by Maya Riley
A heavy body crashed into my back and I fell forward, the surprise weight forcing me to the floor. Throwing my arms out, I managed to land on my forearm and roll until I was on top of the rotter that had taken me down. Without a moment’s hesitation, I reached over and ripped the knife out of the eye of the nearby rotter, before turning around and digging it into the skull of the one below me. I watched until every last twitch of the body had stopped and the rotter beneath me was dead for good. My chest heaved and adrenaline whipped through my body.
I tugged the knife back out with a grunt and looked around at the fighting that continued in other areas of the room to see how the guys were faring. They were doing surprisingly well, each holding their own against the other rotters. Bubble Butt was flying around with his blades as though he were a machine, while Goldilocks fought with more controlled motions, each move precise and accurate—until a rotter left Bubble Butt and headed for Goldilocks when his back was turned.
In a split second, I saw the knife fly out of his hand before he was knocked to the floor. Bubble Butt was still stuck in his own tangle with the rotters and didn’t notice his fallen comrade.
A rotter landed on top of Goldilocks, jaws cracking and snapping as it inched closer to his face. Reaching into my pants pocket, I pulled out some backup. The throwing stars whistled as they sailed through the air and embedded themselves into the rotter. Its face was peppered with the pocket-sized blades, including one directly in the eye, and the rotter fell backward, buying Goldilocks some time. He looked in my direction, and his eyes lit up in surprise before his mouth curled into a grateful smile. I responded with a nod and ran over to his section to help with the action. There were still a couple handfuls of rotters left. Reaching into my bag, I pulled out my last backup weapon and tossed it to him before turning to face the nearest rotter. We were still outnumbered.
A flash of fur caught in the corner of my vision as Puppy still contributed to her share of the fight. She was going to get some extra jerky tonight, maybe even some of the peanut butter I had picked up today if I could get this bag home with us.
My arms moved in an arc with my body, once again a knife in each hand, slicing every dead thing in my way. I drove my daggers into one head after another, piercing the brain and turning the living nightmares into eternal slumber. Flesh and blood painted the furniture as my daggers cut through the bodies like butter.
We all worked as a team, taking down the horde in a flurry of teeth and blades.
Eventually, the rotter numbers dwindled and they stopped stumbling into the house. Battle cries filled the gaps between the wails of death. We didn’t stop until every last rotter had fallen and every threat was eliminated.
Once my blades had nothing left to decimate, I stalled my movements. I stood up straight in the middle of the living room with my daggers held out, my eyes wild and chest heaving with each ragged breath. The last few months of running and fighting have greatly increased my stamina. Otherwise, I would’ve been so screwed today.
My gaze darted around, searching out any more threats and assessing the situation. I was surrounded by bodies. I looked from one corpse to the next, their blood and organs spilled out onto the dusty, pinewood floor. Decayed flesh burned my nostrils and permeated the air. Dozens of rotters, enough to overtake the whole street, had been taken down within what felt like minutes.
Confusion filled me as I took in the scene. I had never seen so many at once before. Up until yesterday, the rotters I had come up against were no more than a handful at a time. There had to be something going on to make so much of them appear like this.
Breathing heavily, I found a clear, nearby spot free from blood and organs, and fell into a heap on the floor, exhausted. Puppy trotted over and sat next to me, pressing against my arm, shoulder to shoulder, probably in an attempt to provide comfort.
Bubble Butt blew out a breath. “Well, that sucked.”
It took a moment for the words to register. Giggles bubbled up until I toppled over onto my side in a fit of laughter. My arms hugged my stomach when it started to cramp and I tried to breathe through the laughter.
Bubble Butt looked over to Goldilocks with his brows knitted in confusion. “What’d I say?” Goldilocks only shook his head and I opened my eyes just in time to see a small smile begin to form on his lips. His red lips. Plump, red lips. Perfect for kissing. Damn, I was delirious.
