"We give our condolences to you ma'am."

"Any idea who did this?" Her voice came out strained as she ignored the sympathy in their eyes. She didn't need anyone's condolences or anyone's sad, despair-filled eyes staring down at her. What she needed was answers. What she needed was justice.

"Actually, yes. You may want to take a seat." He straightened his tie and cleared his throat, trying to rid the thick tension in the air. She stood in place, refusing to sit as there was no real need to.

He sighed seeing she wasn't budging and continued, "The Georgia state police department called and they have James Landry in custody. His trial starts on Wednesday."

He stared at her sunken face waiting for a reply. Knowing the history, he expected tears or shock, but there was nothing. Just her silence and her demeanor looking only slightly disheveled. She opened her mouth only to close it, trying to find something appropriate to respond with.

"That was fast." That being all she could manage. A lock of her chestnut hair fell in front of her face and she didn't bother to move it. He had to stifle a smile watching the child he'd protected several times over the years, try to be strong.

"Well, he caught himself on video. All the evidence was there. His trial wont last long because there's no real reason to discuss the evidence or lack thereof. the situation is blatantly obvious and if he pleads guilt, he'll be immediately sentenced. And with all the crimes already on his record, he'll be locked away with the worst of them in the Georgia prison."

"Thank you, so much." She said sipping the rest of her early morning latte.

...

She sighed and turned on the radio, knowing it would be futile. Every car was stopped and people were hanging around all over the highway. They were trying to reach Atlanta and escape from the oncoming threat plastered all over the news. The smell of danger was prominent in the air. Something big was coming, but she didn't care. After everything that happened, she just wanted to go home and engulf herself in her mattress.

And then it happened. Flames rose up from the city of Atlanta. At first, all she could hear was the helicopters, the falling napalm, and the explosions. Soon, frantic cries of civilians rang out over the explosions. She opened her door and craned her neck, trying to see what was causing the chaos. She saw it plain as day. "What the-"

Half-decayed and impaired people began to pour into the road, clawing and biting those trying to escape. She cursed and closed the door, and she gathered her belongings into a bag. She hopped out and grabbed her old bow she had left in the trunk from her last hunting trip. Then she ran. She ran until the end of the line of cars came into view. She slung the door open to the last car turned it around, speeding away. The deformed things chased after her, but she only drove faster.

A loud sound escaped her lips. Somewhere between a frightened whimper and a despairing moan. She realized now the she was never going home.

~~0...0~~

She didn't slow down in her attempt to escape. She didn't know exactly here she would escape to, but she had to find somewhere. What the hell happened? The news said something about a disease, but those things didn't look sick. They looked dead. They were eating other people for god's sake. They were zombies. The apocalypse really had come.

Her frightened thoughts continued to echo through her mind as she searched out somewhere to hide. This car was running low on gas. It was close to empty when she hopped in. She felt guilt bubble in the pit of her stomach as she thought at bout how she just stole someone's car and their chance of escaping. Then bile rose up in her throat, she knew they had just been brutally ripped apart and chewed on like a dead animal.

She was too afraid for tears. Adrenaline was rushing through her veins and she had no time to cry. Her eyes frantically searched the roadside, trying to find somewhere to hide and use their phone. Her searching stopped when her eyes landed on their target. A small wooden cabin came into view. She pulled into the drive way and turned the car. She glanced around checking to see if it was safe. Seeing no one, she grabbed her bag and searched through the car for anything valuable.

She reached into her pocket and pulled out the pocket knife her uncle had given her years ago. She pulled it open and made her way onto the porch. She lightly knocked on the door, but assuming that there was no one here since there were no vehicles, she slowly cracked the door and looked in. Seeing nothing she made her way through the house making sure it was clear. She ran through the home locking all the windows and doors. She stopped on her way through the kitchen. On the refrigerator held a note,

Dear Linda and Hannah,

We left for Atlanta. Things were getting hectic and we had to evacuate. If your find yourself out here, hurry and leave. Go to the military base, that's where we're headed. Be careful and be safe. We love you.

Love,

Mom and Dad

She stifled back a sob as she realized that they would never reach Atlanta and they would never see Linda and Hannah. She sighed and made her way into the living room, where she fell against the couch as the tears finally came falling.

~~0...0~~

Bam! An old box of noodles hit the wall and slid to the floor. She growled in frustration. She was running out of food. She knew it was coming and she had already prepared her things for leaving. She gathered up what little unspoiled food that she could and found a slightly larger backpack in an up stair room. She packed in two extra sets of clothes that she had also found in a bedroom. She filled the remainder of the bag with as much of the stash of water bottles that she could.

It had been a little over a month since she came here. She got lucky and only saw a few of those things still wandering about. She figured they had all migrated to the city in search of food because that was exactly what she was going to do. She wasn't foolish enough to think her apartment was still there, untouched by the devastation. She just thought if she could go back in to the city as quietly as she could then she could gather supplies and come back.

She gathered up whatever weapons she could find; another pocket knife, a .357 Magnum pistol with 2 boxes of ammo, a machete, and a two-handed axe. She thanked God for country people.

She threw all of her things into her car and gave the house one last goodbye if she didn't return. Mentally, she thanked the people who lived here for letting her use their things. The car was almost on empty, so she would only make it to the outskirts of the city. She drove on and reached the highway where she began and the car sputtered. Knowing it wasn't going to go further, she hoisted her backpack and her bow onto her back and began walking.

