Feral Citizens

An Officer in Need

Nothing can ever go back to normal when the dead take almost everything away from you. Taking my life into perspective in that very moment, as I wove through trees and ducked under branches, I was really wishing I'd tried harder in track at high school.

I'd taken only a brief moment to glance behind me, attempting to trace the direction the sounds of inhuman growling was coming from. Though I'd only spotted a single spook, its skinny, rotten carcass lurching after me, I wasn't taking any chances. There could be more spooks hanging around, just waiting for their next fleshy meal to run straight into their gaping mouths, their outstretched, claw-like hands.

At my side was my sister. A small, girl, only ten, and a whole lot younger than I was. She was faring far better in these woods than I was, being small enough to run under the overhanging tree branches that had scratched the shit out of my face.

The spook behind us gave an angered snarl, impatient in catching its dinner. I surged forward with all the adrenaline I could muster, seizing my sister by the hand and pulling her along with me. I ignored the branches ripping my skin, tearing at the greasy strands of my hair. I was not dying today. Not when we'd survived for so long. I'd let down enough people already.

We broke through the treeline and leaped over a road barrier. Directly across from us was an abandoned camp set up in front of a decrepit, hopefully, empty gas station. A plan was drafting itself in my head. If we could disappear among the maze of car ruins and shredded tents, I could have time to pull the small hunting knife from my belt and kill the spook, who, quite frankly, was pissing me off now. With no working set of lungs, spooks could keep walking for miles. We'd never lose it on foot.

I crouched behind an ugly, canary yellow car, my sister by my side, and waited. The low growling of the spook got closer and closer. It has finally made its way to the campsite. I watched from under the car, noticing it's worn shoes move inch by inch as it shuffled across the grass, searching for its lost meal. I might have felt pity for it if it hadn't been us it wanted to eat.

"What're you gonna do?" My sister whispered. I shushed her quickly, just in case it heard us. One thing I have noticed about lurkers was their uncanny ability to hear and smell you from a distance. Dad has likened them to sharks. Mom had pointed out that sharks stayed in the water, and therefore could never be as big of a threat as the spooks were. For the first time in my life, I was inclined to agree with my Momma.

The spook was right by the canary car now. If it kept going, it would walk right to us. Any second now. I tightened my grip on my knife and carefully pulled it out in front of me. I'd have to nail this son of a bitch quickly, and quietly. I had no idea if there were more around.

Any moment now...

The tops of its decaying shoulders came into view. I jumped up, knife in hand-

A well-aimed gunshot sent the spook tumbling to the group.

Shit. My mind went into survival mode; a human with a gun was more dangerous than a spook could ever be. My sister squealed in fright, scrambling to her feet to clutch at me. Though both of us had guns, neither of us were quick enough to draw them before whoever had fired could take us both out.

"Woah!" I yelled, throwing my hands up. The gunner came into view, looking as bewildered as I assumed I did.

He wasn't a young man. He wasn't old though, either. Dark-haired and thin, with a slight limp and icy blue eyes, clouded by confusion. I did a quick once-over and determined that he wasn't used to the situation he was in. The furrowed brows and flared nostrils indicated he was afraid, which wouldn't have been surprising. But the rigidness of his shoulders and the way he kept moving towards us told me he hadn't learned the same lessons almost every survivor did. He was worried, but not of us. There was a softness in his eyes that became clearer as he stepped nearer. By the time we were face to face, he'd removed his finger from the trigger. It wasn't something I'd have done.