Going outside the walls. It was a near death sentence and all who ventured beyond the safety of the metal knew it. Even so, supplies needed to be obtained — food, electricity, and ammunition if any still existed. The world belonged to the dead now as the living dwindled each day. What should have remained in the ground, were rising up, yearning to live again. The life they received, however, was that of monsters. 

Having volunteered when many stepped aside, Carmen walked as quietly as she could. The footsteps of the four others who came with her — all men — sounded jarringly loud to her. She wanted to turn around and tell them to mind their steps, but that would only cause more noise — and unneeded tension. The senses of the living were at their peak, listening for the moans.

“We’ve hit all these stores already.” A man wearing a black mask and googles looked around. His blue fatigues were worn — as was the same with the others including Carmen’s. Water was in short supply. Hell, water tokens were cut from biweekly to monthly. Everyone reeked, but compared to the dead, it was normal. “We’ve still got some daylight. Might wanna venture further outside the reconned area.”

“No eyes, no go,” Carmen said. She signaled the scavenging crew to stop as they ducked into a abandoned building — or so it looked from the outside. “Another team had the same idea. Only two out of the five made it back. We’d practically be walking blind! Not to mention cut off. No comm buoy’s outside the recon area.”

Jeff, the person who voiced the idea initially sighed. “We’re running out of options. The other teams picked the whole damn radius clean.” He pointed to the wall behind him. “We can try hitting the Target, but I sure as hell ain’t stepping in there without an armored car. That place is a freakin’ jackpot, if you can get there and out without getting chomped that is. No, we have to push out.”

“I sure as hell am not going to Target.” Joey, the youngest of the group stepped forward. He removed his mask and took a full draft of polluted air.

“Out of options Carmen,” Jeff said. As to emphasis his point, he flexed his hand around the hatchet that he thought he knew how to use. “We’re going.”

“This is a really bad idea,” she said. “At least send a me—“

“We won’t be long. What are you afraid of? Quietly in, quietly out. Nothing to it.”

A million logically arguments came to mind, but Carmen remained silent. Logic could only do so much with stubbornness. 

“Fine.”

Jeff blinked before shouldering his pack for a snugger fit. “Daylight’s burning. Lets go.”

—

It was well into the evening. Daylight slowly dwindled to but a trickle. Carmen ran down the abandon streets; her breathing was sharp. As her legs carried her away as quickly as possible, a piercing high shriek filled the deserted streets. It was a cry that no walker could make, for theirs was the sombre, saddening moan. No. The noise came from something worse. It came from the hunters. 

The group became separated. As Jeff said, they found a few local stores where supplies rested. For a time, it was a shopping spree. The group stuffed their stacks with what others left behind and moved on. Walkers had to be put down, but it wasn’t anything they couldn’t handle. Carmen was ready to admit that the sortie was a success until Joey opened that door. It took only seconds for everything to go to hell.

Now, after lord knows how long had passed, Carmen was lost. Instead of bringing her things back to the city, she was running farther into the unknown. Losing the majority of her things to gain more speed, no matter how fast she ran, the screams of the hunters were always nearby.

Her vision beginning to blacken. She needed to get off the streets and catch her breath. Any second now, she knew she’d be on the ground either passed out from fatigue and becoming defenseless. She scanned frantically for a building and spotted a small diner. It wasn’t ideal, but it’d have to do. 

As she made her way over, her eyes locked on to a sight, she hadn’t expected. It took her a few seconds to register that the woman in the brown jacket wasn’t a walker, but a human. A goddamn human!

Without introducing herself, she ran up and grabbed the girls wrist and dragged her to the diner. She was still breathing heavily behind her mask, and her tactical vest and scavenged things weren’t helping. For now, she hoped the woman would just follow. The hunters were close, and she didn’t want to be out in the open when they arrived.