There wasn't much to see except the remains of a few bodies that were decayed and almost non-existent. She looked through a few cars, but most of them were empty. She walked on as quietly as she could knowing that if she was too loud, it would attract those things. She had hunted plenty of times growing up in Louisiana. She knew how to stay quiet and almost invisible. She kept her eyes ahead of her and her the machete she found readied. She had almost made it through the treeline and could see the city when she heard it.

It was only one of them and it slowly trudged toward her growling. It knocked over a chess set that sat upon the hood of one of the cars. The pieces went scattering all over the road and she cursed hoping no more would come to the sound. But they did. She ran forward and struck the first one through the chest, but it didn't stop. She ripped the blade out and it came at her again as if nothing happened. It was now that she began to panic. She had absolutely no idea how to stop them and they had gathered into a group of about 14.

"God, help me." She leapt up from where she was crouched, fending herself from the thing and she ran. She ran as fast as she could trying to reach the city. If she was lucky there would be survivors and she could get help. A thought in the back of her mind kept nipping at her, she knew there was no one. She watched the place get bombed, but she decided she had to try anyway. Even if there was nothing, she still had to hope for an escape.

If this happened right here in Georgia, was it like this in every state. Was the rest of the world gone too? There was no way she was the only survivor, but what if she was. The snarls of the group rang out behind her and it was fear and adrenaline that kept her head facing forward and her legs moving. She finally reached the city, but she didn't stop. There had to be a place to hide. She tried to think of the nearest place to hide and she remembered suddenly. Her feet drove her forward, twisting and turning. Her body already knew the way and she wasn't stopping any time soon.

It was a warehouse just beside an old nursing home. She had been there several times before just scouting the place out when she moved here. It had a gate around it and the only thing ever there was a Mexican clan that liked to hang out inside. It would be secure and the clan would be gone. So she ran faster and before she knew it, it was in her sights. The tall wire fences rose into her view and the parking lot and streets were littered with trash. She reached the gate and the herd of now 17 freaks were still trotting after her. The gate was locked. She looked around and spotted hair and a tattoo. There was a guard on duty.

"HEY! HEY! Open up! Please open the gate!" She yelled at the man and he turned to see the commotion. His eyes filled with fear as he stared at her. The group of those things now only about 20 yards away from her.

"Please, please open up! Help me please!" Her voice grew frantic as he just stared at her, his eyes now filling with guilt and regret. Her yelling must have caused the people inside to get curious. There were about 6 men filing out of the warehouse doors. Four of them didn't look like they were part of the clan. One was clad in a police uniform, another in worn out clothing, an asian with a hat, and a colored man in a white shirt. They were screaming at the guard to open the gates up for the girl, but he only shook his head.

"If she gets in then those things will too. We have to protect our people." The men looked baffled and the one raised his crossbow and started toward the gate, but it was too late. Those things were right beside her now. She elbowed one in the face and felt it's rotten skin sink in. She grunted and heaved herself away and did the only thing her mind told her to do. She ran. This time she had no idea where she was going she just ran and they followed her. She ran for a few minutes until she came across a white van. She hopped inside the back momentarily, ripped open her pack, and downed a water bottle. She tried catching her breath, but she could hear the growling and snarling. She made a defeated sound and threw her pack back on and ran once again.

The railroad tracks seemed endless, but eventually woods came into view. She knew the woods might hold safety for her. She knew how to take care of herself in the woods. The trees would throw them off and offer her protection. She ran through the woods, stopping every chance she got. It seemed that she lost many of those things as a dusty trail came into view. It was getting dark and she couldn't see well, but she continued running in hopes of another house in the distance. The trail, just like the tracks, dragged on forever and she had no idea how much longer her legs would keep working. She ached all over. Sweat poured off of her from over exertion and her heart was beating out of control. Her breath quickened until she was choking on air. She thought she was finished, until a camp came into view. She turned her head seeing that those things had disappeared. She realized now she hadn't been running very long, only for about 2 hours if that. The trail behind her suddenly didn't seem so long and in the distance she could make out the railroad tracks and she cursed herself for taking a detour and not heading straight.

She made it to the camp. She was safe and she wasn't alone. There were people here. The camp became clearer as she neared it. There were people sitting around a camp fire and she could tell they were laughing. She was overcame with joy and was about to call out to them when she heard screaming. She stood frozen in her place. The people got up in a frenzy and ran toward the rv where a young blonde was being bitten. The camp was being over run by those things. Did she bring them here? No, there was no way she had brought this many. The screaming got worse and she covered her ears. She was going to die along with everyone in this camp. There was no hope for any of them. The screaming just continued as more and more of the freaks filed into the camp. A few walked past her, distracted by the young girl's screams. No one from the camp had seen her yet, they were all too busy trying to defend themselves.

Gunshots echoed through the camp and men were running around hacking, shooting, and bashing their heads in. Her breath hitched in her throat and her vision was blurry from tears she hadn't even known were flowing. She stumbled around and avoided a few of the things. She looked down at herself and noticed blood. It must have been from one of those monsters. Those things were looking at her now, there were only a few left, but she stumbled out of the way as most of them were shot. The sounds of gunshots died into the night air and she found her way out of a bush. Her adrenaline wore off and her body felt ragged and aged beyond her years. Everyone was crying and hugging their children and heaved giant relieved breaths. A few were pointing their guns around the field searching for any more of them. She suddenly recognized a few of them. The one with the crossbow, the officer, and the Asian. She fumbled accidentally but stood back up.

"Over there!" She twisted her neck around to hear where it came from. A woman was pointing at her still crying and holding her daughter. "I got it." A rough voice broke over the sobs and he raised his crossbow took aim and shot.