Trying to run as quietly as she could, but still maintain a good pace, June noticed that the sun was going to be setting soon. Knowing that it was more dangerous at night, she started to think of her options. She knew the woods should be fairly close. They’d offer cover and she’d be able to hear if anything comes close - but so would everything else. Not preferable, but it wasn’t permanent. As always, she took life one day at a time.
But with the sun setting quickly, she didn’t have too many other options other than huddling down in a house somewhere; but most of those had already been taken over by the dead or were so busted up it could barely be called a house anymore.The woods it is. She thought to herself, picking up her pace and heading towards her left. The woods weren’t that far, she could make it before it got completely dark. So that’s where she ran, holding her knife close and keeping her guard up.Once she reached the tree line, she did one more quick look around before ducking into the woods. It was starting to get dark now, so she had to be quick. She went about half a mile into the thick trees and found a small clearing. It was a little muddy in some spots, but it would do the job.Just in time. June sighed.It’d been a long day, and she needed some rest. She carefully laid out a small blanket she had in her backpack and sat down. Her legs ached from all the running, and her thoughts were racing about what had happened.She and her family had been trapped by a swarm. She was the only survivor. Her sister had been bit trying to protect her from being bitten and had died shortly after June got them upstairs in their bedroom. She didn’t even have time to turn before the dead busted in the door, forcing June to jump into a tree for safety and attacking her sister’s lifeless body. Her mom and dad were the first to go, giving up everything they had for their two daughters to have a chance at surviving this nightmare.I lost everyone. June cried.Then silently sobbed.The only stable thing in her life right now was the ground she was sitting on and the tree she was using to lean on. Everything seemed to be falling apart, including her backpack, which had a small hole at the top. She had had it since she started freshman year of high school. She was 19 now.Eventually, she was able to calm herself and lay down, hoping to fall asleep. But she was too worked up and was too busy listening for the sounds of the dead to sleep. So she just lay there, trying to rest the best she could with flashes of her family’s death flashing in her head like a movie on repeat.As the sun began rising the next day, she slowly pushed herself up. Her whole body ached from the lack of sleep and the abundance of exercise.June knew she had to find food. Her stomach ached from having no food in days. She had a couple of cans in her bag but decided she should save those for when she needed them. Instead, she grabbed her knife and began hunting.It wasn’t easy, but after a few failed attempts, she was eventually able to kill a small squirrel and start a fire. Her father had taught her the basics of surviving in the wild at a young age. At the time, he didn’t know he was teaching her skills she’d use to keep herself and her friends alive.After she had eaten, she quickly picked up her things and began the task of finding other people. She figured staying in the woods wouldn’t make it any easier, so gripping her knife a little harder, she made her way out of the trees and started walking to the interstate. Once she reached the once-busy road now filled with abandoned cars, she took a deep breath and headed south. She was in Tennessee now and figured she’d head down to Georgia. Maybe she could find a little house somewhere and settle down.That sounded nice. She wanted nothing more than to just settle down somewhere and start fresh. It’d only been a year since the outbreak started, but it felt like an eternity. It had taken so much from her and given so little.June walked for a few hours, hoping she’d come across someone. But she didn’t have that much luck, at least not today.Oh come on, my only goals today are to find a better weapon than a pocket knife, and to find at least one other person. Is that too much to ask? She thought to herself.Getting tired of walking, she decided that she would start trying the cars, hoping one would turn on. She figured she could cover more ground that way. Turning over engine after engine, she was beginning to get discouraged. When she finally hit the jackpot.One car did start. It was just an old beat-up toyota corolla, but it filled her heart with joy.It’s always the corollas. June laughed to herself before crawling in and shutting the door.It’d been forever since she’d driven, and she was excited to be behind the wheel once again. She only had a quarter tank of gas left, but that was more than she could have asked for. It was just enough to hopefully get to the next town or two and help her look for more