The sky was cloudless, the breeze light, and the sun beating down on the backs of three bodies, making them feel like they were burning in the desert. Despite being in the mideastern part of the United States, where it normally did not reach temperatures of this height, the heat was scorching.
The bodies were three human females, each appearing at around twenty years old. One was shorter than the others, with light brown hair to her shoulders and dark brown eyes, a grey and yellow colored beanie hat on her head. She wore a black and grey tank top, blue jean khakis, and yellow high-top converse sneakers. A circular chain pendant dangled from her neck, and a pair of sunglasses rested on the bridge of her nose.
Walking next to her was a girl with chest-length darker brown hair and blue eyes, slightly taller than her, wearing a washed-out, striped black and red t-shirt, a checkerboard belt, dark blue skinny jeans, black boots with fur on the rims, and a series of chain bracelets on her left wrist. A scowl accented her face, as if she'd rather be anywhere else in the world but here. Though, considering these three girls were best friends, she stayed put.
The silence between the girls was broken soon after another individual, who appeared to have rotting skin, ripped clothing, and blood flowing from the mouth and eye sockets began rampaging toward them. The two girls in the front screamed before the third stepped bravely in front of them.
"Back off, you fucking psycho!" she shouted, pulling out a machine gun and firing multiple shots at said thing. Bullets seemed to fly through it before it collapsed in a heap on the ground. Even after that, the third girl fired five more bullets just for safe measure. This girl had blonde hair mixed with neon green and blue tied up in a ponytail, and wore completely different attire from the other two- a black, sleeveless leather coat over a skintight black tank top, baggy tripp pants with chains, and buckled boots. She then blew off the smoke from the gun-hole before stuffing it back into the holster on her belt, her green eyes glinting. "Damn zombies." she muttered. "I swear, they're popping up everywhere now. Nowhere's safe anymore."
Shayne Garrity, the girl in the beanie, brushed the dust off her top, twitching a bit in aftershock. "I'll say..." she nearly squeaked. Turning to the other girl who had fallen down on her rump in the process, she reached out a hand to help her up. "You alright, Olivia?"
Said girl, Olivia Stecker, stood up with her help, her breathing heavy. "Y-Yeah, I think I'll be okay."
The girl with the gun, Elise McCready, kicked up some dust from the road while Olivia and Shayne fixed themselves up. "This is why I said you guys should stay behind me. That way, I can get to these things and shoot 'em down before they get to you." She placed a hand on each of their shoulders. "I don't want you to get hurt, so you need to stay by me and keep your guard up. Understand?"
The brunettes gave her a nod, Olivia letting out a sneeze as Shayne traced a circle in the ground with her foot. It was obvious that all three of them were on high alert and stressed beyond belief- with the high rate of the infection going around that oddly turned people into flesh-eating zombies, and the possibility of being some of the only people that were immune, as well as some of the last people that were alive, all they wanted to do was get out of the open and find somewhere safe.
"God damn," Olivia muttered, reaching for her water bottle and taking a tremendous gulp of the cool liquid. "I can't stand this heat. How much longer is it going to last?"
Elise shrugged, fixing her ponytail. "I have no clue. All I know is, until we find somewhere safe where we won't be attacked by these fuckers, we're screwed for the time being." She then looked up at the sky, shielding her eyes from the vibrant rays of the sun, despite the evening fast approaching. "So we'd better keep going."
"Shit!" The voice of a black-haired male resounded through the air, followed by a series of gunshots, the zombie in front of him falling to the ground like a limp rag doll. The male's brown eyes dialated for a short time before they returned to normal. He nearly fell backwards.
Two more males approached, one with straighted, shoulder-length blonde hair and blue eyes, and another with dark brown hair mixed with neon pink and green eyes. "Dude, Matt, you okay?"
Matt Hardy brushed a strand of hair out of his face, heaving a sigh. "To an extent, yeah." His southern accented voice magically found its way up his throat. "God, I hate these zombies." His blue skull-and-crossbones sleeveless top was splattered with a small amount of blood, his dark blue jeans had a hole ripped in the left knee, and the laces on his tennis shoes were starting to become untied.
His younger brother and the one with the pink hair, Jeff Hardy, stepped forward and helped him up. "You're not the only one. I want out of this mess just as much as the next guy." Running his fingers through his hair, he glanced down briefly to check if his collared plaid shirt, bright pink armbands, baggy black pants, and comc book Converse were still in place.
