Until Death Do Us Part

Chapter 1

Lillian's P.O.V.

It's been three long days of searching through empty houses and warehouses for anything to possibly feed myself. My throat burned from running out of water almost twenty-four hours ago and having the sun beaming down on my weak body for what felt like just as long. The closest store was still two miles ahead of me and I could feel my strength diminishing by the second. I'm never gonna make it like this. My knees are starting to buckle and I'm too tired to keep myself standing. When my knees finally give out on me, I try to pull myself off the ground, only to stumble a few more steps before completely collapsing onto the side of the road. My eyes close and I can feel the burning sun on my exposed skin. No doubt that if I survive and somehow wake up from this heat exhaustion, I would be burnt to a crisp. Possibly ending with me getting sun poisoning. However, I am too out of it to care right now. I feel the exhaustion start to settle in and thoughts of dying slowly creep into my mind. Suddenly, I am okay with dying. Whether it be the starvation or the walking corpses that did me in, I am too tired to care. Too tired of fighting for survival. Too tired of living off of expired canned goods. Too tired of changing hideout spots every few days in the fear of hoards. I am just too tired of living. I feel tears slip their way past my eyelids, but I don't wipe them away. They tell me that I'm still alive. That I'm still human. That I'm still me. 

I lie there for what feels like hours, but was probably maybe thirty minutes, before I begin to hear footsteps and voices in the distance. I begin to shake in fear that whoever it is may not be friendly. In any other situation, I would have hidden and waited by now, but I'm much too weak to move. I must accept my fate, whatever it may be. As the voices grow nearer, my vision starts to become darker, until all I can see is black. The last thing I hear before I slip into unconsciousness is someone asking me my name.

Daniel's P.O.V.

I trail slightly behind Sam, who has been my best friend since we were in diapers. We lived right next door to each other for nearly our entire lives, so when the world went to shit, the was no doubt in my mind that I wanted her by my side through it all. The day it all started, I came home to my parents gone, and my little sister, Rachel, and Sam barricading themselves in Rachel's bedroom. We packed as much food and clothes we could fit into our small car and evacuated the city like we were being told to. After about a month, survival camps began to grow scarce, finding it harder and harder to stay afloat with the supply of food and resources slowly diminishing. 

I'm pulled out of my thoughts as Sam and I reach the main road. I take my pistol out of its holster, keeping the barrel pointed towards the ground and my finger near the trigger in case I need to take down any of the dead. 

"We're gonna split up today. You take up that way, and I'll look around here. If you find anything or you have any problems, you yell for me immediately. I mean it Danny. No fucking macho man hero complex shit. We can't lose you. I can't lose you. Neither can Rachel." Sam spoke with a hint of worry in her voice, which was understandable. We've met a lot of people along the way, but with meeting people, we also experienced a lot of loss. People we trusted and people who trusted us to keep them safe. 

"I know. I know, Sammy. I can't lose either of you either, so the same rule applies for you. You see anything, you yell for me. Understood?" I look down at her, seeing as she's just a few inches shorter than me. 

"Understood." And with that, we go our separate ways. I travel up the abandoned highway, weaving through broken down cars and checking for supplies along the way. I get to the end and am about to turn back when something catches my eye. I turn to see a body laying on the side of the road. It looks human from what I can see, so I make my way over to it, keeping my gun aimed in case anything goes wrong. I reach it and kneel down beside it. It's a girl, who looks to be about my age if not younger, with long blonde hair. She looks as though she hasn't eaten for days, weeks even. I gently check for a pulse and find a faint one. She's alive, and from what I can see not bitten.

"Sammy! Sammy I found someone up here! She needs our help!" I place my gun back into the holster and slowly lift the girl into my arms. She seems to still be slightly conscious so I try asking for her name but she doesn't respond. She must be really weak. I begin carrying her in the direction that Sam went, hoping that she at least found some supplies so we can take this girl back to camp with us. As I near the spot where she and I first split up, I see her running towards me with two full backpacks. 

"Danny! You won't believe it I hit the motherlo- Who the hell is that?" Sam's eyes are wide with concern and hesitation. I don't blame her. We can barely keep ourselves alive, how are we gonna keep this girl alive? 

"I don't know, but look at her Sam. She needs our help. I-I don't know what it is, but I just feel this...this need to help her. To protect her. It's like I was meant to be the one to find her Sammy. Please.. We have to take her with us.." I plead with her. I can't even bear to imagine the thought of not helping this poor girl. 

"Fine, but you are going to be the one explaining this to Dakota. Not me." Sam turns away from me, and begins the walk back to camp. I follow close behind making sure to check if the frail girl is still breathing every few steps. I don't know how Dakota will react, but I will find out soon enough.