Everyone has a different idea of how the apocalypse is going to go.  Ask them.  Some will say they are hoarding toilet paper like it is gold, others will swear guns and ammo is where you need to be prepared.  Even more will have stockpiles of fish antibiotics, but no one is ever prepared for the reality of a disaster.  Canned food will only get you so far if there is no way to get anymore when it is gone.  You can prepare, and think of scenarios from dawn until dusk, but you are never ready for the day the world will end. 


By her reckoning, it was August 25th. It was probably a fairly close guess.  The world had been without communication, power, and other niceties for almost a month now.  She sighed and glanced out the window between the boards she hastily nailed in place.  The stench was unbearable.  There were rotting corpses, and then there were ones that were still managing to crawl along.  She wasn't keen on the idea of moving on, but her supplies were getting low.  The truth was, not everyone was dead because of the infected.  Illness took so many.  With no water, no corpse disposal, people got sick, and once they died, they made things worse. 

She pulled her hair back into a tight braid and tucked it into her shirt.  She wore things that were as close to her body as she could get them.  She had learned that anyone or anything that could get a grip on you, could get a bite out of you. She was thankful for her training on the police force.  Even if she hadn't stayed on the force long, it was coming in handy now.  Her body guard experience did more for her right now though.  She began gathering her weapons, yes guns and ammo were nice to have, but the ammo would eventually run out.  She was actually very glad that the death toll had risen so quickly, it kept looting to a minimum.  The last she heard before official broadcasts stopped, the death toll was at about 80%. In a city this size, it meant there were about 100,000 people still alive.  

That was a fairly large number, but when you take into account that there would be many women, and women with children who would be holed up and unlikely to venture out, that number decreased significantly.  There were of course gangs, and large groups to be concerned about, but if you traveled quietly it would likely be as safe as it could get.  

She made sure she not only had her gun, but a large knife as well.  She knew the next stop on her destination, she needed to hit a military surplus store.  They would have things she could use, if she was lucky no one else would be there and she could hole up there for a while.  

She slipped out the door of what had once been her home, keeping her back against the rough wooden exterior.  She wanted to keep things from sneaking up behind her as much as possible.  She slipped a mask over her nose and mouth to reduce the amount of contaminants she breathed in.  This wasn't going to be easy.  She jogged from one building to another, her eyes scanning around her, including the ground.  She didn't want to risk being pulled down and swarmed.  


She drew in a sharp breath as she pressed herself against the porch of her neighbors house.  There was a small group of three or four of the dead making their way down the street in the opposite direction she was heading.    She forced herself to take slow calming breaths so as not to give herself away.   Once they were past her she continued on her way, keeping her eyes out for both the dead and the living.  It was the living she feared.  The dead were predictable, the living were not.  


The journey towards the store she had in mind was taking far longer than she thought. She had been on short rations, so her body was getting more and more exhausted as the day wore on.  Just a few more..."SHIT!" She thought to herself.  There was about 5 things heading straight for her.  She glanced around, but there was really no where to hide.  She pressed her back against the brick of what had once been a bank.  She tried the door, but it was locked from the inside.  That would be no refuge for her today.  She inched slowly along the building, her eyes wide as her path brought her closer to the group.  "This is stupid Ray.  Five against 1.  Today is not a good day to die."  she told herself.  She drew her knife.  You had to take out the brain, she hoped she wouldn't have to shoot.  It might bring more attention this way than she could handle.   


Her foot slipped on a discarded soda can and it skittered noisily along the concrete.  It had the unfortunate side effect of drawing the attention of the group.  She clenched her jaw, adjusted the grip on her knife and prepared to fight.