've been dead. I truly believe he was strong enough to bend those bars apart and attack me.
   With the memory of that still living in my head, I made sure to scout before going in places. I did come across a school and decided to venture around in hopes of finding canned goods in the kitchen. I'm glad I did because I found a big can of green beans and another big can of assorted fruit. I even found a can opener on the floor underneath a sink.
   I ate both 101 ounce cans before the sun went down and quickly regretted it a bit later. I ate them so fast I forgot to look at the expiration date. June 6, 2016. Why would the school even keep things as old as that? I knew they tasted weird but I ignored it because I was so hungry. Fuck canned food. I hated it as much as it hated me now. And it hated me a lot because I threw up every ounce I ate into a sink. Chunky green beans and pears are not a great combo.
   I felt like I was dying. My stomach hurt and my hands were shaking. All I could do was curl up in a ball and cry the pain away. I made my way into a classroom before I fell asleep underneath a teacher's desk.