Chapter one: trying not to die

She walked through the empty street of sydne. It was weirdly quiet making her sense something wrong. The streets were usually packed with dead people walking around the streets and looking for human flesh, but she stopped caring long ago since her father's death, today is the day she thought, afterall she was going to end her life here and now.

Gloria was a girl like any other living normally in a stable house with both her mom and dad, she went to school and did everything right. She was happy, she didn't mind how boring her life was sometimes. It was all ruined by the virus outbreak. Now both her mom and dad were gone.

She counted her parents as brave and loving. Her mom worked as a nurse who tried her best to save innocent people's souls. That's why she didn't stop working; instead she worked extra hours to help people as much as possible but the virus found its way to her. Few days and she was gone, it was a big blow to Gloria but she still had her dad or so she thought.

Her dad on the other hand was working for the government, he was back home for his holiday and was excited to spend some quality time with his family but the virus came and his wife died with it. He was devastated by it but it didn't stop him from protecting his dear daughter.

He tried to help and save as much as possible by turning his house into a base and welcoming people. He planned on escaping the city and going somewhere far to find safety but a stupid guy made a commotion and a huge crowd of the dead found their house and dinner.

Her dad knew his the right thing and bombed himself with the crowd therefore Gloria and the group of people could escape the city. Since then Gloria has been alone, wandering around staying alive because of her father's will. Her father told her to stay alive and to find poeple to protect them.

After remembering all the moments she had with her happy family, she dindt feel the need to stay alive with no one. It's sad to think about it but she had been wandering around for two weeks and hadn't seen a single human being.

She wanted to meet her parents again so badly and the only way was for her to let herself go and give up even if her father wouldn't like the idea. She couldn't stop the image of finally meeting her parents again and living with them.

She also couldn't stop herself from looking over the knife and grabbing it. She simply hid behind a building, looked at her pockets and pulled her pocket knife. That’s the easiest way, not like I wanna end up like these dead. she calmly thought as she brought the knife to her throat and breathed deeply…..

“HELP, IS THERE ANYBODY HERE” said an unknown voice. The voice seemed pretty near her location, she finally found a human being who is alive.

A human and a human girl, I thought everyone died or turned into these long ago she thought as she quickly put her pocket knife back into place and ran crazily looking for the sound. The sound came from the other street where the gas station is.

She ran into the street only to see a teenage girl running towards her and trying to escape a crowd of them. That’s why I didn’t see any of them today, they were running after the poor girl. She ran towards the girl, grabbing her hand and dragging her with force to run faster.

“Don’t worry, I am here to help” Gloria shouted over the dead crowd's voices but the girl only nodded her head back. The girl was young and scared, that's why she held Gloria's hand tightly as she did as told without arguing.

I know this place more than I know my body after all this place is where I lived for the last month. There should be an emergency ladder in one of these buildings. Gloria had gone around the area and checked all the buildings to search for humans or any emergency escape when she first arrived here.

The unknown girl was losing her pace and Gloria needed to find this ladder as soon as possible because the crowd was catching up to them. Gloria looked ahead of her where the road split into two, she already knew where she was going but one or two of the dead were exactly not too far behind them, in fact they were about to catch the girl.

“Look if you wanna save your ***, run faster. I already know a safe place but they are catching up to our pace” Gloria shouted to the girl who looked horrified but also nodded her head pointing that she was saying yes.

The unknown girl instintaly started running faster which caused Gloria to increase her speed even more. Good they are far behind us now. Gloria reached the road split and took the right turn. They ended up in an abandoned market, a place she knew too well. She searched for the store with her eyes and as soon as she saw it, she increased her speed again.

“Listen to me, there is a fire escape ladder that will lead us to the highest store of the building. I want you to increase your speed while climbing it because you will go first”. Gloria calmly told the girl.

“...ok” the girl replied and immediately ran faster. She was already struggling to keep up with the speed and was breathless but she still went along and forced herself to run faster.

They finally approached the ladder and the girl started climbing quickly, following her Gloria climbed the ladder. They magically escaped the crowd and sat on top of the safe building. Gloria finally reached the top story, only to see the girl hugging her knees to her chest and crying.

“You’re safe now, you should be happy you didn’t end up at their dinner table tonight”. Gloria said sarcastically but she herself knew how the girl must feel after the terrifying experience. “I am Gloria by the way,” Gloria said in an attempt to create a friendly atmosphere.

