𝐫𝐮𝐢𝐧𝐬 | 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐥𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐝¹

ONE - how it came to be

— ASTRID COULDN'T AFFORD TO STOP, YET HER BODY WAS SCREAMING AT HER TO SLOW DOWN. her lungs ached as she gasped for breath, but she wouldn't stop. her legs begged for a break, but she couldn't stop. not even for a moment.

for days, she had ran. she wasn't sure which way she was running. all she knew was she had to leave the city. atlanta was overrun with the dead.

the woman had long abandoned her car on one of the crammed roads, everyone seemed to have the same idea as her. she had grabbed rory and made a mad dash into the woods, hoping she wouldn't run into them.

the child was now resting on her back, after her endless complaining about her fatigue, astrid had told her to hop on her back and she would carry her the rest of the way.

after another sleepless night, the duo were trekking through the woodland, hoping to find some sort of berries to eat.

astrid had tried to hunt animals, but given she had no prior experience in hunting, it proved to be a waste of energy. thankfully, however, she had managed to scrounge some canned carrots from her cupboard before abandoning her apartment all together. it wasn't enough. they needed food. the rumbles that came from rory's stomach made it clear enough, even though astrid had given the girl most of her rations.

"how much longer?" the ten year old questioned, her voice coming out as a tired mumble.

"hopefully not much longer, kiddo." the aunt assured. she hoped there were people out there. people that would take rory in and make sure she was fed and healthy. however, her hope was diminishing by the day. she hadn't seen anyone since the collapse of humanity.

"i'm bored." her small voice claimed, as she buried her head into her aunts back.

"do you wanna play a game?" astrid suggested, peering over her shoulder.

"ooo, yes!" she exclaimed, "i wanna play i-spy!"

"sure thing, rory. you wanna go first?"

"yes!" she paused, thinking about what she was going to say next, "i spy with my little eye, something beginning with...f"

"f?" astrid questioned, rory nodded her head enthusiastically. "hmm, let me think."

a few moments later, astrid made her first guess "forest?"

"nope" rory giggled.

"oo, okay." astrid responded, deep in thought. a few guesses later, and she still hadnt gotten it. rory found this hilarious.

"oh! i think i've got it!" she realised, "its a flower, right?"

rorys face fell as she realised astrid had gotten it right.

the aunt walked over to one of the flowers and carefully picked it up, "auntie, what are you doing? we can't eat that." aurora's confused voice filled her ears.

"do you know what this flower is called?" the nine year old shook her head. "hop down a sec."

when rory was safely on the ground, astrid turned to give her the flower, "this is a forget-me-not" she revealed. "its one of my favourite flowers."

rory smiled, "its really pretty."

astrid placed the flower on her nieces right ear. "there you go." a small smile etched onto her face. she turned to give rory a piggyback, but she declined, claiming she wanted to walk. still, astrids smile grew when rory slipped her and into her aunts.

they continued to walk, listening intently for any growls. thankfully, the forest was silent. astrid could only hope it stayed that way. she hadn't had many encounters with the dead, but it didn't take her long to realise they could only be taken down with a hit to the brain. between the two of them, they had a total of three 'weapons', a kitchen knife, a baseball bat (which was a christmas gift for rory when she decided she wanted to join her schools baseball team) and a swiss army knife.