The Last Legends: A Novella

Alec

Important lesson: don't break routine for even a single day. Upon entering the first house early in the morning, I discovered three infected lying just inside the doorway. After dispatching them, I made my way to the basement and put an end to an additional five. While doing such, however, I discovered an arrow that had made its home in an Infected's shoulder.

Much like usual, I disposed of the bodies in overflowing pits before moving onto the next house, which was just as overrun as the first. Then the next, the next, and the next until I cleared the entire street.

Alone on this day, I must have removed over three-hundred infected, more than I had seen even on the day I first cleared them out. Part of my mind wondered if it were a result of their prey dying out in other areas. If that were the case, that would explain why infected showed up in a continuous stream. If that were the case, their sudden rise in population probably indicated that I was the closest human.

This was the longest it had ever taken me to clear out the Infected since I began. By the time I was done, the sun was dipping over the horizon, and Infected could be seen at the edge of my vision, approaching from a street I had never cleared, as it took enough effort to keep the one I lived on clear.

I gritted my teeth, knowing I still had one house to clear, but also well aware that I could not enter safely, and certainly could not have killed all the infected inside in time to get back to my house before it was overrun. I would already have to run back in order to make it safely inside. So my mind was decided.

I knocked an arrow and began running home as fast I could. The fastest infected had already passed my house and were heading in my direction. Three of them. I had seven arrows; the six I usually brought and the one I had found at the first house.

I stopped running, pausing just long enough to take aim and fire an arrow. My arrow sailed through the air and into the Infected's shoulder. I knocked and fired another arrow. This one hit the Infected's head, causing it to crumple to the ground. dead.

The second Infected I killed with my first shot. With the third, it took to arrows to the left shoulder before the third burrowed its way into the Infected's eye. With one arrow left, I charged in close to the nearest infected and let it loose.

By now, many of the Infected had passed my house. Too many to risk fighting my way in. So I threw my bow into the grass, hoping it would be safe, and drew my rifle. I had ten bullets in the magazine, not having expected to be caught by a horde.

I turned tail and ran toward the nearest cleared house. The windows had long ago been destroyed, so I simply slammed the door shut and ran to the second story. I ran into the first room I found, what used to belong to a kid, by the looks of the floor still littered with legos and lincoln logs.

I cleared the room with several large leaps and forced the window open, tearing the screen instead of popping it out. With an unnecessary look behind me, I climbed out of the window and onto the roof. I scrambled up to the highest point, looking down at the road. Infected were already making their way into both my house and the one I was hiding on the roof of.

In a few minutes, an Infected woman's head popped out of the window I had climbed through, staring up at me with unblinking eyes. As she tried to climb onto the roof to join me, her arms quickly gave out and she plummeted to the ground atop a pile of her comrades.

The only reason I took my eyes off the road at all that night was that it began to rain. First, it was little more than a tiny drizzle, but soon developed into a downpour. I had no shelter, and dared not enter the house, for the hungry moans of the Infected could be heard emanating from the broken window.

It was shortly after that I was shivering, huddled against the chimney. If I'd known, I would have brought a raincoat. If I'd known, I would have bought more bullets. If I'd known, I wouldn't have bothered leaving the haven my house offered.

Far off, there was an anguished howl, different than that of the wind. Was it the dog I had seen the previous day? Was it wounded? Or mourning the death of its owner?

Was that dog alone too?

When the sun peeked above the horizon, the rain was still falling and I was still shivering. Exhaustion threatened to take me, but the fear of falling prevented my sleep. My grogginess, aided by my fear of growing ill, sought to overtake my judgment.

Eager to clear my home, I grasped my rifle tightly and descended through the broken window I had escaped through last night. Three infected were asleep nearby, pressed against the wall where I would have not seen them until it was too late had they been awake.

I inched through and out the room, downstairs, and through the now missing front door. Thinking I was home free, I threw caution to the wind and ran down the street. I plucked my bow from its place in the grass and went in search of my arrows. That was when I found a horrifying surprise: each of the seven arrows which had been fired were broken in half, only small portions sticking out of the Infected they had slain.

After some not so quick math, I realized I only had two arrows left, hidden in my home. I couldn't very well use my gun for my daily hunt, for bullets were an incredibly finite supply. Yes, I still had two arrows, but those weren't enough to get through a single house without resupplying, and I would be as good as dead in case of an emergency.

As I was lost in contemplation as to my actions, I nearly failed to notice the figure shambling towards me down the road. Once I did, it was already close enough for me to see the sunken eyes and bloody lips. It halted, causing two things to happen simultaneously.

One thing to happen was the broad smile that stretched over the discolored face. The second was the raising of my gun, the brief period of aiming, and a loud explosion. The Infected man fell. I stood still, frozen. 

The doorways, within moments, were crowded with Infected, onlooking like witnesses to a crime. Which, I suppose, to them, it very well could have been. 

They didn't leave their shelters, apparently too fearful of the light of the sun. With caution, I advanced toward my own home, somehow devoid of infected, but not without a trace of them having entered. I closed the door before beginning my search, in case some were hidden.