The morning broke, and the sun was peeking through the trees. The eight survivors gradually started waking up, hungry and needing to go to the bathroom.
"Son of a bitch," Nick said. "I know it's the zombie apocalypse and all, but I didn't think I'd ever have to sleep with a root pushing against my back all night."
"Wow," Zoey said, "you almost went an entire minute without complaining. That's gotta be some kind of record."
"Nah," Ellis said, "he once forgot to complain for five whole minutes. I kept count and everything."
"Har har," Nick said, "let's just eat what pitiful rations we have left and get moving."
The eight survivors proceeded to empty their bladders and take a few bites of what little food they had left. No one was satiated, but they still had to pick up their weapons and keep moving. The next city was still days away.
"You know what? I thought there were gonna be more zombies out here," Rochelle said.
"Shit, Rochelle," Ellis said, quickly finding the nearest tree to knock on. "You want to jinx us?"
"Please, that's just superstition," Rochelle replied. "You have to rely more on your wits and less on your fear."
Out of nowhere, a Boomer stumbled forward in their direction. Coach took care of it quickly with his shotgun. It exploded and caked the forest floor with its noxious bile.
"What did I tell you?" Ellis asked. "You jinxed us."
"Come on," Francis said. "If she really jinxed us, we would've seen something way scarier than a Boomer."
"Francis, what the hell man?" Ellis knocked on yet another tree. "You're just fucking with me now, aren't you?"
"You are kind of an easy target," Rochelle said.
"Everyone quiet," Bill said, looking around with his gun raised. "No superstition, but we will start attracting more Infected if we don't keep our voices down."
"There's barely anything out here," Francis said. "We ran into a bunch of shit yesterday, but today it's been way more quiet."
Ellis almost went to knock on another tree, but Zoey grabbed his arm. "It's gonna be okay," she said to him. "We're survivors. We know how to do this."
Ellis blushed. "Thanks, Zoey."
The eight survivors continued walking through the forest. Unlike yesterday, things were much more quiet. As the day continued, they only encountered a few common stragglers, and they mostly left the survivors alone. Everyone was relieved except for Bill, who was still looking around vigilantly.
Finally, after a few hours of this, Francis snapped. "Look, soldier, will you relax? There's barely any zombies out here."
"That's what I'm afraid of," Bill replied, still looking all around him.
"Care to elaborate?" Louis asked.
"Fine," Bill said. "The reason I'm worried about seeing less of these Infected is that I think they're being hunted by something far more menacing."
"What do you mean by that?" Rochelle asked.
"During the war," Bill said, "there was a time where we encountered way less gooks than we normally would have."
Zoey flinched at the derogatory language, but said nothing.
"It turns out," Bill continued, "that the reason for this was because there was a giant bear lurking in the jungle. It was killing everything around it, and when my troop encountered it head on, it came after us. Even though we were able to kill that bear, I lost three men that day, and a fourth had a chunk taken out of his leg. We never forgot that day, and I'm afraid now we're seeing the same thing."
Nobody said anything after that, but the survivors continued moving through the forest, now far more alert than they were earlier.
"What do you think is out there?" Louis asked.
"I'm praying we don't have to find out," Coach added.
After about another half an hour of walking, the survivors found out what was out there after all. They were at the top of a hill, and down at the bottom was a massive zombie. It looked similar to a Tank, only it was twice as big. A common Infected wandered into its vicinity, and it lunged at the common Infected and split it open with one swipe of its arm. All of the survivors stood stock still, frightened to move any closer.
"Ellis, remind me to never make fun of you for being superstitious again," Rochelle whispered.
"What the hell are we gonna do?" Francis asked.
"There's no way we can take that thing on in a firefight," Bill said. "We have to give it a very wide berth. Follow me."
The survivors followed Bill slowly so as to make as little noise as possible. They didn't dare try walking around the beastly zombie until it was completely out of eyesight. They then started moving forward again, hoping the zombie hadn't heard them.
They were finally starting to relax a bit, but then from their right came a Jockey. Before anyone could react, the Jockey latched onto Coach and started moving him towards the giant zombie.
"Get this thing off me!" Coach cried in a panic.
Nick took quick action and hit the Jockey with a clean headshot. The Jockey fell off of Coach and lay still, but then the survivors heard a bellowing roar.
"God damn it!" Nick yelled. "Run!"
No one needed to be told twice. The survivors raced off in a panic, but they could hear the giant zombie barreling through the forest floor. When they looked back, they could see that it was clearing trees with a swipe of its arms, and the zombie was starting to come closer.
"Does someone still have a Molotov?" Bill asked. "Maybe that will slow it down!"
"Oh, shit, I think I have one!" Ellis cried. He tried fishing the Molotov out of his pocket, but he stumbled and dropped it on the forest floor, where it began rolling out of sight.