Once my laughter subsided and I could gasp for breath again, I pushed myself up into a sitting position. “Well, shit.” Small giggles threatened to erupt again, but I managed to keep them down. Scrunching up my jacket sleeve to find a clean spot, I wiped my eyes and looked up at the guys. “So, maybe we should be properly introduced.”
“A few minutes ago, you held a knife in our faces, and now suddenly you want to get properly introduced?” Bubble Butt looked stunned beyond belief.
“I changed my mind.”
“Typical woman.”
My mouth dropped open at that. The fuck was Bubble Butt’s problem? Was that supposed to be a joke or something? Because it sure as hell wasn’t funny. Picking my jaw up off the ground, I clenched my jaw and responded, “I’m going to let that go, on account of you being an ass.”
Now it was Goldilocks’ turn to laugh. He was still chuckling when he held out a hand and I reached out to grip it.
The grin remained on his face. “Nice to meet you.”
“We’ll see about that,” I replied, shrugging a shoulder and turning to the other guy.
He turned around and started walking away, leaving my hand hanging in the air.
Well, then. Looks like we weren’t doing names today.
I turned to Goldilocks and asked, “So, are there any more of you?”
“She’s not coming with us.” Bubble Butt’s voice was stern.
“I wasn’t going to follow you anyways, I was just surprised to find some semi-decent people. Well, one at least.” I threw a glare in Mr. Grumpy’s direction as he walked through the carnage, nudging the corpses with his boot as he went by.
“There’s a small group of us…” Goldilocks hesitated then shook his head in decision. He lowered his voice to a whisper. “Look, don’t let him get to you. You’re a good fighter and can hold your own. Plus, you did save my life,” he said with a smile. “Rotters seem to be attacking in larger groups these last few days. At this rate, it’s only a matter of time before they kill or infect every last living thing. Strength doesn’t matter if the numbers are stacked against you. If you need anything, come find us. Go to the riverbed that’s north of here, and head west. You’ll eventually run into our camp. We plan to pack up and find somewhere safer soon, but we try to stay close enough to the water.”
I gave him an understanding nod, patted my leg for Puppy to follow, and headed back to the shelter. The events of the previous two days whirled in my mind the whole way.
Stumbling down the familiar path, I was drained when my shelter came into view. The little cottage that I’d begun to call home. I pushed open the brown, oak door and shuffled over to the fireplace before dropping my bag and collapsing to the floor in exhaustion. I reached into the bag, pulled out a couple pieces of jerky, and tossed them to the floor, which Puppy greedily gobbled up. A slight smile tugged at my lips as her grunts of pleasure reached my ears.
I groaned as I peeled off my jacket, the fabric was covered in blood and guts and trying to stick to my skin. Throwing it off to the side, I pulled a large bucket closer to me—it was filled with water that I used for the occasional, quick cleaning. I was suddenly grateful to have washed all the rags at the river a few days ago. Grabbing the nearest washcloth, I soaked it with the bucket water, and cleaned as much of the blood and mystery substances off of me as I could before the water turned unusable.
Throwing the washcloth to the side and pushing the bucket away, I laid down and looked up. My eyes traced the bumps of the popcorn ceiling and I became lost in thought as the past few days flitted through my mind. Puppy soon joined
me on the floor and I snuggled into her fur. My eyes closed, and within moments I drifted into a peaceless slumber.
Blyss
“You thought you could go behind my back and spread shit about me?” Mama G wailed and I flinched at her scathing tone. I threw up my arms protectively in front of me as the blows rained down. “Do you have any idea how that makes me look?” Whack. “The cops questioned me!” Whack. “Out in the open for all to see!” Whack. “They came for me in front of my friends, who all had questions to ask after!” Whack. “Seems to me that you need a reminder of how things work around here.” Whack.
Splinters cut into my legs as I was dragged down the basement stairs, bouncing roughly on each step, convinced bruises would soon follow. My hands clutched around the strong fist tangled in my hair, ripping strands out of my scalp with each step she took.
