Falling Into Place

Chapter One

The branches broke underneath each step. My lungs burned from the lack of oxygen. I dodged trees left and right.

Warm tears streamed from my eyes and down my cheeks despite the freezing air around me. I tried  holding my sobs in, choking them back.

"No, no, no..." I groaned, taking a quick glance behind me. They were gone.

I didn't see lights anymore, and the forest grew dark. I continued to run, though a bit slower than before.

Mud splattered my boots and jeans, and the cold water seeped through and made my skin go numb.

I heard footsteps coming straight ahead, I stopped and quickly dove behind a slightly thicker tree than the other ones. I wouldn't have been able to hide behind it hadn't I drastically lost weight since the apocalypse started.

The footsteps shot past me, but I didn't get up. I slid down the trunk of the tree, sitting in the filth on the ground around it.

I couldn't hold my tears back anymore, and I just got weak. Weeps escaped my lips as a steady stream did my eyes.

The group... It...

A walker fell from some trees, groaning through its deathly breath. It held its arms out towards me, and I got up, sliding the hatchet from my belt and slicing into to it's skull.

"Come out." A male voice, strong and intimidating, came from behind me.

A flash light flickered on from behind the tree, and it focused on me.

Shit.

I turned around and see a small frail woman, and a similar man. They both looked terrified and sick.

"O-oh, it's a girl..." The woman shivered.

"Wh- what group are y-you with...?" The man asked.

"I'm not with any group." I explained, slipping the bloody hatchet into the loop for it in my belt.

They whispered amongst themselves.

"Neither are we, we just left one." The woman said, watching the man intently.

"Is that so?"

"Yeah." The man confirmed.

Silence fell over us, and I started walking away.

The woman harshly whispered to the man, slapping his shoulder.

"Stop her!" She said.

"Wait" the man said, touching my arm, to which I pulled away. "W-we should form a group, it's safer that way."

I stood there, rubbing my hands together to create some sort of warmth.

"Groups get each other killed." I said,  "Mine just got completely wiped out. I'm alone now."

"I'm sorry to hear that." The woman spoke softly. The man interrupted.

"We aren't stupid. We know how to keep each other safe-"

I started walking away once again.

"If you want a group, keep walking the way you were walking. You sure will find one." I said.

They didn't speak for a moment, or maybe they did, but I couldn't hear them over the squishing of the mud below my feet.

I came across a small shed. It was just beside an old abandoned road, which looked as though nobody drove on it in years. I opened the door, which was a bitch to do, and climes inside.