The blonde, Shannon Moore, adjusted the black bandana that was tied neatly around his forehead, wrinkling up his nose. His white shirt was damp in some parts due to sweating in the heat, tan, multiple pocket, khaki shorts and slip-on sneakers appearing a little worn out. The gun in his opposite hand quivered along with his slightly shaking fingers. "Thankfully, I don't think we have that much farther to go." he pulled a map out of his pocket and proceded to examine it, only to bite his lip. "...Shit, I spoke too soon."
"Why? What is it?" the Hardy brothers scurried over to eye the map with Shannon. "At the least, it'll take us a few more days 'till we reach another Safe House."
Jeff cursed multiple times under his breath before picking a rock up off the dirt road and tossing it with a mighty throw into a nearby bush, causing a flock of birds to fly up and out into the sky. "Fucking shit!" he yelled, his hands balled into fists.
"Jeff, calm down. At least we can't turn into zombies like the rest of those freaks." Matt coaxed, placing a hand on his younger brother's shoulder. "Besides, we've got things they don't- weapons, common sense, and immunity. Plus, they can't get into the Safe Houses. In a matter of days, we'll be untouchable." For how long, though, was the question that ran through everyone's mind- even the elder Hardy. All they could do was hope for the best.
Shannon sighed heavily, folding the map back up and slipping it back in his pocket. "C'mon guys, there's a gas station a few miles up the road. We can stock up on food and supplies there."
With the blonde leading the way , the three males trudged on once more.
"Oh, thank god!" Olivia nearly shrieked with delight as she and the other two girls saw an approaching sign of victory- a Safe House. Identified by a lantern dangling from the front porch, it was operated by a group of Immune people who offered to house others for a period of time. The dark brunette haired girl nearly sped to the door, Shayne follwing close behind. Elise, however, walked at her normal pace, her eyes glancing about to keep a close watch for a possible zombie stampede. You could never be too careful...
Regaining her composure, Olivia knocked gently at the door and called for someone. Almost immediately, the door opened to reveal a woman in her early forties, who welcomed the three in with open arms and a series of elated statements at finding more Immunes. After the girls had themselves something to eat, they were shown to a guest room with three beds, which they crawled into rather quickly, but not before the blonde hung up her sleeveless coat on the doorknob.
With a flicker of light still left on just for reassurement, Shayne turned over on her side to look at Elise, who was checking something on her cell phone. "What're you looking at?" she questioned.
"Trying to find where this so-called damn "Mercy Hospital" is located. And how far it's gonna take before we get there." she spoke, her fingers swiftly typing on the dainty keyboard.
Mercy Hospital. Or so it was called. It was supposedly a place located somewhere in the mideastern United States where Immunes could go to for safety- it was even supposed to be more fullproof than a Safe House. There, a series of private jets and helicopters would take a group of the Immunes to a place where the infection couldn't spread, and they could live their lives normally again. To the brunettes, it sounded like the perfect escape to get their lives back. To Elise, however, it sounded like a load of bullshit. But whatever worked to get out of this mess they were in, would have to do.
Her face quickly turned into a scowl, illuminated by the dim lighting of the screen. "God damn it," she cursed. By now, Olivia had sat up in her bed and had placed her attention into Elise's conclusion. "It's not even close to where we are."
"...Well, where is it?" Olivia voiced the thoughts of both the brunettes, now less eager to hear the bad news.
The blonde snapped her phone shut and tossed onto the nearby dresser. "North Carolina."
"You've gotta be kidding me," Shayne groaned, leaning forward with widened eyes.
She nodded slowly in response. "Cameron, North Carolina, to be exact."
"Oh, this is just great. We finally find out where Mercy is and we've barely crossed the border to Kentucky! Fuck!" Letting out a violent string of curses, she covered her head with a pillow, muffling her words.
Olivia sighed, falling back onto the mattress. "That far away...? We'll never make it there alive."
"Oh hush," Elise scoffed, turning on her right side to face the wall of the room, "We're Immunes. The only way we won't make it there is if a zombie kills us along the way. And I do not intend to let that happen anytime soon. Especially when I've still got a gun at my disposal." For a moment, her eyes glinted. "If one of those things tries to lay a finger on me, I'll shoot their fucking brains out."
Olivia said nothing, just listened to the words coming from the gritted teeth of the girl some feet away from her. "...We'd better get some sleep, guys. We're gonna need it for the next time we set out."
After a thumbs-up from Shayne and a muffled "whatever" from Elise, the girls shut their eyes and fell asleep, trying their best to ignore the high-pitched screams coming from the Infected outside their window.