“I am Crystal…., Crystal Anderson,” Crystal said while trying to hold her tears. “I am sorry, it is just that I have never seen that much of them. I was living at the gas station for a while until I tried to break the vending machine window for extra food and they heard me”

“It is ok, I am glad I saw some humans, afterall i haven’t seen one in weeks. What do you have in this bag?” Gloria asked while pointing at the bag Crystal was wearing.

“Some noodles, a book with a pen, some used clothes and candy that i stole from the gas station in case of an emergency like the one that just happened…” Crystal said as she showed Gloria the bag.

“Great then we’re having candy for dinner, you can’t complain. can you?”

“I wish I could, I haven't eaten a normal dinner in 3 months.”

“Three months, why is that the virus only started two months ago.”

“Well… let’s just say i was living at the psychiatric yard until the virus spread then i ran away when everyone was scared and anxious, i don’t think anyone cared after all” she explained with a shrug.

“What about your parents?” Gloria said while looking at the ground sadly when remembering her own dead parents.

“they went on a business trip after putting me there, you are the first person i told this too or the first person who spooke to me in months.” Crystal said with a sad smile. “Does this count as friendship?”

“Well… we just met, can’t say we are friends...”

“Oh sorry, I better pack my stuff back, seems like you are leaving me tomorrow just like everyone does.” Crystal said while taking a deep breath to stop her tears.

“Oh about that, let's say i was looking for a person to keep my company so i won’t go crazy in the next month or so.” Gloria said while rubbing the back of her neck.

“Really?” Crystal asked hopefully after letting her bag and stuff fall. Crystal was the type of person who everyone left, she was surprised someone wanted her company or even her presence.

“and why not?, I too wanna experience friendship.” Gloria said with a shrug. “With a girl.”

“Oh thank you, that's the best news I have heard in forever” Crystal said with a big smile while practically jumping in excitement.

That will keep my sanity, I wonder if seeing more humans like her will hype me up to keep up with my father's wish. Gloria thought while taking two candy bars from her bag and giving one for Crystal. She opened her candy and started to eat as slow as possible to enjoy the candy that she considered dinner.

Ever since the virus outbreak no one was able to eat normally or even eat properly, a lot of food was stolen or taken by rich people. That's while places like gas stations closed down, that's why the survivors find it the best place to find or steal food.

“By the way you told me your parents were on a business trip, who are they exactly? your surname sounds very familiar and do you know what happened to them?” Gloria asked while looking at Crystal who also started to eat her candy bar.

“umm… well my parents own a very big chain of fancy restaurants across the country and their names are Mary and Jack Anderson and i don’t exactly know where they are, the only thing i know about them is that they were on a business trip somewhere in Europe.” Crystal said, looking unbothered by her parents' disappearance.

“I am sorry to hear that.”

“Don’t worry about it, i stopped caring about them 4 months ago but i am not going to tell you the whole story now. It is just uncomfortable.” Crystal said before yawning and stretching her arms in the air.

“I understand, how long has it been since you last slept? i can stay up awake while you sleep.” Gloria said with a smile.

“a day and a half… no it has been two days so sleeping sounds like a good idea.” Crystal said before grabbing her bag and putting it under her head as a pillow and using her jacket as a blanket. “Goodnight.”

“Yeah, have a good sleep.”

……………

Gloria was lost in thoughts about their situation, she found someone to protect but she didn't know how to protect her. She decided the best thing to do was wait for today and rest so they can move with their new plans tomorrow. Gloria was thinking before a very sleepy Crystal cut her thoughts short with her yawning.

“I am sorry, did i sleep for that long. you can sleep now i will make sure everything is ok while staying on watch.” Crystal said while getting up and rubbing her eyes.

“Ok make sure to wake me up at dawn or if something happened.” Gloria said before going a long half-slumber to relax her body afterall she also has not slept in days now except for a few hours when she thought she was safe enough.

…………………………

“Gloria, Gloria, good job surviving until now me and your mum are very proud of you.” Gloria’s father said, waking Gloria up and patting her head with a proud expression.

“You know it has been very hard since you and mum have died and I almost did too today only if I have not found someone to protect. After all, you taught me to protect people.”

“i can never be happier for my little girl.” Gloria’s father said while tilting his head to the side with a sad smile.

“I wish you and mum were still here with me trying to survive in this new world America created.”

“You know that’s impossible, afterall what happened can’t be undone. It is almost time for me to go Gloria, I wish you all the good luck.”

“Please don’t go. I miss you and mum. Dad, Dad, Dad please stay longer.”

…………………….

“Gloria, Gloria wake up please. We have a problem here” said Crystal while shaking Gloria with a weird expression before pointing down towards the new formed dead crowd.

“Is it dawn already?” asked Gloria while rubbing her eyes.

