The ashened ground crunched like carrots below the feet of 3 young women. Life had seemed to lose all color. Rusty browns and reds covered the streets, car were littered here and there, and corpses, the worst of them all, were scattered all around. A terrible stench game from the decaying bodies, but the girls were already used to it that by now.

Sweat was running down the sides of the girls, staining their already stained and ragged clothes. Their jeans had rips and tears here and there, whereas their shirts were just baggy, stained, worn down, and thin. The current weather was hot and humid, but the girls were too determined to give up. They kept walking, foot after foot. It had been several days since the girls had eaten, but they remained hopeful.
At the sight of cars, the girls would scatter in search, finding as much supplies as the could. They would gather up, show what supplies they had gathered, throw a punch here and there, but who wouldn’t? In a desperate situation like this, just about anybody would be willing to fight to the death for supplies they needed to survive with.
The smell of rotting flesh began to get stronger as the girls continued to walk on this never ending graveyard. A corpse would twitch, causing the girls to panic and run, wasting more energy that they needed to survive. The sudden sound of gunfire stopped the girls in their tracks, turn themselves on their heels, and look for the person behind the ringing dinner bell. Zombies. They were everywhere.
The unexpected sight of a muscular, tall, and tanned man flooding the streets sent the girls in a frenzy. They hadn’t seen living life in what seemed to be weeks, but in actuality it had only been four days. More shots were fired, walking corpses hitting the ground moments later.
Eventually, the shooting came to an abrupt stop. The girls, rather quickly, stopped their squirms of excitement and noticed the man who was now breathing heavily and slouched against a car. The girls, astonished, stared at the man with their jaws open. The muscular figure pushed himself off of the car and walked towards the girls with a nonchalant expression on his face.
When he finally stood in front of the girls, he let out a hysterical laugh. It didn’t last long, being that the girls stares intimidated him. He cleared his throat with a dry and rusty cough. Shortly after the girls faces returned to their normal straight faces, the man spoke his first dry words. “Good morning, ladies.”
The girls cringed at the dryness of his voice and offered him their only canteen of water. Hesitantly, the took it and swallowed three large mouthfuls of water, still leaving the majority of the canteen full. “Thank you,” his voice croaked from misuse. The man must have been born country because he had a thick southern accent.
Snatching the canteen back, as to not let the water get in the wrong hands, the shorter of the three girls tied the strap around her shoulder and forcefully stuck out her hand. “I’m Dahlia.” With an arm stretched out, the male grabbed her hand and shook it
“My name is Ryan. Who are those two?” Looking at the girls behind Dahlia’s shoulder, he let out a wimpish smile.
“Courtney to my right and Harper to my left.”
Ryan’s smile was a little more believable, being that he had a silly expression, smiling from ear to ear. Some could have said he looked like the cheshire cat.
Dahlia couldn’t help but smile in return. It had, truly, been a long time since she saw another human outside of her group. The group had been much larger, but the leader thought the girls were slowing them down because they didn’t know how to use a weapon.
A loud shriek came from Courtney’s mouth, piercing Ryan and Dahlia’s ears. They turned their heads to look behind Courtney and noticed a large mob of zombies headed their way, some crawling with their legs completely removed. All that remained was necrotic bodies jerking like the road kill they were. Along with the sight of the horrid beings, the rancid smell of decay wafted through the air thicker than molasses.
The asphalt blurred below the quadruplet’s feet. Dust and debris blew through the air that had come into play unannounced. Tripping, Harper fell short to play. Before they could turn around and save her, Harper’s flesh-creeping wail infused itself with the world, piercing ears all arounds. Dahlia scampered her feet, the wind wishing by her.
Ryan, hot on Dahlia’s heels, dragged Courtney along, her feet making quiet pitter patter sounds in pursuit. More and more shrieks filled the morbid scene. The sound of mastication slowly grew quiet. Turning their heads for only a second, the remaining triplet slowed into a walking speed. Grabbing the car door of the first vehicle possible, They filed themselves in, craving, seeking, needing the protection the doors could hold.
Courtney and Dahlia were so terrified that their eyes were popping out of their heads. SCREECH. SCREECH. SCREECH. Suddenly, bloodied hands stroked across the car windows. The sound of nails scratching on the window let out a loud squeal. Panic filled the triplet’s hearts. They held fear in their eyes. They didn’t know if they would make it out alive.
Dahlia closed her eyes, expecting the windows to crack and shatter under the pressure the grabbing hands of the soulless corpses. Courtney’s eyes were reddened with emotion, but refused to let the salty tears run down her face. After a while, the grabbing hands had settled to their owner’s sides as the turned their heads to another sound. An elk, still alive, ran past the zombies, catching their attention.
