Walking in the fresh air alone is really relaxing, I take a moment to gasp deeply, filling my lungs with the sweetness of it.
"Never again," I promise myself proactively, reminding myself that I will never do anything like I did last night with the alcohol.

I wander for a good thirty minutes, the whole time thinking about how I could make things better with Sarah, and more importantly, Zoey. It's odd that I would think that, believing that some girl is more important than my sister to me, although that 'some girl' is the girl that I seemed to have something special with.

What could I really consider as 'something special', what would anything consider special during this time? I guess I could ask Nick, it seems like I could trust him with anything.

My thoughts are cut short when I hear something, so distant that I question if it was actually there. I begin to walk again, but that's when I hear it, louder this time, and I'm sure that it's real. I'm hearing a girl, screaming, I turn to run back to the group and raise an alarm, but then I realise just how long I've been walking, I don't even recognise the street that I'm on anymore.

I decide that it's probably smart to hide, and let the noises pass, but the screaming makes me feel a pang of curiosity, and it's that curiosity that throws me into a jogging pace, running towards the source of the noise.

As the noise gets closer, I can hear that it's only one woman. I divert off the road and leap onto a fence, hauling myself upwards and onto the roof of a single-story house to get a better view. I turn to the source of the noise and my jaw drops; I take a while for it to sink in before gasping. Zombies are chasing one girl, about twenty metres behind her, a whole horde of them; it seems like a whole army! They're packed shoulder to shoulder, covering the entire street behind her; they seem to go on forever, collapsing into the street like a flash flood.

My face goes cold when I put the picture together and realise that she's running towards me, leading the whole horde towards me, and they're only about fifty metres away!

"Help me," the girl screams with a Russian accent, noticing me standing on the roof.

I stand gawking. What am I meant to do, how can I help with this!?

"Run!" I yell. Yeah, that's sure to help her Aaron…

It seems to work however; she seems to gain a burst of speed, clearing the distance between us at an alarming rate. Her chest is heaving as she gasps for air, I can't tell how long she's been running, and she has sweat flowing down her forehead like a river.

She looks up at me, desperation flaring up in her bright green eyes. I stare mesmerised as she begins the last ten metres between me and the house. She gets almost right underneath me before it snaps in my head that she is going to need my help.

I collapse to my knees, holding my hand down over the side of the roof towards her. She sprints the remaining distance with a newfound vigour, the last step of her marathon. Leaping upwards, I feel her thin hand gripping desperately at mine, but she doesn't get a grip and falls back to the ground. Her hand reminds me of Zoey's as she falls back down to the ground, I hear a whimper which brings me back to the moment.

I see the girl leap back up towards my hand, I reach as far as I can downward and my fingers grip hers, yet she slips through my grip and falls back down. The zombies begin to step onto the yard behind her, tears form in her eyes and she just stares up at me.

"Don't give up, you can't!" I yell to her.

She jumps again, her teeth grit and her eyes close, a look of sheer pain. I get a grip on her arm, but she slips back down to the ground, her skin is too slippery from her sweat to get a good grip.

She hits the ground and slumps towards it, letting her legs collapse out from underneath her. Falling to the ground, she begins to sob.

I don't know what makes me want to do this, but I can't just sit here and watch someone die. I leap off the roof, down onto the grass, falling beside her as I do. I stumble to my feet, the zombies closing in behind me, only about five metres away, but struggling past each other, desperately clawing the air to be the first one to taste human flesh.

I feel fear climbing itself into me again, but I force it backwards, I'm not just about to die right now. I throw my arms under the girl, lifting her up almost effortlessly. I wonder if I really have gotten that strong, but then I realise how thin she is, another quality that reminds me of Zoey.

I shake my head to dispel all thoughts of Zoey, focussing only on the Russian girl. I put my arms on her waist and lift her off the ground, she panics, but at least she still understands what's going on. She scrambles upwards along the side of the house, I hold her as far upwards as my arms will allow, yet nothing happens, and she doesn't lift herself up.

