Before everything went to hell, life was bleak. Same nine to five job, five days a week. Same filthy apartment building, and same terrible neighbors. Just a few weeks ago, if you had told me I would be in the situation I was in the day I met the guys, I would have laughed and jumped for joy. I think a lot of people day dream about themselves in these particular situations. They want to be the victim- to have their knight in shining armor come save them at the last moment. I guess you could say that was what had happened to me was one of those moments, but the guys weren't exactly knights. There was nothing shining about them.

The moment I was in said predicament, I had mixed feelings. Maybe it was the blood quickly rushing to my head, but there was a part of me that was ecstatic about going out in an original way. When I use the term "original", I'm still talking about the normality we faced before the end. Not a heart attack, not a stroke or some freak accident. Murdered by an angry post-apocalyptic dictator…of sorts. The murder weapon was the hundred or so reanimated dead people roaming about the forest.

I had spent Lord knows how long flailing about in an attempt to grab at my feet before I was eaten alive. My ankles were rubbed raw and beginning to bleed. There was no way the dead weren't going to be able to locate me, even if I was silent. They'd be able to smell the blood.

At first, I had hoped that Dexter (the post-apocalyptic dictator I'd mentioned) had been careless when he strung me upside down. He'd done the exact opposite. The only way I was getting down was with someone else's assistance. The likelihood of anyone in that forest with a functioning brain was little to none. And, last time I checked, the dead were more interested in taking advantage of those caught in a tight spot.

To add insult to injury, Dexter left my bag in front of my face. The bag was neatly packed, with my re-curve bow carefully placed on top.

"If you do manage to get out alive, I'll leave this here for you, just in case. I'll be back in a day or so to collect your things if you don't make it out. Wouldn't want to say I never gave you a chance."

He stroked my face with his hand, and then slapped me.

"Good luck," he laughed.

Eventually, I'd given up on separating my feet and dropped my arms next to my ears. I was live bait dangling in a tree. Pathetic. I was awaiting my final moments, praying that the blood in my brain would make me pass out before the mobile rotting flesh located me.

"It's okay," I said to myself. "Just fall asleep. It will be less painful."

I thought of everything I was leaving behind, which, after the apocalypse, wasn't a whole lot. I thought of my parents, my siblings, my dog, and home. They seemed more like a dream that I'd had the night before than a far off memory. I thought of the dorm room I ran from when my roommate turned. I shot her in the head. At the time, I figured they'd put me in jail for murdering someone, and she had attacked me because she was ill. I knew better now, but I was still happy I got the hell out of there.

I was right where you'd expect to be at the end of the world. Everything went to hell, and life was still bleak.

During my reminiscing session, I heard one of them approaching. Off in the distance, I saw its shadow slowly roaming towards me.

"Now try falling asleep."

I panicked. Now that I saw death coming over the hill, a couple more tries couldn't hurt. My arms and legs worked together to swing the rest of my body back and forth. The closer the groaning got, the harder I worked. My fingertips grazed a tree limb above. By this time my hard work hadn't gone unnoticed. The dead man was approaching quickly. I began to vocalize my fear as it got closer.

Finally, I grabbed hold of a branch. I hugged it and didn't let go. Just in time. I felt the undead man's fingertips along my backside. Just out of his reach. Wonderful. Although I knew no one would hear, I screamed for help.

I looked around, and decided my best bet would be to reach for my feet so I could untie myself. I reached as far as I could while pulling my feet towards myself. I got ahold of the end of one of the knots and pulled with everything I had left. My left foot was free.

That's when the branch began to give. To me, it was slow motion. Anyone looking on would have seen it happen within seconds. My hand swung back to the branch as it broke away from the rest of the tree. I held tight all the way down. The branch swung into the corpse's decaying cranium and knocked him over. Lucky shot. I dropped the branch below me and my body swung back and forth from the remaining leg attached to the tree.

The forest around me was still and silent. My heart pounded in my ears, and my breaths were short and quick. The leg that remained tied to the tree felt like it was going to be ripped away from my torso.

"Oh my God," I panted. "Oh. My -"

The leaves on the ground began to shuffle once again. The growling abomination looked up at me. There was a dent in the side of its head where the tree branch had struck.

The dead man pulled his arms in and pushed himself up.

I reached for the branch below me, which was now just out of my reach.

I screamed. It was only a foot away. This was it. I saw myself hanging in this tree as one of them, until my ankle decayed enough to set me free. For the final days of my already short existence, I would be crawling around the forest searching for a meal until I finally starved to death.

My arms covered my face, like it would lessen the pain. Child's logic.

Then, a loud click followed an even louder 'THUNK'. Something struck the tree. Whatever had struck the tree freed me from the rope wrapped around my ankle.

I went face-first into the ground, and my world turned black.