Dying Breath: It All Starts Here

Finding Maggy

Askova and Derek were hunting in the woods next to the St. Louis highway.

" Why do you want to help me?" asked Askova, looking at the trees. Derek looked at her.

" Well, I thought that I should get to know you guys better," replied Derek, looking nervous.

" So you decided to start...with me?" commented Askova, finally looking, Derek. Derek nodded, then looking forward. He stopped and shushed Askova. Askova looked confused, then looked where he was looking. It was a deer.

" How can we shoot the deer? We don't have a sniper rifle," complained Askova. Derek and Askova were crouched. Derek took out his M16A1 and pointed it at the deer.

" Do you even know how to shoot a gun?" whispered Askova. Derek nodded.

" I went hunting before, but with a sniper rifle of course when hunting deer. I never shot automatic rifles, shotguns, or machine guns before though." Derek aimed his gun at the deer's head, " when Fox News set out the infection warning, my family got all the guns they could, but they didn't survive. I thought Fox always put out fake news, so I thought that the infection was never going to happen."

" That's exactly what I thought," Askova replied.

" Turns out, Fox was putting out real news this time." He aimed and shot. He was pushed back a bit, and the bullets that were supposed to hit the deer's head hit it's back, making it bleed, but still alive. The deer ran.

" Um...nice shot," commented Askova, getting up.

" I was meant to aim for the head," Derek got up, and they both ran after the deer's tracks. They ran until they ended up on a cliff.

" Woah!" exclaimed Askova, almost falling off. Derek grabbed her coat and pulled her back. They looked down the cliff and saw a pond or lake. The thing is, the lake was half full of water and the other half was full... of cannibals. They were escaping slowly, one by one. They saw the deer, pierced in the body by a giant stick. The deer was hanging, lifelessly, bleeding massively.

" Well, there's our dinner," commented Derek. Askova chuckled. Derek looked at her and smiled.

Derek and Askova came walking through the door, with confused, and sad faces.

" Did you find any dinner? Deer? Rabbit? Squirrel? Bear possibly?" complained Ray, eating on her bag of pretzels that she started eating the day before. Lindsay was sleeping. Willow was carving something on the floor. Michaela came up from the garage and closed the double doors.

" Well, Maggy is..." started Michaela.

" I think you guys need to see this," blurted Askova, with Derek nodding. Michaela crossed her arms.

They entered the forest, with Destiny holding the chain that was wrapped around Maggy. Michaela brought her M9, Derek brought his M16A1, Askova brought her sword, Lindsay grabbed the bat that Derek started out with, and Dave had a knife. Ray brought her bag of pretzels with her. Willow and Destiny didn't have a weapon.

" Careful, it's slippery," commented Derek.

" Man, look at the mountains," commented Destiny, looking at the mountains, standing at the edge of the cliff. Askova put her hand on Destiny's head, and moved it down, facing the lake.

" Oh," corrected Destiny, still holding the chain. Askova took her sword out of her scabbard and pointed it to the lake.

"There are at least 50 of those things down there, and all of us aren't experienced to kill cannibals. We need to get rid of them," sighed Askova.

" Why? They aren't hurting any..." started Destiny, but Askova put her hand on Destiny's head, again, and pointed it towards the spot where the cannibals were escaping, " Oh," sighed Destiny, mist coming out of her mouth.

" Well, how do we know that they are coming to our direction?" asked Lindsay. The cannibals were escaping, with cars and debris, leading the cannibals up the hill.

" Well, the debris is blocking the cannibal's path to any direction, except here." Destiny walked over to a tree, with everyone watching, and she wrapped the chain around the tree, took out a lock from her pocket, and locked the chain together. Maggie leaned against the tree, picking at the ice crystals.

" Why can't we just block their path from going up here?" asked Ray, eating her pretzels. Askova shook her head.

" I guess we could, but we need more cars than the one that Maggy..." started Askova. She stopped when she looked towards Maggie's direction, " Where did she go?" asked Askova, worried. Everyone else looked in her direction. Then they looked at Destiny.

" I chained her to that tree, right there. It was locked too!" explained Destiny, looking like she was about to die.

" Come on Destiny, don't be a scaredy cat, we'll find her," replied Willow. She looked at the tracks behind the tree, " See, we can follow her tracks. Come on." Everyone followed Willow. Michaela and Askova took the chain. Askova took her sword out of her scabbard and swung it towards the chain 3 times before breaking. Michaela grabbed the chain, and she and Askova ran towards the others. They were all standing in an opening in the woods.

" Why are we stopping?" asking Askova, out of breath. Lindsay looked at her, then pointed at the snowy ground, " there's nothing... there's nothing there," sighed Askova.

" Let's split up," suggested Dave, pointing his knife in the air. Everyone nodded.

They decided teams. Lindsay was going to be with Dave. Ray was going to be with Destiny. Willow and Askova were a team, and Michaela and Derek were together. They started their search for Maggy at sundown.