“Yes but we have a problem. All the dead started coming back to the building after chasing a cat and they ripped her open and started eating her. And they stayed here for some reason.” Crystal explained stressfully to Gloria who seemed to think about a solution.

“It is ok. But we only have one option.” Gloria said while looking at the building next to them. “We will wait here until the afternoon and see if they leave their spot if they don’t then we jump to the other building and try to escape from there.” she explained

“I wish i could say no.”

“Looking at the time we have, let’s discuss our next move. We are out of weapons except for a pocket knife so we are going to look at the nearest gun shop which is Gun World.” she said while pulling a map out of her bag.

“And also i have been on contact with one of my friends whose father was also in the military and i am sure his next move will be guns too” Gloria explained while pulling her out of service phone to show Crystal the last massage which read ‘Gun world shop, 21 of May see you there’ with an address attached to the massage.

“But today is 19 may that means we only have two days to walk 35 miles without a car” Crystal said while Gloria pointed at the store and measured the distance.

“We can walk 20 miles a day if we want but I wanna use the time we have to walk there instead of running.” Gloria explained looking at the sun to tell the time. “It has been 30 minutes since i woke up and they are still here. I will only wait for another 90 minutes then we jump if they don't leave.”

“Ok but how do we make sure your fancy friend is still alive?” Crystal asked with confusion.

“Well you see my fancy friend had the best training with weapons and military arts i have ever seen and to your information bazooka got his name because of his skills with weapons and I am sure he has a group of people by his side now.” Gloria explained “but if he is dead by now we still have the weapons. It is a win-win situation.”

“Wait bazooka…., you serious? I mean, is that the name his parents gave him?” Crystal asked with narrowed eyes.

“Well I am ashamed to tell you that I don’t know my friend’s given name but no one actually knows.” Gloria said with a shrug. “He worked in the military with my father.”

“I am getting more surprised by the minute but your father was in the military?” Crystal asked with an impressed expression.

“My father was in the military, he was a brave soldier so I’m proud to say he died protecting me and other people when the dead started spreading” Gloria said sadly.

“I’m sorry to hear that but your father really was a brave soldier who loved his daughter.”

“Yes he was. By the way, I wonder what interesting people bazooka will get with him.” Gloria wondered with a hand on her chin.

“I’m sure he will get interesting friends with interesting names too. Oh mother is that what living now is like? Having friends with very interesting nicknames.” Crystal sarcastically said while dramatically holding her forehead.

“I bet you were in drama class when you attended school.” Gloria said jokingly.

“Yes I was. Drama was one of the things I really like to do besides writing stories. That's why I have a book with all the stories I ever wrote and I still keep it but now it is a journal. I hope that this journal will be a future movie when humanity is back” Crystal said with a warm smile.

“When humanity is back, I wonder if that will ever happen.” Gloria wondered aloud with a frown.

“Well we are going to meet your fancy friend and his group in a matter of days which mean we will increase in number and then maybe we will find other survivors along the way. There is always some hope buried somewhere in people’s hearts. That's what my English teacher used to tell us.”

“That was very cheesy. I can’t believe upper classes are this cheesy.” Gloria said sarcastically with a raised eyebrow.

“Oh come on, it wasn’t very cheesy and upper classes are gone now. Everyone cares about saving themselves and their families, no one cares about money now.”

“I can’t believe I was looking for a job to pay my college fees just months ago, this all sounds like a dream or a movie made by Hollywood.” Gloria said with a soft smile while looking down at her lap.

“Tell me about it, I was studying for 12 years of my life, just to be met with the end of the world movie with us being the characters in the movie.” Crystal said sarcastically while pointing at herself and Gloria.

“What are you mostly skilled with? I am mostly skilled with material arts.” Gloria asked before punching the air.

“Hmmm I think I am mostly skilled with medicines and medical care, I read a lot of books to teach me about it. We should look for a first aid kit.” Crystal said.

“I should have thought of that before that is a very crucial thing. Your specialty would be very useful.” Gloria said praising Crystal.

“I guess you can say that,” Crystal said, feeling happy someone appreciated her skills.

“It has been two hours now and the crowd is still here, I guess we have to go with the jumping plan.” Gloria said.

“I am very ready.” Crystal said enthusiastically while clapping her hands with a nervous expression.

“Glad to hear that.” Gloria said before packing her staff and putting them in her bag. She looked at the space between the two buildings to measure it. Good enough to jump from here she thought then looked at Crystal who also finished packing her stuff. She walked to the building with Crystal and…..

End of chapter.

To be continued………….

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