The Last Girl Standing (#1)

Venturing into the Unknown

Noami

With a wary glance back at the makeshift lab, I followed Leo into the inky blackness. The silence was deafening, broken only by the ragged rasp of my own breathing.

"Where are we going?" I whispered, my voice echoing off the unseen walls.
"Where are we going?" I whispered, my voice echoing off the unseen walls.

"Ventilation shaft," Leo replied, his voice a low murmur. "It leads out of the building, supposedly. Iris mentioned it once."

Supposedly. Not exactly comforting words in this situation.

Crouching low, we shuffled through the cramped space, my clothes snagging on rusty metal. The air hung thick and stale, carrying the faint metallic tang of blood and the acrid scent of disinfectant.

Claustrophobia threatened to close in, my heart hammering against my ribs. Every creak, every groan of the building seemed amplified in the confined space. Were we being followed? Were the guards, those humorless scientists, on our trail?
Suddenly, Leo stopped, a hand pressed against the metal tunnel. We crouched in the darkness, listening. The muffled sounds of footsteps and hushed voices filtered through the thin metal.

"Looks like we're not alone," Leo muttered, his voice tense.

Fear coiled in my gut. Had they noticed my escape attempt? Were they sending a search party? My mind raced with possibilities, none of them good.

"What now?" I whispered, my voice barely above a squeak.

Leo didn't answer immediately. The silence stretched, punctuated only by the distant sounds of movement. Then, he spoke, his voice surprisingly calm.

"There might be another branch off this shaft. A dead end, but it should be big enough for us to hide in for a while."

With a silent nod, we continued our crawl, the tension thick enough to cut with a knife. After what felt like an eternity, the tunnel narrowed further. We reached a dead end, the metal wall smooth and unbroken.

Despair threatened to engulf me. Trapped, like a cornered animal.  But just as I was about to voice my frustration, Leo reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, sharp object.

"Don't worry," he said, his voice a low rumble. "I came prepared."

A glint of moonlight caught the edge of the object. A lock pick. A sliver of hope flickered in my chest. Maybe this dead end wasn't so dead after all.

As Leo expertly manipulated the lock, my mind drifted back to the moment he'd appeared in the lab. A stranger, offering escape. Now, with the rhythmic click of the lock pick, he seemed less like a random chance encounter and more like… well, a mystery waiting to be unraveled.

The click of the lock jolted me back to the present. Leo gave a satisfied grunt and pushed against a section of the metal wall. It creaked open, revealing a narrow passage bathed in weak moonlight.

Escape may not have been part of the plan, but it seemed fate, or maybe just a well-placed lock pick, had other ideas.  Taking a deep breath, I squeezed through the opening, Leo close behind.

The unknown awaited, and for the first time since the world had gone mad, a spark of excitement, a thrilling mix of fear and anticipation, flickered within me.  We were out of the lab, out of the vent, and into the heart of the zombie apocalypse. What dangers lurked in the shadows? Who were we running from, and more importantly, where were we running to?

One thing was certain: this was just the beginning of a wild ride.

~

We emerged from the darkness of the vent into a dimly lit hallway, the metallic tang of blood heavy in the air. Relief washed over me, short-lived as the unmistakable crack of gunfire echoed through the corridor.

My head snapped towards the sound. Bullets whizzed past, leaving dark trails in the air, before embedding themselves in the door at the end of the hallway. Escape route blocked

Trapped. My stomach lurched. This was not part of the plan, whatever plan Leo had in mind.

Just as panic threatened to consume me, a figure emerged from the shadows at the other end of the hallway. Light glinted off the barrel of a gun held by none other than Iris.

"Trying to leave so soon?" she said, her voice laced with icy venom. "Leo, you of all people should know better. You don't just take the cure and waltz out the door."

Cure? My gaze darted between Leo and Iris, confusion warring with anger. Cure? Was that what they were calling me? Lab rat seemed more fitting.

Before I could voice my outrage, Leo held up his hands in a placating gesture. "Iris, it's not what it looks like. We were headed—"

I cut him off, my voice rising in frustration. "Lab rat! That's what I am to you people! A science experiment!"

Iris's steely gaze switched to me. A flicker of something, maybe surprise, crossed her face. "You're not a lab rat, Naomi. You're… different. You might be the key."

I scoffed. Different? I felt like a freak, a monster on the verge of becoming one of those things shambling through the streets.

Suddenly, an idea sparked in my head, a desperate gamble. With a yelp, I ripped off my shoe, the adrenaline surge momentarily banishing the throb in my arm. Before anyone could react, I swung the shoe, connecting with a satisfying thud on the side of Iris's head.

She crumpled to the floor, unconscious.

Leo stared at me, his mouth agape. I didn't have time to explain. Grabbing his arm, I yanked him towards the door. The gunfire had alerted the others, shouts echoing down the hallway.

"We need to go!" I yelled, throwing open the door and bursting into the night.

We sprinted down the deserted street, the sounds of pursuit close behind. "Where are we going?" I gasped, lungs burning.

Leo glanced back, his expression grim. "To find others like you, Naomi. You're not alone."

My breath hitched. Others like me? Did that mean there were more people who had been bitten but hadn't turned?  Hope, a fragile thing I thought I'd lost, flickered within me.

We were running for answers, for survival, and maybe, just maybe, for a chance to belong in this crazy, new world. The road ahead was uncertain, filled with dangers I couldn't even imagine. But for the first time since the apocalypse began, I wasn't facing it alone. I had Leo, and maybe, just maybe, a whole community of others like me.

And that, even amidst the chaos and the fear, was something worth fighting for.