DESTINY

Chapter 1

I try to run as fast as I can, but my feet are too heavy from all the water my boots and jeans soaked in. They are behind me. Right behind me and way too close to stand a real chance to flee from them and get out of this apartment complex. A fleshy hand tries to get a hold on me and almost digs their long fingernails in my leather jacket, but I am quicker and manage to push it off me.

My feet seem to get heavier with each step I'm taking and I have to push myself to run even faster and to not give up. I feel a fire in my chest, right there where my lungs are placed and it's only a matter of seconds until they collapse.

My ears are overstimulated with acoustic signals. Behind me are at least ten runners and telling by the constant shuffling, screaming and clicking they have back up from their big brothers: Clickers.

Somehow, I managed to build up a small lead but my elation doesn't last long: I maneuvered myself into a dead end.

"Fuck", I mumble to myself as I turn around, looking at the infected that will take me out of this life if I do not act right now. They are maybe 100 yards away. If I have luck maybe more.

I realize the gun laying in my hand. My last chance to survive. In a quick and slickly movement, I pull out the magazine and check how many bullets I still have.

One. I have one single bullet left. It's more than obvious I won't be able to kill the infected that are stumbling and shuffling my way with this one bullet.

No, this time the gun won't be fired at the Runners and Clickers.

The pistol feels eight times more heavy than usual when I try to lift it to my head. The barrel touches the skin of my temple and I hate the way metal feels on skin. My hands shake too much and I have problems to calm myself enough to unlock the safety mechanism of the gun. I literally have to stabilize my hand with the other to stop it from shaking.

My index finger wraps around the trigger as I'm watching the infected getting closer with every breath I take.

They are roaring and screaming, sounds of pain and agony escaping their mouths. Or at least the place where their mouths used to be. Fungus is growing on their bodies as if it's the most fertile ground in existence. Some of them seem to have just turned about a week or two ago, others look like it's been years since their infection. Most of them are only wearing pieces of torn apart and ripped clothes.

Only ten yard separate us now.

I close my eyes to make my death easier for me as I'm trying to pull the trigger. But I can't. I can't kill myself, even if it'll save me from being killed in a much more painful way. I can't do this.

My hand drops low and the pistol I was holding drops clatteringly to the ground.

I open my eyes again. A Clicker is right in front of me, taking it's final step towards me.  Even if I wanted to defend myself – I couldn't. There is no time for me to react, because the Clicker digs it's teeth into the flesh of my neck, biting through my carotid artery causing blood to splatter everywhere, and sealing my fate.

I wake up with a jolt, breathing so heavily as if I just ran a marathon. My bed, pillow and nightclothes are completely soaked in sweat, causing the fabric to stick onto my skin. I sit myself up, stretching my back and letting my arms circle in a slow movement to relax my tense muscles.

A drop of sweat runs into my eye and the salty water burns. I wipe off my face with the sleeve of my shirt and try to collect myself.

'Nightmare. It was only a nightmare. Nothing special. I am alive, I am in Jackson, I am safe', I think to myself.

"Another bad dream?" a voice to my left speaks.

I turn around too abruptly and my neck cracks. At first a sharp pain stings in my neck, but it is followed with a relieving feeling.

"Hm" I answer in a huff. I crack my knuckles in hope for another relaxation of my body, and I'm not disappointed.

Cat lifts her head to place it on her hand. She pushes down the covers, exposing her upper body. Her hair is in a messy bun, a loose strand of black hair falls onto her shoulder, which she quickly pushes behind her ear. "You know I hate when you do that" she whisper-speaks.

Instead of answering her I swing my legs over the edge of the bed, turning my back on her. I look out of the window that's right in front of me. The sun is already starting to rise, and the first shaft of sunlight warms my face. A harbinger of this year's summer heat, that'll bug the residents of Jackson once again.

I feel slim arms embracing my torso and slow and steady breaths against the skin of my neck that still tingles from my imaginary bite mark.

This feels wrong. I don't want Cat's affections, hugs and kisses. I don't want her kind words and interest in my well-being. Not when I know her hands roamed another body, her lips traced kisses on somebody else's chest and her mouth is filled with empty promises like 'He is just a friend'.

I stand up too fast and my vision is blurred for a second, but I try to hide the effect of too many sleepless nights and a broken heart.

Cat doesn't say a word, her gaze just follows my actions. I grab for my clothes that are on the ground next to the bed. Apparently, one of my worst bad habits, as Cat once told me.

I button up my flannel as I'm turning back to Cat, who is still lying in bed.

"I can't do this", I state, trying to look anywhere but her exposed chest. "I can't and I don't want to do this."

She slowly nods her head, trying to take in the words I just said. It doesn't take her by surprise, which can be concluded by her calm yet cold reaction. Cat's biting on her bottom lip, something she does when thinking about the right words to say. She looks at the ceiling, a shaky sigh escaping her plumber lips I used to kiss, before she let somebody else do it.

"So you decided that all those years were for nothing, Ellie?" the woman I used to love so much shuts her eyes, obviously trying to hold back the tears that have to be burning behind her eyes. An instinct to go over to her and hold her tight flushes my body and it takes everything for me to suppress it. 'She's not the girl you fell in love with anymore', I tell myself.

I walk over to the door that leads me out of this house and into Joel's backyard. My hand wraps around the cold metal of the old doorknob. Before opening it I take a deep breath and say my hopefully last sentence ever to Cat: "You did the same when you decided to fuck with Jesse."

I shut my eyes and push back the urge to look at her. "Pack your things and be out of my place till I get back from my shift."

The door slams shut behind me, whirling up dust that been here for way too long.