Bitten

Bullet

     I slipped out of the forest ever so quietly. I hadn’t attracted any walkers for the day and I wasn’t about to start either. I examined my surroundings and immediately knew where I was. I had to walk out into the open where even if there weren’t walker, there could be other survivors; for me, in a zombie apocalypse trusting someone was equivalent to letting them have the power of my life in their hands. If I were to walk out into the open and there were other survivors, it would be a fifty-fifty shot of me living on this Earth as a human, but for all they know I would kill them before they had a chance to aim their weapon. I shifted my duffel bags and clench onto my bow, already loaded, ready to kill anyone, or anything at that, that would put my short life in danger. I looked back at the forest as I was walking away from it's sweet protection from the outside world. I had no choice though, I was running low on my necessities and it is better to have what I need now instead of having to go later. Because Flagstaff was a small town, Costco was only about a twenty minute walk away from my tree house.  This tree house gave me joy when I was little, but now it saves my life on a daily basis. As of now, the forest and my tree hose were my only friends. they give me comfort, food, shelter, and water. I have no allies to comfort me when I am scared because they all passed away by the zombies.

     Memories flood my mind as I reminisce in their last day on this living hell. I remember them screaming for help, I wanted to help them, heaven knows I tried to help them, I was just too late. All of them were dead, I convinced myself it wasn't my fault, but subconsciously I knew it was. Had I ran just two seconds faster, not grabbed extra bandages, not have taken a moment to take a break, had I just been blessed with a few more seconds I know I could have saved their beautiful lives. As sad as it is, I couldn't I just had to run at a moderate pace, I had to grab more bandages, I had to take a quick break, and it cost them their lives. I wish they could have passed in a better way, I certainly hope that when I die it's not by being devoured by a herd of zombies. I die a little more each time I think of that day, about how it was my fault they aren't with me today. Reflecting on this most tragic event has already gotten me all the way to Costco, where I get all of my supplies. I make my way around the massive building where I slip into the back door. Everyone tries to get in through the front entrance and they are complete idiots for doing that. Not only is the front entrance locked, it is barricaded. Luckily for me, I just so happen to use my brain and check for more entrances. When I walk in I know my priorities and I know exactly where I can get them done. Before I grab my necessities, I wander around to check for any sign of danger. “Everything seems to be in order.” I mumble to myself. I take my two, large duffel bags off of my shoulders and proceed to get everything I need. I stroll by the clothes, checking if I could use anything new. I pick up a soft, black turtle neck and align it with my collarbones to see if it would fit my slim body, and it seemed to be a perfect fit. I nabbed some more of my favorite white V-neck shirts that go sensationally with my leather jacket. In reality, those two clothing items combined just make me feel like a complete badass. I fold up my new shirts up as miniscule as they could possibly be and placed them promptly into my duffel bag.

     I take my sweet time on getting over to the canned goods where the entire ground level of the cans are completely wiped out. Probably half of them were taken by me, but it’s okay because there are two aisles with many shelves filled with food that will assist me in my survival. I climb on the monstrous shelves and rummage through huge crates. I grab about ten cans of tuna, ten cans of beans, twenty packages of ramen noodles, and thirty cans of various fruits. After all of that, I still have about a half of a bag left which is an awful lot, but I have to use it wisely. I stumble around the aisles getting glimpses of the things I might want if the world wasn’t in the middle of a zombie apocalypse. I finally come across the next item that I need which happens to be soap. I use soap to wash myself and my clothes. I take the soap out of it’s cardboard box packaging so it is just the bar. I take about ten of the bars and place them in my bag as if I was in a game of Tetris, putting the bars of soap in any spot that fits perfectly. As easy as it may seem, it isn’t because I like to save as much room as I can when I go onto my “shopping trips”. After finally finishing the task off strategically placing soap I walk to the other side of the store where the pharmacy is. Medicine is always splendid to have just in general, but a zombie apocalypse makes it a little bit more important than normally. Since I don’t need any prescription medicine, yet, I don’t need to bother with the actual pharmacy. I go around the generic medicine and vitamins. I grab a small bottle of pain killers. I glance some more before I grab some Advil because it won't hurt to keep it around. My bag is gradually filling up, but that’s what I came here to do. I snatch a bottle of Nyquil and sleeping pills. I absolutely hate being sick and sleeping knowing that there are probably zombies around you is such a burden. As I leave the area something catches my eye, a huge bottle of vitamins. I take out two cans of the fruit that I packed earlier to replace it with the huge container. Vitamins are marvelous because I can’t get all the nutrition that I need when I’m fighting for my life daily. I mosey out of the pharmacy and I surprisingly still have a tiny nook of room left in my bag. I dash over to where I get my absolute favorite item, a true luxury to possess in the condition that the world is in. Who knew that a little area of the store could bring me such happiness?

     I behold the little ray of sunshine that breaks through this dark, dark time. I am looking at shampoo and conditioner. I know it may be ludicrous, but I just love them so much! I usually just wash my hair with soap and water, but I deserve to treat myself once in a while. My favorite scent, cherry blossom, is on the second shelf, but I wouldn’t care I was being shot at, I would get my shampoo and conditioner in the end. I climb onto the second shelf and rip the plastic off the crate. I carefully take out a shampoo and jump down. I place it into the bag as if it were a newborn baby. As I am climbing to grab another bottle of this wondrous liquid, I hear the most unwanted sound coming from the side of me. I look over to see a zombie staggering towards me. I lose my balance as I am shocked by the zombie. I thought this place was secure but clearly not.

     My bow is just out of my reach and I am frozen in my steps. I am shaking like a leaf, my heart is pounding, and the hair on my neck stands up. Thoughts are racing through my mind “Where did it come from? Where is my knife? How come I didn’t see it? Why did I leave my knife at home? My stupidity is really going to cost me this time. How could I be so stupid?” My thoughts were flying through my head, almost screaming at me all at once, as I was crawling backwards as the zombie stumbled toward me. I tried not to scream because you never know if there are any more of these vermin around, but I just couldn’t help it. I let out a few haunting shrieks as the zombie lunged toward me and fell on me. I used my palm to push the rotting head away from me. I could hear the zombie’s teeth clamping onto each other as they were trying to pierce through my skin. It had only been about thirty seconds of my life but it felt like ten minutes of complete and utter horror. I was knocking on death’s door and death was going to answer if this kept going on. The zombies head was very squishy and smelt absolutely terrible. I would have puked if I had something for breakfast today. My arm was getting weaker by the second and I was about to give up but a few more moments of my life seemed better than facing death. I let out more ear-deafening screams because I had nothing to lose, I already have a zombie on top of me trying to rip into my skull and eat my brains. The zombie probably hadn’t eaten in weeks and it wasn’t about to lose it's only meal. I was using all of the power left in my arm and it was shaking more than ever, crying of both frustration and being terrified. I was getting sore and there wasn’t any point in trying any more. As I pulled my hand off of the zombie’s head a bullet had been shot right into the side of the zombie’s skull, and that bullet sure as hell didn’t come from me.