Dahlia opened her eyes in excitement. It was their only chance to leave. Dahlia rolled her window down, cleaning off the smudges of blood from her window as much as possible. Grabbing a rag the happened to be in the stolen car’s floorboard, Dahlia began wiping the windshield. Soon after is was cleaned, she threw herself back into the car and rolled her window back up. The slamming of the car door brought the zombies’ attention back to her and the others.
Dahlia looked over at Ryan, praying that he knew how to do what she was about to ask. “Tell you me know how to hotwire a car?” Before giving a reply, a smile came across his face. He ripped a piece of the leather interior and when to work. A few minutes later, as the zombies made their way to the car, scratching the windows once more, the car started and lurched forwards.
Driving cautiously, Ryan, Dahlia, and Courtney were well on their way down the highway. They, luckily, had hidden themselves inside a car who had a full tank of gas. Ryan looked at the girls after he was sure that there weren’t anymore cars blocking the road.
“I have a plan.”
Dahlia and Courtney gasped and placed their hands on their collarbones, jumping from the sudden interruption of silence. “Well, are you going to tell us,” Dahlia asked after a minute of silence.
“Texas. We are going to Texas.”
Courtney let out a groan, making the first sound she had made in a hour. “And why would we do something like that?” Dahlia and Courtney looked over to a green sign that was labeled ‘Dallas, Texas, 31 miles.’
Ryan laughed. “We are already headed in that direction. Plus, I have a cabin way out in the country that is fenced in. I had it locked up so there is no way there are any zombies there. Plus, we have weapons, food and, a good water supply. We would be able to live out there. We could even scout out the towns nearby and take in any survivors. While we are in town, we can gather some new supplies for food and such, ya know?”
Dahlia laughed. “Sounds too good to be true.”
Courtney nodded, giving Ryan an observing glance. His eyes let out a quick twinkle. “I knew it. You’re lying. Dahlia, he’s lying!”
Dahlia sent Courtney a quick glance. “How can you tell?”
Courtney let out a goofy grin. “I took classes...the twinkle in the corner of his eye… it means he’s lying.” Courtney opened the parked cars door and climbed out, Dahlia following after. Ryan climbed out of the driver’s seat and closed the door, leaving the car running.
“Hey. Ok, I lied about the cabin, but there is a station there. They have a place planned out. It is the research center. Come on, it’s only a few miles away and we will be safe there. They have the area cleared out. We can do this. They have food. Fresh food. Shelter. Come on! Everything will be fine. I am sorry for lying, but I had to get you guys to come.”
Courtney walked over to Ryan and shoved him away from the running car. “I can’t believe you. After that last lie, you expect me to believe this one? I know how to read people. I will not stand for this lying anymore. There are other people to worry about than yourself, Ryan...if that is your real name.”
Ryan removed a wallet from his pocket, providing an ID card with his name a picture on it. “At least he was genuine enough to tell us his real name,” spat Courtney, climbing into the driver’s seat. “you aren’t coming. You can walk to your destination. We, on the other hand, are going home.”
Dahlia’s eyes opened wide with shock but climbed into the car. “We shouldn’t leave him. We are- could be the only survivors left, Courtney. Don’t let the poor guy die out here, alone.” Dahlia waved her hand over the sty they called Earth.
Courtney sent Dahlia an evil glare. “There are more survivors. There has to be. We can’t waste our time on some lying-goldfish-eyed-baboon.”
Dahlia let out a snort and climbed out of the car. “I’m sorry Ryan. You can’t come. We have to worry about our safety. Trust is a big part in living, now. If we can’t trust you will the little things, we can’t trust you with our lives. I hope you understand.”
Ryan flung himself at Dahlia, a knife in his hand. Dahlia squirmed to her feet after being bodyslammed to the ground. Courtney was quick to the girls side and lashed her own daggers at the boy. “Don’t you touch her!”
Ryan put a cocky grin on his face and ran around the vehicle, closing the door behind him and drove off, leaving a bloodied Dahlia and an angry Courtney behind. Staring in shock, Dahlia grabbed her side, mouth opened. “H-he...He got me. He...he left us. I don’t feel too good.” Dahlia collapsed to the ground, shrieking out in pain.
Courtney sped to her friends side, tending the wound and helping the now awakened Dahlia to her feet. “He said the place was only a few miles. I’m going to kill the gapped-tooth-hillbilly. His birth certificate was an apology letter from the abortion factory.”
Dahlia died in laughter, holding her side in agony. Even through the pain, the blue and red haired adult felt better about leaving Ryan, but it actually, Ryan left them.
“I guess we start all over, huh?” Courtney ran between cars on the road, gathering supplies, while Dahlia leaned against the car they had claimed to be theirs being they found the keys in the ignition.
“All by ourselves,” Dahlia whispered.