people. Live people, that is.Pressing the gas, she sped off. Following the interstate, she went deep into Georgia and took an exit towards Dalton.She pulled over to a gas station and parked the car.I need to find some gas or go the rest of the way on foot. June thought to herself as she got out of the car and began looking for gas cans or anything that might have some gas in it. After looking for about half an hour, she gave up and decided to go inside the corner store and maybe find some food or something useful. She shouldn’t waste all day searching for gas and not something else more important.Stepping through the broken glass door, it was obvious June wasn’t the first person to search the store. Going up and down the isles, she found some old batteries, wrappers, empty soda cans, and a stray pencil.She decided to check the back rooms when she heard the sound of footsteps.Panicked, she dove behind a shelf and held her knife close, her heart pounding in her ears.She heard the footsteps enter the store, followed by two voices.“I told you, there’s nothing here.” It was a man, she noted. Sounded young. Maybe around her age?June’s heart began beating faster. People. She found someone.“Yeah, but it’s worth a shot. We can’t leave until we got everything we can use.” Another voice responded. This one was a woman.June heard the footsteps getting closer and decided it was now or never.“Don’t shoot!” She called out before slowly coming out from behind the shelf.She heard the people stand on guard. Once she was standing in front of them, she was able to get a good look.The man was kind of shaggy, it was obvious he’d been running for a while. He wore a simple stained white shirt and blue jeans with his dark hair looked like it hasn’t seen soap since the outbreak. June noted that it probably hadn’t. The woman’s hair was blonde, and she wore tennis shoes with jeans and a band T-shirt. The man seemed friendly, the woman seemed cold.“Do...do y’all mind if I join you?” June asked, still holding her hands in the air.“Do...do y’all mind if I join you?” June asked, looking up at the man and woman, waiting for a reply.The woman scoffed.“Let you join us? Why?” The woman took a look around. “Where’s your group?” She used an irritated tone, which made something burn inside June.“I don’t have one. My family..they all died. So, I don’t have a group.” She said matter of fact, hoping and praying the man would agree.“Everyone’s family-” the woman started with a flash of anger in her eyes.“Alice..” the man interrupted her with a warning tone. “Let’s be nice.”The woman rolled her eyes but stayed silent.“My name’s Rufus. This here’s Alice. We have a rather small group and are trying to make our way to Savannah. We’d love for you to come along.” The man offered a warm smile which eased June’s fears and soothed the burning in her chest.“I’m June. Thanks for letting me join.” June returned the smile and continued searching the store. They didn’t find anything other than a couple of stray granola bars and
Everyone stopped in their tracks. Rufus and his group instinctively raised their hands in surrender; the other group was on defense.“Listen.. we don’t want trouble. We just wanted to know where y’all were headed and if you wanted to join us on our way to Savannah.” Rufus stumbled trying to explain as he stared down the barrel of a gun.“Yeah? And what for?” One of the guys asked. They all looked a bit battered and worn, obvious they’d been through it since this all started. June wondered what all they had had to deal with but figured it better to not ask.“Bigger groups stand a better chance.” Rufus wasn’t sure how to answer. That was all he could come up with.“So you want to join us? Or do you want us to join you?”“I want us to join each other. But if that’s not what you want..” Rufus nervously chuckled and took a step back.The group of 4 looked at each other, then slowly lowered their guns. June and her new friends all lowered their arms in response.“Do you know Hunter?” One of
The next morning, June was the first to wake up. She quietly rose and packed her things, looking in the cabinets for something to eat.As she reached for a can of peaches, someone touched her waist. She gasped and froze as the hands made their way around, pulling her close.“Don’t scream or it’s gonna have to get ugly. I don’t wanna hurt you.” Thomas whispered in her ear as he guided her towards the bedroom. They had all agreed that they’d leave the bedroom empty, just to be fair.He quietly opened the door and shut it behind him.Montana heard the door squeak, and jerked awake, catching a glimpse of the closing door. He slowly sat up, and looked around, noticing the two missing. He had a pit in his gut. Something was wrong.Thomas pushed June onto the queen-sized bed, her heart racing. She reached for her knife but he grabbed her wrist sternly, making it clear that wasn’t an option.He crawled on top of her, holding both her hands above her head.“Please.. don’t..” June begged with t
