Still not bitten (Zombie apocalypse) Harry Styles

Close call

"Do you do this often?" Harry asked.

"Only when we run low on food, now shhhhhhhhhh." I scolded him, my eyes trained on the deer. I pulled the string of the bow back, my eyes staring straight at the spot I was preparing to hit. I let go of the string and the arrow made an arc through the sky before stopping, it's tip lodged deeply in the deer's throat. "Let's go." I said, chasing after the deer as it ran away, panicked.

Branches broke beneath my feet as I sprinted after the fleeing deer, Harry slightly in front of me. We followed the trail of blood and paused in front of a stream, The water was cold and fresh, something that was hard to find now. I made a mental note to fill up mine and Harry's flasks so we would have emergency water back at camp.

I took a deep breath, taking a moment to enjoy the fresh air of the forest, something that didn't exist back in the city. I didn't quite understand why we didn't just set up camp out here, I mean sure there wasn't any buildings to stay in, but surely we could build something? I sighed before starting after the deer once again.

**********************

"So....how exactly are we getting this back?" 

The deer lay dead at our feet, I turned to Harry. "We are going to carry it." I shrugged before pulling the two arrows from it's throat.

"Carry it? Do you know how heavy that thing will be?!" He exclaimed causing me to giggle.

"Me and Liam do it all the time, now come on."

We began to lift the deer when I heard it, a scream, a gunshot, then silence. We both dropped the deer instantly, scrambling to grab branches and leaves to cover our kill. Once it was covered I frantically searched for somewhere to hide.

"Up there, quick!" I whispered before tugging Harry towards a tree that had the perfect amount of branches for a semi-easy climb. We huddled together on a thick branch and peered through the thick foliage, the faint sound of leaves scrunching beneath someone's feet came from the ground. I sucked in my breathe, my grip on Harry tightening.

"Hey you!" I heard a man yell.

My heart beat accelerated, He's not talking to us....why would he be talking to us? He can't see us....breathe.

"I can see you! Get back here!" With that the man began running through the bushes, away from the deer, away from the tree, and away from us. 

I breathed a sigh of relief, the ground was solid and comforting beneath my shaking feet, my heart beat was still beating uncontrollably as we hauled the deer off the ground, the last of the leaves falling to the ground. 

"Well that was a close call." Harry laughed, trying to ease the tension.

"No kidding. We live another day!" I giggled, finally feeling a bit safer.

*************************

"So how did hunting go?" Karen asked, a smile on her face.

"Great until the gunshot."

"Gunshot?"

"Yeah, we were getting ready to bring the deer back when we heard a scream, then came the gunshot. After that it was silent. Not even a bird made a single sound. It was so creepy. So we covered the deer and climbed a tree. I heard footsteps and then a man yelling. He kept saying, 'I can see you.' Then he ran off. I don't think he saw us." 

"Do you think it was the same guy as last time?" Karen whispered.

"I don't know...maybe." 

Karen nodded,"Lucky Harry was with you, I reckon he would be able to put up a good fight."

"Definitely. He practically carried that whole deer by himself."

"I keep having nightmares." She whispered after a moment of silence.

"Me too. They won't stop. I keep seeing that woman, but sometimes she has kids with her." 

"I had dreams about her for the first few nights. Then they changed. But now.....I keep having the same dream every night. I always wake up feeling like something is wrong." She shivers slightly.

"What happens in the dream?" I asked.

"We're out on patrol...and then that man grabs me from behind. I try to yell out to you, tell you to run, but you're not there." She tries to seem nonchalant but I can tell she's freaking out. "I just..... stay safe, okay? When you're out there."

"Always." I nodded.

"We need you, and I don't want you to end up dead."

"I don't plan on dying anytime soon, Karen." I looked at the floor, studying the cracks along the surface. I wanted to believe that I would live a long and happy life, but I knew that wasn't possible. Death was inescapable. And the recent events seemed like a warning, everything happens for a reason, that's what I was always told. There is no 'luck' or 'chance'. Maybe me and Karen 'stumbling' upon that man just before he shot her was the world telling us to run. Telling me to run. Maybe death was working it's way towards me, but the world wasn't ready to let me go.

I remember sitting in class one day during speeches, a girl had been talking about the amount of people that commit decide to kill themselves. I remember her saying...'So many people embrace death. They claim it as their own'

And I remember thinking.........You don't claim death, death claims you.

The thought had consumed me, I kept wondering when death would claim me. I wondered where I would go after I died. If there was an afterlife. I wondered if I would have to re-live the day I died until I got everything perfect, like I had read in a book. I wondered if I would just be a soul wandering on earth, unable to be seen or heard, trying to live a life that didn't exist for me.

It felt like we were all trying to live, and survive, in a world that didn't exist. A world that was dead. A world that had lost all meaning and worth. A world that had crumbled.

I guess I was just trying to survive, hoping that I wouldn't lose my mind along the way.