and his head was still crooked at an awkward angle. He appeared to notice none of these things as he and his pack hunted on and on, looking for that one prey they could never quite catch.
Me.
I hunkered down in the branches of a large tree as the horde moved slowly below me. They’d been at the search for days and just kept crossing and re-crossing the forest. I’d climbed up here in an act of desperation, a last act of self-preservation, and had fully expected the horde to crowd around the bottom of the tree and try to get at me. They’d use their low moans to draw the others toward them and then there’d be thousands of the undead below me, reaching arms grasping for me and waiting for me to fall. The dead did not sleep or rest or tire. They’d just go on and on and on and wait for me to fall. I knew it was just a matter of time. I was already exhausted from the hunt and the days of no sleeping. I needed food and water and rest, not necessarily in that order.
When I’d climbed the tree I broke the lower hanging branches beneath me so that they could hopefully not climb up behind me. I’d seen them hunt and chase prey and agility was definitely not their strong suit. Their implacable will and unflagging hunger was what drove them on and it was frightful to watch them wait out their prey. Especially now that the prey was me.
I hung in the tree in a natural hollow created by the joining of several branches. I didn’t have to worry about falling as long as I didn’t allow myself to sleep. Occasionally I closed my eyes and would sleep for a minute or two before shaking myself awake. I couldn’t allow myself to have that luxury. I could sleep when I was dead.
Ha.
I only had four shells left for the shotgun that was strapped to my back. There was no longer any reason to shoot the zombies on sight. For every one you shot and killed four more would step forward and take its place. Barring a machine gun and unlimited bullets there was no way the horde could be stopped. The virus had spread and broke far beyond Litchville, Kentucky, and now encompassed most of the U.S., if not the world. And it was all my fault. No doubt about that.
The occasional familiar face broke out from the crowd below: my dad, whose presence was missed on the weekend of infection. Old man Simmons, who had proved to be one of the most unstoppable of the horde. I had shot him several times with the shotgun myself, and he’d still kept coming. Donny Marsters, the troublemaker from across the way. And my beloved friends, Barrett Inman and Fannie Mae Jennsen. They hung close to each other in their hunt for me. I was the food and the prey they wanted.
And, as I said, at the head of the pack was Mason Smith. He drove the others on when they would have spread out looking for more food. Something tied us together and he knew I was nearby. Whenever I got away from the horde for even a short while it was always him who ended up on my trail and made me start running again. Everywhere I stopped he would eat those who’d helped me and they would join his ranks.
My fault. The destruction of the world was my fault. But how could I know the harm that would come from defending my love?
I slept, in this dream of mine. In hopes that the dream would shatter and I would awaken to a world where monsters such as this did not exist.
The sound of claws on the bark woke me from my perch. I turned my head and there in front of me were Fannie Mae and Barrett. They were sitting cross-legged on the branch inches from me, waiting for me to wake up. I stared at them silently, waiting for them to eat me. They didn’t, for some reason, as I knew they wouldn’t.
Fannie Mae’s shirt hung on her in tatters, exposing most of her chest. I remembered the day on which we’d stripped for each other, looking for that tell-tale mark. I’d felt something for her that day that I’d never felt before and I remember being both scared and relieved at that feeling.
Barrett was missing an arm, which begged the question of how he’d managed to clamber up the tree, but I pushed that thought aside. The arm he was left with hung limply in his lap as he stared at me. His chest was covered in bullet holes and marred by scars from burns. The dead did not heal.
My friends. I missed my friends. These weren’t my friends. If the eyes are the windows to the soul then it was obvious no one was home. These were nothing but monsters sitting here before me. Maybe monsters with vague memories and flashes of their former lives, but monsters nonetheless.
As if waiting for that thought to hit me they moved forward in unison, grabbing my arms. I didn’t struggle as I waited for them to eat me. This was a fitting end to my life. I only began to fight back when I realized they weren’t going to eat me after all. They pushed me to the edge of the branch and held me there for a second.
Below us waited the open mouths and reaching hands of thousands of zombies. Mason Smith stood directly below us, with the biggest mouth of all.
They threw me down into the waiting crowd.
I awoke with a scream. Dammit.
Barrett came running and pounded into my room. “You okay, cahuna?”
My heart was pounding and I was covered in sweat. The sheets were damp with it. But yeah, other than that I was fine.
I nodded at him and swallowed the lump in my throat. “Yeah,” I whispered through my dry throat. “Just a bad dream. Again.”
He grimaced, “Yeah, me too. But at least I didn’t scream like a girl.”
I shook my head, “Punk.”
“You bet.”
I sat up and tried to rub the sleep from my eyes. I could feel a dull ache in the back of my head from not enough sleep but it was manageable so I tried not to worry about it. “What time is it?” I asked.
“About three. Fannie Mae said I should let you sleep but I thought you should see what’s going on.”
“Crap. What now?” I’m sure I would enjoy whatever new issues had arisen while I’d slumbered.
I followed him back out through the hallway to the living room. Fannie Mae was sitting before the window munching on a sandwich. It wasn’t until I saw her eating that I realized how ravenous I was. Saliva immediately flooded my mouth and my stomach complained noisily. Barrett heard it and let out a little laugh.
