Error 31

Fur & Flesh

- Saturday, June 14th. 2031.

The wind viciously whipped and howled as fifteen year old Cedar Blake pulled her tattered sweatshirt tighter around her skinny frame.

She already had a heavy bag on her shoulder and figured a jacket would hinder her movements further, so she braved the oddly cold early June air with the same thin clothes she'd been wearing for well over three years.

If her calculations were correct, today marked fifteen years and around fourteen months since the Z Virus arrived in her home state of New York.

Since the world pretty much fell apart within a month of the virus appearing no one was sure of how it even came to be, crazy conspiracy theorists had their ideas but an exact cause never surfaced.

Since Cedar was a baby she didn't remember the early days of the virus, her memory kicked in when she was seven years old, her big brother Slate had been watching her because her parents were out on a supply trip with the promise of returning before sundown.

Well, Sun down eventually came and Chad and Serena Blake failed to return home.

Slate tried to keep the young girl calm with reassurances of their return but three days later the twelve year old boy admitted that the pair were unlikely to come home.

So, the two siblings left their safe and secure home in the village of Sleepy Hollow in search of someplace new to live. Cedar had initially argued against leaving because she was worried that her other brother Rhett would be unable to locate them.

That was the only time Cedar had ever heard the calm and collected Slate lose his temper with her, according to him Rhett had knowingly abandoned them once the news of their parents disappearance kicked in.

Frightened by the argument, Cedar kept her mouth shut as she and Slate left the village and trekked across the barren city that used to be the historic city of Harlem.

They stayed in a rundown Chop Shop for three months before Slate, overcome with the grief of his twin's disappearance and stress of having to take care of his baby sister, ultimately shot himself with his own pistol. Cedar found his body in a ditch down the road a few hours later.

This left the seven and a half year old child overcome with her own grief, but despite both her brother's weaknesses she was determined to harden herself against the horrors of the world.

And so she did, for four years Cedar trained herself to become not only an expert survivor, but a killer, whether they be the dead or the living Cedar did not care, she wanted whatever happiness that was left in the world to be gone.

It was only six months ago that the teen finally allowed herself to care for another living creature that came in the form of an Irish Wolfhound called Rudy.

The dog towered over her emaciated form even on his four legs but Cedar considered herself fortunate to have not only a guard, but a friend.

Back in the present Cedar was pulled from her thought's by Rudy's persistent whining. She bent down and rubbed his head affectionately. "What do you see pup?".

Rudy whined louder and Cedar followed his line of vision towards a dilapidated hotel a mile or so down the road.

Cedar looked back at Rudy with a sigh. "You wanna go in there don't you?".

Rudy made an excited yelp and started racing towards the building at full speed, Cedar sighed again and raced after him, wondering what in the world could make the dog so excited about this building. And unbeknownst to her, she was about to find out...