The group made their way into Atlanta. The sound of the dead became much louder now, so they had to hang low as they made their way through the once-busy city. The deeper they got, the more dead they ran into. They decided it would be best to find shelter as a group instead of splitting up this time.They went from building to building, through old restaurants, bookstores, music shops, and clothing stores, looking for anything useful and scoping out areas for shelter. They found some food, bottles of water, and a couple of notebooks. They found an old thrift store with only a couple of busted windows and posters along with the others.“We’ll stay here tonight. It seems as safe as we’re gonna get. Two people will have to stand guard at all times though. Just to be a little safer.” Rufus instructed everyone once they got inside and in the back of the store. “Alexia, Daisy, you’re on tonight.” They both nodded that they understood the assignment.They all spread out closely and laid out
They all followed Zoran closely, having no clue where he was leading them. They were going deeper into the woods than June’s ever been. They walked until the sun started to set.“Um. How far away is this place? I thought you said it wasn’t that far.” Rufus chimed up. “It’s starting to get dark. We need to set up camp real soon.”“Oh shut your yapper, we’re almost there.” Zoran said. Something in his voice changed and June noticed it. No one else seemed to though, so she brushed it off as no big deal. She wrote a note of it in her brain and tucked it away for later.They kept walking and eventually they came across a large metal gate. It seemed out of place, coming up out of nowhere, but it was a sturdy-looking gate. It’d be good to keep the dead out. The whole place seemed.. untouched, despite the state of everything else.“How do we-” June started to ask as Zoran opened the gate and let them all in. June couldn’t help but notice that he somehow had a key to the gate. June noted that
June woke up early the next day. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she drank a few sips of water and stretched real good. It’s been a while since she stretched so it felt heavenly. After she finished stretching, she looked back at Zoran. He was still sleeping. A chill went shooting down her spine. She realized felt something for him. Not really in a romantic way...but in some way she’s never experienced it before. She grimaced as she thought about what it could be.June quietly made her way to the kitchen, searching the cabinets for anything that would make a good breakfast.As she reached up to grab a box of protein bars, she felt someone touch her shoulder. Jumping, she turned around, only to find Zoran looking back at her. She didn’t hear him coming at all, even down the creaky stairs.“Good morning, sleeping beauty.” He whispered, pushing a strand of loose hair out of her face. She had forgotten to redo her braid this morning, so her hair was a mess.“Good..morning.” She responded,
The knock on the door shushed everyone. The only sound was June’s footsteps as she carefully made her way down the stairs, trying to be quiet so whoever was outside wouldn’t hear her. Zoran was close behind her.“Guys.” She whispered with fear lacing her voice.“Rufus, what’s going on?” Alice asked. Everyone’s eye was on their elected leader, waiting for a response.“I...don’t know.” He stated as he made his way to the door.“You’re not gonna answer the door, are you?” Alice spat in disbelief.“What else am I supposed to do?” He peeked out the window and saw people in dark clothing surrounding the house. “They have us surrounded.” He slowly opened the door to find a man, assumed their leader, standing there smiling.“Well hello.”Rufus stared at him. He was about average height, with long blond hair and dark eyes.“We can do this the easy way. Or the hard way. We’re only here for one thing.” He smiled once more; a false sense of security, Rufus noticed.“Do..what exactly?” Rufus asked
After Zoran had June’s hand securely in his, he smiled at Rufus.“Rufus, it was a pleasure knowing you.” He gently pushed him aside, opening the door. “But we really must get going.” He led her down the stairs and out the front door, tears steadily streaming down her face now.They made their way outside and started walking towards the main road.“Where are you taking me?” Her voice shook with emotion.“To a house.” He stated, still holding her hand and practically dragging her along.June stayed silent the rest of the walk. They reached a large countryside just as the sun was starting to set.“See that house way over there?” Zoran asked, pointing to a large mansion in the middle of a large field.It must have had at least 40 acres, June thought. She nodded that she saw it.“Now I’m gonna let go of your hand and you’re gonna walk to the house. Try anything stupid and you can spend the rest of the night tied up in the basement.” He threatened with a wink and June nodded that she unders