Downfall Of The Living: An Anthology Series

The Hitchhiker and The Stranger: Chapter 1

I

The city was a place to avoid during the initial year of the Downfall. The densely heavy population would rapidly turn into the infected in a matter of hours, and soon a living population in the negatives roam.

Quarantine zones and military ran operations amplified the numbers as the population control spun out of control when an infected individual is thrown into the mix. These areas soon perished, and the military soon abandoned all operations and turned against the people.

Those who already left, via quarantine relocation or other means, escaped the horrors that would've taken place. Others escaped, scarred by the atrocities committed by the military and citizens alike. But the outside world beyond the quarantine zones wasn't any better...

-

Gravel kicked under her shoe. The hard crunch of the ground made the pain on her sole almost unbearable. The woman walked along the side of the highway. The city she left was overrun by the infected, and she had barely escaped with the skin on her teeth. Of course, she was without a bag or jacket, an infected nearly killed her for both of these when she ran. She only had the clothes on her back and a switchblade in her pocket.

The sun was beaming down on her as if her day couldn't have been any worse than what she already experienced. The woman was thirsty, hungry, and in need of a good rest, unfortunately, her current location and situation seemed to have other plans. She continued to walk down the road, feeling her legs would just give in at any moment.

Ahead of her, was a body of the infected lying in the road. Crows circled around the body as a couple picked from the corpse. Fortunately for her, the stench wasn't strong to reach her nose despite being some feet away. The torso of the victim was violently torn open, possibly by the crows who were picking deep into the body. The head remained intact, and seemed to be looking directly at the woman as he stood from the side of the road.

Looking down, she spots a bottle of water just out of reach from the corpse's hand. She pieced together the scene that occurred. The man died from dehydration and the crows came to pick the man clean. The woman tried to reach for the bottle of water, but one of the crows believed her to be another scavenger and promptly defended the bottle, claiming it as their territory.

KAWW! KAWW!

The beak of the crow almost nabbed the woman's hand. She steps back as the bird hopped around the bottle. She kicked the gravel to the crows, startling them and forcing them to fly away.

As the woman grabbed the bottle, she looked down the road and saw an old muscle car approaching. She looked on silently as the car was coming towards her. Squinting her eyes, she could almost make out a man at the wheel, but he was driving too fast.

The driver speeds down the road like a bat out of hell, the engine roaring loudly as the car gets closer. The woman stepped back as the car ran over the body, emitting a narly splat and a bloody trail as the car's brakes put the vehicle at a screeching halt. The car went into reverse and drove back to the woman. The woman mentally prepared herself for the worse to happen.

The driver rolled the passenger window down, revealing himself as an older gentleman with graying hair and pair of worn aviator sunglasses. He didn't speak but looked at the woman, she uncomfortably felt his eyes looking her up and down behind the sunglasses.

Finally, the driver took his shades off. "You lost?" He said. His light brown eyes had a menacing gaze.

The woman nodded her head. She didn't feel like speaking to the driver, but silence would've been preferable.