Outlive

Chapter 2: Help

Lauren stood frozen, staring at him. Her instincts were screaming 'Run!', but she couldn't seem to get her legs to move. It had been months since the last time she had seen another living human and now that one stood before her, she couldn't seem to get her mind to work. And to be completely honest, she was scared shitless.

The boy seemed to see the fear in her eyes because he very slowly set his shotgun down on the ground and raised his hands with his palms out.

"Hey, it's okay," he said softly, taking a small step forward distancing himself from the gun. "I'm, not going to hurt you."

As soon as he moved Lauren's brain suddenly kicked back into gear. She knew instantly that she had to get out of there and fast. She didn't know who this person was was or why he was there and she didn't particularly want to stick around to find out. Zombies she could handle, even the new mutated ones most of the time. They were mindlessly driven by simple predictable instincts and if you knew how to handle them, were actually pretty easy to take down. People on the other hand... people were dangerous. Smart, ruthless and unpredictable.

When the boy took another step forward she moved. In one swift motion, she resheathed her katana and started running down the aisle, straight towards the strange boy. His eyes widened as she approached. Only a couple feet from him, she jumped to the side and used one of the empty shelves as a support to push off of. She tucked her body into a roll that sent her right over the guy's head and she landed on her feet just behind him.

Lauren didn't hesitate, didn't look back to see what he would do next, she simply ran. She ran out through the broken doors, shards of glass crunching under her shoes, and out into the open street.

"Hey, stop!" the stranger yelled from behind her.

'Yeah right,' Lauren thought and kept running. She felt a little better being out in the open, without walls trapping her in. As she ran down the deserted street she scanned the line of storefronts.

Three strides later saw what she was looking for in an alleyway between a two-story brick hardware store and a building that looked like it might have been a gym a long time ago. She quickly changed course and ran down the alley her gaze locked on her target.

About seven feet above Lauren's head were the bottom rungs of an old, rusted fire escape bolted to the wall of the building. Without breaking her stride she leaped towards the wall of the opposite building from the fire escape and pushed off from it in a similar move to what she had done in the gas station moments before. The momentum pushed her up towards the ladder until the fingers of her right hand managed to snag the bottom rungs. For a moment, her body swung freely before she grabbed the ladder with her other hand.

Lauren heaved her weight up.  For once she was actually glad her backpack was so light due to her dwindling supplies. She grunted as she heaved until she could get her feet on the rungs. After that climbing was easy. She glanced back only once to see if the boy had followed her. Sure enough, he stood at the entrance to the alley staring up with his mouth hanging open. The shotgun he had been holding in the store wasn't in his hands which Lauren took to be a good sign. It meant that he wasn't actively trying to kill her and gave her hope that she might actually survive this day. 

Lauren was sure that there was no way he was going to be able to follow her. It had taken her an entire month of practice to strengthen her muscles and to be able to time each jump perfectly to climb the walls. She turned away from him again quickly climbing the rest of the way up to the roof.

Once on a flat surface again, Lauren straightened and let out a sigh of relief. Up on top of the roof, with the wind in her face, she felt more relaxed and at ease. She had never really liked people even before Day Zero. People were selfish living things that could never really be trusted. Seeing another person had reawakened old memories for Lauren that weren't exactly pleasant. Usually, the girl tried her best to avoid other people since Day Zero and for good reason. There were no laws during the apocalypse and a large number of people used that as an excuse to do whatever they wanted.