"You fucking jackass!" Nick yelled. "We're done for!"
"I'll get it," Zoey said. "Try luring this thing away from me!"
"You better hurry up then!" Nick yelled.
Zoey fell back to try to retrieve the Molotov. The giant zombie was going to go after her, but Ellis flung a branch at it. That did just enough to divert the zombie's attention towards him. The seven survivors separated, which for a moment confused the zombie as it tried to figure who to go after. It finally settled on Nick, but just before he was about to swipe at him, it was hit by the Molotov cocktail. It recoiled for just a moment, which gave the survivors enough time to start running again. They all headed in the same direction, and Zoey was able to catch up in a moment. The zombie was still following them, leaving a trail of fire behind it, but it was noticeably slowing down. Even with the slowdown, though, it was still keeping up.
"I have one more idea!" Bill yelled. "Everyone still has the adrenaline from a few days ago, right?"
"Don't have to tell me twice," Nick said.
The survivors all took out the needles filled with adrenaline and injected themselves with it. With the increase in speed, they were finally able to get far enough away from the giant zombie to the point where it gave up following them and stormed elsewhere. The survivors kept running until the effects of the adrenaline wore off. Only then did they finally take a moment to catch their breath. They could still hear the zombie roaring in pain in the distance.
"I hope the fire from the Molotov kills that bastard," Zoey said.
"Me, too, "Ellis said. "Everyone okay?"
"Physically, yes," Rochelle said. "Mentally...I don't know. We've exhausted all our weapons and adrenaline. We find another zombie like that, we're done for."
"So now what the hell are we gonna do?" Nick asked. "No more cocktails, no more adrenaline, barely enough ammo left. We're fucking done for!"
"No we are not!" Bill shouted so loudly that everyone turned to him immediately. "The odds are against us, let's not kid ourselves about that, but we did not come this far to quit now. If I learned anything from my service, it's that you never give up, no matter how bleak things look. Now we are going to get it together and we are going to find a way out of this forest. Understood?"
"Yes, sir!" Ellis shouted, offering Bill a salute. Everyone else started to laugh, and even Ellis himself had to chuckle at his own expense. "Sorry, I got caught up in the moment."
"You're cute," Zoey said, giving Ellis a kiss on the cheek.
"Nice speech, Braveheart," Nick said, "but we've got a problem. Does anyone know where the fuck we are?"
The survivors looked around, and they started to realize what Nick was getting at.
"We're lost," Louis said.
"We need to find some way to get our bearings," Bill said. "There's no sunlight getting through this part of the forest, so the only way I can think of to figure out where we are is for one of us to climb a tree and figure out which way to start walking."
"Oh no, no way in hell am I doing that," Nick said.
"I wasn't thinking of you," Bill replied. "Honestly, of the eight of us, I think Francis is our best bet."
"God damn it," Francis said, "but yeah, I think you're right. I've got the most upper body strength of everyone here by a long shot."
"Sure thing, Hercules," Rochelle replied, "but you better get to work. That giant zombie is still out there somewhere."
Francis started to make his way up the tree. As he struggled, Louis and Coach kept an eye on their surroundings, making sure there were no zombies coming their way.
"How's the weather up there?" Ellis asked.
Nick punched him in the arm. "Christ, Ellis, can you go just one time without making a stupid remark lilke that?"
"Sorry," Ellis said, rubbing his arm. "Damn, dude, that stings."
Nick rolled his eyes. "Trust me, kid, if I really wanted to hurt you, I wouldn't have stopped at stinging."
"Will you two clowns keep it down?" Bill asked. "We don't want to attract any more attention."
"Sorry," Ellis said. Nick muttered something under his breath but said no more.
After a few more minutes, Francis finally worked his way back down. "I'm gonna have blisters on my hands for at least a week," he said.
"What were you able to see up there?" Bill asked.
"It's definitely not a straight shot from here anymore," Francis replied, "but we need to go that way." He pointed off in a direction.
"Let's get moving then," Bill said. He led the way in the direction Francis had pointed.
After about an hour of walking, the survivors were starting to see more Infected close by. Based on what Bill had explained earlier, this came as a bit of a relief. They still remained cautious, hoping not to attract too much attention, but they were able to make strong progress through the forest. By the time the day was coming to a close, the trees were starting to thin out a bit, enough for them to see the sun setting in the direction they were walking.
"Good," Bill said, "that sun's setting in the right direction. We might still need two days to reach the end of these woods, but we made good progress today. We'll camp here."
The survivors were grateful to finally take a rest. Dinner was, once again, very limited, and the hunger pains were starting to hurt them.
"Shit, maybe I can look around for some berries or something," Ellis said. "I'm starving."
