The Zombie Run

Chapter 1

Walking down a small and deserted street she spies a small run-down gas station. She quickens her pace all the while dodging the dead on the road as well as many other obstacles, such as cars, debris from storms over the past two years, and whatnot. As she reaches the entrance she is not surprised to see that the chains that once bound the doors closed, broken and dangling from the handles. Swinging open the door, she tightens her grip on her bat and readies herself for what might await her in the small dark building.

Her blue eyes scanning the dark room, she listens for any strange sounds. As she listens to deafening emptiness of the room she begins to walk the isles to make sure she was alone. As she hoped, she was the only being in the room which puts her more at ease as she travels back to the front of the store.

Already having checked the space behind the counter, she jumps up and over, landing gracefully on her feet. She slings her bag onto the counter and pulls out her two blankets and a small pillow. She lays the blankets neatly on the ground, one on top of the other and sets the pillow down against the wall, as well as on the blankets.

Pulling out a string of cans she hung them up at the entrance to make sure if something came in she would hear it.

She then made her rounds around the store again picking up any sealed and next to no damaged cans of food, and a few unopened bottles of water. Being careful of how much she picks up she knows that she is only one person traveling by foot. She knows she can only carry so much. Walking back to the counter, she puts the newly acquired items into her food and water sack.

"Don't move," a voice had said behind as she heard the click of a gun behind her head.

She spun on her heels to find a gun pointed directly at her head. "Or what? You'll shoot me?" She questioned the stranger as she smirked, rather amused.

"Hell yeah I will." With that being said, she pulled the gun to touch her forehead.

"Then shoot. There is no way I'm giving you any of my belongings unless I'm dead." She stared her captor straight in the eyes.

It was a guy. Tall and slender, he had green eyes and black hair. He wore a black v-neck, dark blue skinny jeans, and crusty, old, falling apart, black vans, along with a pair of black fingerless gloves. He was shaking, which told her, he was nervous; he probably hasn't killed a living person before, but only the dead. Or so it seems.

She was so deep in thought about this guy she just barely noticed that he pulled the gun away from her head and put it safely into his holster, clicking back on the safety.

"Well, now that that's over, hey." She held up her hand with an awkward smile. "My name is Emilie, Em for short. And you are?" She stared intensely at him waiting for an answer.

"Adrian." He replied and gave her a curt nod.

"Group?" She asks, raising an eyebrow.

"Alone." He drops his head to look down at his feet.

"Me too." She gave him a half smile before continuing, "How long do you plan on staying?"

"I'm just staying for the night."

"Same," they stared at each other for a couple of long minutes before she started, "Well I'm going to get some rest." She motioned to her setup behind the counter.

He peered behind her to see where she was pointing to then back and nodded understandingly.

Jumping back behind the counter her eyes widened at the sight she was seeing.

"Shit." She muttered to herself. "There's a hoard, hurry, we need to get to the rooftop."

She began packing up her belongings and putting them into her bag. She did it very gracefully, but at the same time it looked like crap. She just wanted to get to safety on the roof before all hell has the chance to break loose in the store.

Looking up at him, she motions for Adrian to follow her to the door at the far end of the room. When they reach the door there was a loud and sudden bang from the other side. They both jumped and reached for their weapons.

"You open it and I'll kill it." She said bringing up her silent knife to compare to his gun.

He gave her a crooked smile, "Got it." He replied with a wink.

As he began to open the door, the walker pushed its' way through, further opening the door. It pushed on forward and knocked her onto the cold and gritty floor. She held it by the neck to keep it from biting her and becoming as good as dead. It's rotten and decaying skin ripped across her fingers until she felt the bone of its neck. Tightening her grip around the bone, she then sank her knife as deeply as she could into the walker's head. It went limp on top of her; it was so heavy she could barely breathe, until Adrian had helped pull it off of her.

"Thanks," she said, "I feel I could've suffocated underneath that thing's dead weight.

He looked at her and she looked at him, then as if someone had said go, they both burst out in laughter at her 'pun.'

"Okay," he said while wiping a tear from his right eye, "that was a good one." He then helped her up and brought her to her feet. Once on her feet he said "Come on, we need to get up there." She nodded and he ushered her to the stairwell leading up to the rooftop.

As they reached the top, they slammed the door shut after locking it from the inside. Their backs to the door they slide down it and let out deep breaths. That's when they heard the low moans and groans of the dead walking past them from below. There was a loud crash from the store below them. Usually the dead didn't enter buildings if there wasn't fresh meat inside, but you always have an exception or two.