A cry escaped my lips when I was thrown against the solid concrete wall. My body sagged to the floor, my knees unable to hold me up. My eyes were pinched closed as I prepared to receive more of her punishment. The little space in my mind was a sanctuary from this cold, cruel world. I listened to the sounds of chains wrapping around a post before my hands were cuffed together with shackles.
The scene morphed into a bright room with white painted walls, sun streaming in from above and onto the cradles below. Walking over to one with a pink mobile hanging overhead, I peered in to see a young, smiling face staring back at me. Startled, I jumped back and turned to watch a woman in a white lab coat enter the room, clipboard in hand. She took no notice of me as she strolled closer and leaned over the same cradle I was, and peered into it without a smile. She looked over the babe with a calculating gaze before jotting down some words. I started to walk over and attempt to peek over her shoulder when my face was suddenly covered in something wet.
I jolted straight up, knocking Puppy back in the process. Rubbing the sleep out of my eyes, I looked over to the window to see the sun rising over the treetops. I must have slept the rest of the day and through the night. Groaning, I scrambled to my feet to get started on my morning routine.
Embers burned low in the bottom of the fire, another sign that I’d slept for so long. I dragged the backpack over to empty it of the supplies I’d acquired yesterday. Reaching in, I set the clothing off to the side to sort through later and stacked the cans and boxes of food in the bin I used as a makeshift pantry.
A bowl slid across the floor as Puppy nudged it closer to me, her intent clear in her eyes. Pulling out a dagger, I cut a large hole in a can of beans and emptied it into the bowl before pouring a bottle of water into another. I repeated the process for myself on a can of peaches and sipped water from another bottle. I would need to make another trip to the river soon to collect more water to boil and refill the bottles. After a few months of doing this, I got used to the process. Water stopped running from taps a few weeks into the outbreak, one of the many things in this world that went to shit.
I wiped the back of my hand across my mouth and sat for a moment with a feeling of restlessness, as Puppy nudged her nose underneath my arm to lay her head in my lap. We sat that way for a while, with me mulling over the events of the previous days and trying to push the weird dreams from my mind.
I had kept mostly to myself since the outbreak, rarely interacting with the uninfected. A few days after leaving the diner, I was hiding behind a large oak tree and I witnessed a small band of men cackling as they hacked away at a woman they had come across who asked for their help. I could still see her face in my mind, twisted in agony with tears streaming down her bleeding face. I wondered how such evil could come out to play when the world went to hell. The ruthless glint in their eyes told me I couldn’t trust anyone I came across.
Sighing, I pushed up off the floor and walked over to the window. I couldn’t get the recent new men out of my mind. It’d been a little while since I’d had decent human interaction, with the majority of humans that crossed my path being dead or dangerous. So, naturally, I’d expected my next face-to-face interaction with other humans would be with scavers, like the ones I saw all those months ago, but these guys actually seemed decent. None of them had posed a threat to me and we even helped each other out. Hell, we even fought together. We had each other’s backs. Well, if I were to overlook Bubble Butts rudeness, but still. Were there others out there like them? Like me? I needed to know more. I’d been alone most of my life, even more so after the outbreak. Maybe I could finally start to take other peoples’ advice from my past and give someone else a chance for once. My gaze flitted to the bottle in my hand. Well, I did need to make a trip to the river anyway…
Making a split-second decision, I made sure my weapons were strapped on before grabbing my pack, stuffing in a couple things of jerky with two cans of beans, and two bottles of water before tying two empty jugs to hooks on the outside. I shouldered the pack and strolled out the front door with my furry companion on my heels.
Cold, bitter morning air cut across my skin as we rushed down the walkway and headed into the trees. Those guys had to be staying somewhere nearby and I needed to find them. Strange things were happening and I didn’t fully understand everything, but I had to get to them.
I pulled my jacket tighter around my body as my internal temperature dropped and I tried to acclimate to the cold. Spring was beginning, but the weather still hadn’t caught up. Patches of melting snow littered the ground while grass and flowers also peeked through. Most people had migrated south to winter over with the warmer weather, but I stayed behind. I had a cottage with a fireplace and a stash of food in two locations, plus fewer people meant a safer area. There were still some around, hiding out, but my interactions with them have been limited—until now.
