02:00
February 15th, 2017

The screams echoed through the night sky as Triss and her father ran down the poorly light roads, blood still dripping from both her bat and her father's arm. The events of ten minutes ago still hadn't completely processed in Triss's head, but only one word was going through her head in this particular moment. Run.

Her heart pounded against her chest as they hopped what seemed like the hundredth fence. The lights were getting dimmer now. They must've been getting close to the edge of the city by now. She hoped they were getting close to the edge. Away from the people, away from the bodies, away from the monsters. She couldn't believe she was running this fast. Or was her father just running slow? Was he sick, like the rest of them? Had the bite already started to take effect? "No." she thought "Not the time for this. Keep running." she willed herself on, through the alleys and down the streets, past the barking dogs and car alarms. Run.

*****

09:00
February 22nd, 2017			One week after Day Zero...

They had been running for a week now, running on nothing but granola bars and juice boxes. The first night had really shown her what fear was, but instinct had kicked in and now all she thought of was "Survive."
Her father's condition had gotten worse. They'd stop for a rest and her father couldn't stop coughing. Worse yet, Triss thought she had seen blood come out once. Maybe it was her imagination. Maybe not.

That's what scared her the most. The zombies were nothing anymore. They didn't scare her much now, no. It was the fact that she may be on her own now. That's what scared the hell out of her. Being alone in a world where every living thing, and most things that weren't, were trying to kill you.

But she couldn't think like that, not now. They continued on through the brisk weather, cold trembles running through her body sucking every last bit of warmth from her. She clenched her hands in the pockets of her parka, trudging through the cold, wet grasslands, the mud under her boots sloshing at each step, freezing her feet to the bone. They hadn't seen people in days, and even the ones they had seen then were running and had no interest in them. Her fear of being alone was slowly coming true. "No, we have to keep going....he needs medecine. He needs to live." she repeated to herself, quiet enough so that her father couldn't hear.

*****

19:00
March 8th, 2017				Three weeks after Day Zero..

The crack of a match warmed her for a split second before the wind picked up and blew out the little flame of hope in her hand "Damn it" she swore under her breath, her hands trembling. She moved to the other side of the unlit camp fire, putting her back to the wind. Another crack, another flame. She shielded this one with her free hand, moving it slowly towards the small pile of twigs and with a satisfying burst of warmth, the fire lit. It was slow at first, but Triss was patient and as she added slightly bigger pieces of wood, it lit and rewarded her with a sizable flame. She stuck her hand in her bag, grabbing one of the few remaining granola bars from her bag before realising she hadn't seen her dad in ten or fifteen minutes. As she went to open it, something groaned behind her and a massive pain shot up her shoulder.

Everything happened so fast. Almost as if an animal instinct had taken over her body, Triss reacted on pure adrenaline, knocking him off with a swift elbow to it's face before running over to where she had left her bat against the tree. She picked it up in one hand, grasping it lightly with her injured arm before winding up and hitting the zombie as hard as she could across the head, before beating it to a pulp. She collapsed on the ground, completely drained of energy, only managing to crawl over to the fire before spots flew across her vision and a warm liquid ran down her arm. She lay there, bordering unconsciousness as blood flowed slowly from the bite. Then it all went black.