"Daisy! C'mon where are you?" I called out over the crowds noise.
"Where's mommy and daddy Lena?" A small child grabbed onto my jeans and looked up at me with my own lime green eyes. I could never let her down.
"It's okay Dais they're probably just waiting for us outside the quarantine zone. Don't worry, we'll go there now." I grabbed her hand and hoisted her up onto my shoulder like I used to, before. She clung onto my neck as we waded through the crowds and past the secret exit point my Aunt Tess had told me about.
The smell of fresh air was overwhelming on my nose. Unlike inside the city, past the wall the buildings were covered in creepers and other plants. In the battle of concrete vs nature, nature had kicked ass. I put Daisy down to secure the path from which we had come. I turned around and Daisy had wondered off, not unusual for her but outside the wall danger lurked behind every corner. I grabbed my pistol from its holster and made sure it was loaded. Two bullets left, gotta make them count.
I made my way around some buildings with my pistol close to my chest.
"Daisy!" I whispered "no more hide and seek!" As I rounded a corner I saw Daisy following a butterfly into a garden shed and a foul smell invaded my nose - infected.
"Daisy stop!" I screamed at the top of my lungs not caring about being quiet anymore. But it was too late the infected let loose a blood curdling scream that was more animal than human and launched towards my baby sister. I raised my gun and shot the two remaining bullets out of the barrel and directly into the monster, but that was after it had bitten the side of my sister's neck and clawed her open pretty bad.
My blood went cold. The infected fell to the ground, dead and I dropped my pistol and ran towards my sister. I fell to my knees by her side, tears streaming down my cheeks.
"Dais?" I sobbed. " I'm so sorry I let this happen to you. Mom and Dad loved you and so did I. I should have left you in the city. I should have never let this happen I'm so sorry." She looked up at me, her eyes squinting, her breathing ragged and her little strawberry blonde curls drenched in sweat and her own blood.
"Don't cry Lena." She whispered. "You're not as pretty when you're face is all red. I love you guys too. I don't blame you for this or for anything. Thank you for showing me outside the gate and here." She reached into her pocket and took out a necklace with a little Daisy flower charm on the end of it.
"You have this." She whispered, her words slurring together. "I'll say hi to mommy and daddy for you. I love you Elena."
"I love you too Daisy." Her little body went limp and her eyes closed forever.