The forest was eerily quiet and I startled at the slightest sound. The leaves rustled and I jerked around, only to find a squirrel scampering across the forest floor, its cheeks puffed out with its next meal. The sight made me smile. Life was still thriving out there, even if the human population was drastically decreasing. Perhaps someday this could all end, and it would only be talked about in history books, a horror never to be relived again. I doubted that would happen in my lifetime though. If humanity somehow managed to overcome this, no one would let it be forgotten any time soon.
Leaves and morning frost crunched under my boots as I moved throughout the woods. My senses were on full alert, and I was waiting for any sound that would signal an attack, whether by human or rotter.
After some time, the sound of rushing water reached my ears from farther ahead. Tucking the loose chunks of my hair behind my ears, I followed the sound, heading in the direction it was loudest.
We hurried through the forest—just enough to quicken our pace without making too much noise, so we wouldn’t alert anyone out there, living or dead—careful not to trip on raised roots. I moved from tree to tree, keeping my back pressed up against large trunks until we finally broke free of the brush. My feet stopped at the water’s edge, the toes of my boots dipping into the river water and my arms flailing about as I tried to regain my balance. Puppy stopped gracefully at my side and happily lapped up the cool liquid. Once she took her fill, we continued our trek, walking along the riverbed and keeping the water to our left, leaving one less direction to keep an eye on.
At least, I’d never seen rotters jump out of the water during any of the times I’d come out here and filled up the bottles. They could still be down there for all I knew, but I had yet to see them.
Puppy stilled next to me with a low growl rumbling in her chest. I palmed a dagger and skimmed the area, turning in a full circle in the process. A flash of orange out of the corner of my eye startled me and I jumped to face the trees. My eyes skimmed up and down the tree line as I waited. After a few heartbeats, I spotted it. A body, covered in an orange jumpsuit, headed straight toward me and fast. Faster than a normal human, and much faster than any other rotter I’ve seen. Unsure what to do, I took a moment to think over possible scenarios. It wasn’t until the fig
ure popped out of the trees that I noticed its eyes were nearly white and its jaw was unhinged. One arm was ripped off just below the elbow, where tendons and ligaments flailed about, but he didn’t seem to care, because he was one of the Void.
Puppy let out some warning barks next to me, spurring me into action. The rotter was closing the distance in front of me in record time. Jumping forward, I chambered a leg, bringing it close to my body like Don had taught me to do when teaching me how to fight, then spun around and kicked out. I planted a boot into its face, but it reacted with impressive strength and speed.
My eyes widened in shock as it caught my boot-clad foot in one hand before flipping it up and knocking me to the ground. I rolled away just in time as its clenched fist pounded into the ground, shaking the earth, and a deafening roar escaped the mangled mouth as he missed his target. A blur of fur crossed my vision in an arc as Puppy jumped onto the rotter with the intent to tackle, but he was too fast. I screamed when I saw Puppy sail back to the ground and land with a yelp.
Standing up, I took a dagger in each hand and prepared to put this rotter down, but before I could act, he was on me and we were tumbling through the air. A sharp sting racked my arm as I broke the surface of the water and sank down faster with the added weight. The tangle of arms and legs made it difficult to swim and dragged me down farther and faster. Within moments, my clothes were soaked through and I was fighting for air.
We tumbled underneath the water, him trying to bite me, while I worked to evade. His movements seemed to slow down the longer we remained in the water, but he was still putting up a fight. Finally, I managed to stick a dagger in his eye and swim upwards. I inhaled a deep, shaky breath as my head broke the surface, only to be pulled under once more, right as I exhaled in preparation for the next breath. Water gushed into my lungs. More brittle and broken hands grabbed at me from beneath, and I opened my mouth as screams escaped with air that my lungs didn’t have. It didn’t take long for the blackness to take over.