The Last Legends: A Novella

Morgan

I set out at first light, as I was still awake from the previous night. It was a different experience, leaving so early. A select few Infected were shambling back to their hiding places, which I made sure to avoid whenever I saw one. Even if they were dead, it was completely out of the ordinary to see so much movement during the day.

Fortunately, I had largely been left alone, save for a pesky woman who had slowly pursued me for close to an hour before the sun final became unbearable and she crumpled against the ground, breathing with a rapidity that would have seemed dangerous for a living human. She wasn't dead, but she would no longer be pursuing me. For now, I just needed to keep heading through the city, keeping an eye out for resources.

As I soon discovered, closely resembling the rest of the world I had seen, the city was abandoned and, for the most part, picked clean over. I had entered the remnants of several stores, mostly small party stores, save for a Meijer I had run across, and found little more than a few bottles of water and canned goods, as well as some boxed desserts which were just powder without the eggs, oil, water, and heat I needed to make them. As I was leaving one store, I was even fortunate enough to find a couple bags of M&Ms; those would be for a special occasion, if there ever was to be one.

After noon, not quite sunset, but after the sun had begun to dip below the higher buildings, I noticed something odd: the first infected were beginning to move. They were slow and stumbling more than usual, perhaps as a result of the sun blinding them. Perhaps that was why they came out at night.

I managed to evade them, fortunately, though I was on edge the entire time I was searching for shelter, which I eventually found in an old gas station behind the counter and a layer of bulletproof glass. The doors were long ago shattered, and any of the junk food long picked over, but the counter at least provided some shelter. In truth, it was probably safer than the usual door which protected me from the Infected at night.

I didn't so much as dare peek out from my hiding spot, in fear a horde would rush the glass all at once and break it. It was an incredibly long couple of hours while the sun was setting with the Infected gradually approaching, banging their decaying fists and heads against the glass above my head. My heart raced all the while.

It was just after the last of the light had vanished that my heart began to tremble. The banging on the glass just continued on and on. I didn't know the durability of bulletproof glass, but their determination to get in seemed like it could overpower anything they set their collective minds to. With one hand on my rifle, I contemplated what the best way to go would be.

Turn into one in them? No, part of my mind may remain intact and I would be aware of my aimless wandering of the earth. Did I have the strength to put a bullet in my head? That was probably the easiest way, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. Yet I knew I couldn't fight; even if I could reload my rifle fast enough, I didn't have enough ammunition, especially with the number of Infected the sound would draw in.

Unbelievable. I had just barely raised my rifle when a dog barked. Was it the same dog as before? Had multiple survived? Did that mean other people were out there somewhere? Maybe someone was hunting the infected! Maybe...

The pounding on the glass lessened, then vanished. Another bark. I risked glancing above the counter. I couldn't believe my eyes; the last infected were wandering out of the gas station, leaving me alone. I had been saved! At least, for now, that is, but that was all that could be asked for in this world.

In relief, I found a comfortable spot on the floor and let myself rest. With the stress of the moment having left my body, I found an exhaustion I had never known before. Somehow, I slept. I slept better than I should have, and I slept better than I had in a very long time.

When I woke that morning, it was later than I would have liked to set out. The sun was high in the sky and the roads devoid of any traces of infected. The temperature, I noted, seemed to be a few degrees cooler than it had been in previous days, bringing to mind that I no longer knew the day or even the month.

Without hesitation, I took off at a swift pace in the opposite direction of the one I had taken on my way into the gas station. By now, I estimated I was roughly halfway through the city. If I were lucky, I would be making a run for it by tomorrow. And, if lucky, I would run into that dog again.