"No way, son," Bill replied, "not unless you know which berries are edible and which ones are poisonous."
"Oh, in that case, never mind," Ellis replied. "Anyone here used to be a Boy Scout or something?"
"I'm an Eagle Scout," Louis said. "I could go take a look."
"You were an Eagle Scout?" Nick asked with a smirk on his face. "Shit, Louis, I didn't take you as an outdoorsy type."
"For that, Nick," Louis said, "you're getting the smallest share of whatever I find." Nick shrugged his shoulders, and Louis allowed a laugh. "Okay, yeah, I was kidding. Give me a few minutes to take a look around."
Louis stepped away to start scavenging. The rest of the survivors sat in a circle.
"Can't believe we almost got killed by that massive zombie today," Coach said.
"You think it's actually dead," Ellis asked, "or is it still running around burning up the whole forest?"
"No idea," Coach replied. "Hopefully the Molotov cooked him well done."
"With the other zombies around, I think we definitely lost the fucker," Rochelle said. "The sooner we get out of these damn woods, the better."
For the time being, the seven survivors sat in silence, contemplating the hell they had been through since the Infection hit. After a few more minutes, Louis finally came back.
"I found about a handful of berries out there," he said, showing the berries he had picked to the other survivors. "There weren't many, and I had a few scrapes with some of the common Infected. Hopefully this is okay."
"Yeah, it's great," Rochelle said. "We can all have a couple."
Louis passed out a few berries to everyone. Nick almost scoffed at the amount in his hand, but for once he decided to hold his tongue. With everything that had happened lately, he was feeling too tired to make any sarcastic remarks. The survivors then ate the berries. They were gone in about thirty seconds, but everyone thanked Louis all the same.
"You know, while I was out there," Louis said, "I had some time to think about how I got here. Anyone have time for a story?"
"We're not going anywhere fast," Bill said, "so if you want to share, go for it."
"Okay," Louis said.
He sat down, and the rest of the survivors faced him and paid apt attention.
Louis was sitting in his cubicle. He was humming away as he worked on his computer. A coworker of his walked past.
"I'm sorry if this is a bit rude," she said, "but how do you always manage to stay so cheerful?"
"It's not always easy," Louis replied. "Whenever I'm feeling down, I just think of how many people in the world have it worse than I do. Usually that helps me feel a bit better."
"Sure," his coworker said. "Sorry, I'm feeling a bit queasy. Gotta go."
She left, and Louis went back to his work. What his coworker didn't know about him was that he was, in fact, not happy at his job at all. He'd been working up the courage to give his notice, but he had nothing else lined up at the moment and he didn't want to take a risk of leaving without a new opportunity waiting for him.
After a few minutes passed, Louis heard a door slam open. He turned and saw a creature running towards him. Oddly, this creature was wearing the same clothing as the coworker who had just talked to him. This creature found the nearest person and bit him hard, before barreling towards Louis.
"What the hell?" Louis screamed. He rose from his cubicle and started running away from the creature, who was now chasing him. After a few minutes, the person she bit started to lose color in his face, then he started running after people as well.
Louis, terrified and with no idea what was happening, made his way to the elevator. He pressed the down button to try to get to the ground floor, but the elevator was too far away. He took the stairs instead.
As he ran down the stairs, he didn't think about the forty-five flights he would have to traverse. All he could think of was putting as much distance from whatever his coworkers had turned into as possible. After about twenty flights, he finally had to stop to catch his breath. He didn't hear anyone coming for him, so he gave himself a moment to relax.
"What the hell is happening?" he said aloud to himself. He'd been hearing from his old college roommate about some sort of infection that was just starting to take hold, but he thought it had been just another one of his crackpot conspiracies. However, what Louis had just seen matched the description of his old roommate. People felt queasy for a moment, then their skin would become discolored and their bodies disfigured, and after that came the hunger for human flesh. It was insane to think that this infection had found its way into his office, but he had seen it for himself. Louis then realized that if he was going to make it out of the building alive, he'd have to brave the rest of the stairwell.
As tired as he was, Louis dragged himself down the rest of the stairs and reached the lobby. What he saw next horrified him. The lobby was completely destroyed. The front desk was overturned, all of the chairs had been torn to shreds, and there were dead people strewn all over the floor. The smell was so noxious that he almost threw up. Louis held his nose and ran outside. He saw people running down the road, but what they were running from, he couldn't say. All he knew was that he would have to battle his way to his car, head home, and start to regroup.
Louis stopped talking at that moment, and the other survivors were dumbfounded at what they heard.
"You were at the very start of the outbreak," Zoey said.
"How do you know that?" Louis asked.
"I was listening to your story," Zoey said, "and you mentioned that the Infection was just a fringe conspiracy theory. When I first heard of it, it had been in the news for weeks."