I begin to panic, the zombies are closing in now, only a few more seconds and all my effort will be for nothing. Then I hear her shout, "I've got it!"

I let go of her, she swings towards the wall and for a second I think she's going to fall, but she finds the strength to pull herself up.

"Run!" She manages to shake, her voice quivering from exhaustion.

As I take off around the house, I feel a zombie's hand on the back of my shirt. My heart begins to pound as I think about how close I got to being eaten. When I hear the girl shout, I can't stop a smile from forming, 'What useless advice' I think to myself, remembering that I had yelled the same thing to her while she was running from the zombies.

I find myself in the back yard; I look backwards and notice that the zombies are finding it impossible to file past the side of the house in an orderly manner; giving me time to climb the fence and get my balance.

I run along the fence, finding a spot that is close to the roof, and I jump. The girl watches, biting a fingernail as I leave the fence. I feel like I'm suspended for ages as zombies begin to flow into the backyard and find their place underneath my flight path. I know that if I don't make it, I'm not going to have another chance. I feel myself beginning to plummet downwards, but my chest collides with the drainpipe that signals the edge where the roof joins the wall. I scramble around, my hands frantically searching for a place to grip as I slide backwards towards the zombies below.

My hand finds a place to hold, but it's not enough to pull me up, I've fallen too far down, I find myself suspended, my feet swaying beneath me, coaxing the zombies to reach up for me. I don't know how long I can hold onto the roof, but I doubt I can hold it longer than the zombies can wait for food.

I wince as my hand begins to cramp, the pain spikes through my forearm like a hot blade piercing the skin. I feel my grip slipping, my hand releases the shingle and I begin to slide. My mouth begins a shout, but I don't have the breath to shout. Instead, I silently fall.

My hand slips past the railing, I feel a zombie latch its bloody rotting hands onto my leg. I brace myself for the painful biting, but instead, my arm jars as it snags on something. My eyes snap open and I notice a strained teenage face looking down at me, green eyes desperately begging me not to give up.

I smile and shake my leg, booting the zombie in the face and kicking myself free of its grip. I throw my other hand up onto the railing, pulling myself up along with the superhuman effort from the girl. I wonder where she found the reserve of energy, but when I notice her whole body shaking with the effort of lifting me, I don't bother to ask. I realise that she's giving everything she has to not letting me die.

As I get my legs onto the roof, I stand up and notice that I'm slightly taller than the girl who saved me. No words are exchanged; instead, we both spend a few seconds gasping for a full breath. My arm still stings from the pain of gripping the roof. I see the girl begin to collapse, her whole body shaking. I grab her elbows holding her up. Her head slumps and her eyes close. She falls forward and I catch her before she falls.

I lay her down gently, sitting beside her, finally able to get a good look at who it actually is. The zombies' growl and shriek below, the noises completely surrounding the house. I sigh and slump my shoulders, I know that we're going to be here for a while.

I look at the girl, her breath coming in heavily, her face drained of its colour. I can't even imagine what she's been through. Her hair is blonde and wavy, flowing down her face and drenched with sweat. I brush some out of her face to get a better look at the rest of her features. Everything about her face seems to be pointed, giving her an elf like appearance, even her ears seem to point slightly at the tips.

Her clothes are tattered and have dry patches of blood caked into them. The black of her dress has to draw a lot of heat. I realise that she's wearing a dress and stop.
"Why would she be wearing a dress and tights?" I ask myself out loud.
She chooses that moment to regain consciousness and startles me, saying in her thick accent, "It's easier to run, I survived before didn't I?"

Her eyes remain closed but she smiles. I notice that she has braces; it takes me back to the time before all the zombies, when dentistry was still a concern.

The girl suddenly sits up, her eyes snapping open.
"What's wrong?" I ask her.
"Where is my Kristin!?" She cries out.
"Who is Kristin?" I ask, a puzzled expression crossing my face, though I can already assume who she is.
"She's my sister!" She yells.