This Lullaby ( Kaylor )

( everything's on fire )

The feedback to this so far has been wonderful, and I'm so happy you all are enjoying it!  So here's a super long chapter to show my appreciation.  And also because classes started back today and I might not be able to update as frequently.

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It was when Karlie stopped to tie the laces of her boot that Taylor realized something was off.  She couldn't see anything, but as she stood in the middle of the cracked asphault, she felt watched.  Hunted.  Her skin was crawling on her bones, prickling and tugging at the back of her neck.

And then it hit her hard, like a fist to the solar plexus.

It was completely silent.

No birds, no insects.  Even the wind was silent and waiting.  Taylor swallowed, finding her gun once more.  She was scared to make any noise, but she still pushed out a whisper that seemed to clatter to the pavement between her and the younger girl, "Karlie, do you hear that?"

"I don't hear anything," The former model replied, her nose wrinkling.

Taylor bit her lower lip, fingers twitching nervously, "Exactly."  Realization seemed to sink in in that moment.  Green eyes widened, and Karlie rose slowly, finding her gun, muscles so tense Taylor thought she could see them straining beneath tan skin. 

After a long moment, there was no sign of life, undead or otherwise.  Slowly, they started walking again, constantly swiveling around, checking for any sign of movement.  Even Taylor's breath felt tense in her chest, like it was too thick to fit into her lungs.  Her entire throat felt clogged.  And all she wanted was to curl up in soft pink blankets in her childhood bed with the canopy and hide like she'd do from her dad when he pretended to be a 'tickle monster'. 

There was something about constantly fearing for one's life that changed a person, though.  14 months ago, she remembered being in a constant state of panic.  Always trembling, always half a second away from crying, never sleeping, debating using the gun in her hands for more than just a defense.  Now, she hardly cried.  Her hands no longer shook like a junkie on a detox.  And she managed to sleep half of her nights without horrible nightmares.  She was far stronger than she had been when all of this began.

But fear was a base human emotion.  A dragon she'd never be able to fight off completely.  And right now it was breathing fire down her neck and melting away her armor.  Karlie didn't look a whole lot more relaxed, however.  She had thumbed off the safety and had her finger resting along the barrel of the gun, as close to the trigger as possible while still practicing gun safety and not risking shooting herself or Taylor in the foot.

The thought of that happening and how fucked they would be if it did was enough to distract Taylor for a moment, so when a few birds shot out of a bush, shrieking loudly, she couldn't suppress a sharp, startled cry.  Karlie also cried out, taking a stumbling step backwards.  In an instant, they were back to back, guns lifted, scanning the area around them, terrified into breathlessness.  Then there it was, the sound of heavy stumbling through the underbrush, branches cracking like bones.  The gurgling death rattle started the instant the creature caught their scent.

It stumbled out of the bushes, moving faster than expected.  Taylor noted that it was once a woman, probably pretty, too.  But once-blonde curls were now ash colored and drooping like wilted flowers.  She was wearing a stained, vageuly purple track suit, but it was torn, flesh wrought with gangrene peering through the places the fabric was marred.  An old wound was festering on her shoulder.  Taylor could smell the decay from 20 feet away, and she had to swallow back a gag.

They both fired, and one of their rounds connected with a rotting skull, sending gore flying.  The sound was loud, louder than death.  It would only succeed in attracting more of those things.  So as the track suit woman crumbled to the ground, Karlie and Taylor took off running.