"It didn't hit the south until much later," Rochelle added. "I was preparing for a news report when I first encountered it."
"I had no idea," Louis said. "When I got back home, I tried reaching out to my old roommate, but he had gone radio silent. I still don't know if he's dead or alive." Louis let out a deep sigh and then gazed off into the distance.
"I don't know if he's alive or not," Zoey said, "but either he's still hanging in there, or he's in a better place now."
"I hope you're right," Louis said. "Never thought the world would come to this, though."
"No one could have possibly known how far this would go," Rochelle said. "What's important is that we keep fighting, we keep surviving. Maybe someday we'll find other survivors and start our lives over. But first, we have to get the hell out of this forest."
For a few moments, the survivors sat quietly, listening to the sounds of the forest. They could hear insects buzzing all around them, and there were a few birds making noise as well. There were also low grumblings from what sounded like Infected, but they were far enough away where the survivors were not being attacked.
"Y'all ever think about what happens when you get infected?" Ellis asked.
"No," Nick said. "I'd rather not think about losing all control of my bodily functions."
"That's not what I meant. I mean, yeah, physically your body gets all messed up. But what do y'all think it's like in their head?"
"I can't imagine there would be much," Zoey said. "I saw my parents turn right as the Infection was beginning. If they were still…'them,' you know, in their head...they wouldn't have lost control and attacked me."
"Your parents attacked you?" Coach asked.
Zoey let out a deep sigh. "My mom attacked my dad, and my dad would have attacked me if I didn't shoot him first. I try not to think about it too much." A tear trickled down her cheek. "But I still dream about it at times."
Ellis walked over to Zoey and gave her a hug. Zoey let out a few more sobs, but she took a deep breath and wiped her face clean.
"I'm sorry that happened to you," Ellis said. "I can't imagine what I would've done in the same situation."
"Thank you, Ellis," Zoey said. "I just don't know how I ended up immune to the infection when neither of my parents are."
"Based on the research I was doing for my job," Rochelle said, "immunity to the infection isn't related to genetics. I was always curious to learn more, but with what's happened I didn't get the chance."
"I don't know about all that," Coach said, "but I reckon that the man upstairs must've had a plan for us. Why would he bring all of us here, together, all of us having some kind of immunity from the Infection? We're here for a reason."
"Spare me the Sunday school sentimentalities," Nick said. "There's no 'divine plan' at work here. We got thrown together completely by chance, and the reason we've been able to stay alive has nothing to do with God or Jesus or whatever the fuck you believe. We stayed alive because we've put our fate in our own hands."
"Whether you believe in a higher power or not," Bill said, "all we can do is focus on what we're doing tomorrow, then the next day, then the next. With the world going to shit like it has, we've gotta live one day at a time. There'll be time to ponder the meaning of life later."
Nobody disagreed with Bill about that. The survivors sat again in silence for a while.
Ellis let out a long yawn. "Damn, I'm pooped. Probably time for us to go to sleep. Who's taking the watch?"
"I'll do it," Louis said. "Not sure I could sleep now even if I wanted to."
"I'll join you, Louis," Bill said. "Everyone else get some rest for now."
The other survivors needed no further invitation. They got as comfortable as they could on the forest floor and began to sleep.
"How are you doing, son?" Bill asked Louis.
"Restless," Louis said. "That story I told earlier got me thinking about how much I took for granted about my old life."
"Not surprised to hear that," Bill said. "Everyone had a past before this Infection. I think about mine all the time."
"I hated my career," Louis said, "but if I had a choice to go back to work if it meant this apocalypse could end, I'd do it in a heartbeat. I know I'm usually the guy in our group who tries to stay optimistic, but I haven't always been like that. I just figured that with things being as bad as they are that it would be a healthier way to deal with this."
"Let me tell you this. Sometimes, I find your optimism insufferable, but then I realize that it's important to hold onto that hope. Otherwise, you've got nothing to fight for."
"Thanks, Bill. That's pretty much how I feel about it, too."
Bill and Louis looked over at the sleeping survivors. Zoey and Ellis were cuddled closely together, and Rochelle and Francis were holding hands.
"If humanity's ever gonna have a chance," Bill said, "it's in their hands. I've had my time, and I'm gonna be leaving this world pretty soon, so it's up to you young people to figure out how to adjust to our new reality."
"We'll find our way," Louis said. "No matter what we're facing, we always find a way to adapt and adjust."
"And that wouldn't be possible without hope," Bill said. "Stay positive, Louis, because if we lose hope, there's nothing left for us but death."
Louis felt a shiver, but it went away as quickly as it came. He and Bill fell silent, listening to the sounds of the forest around them, each of them thinking about what was going to happen tomorrow.