Heather

If Heather knew that she would start the day by finding a toddler, left alone in the middle of the road, she would have gone the other way. But here she was, with a toddler, at a burning motel, which wasn’t burning when they got there, and a zombie, surprisingly strong for someone missing half of its skin and muscles, bones exposed. She was lying on the ground, with the toddler next to her as she tried to shield her from the zombie. She kicked the zombie which only startled it a little, but not enough for it to let go of her.

 “Get away from me!” she screamed, while she furiously kicked it’s head, making the jaw dangle a little as she broke it on one side. If she had known this would have happened, she would have made sure to have her bag with her, where she kept her crowbar. It wasn’t like she was good at fighting with a crowbar, but it was the best weapon she had found for a while. 

When the zombie made an attempt to grab the toddler, Heather pulled the toddler away from the zombie, who was bawling her eyes out while struggling to crawl away, which made it even more difficult for Heather to protect her and herself. She kicked again, this time at its shoulder which broke the arm and made the zombie lose the arm, as the rotten flesh couldn’t keep the arm in place, and ripped apart, leaving the arm on the ground next to it. It didn’t seem bothered that it had lost it’s arm, only that now it had one arm, which made the zombie having to find a different way to get her.

That was when it tried to bite her and she shrieked as she tried to pull her leg away, then suddenly a gunshot could be heard, and the skull of the zombie almost exploded as it fell limp on top of her. For a second, she was startled but then she quickly pushed the zombie off her.

For a rotten body, it sure was heavy, as she struggled to get it off before finally managed to push it off her. She got up and picked up the toddler, softly trying to sooth her, as she was trembling and crying in her arms. She then heard the sounds of footsteps and turned to look in the direction of the sounds, weary of who was approaching and saw it was two guys.

The red-haired guy held onto a bat filled with nails and looked pretty intimidating; except he was looking at her with concerned, and strangely enough, kind eyes. The slightly taller guy, with brown hair, who was carrying a sniper rifle, was staring at the corpse on the ground while frowning.

Even though she was grateful that someone had helped her, she was cautious at the same time, since she had met people who acted like they were someone who she could trust, and then proved her wrong.

“Are you ok?” the red-haired guy asked as he looked at Heather. She looked down at herself, making sure she was indeed fine, then checks the kid before she looks at the guy and nodded.

“Good,” he flashed her a grin, and she gave him an awkward uncertain smile. The other guy was looking at her but seemed cautious. He seemed like he wasn’t happy to be there, as if he had been forced to follow the red head. Heather wasn’t sure how she felt about him, whereas the red head seemed kind enough, but she wasn’t going to trust them that easily.

Caz

Before any of them had a chance to introducing each other, a loud groan could be heard from the hotel. Out came an abominable zombie, its head was strangely bulgy with big lumps on the side of its head to its neck and down its right arm, which was three times as large as the left arm. It was a male, that was easy to see, as it didn’t have any clothes on, exposing its rotten flesh. It came groaning towards them, but it was slow, and Caz noticed it was because its right foot was a bit lumpy too and its left foot wasn’t even attached by the bone but was dragged behind it, with only a strip of flesh holding onto it. Keith cursed as he held up his bat, ready to defend the woman and kid.

"Keith," Caz started as he got down on one knee again and held up his sniper. "Do you think you can keep it preoccupied?" Keith looked at him slightly uncertain before his focus returned to the zombie.

“I can try,” he replied which was good enough for Caz. He had a feeling that the zombie might have a weak spot, where he could deal most damage, almost like in a video game, where the monsters sometimes had an obvious red mark, which was where you should hit to deal with it. He wasn’t sure it was going to be just as easy, but they didn’t have any other plan, so it was better to try than to run, which they probably could, if they didn’t have the woman and the kid with them.

Keith dumped his backpack onto the ground next to Caz and raised his bat then ran towards it, but sidestepped to the right, so he was next to the zombie.

“Hey, fuck face, I'm right here, come at take me!" he yelled to get the zombies attention and make it turn, so its side and back was visible to Caz. It groaned angrily at him and started to charge, the broken foot all of a sudden didn’t seem to be a problem anymore. Caz used the scope on his sniper to look for weaknesses, but it was hard to see any. If only they would glow up like in video games, but he had to use his wits and think logically where it could be. The girl had gone up behind him, likely to keep herself from getting in the way, but maybe also to use Caz as a shield. 

Keith bashed at the zombie, hitting its right arm which got punctured by the nails in the bat and ooze dripped from it. Keith grimaced as he sidestepped the monster and its ooze, but it was just what Caz needed. The lumps were probably puss filled, so if he could destroy all of them, especially around the head, then maybe he could deal enough damage to weaken it so that Keith could bash the head off.

Caz got into position, breathing calmly as to keep his focus on where to shoot, but also keep an eye out for Keith. The moment Keith was out of danger, Caz shot the lump on it’s neck, which almost exploded with yellow green puss, almost hitting Keith with it. Keith grimaced as he took a step back then scowled slightly at Caz before he returned his focus on the zombie. He decided to take the moment to hit it’s leg, forcing it to get down on one knee before he quickly stepped back, letting Caz shoot it. Caz didn’t miss the opportunity and shot at the zombies head, which exploded with puss but somehow still stayed on. He cursed under his breath and quickly fired another shot which damaged the zombies head enough that it was missing half of it’s neck.

As if Keith knew what Caz had planned, he took the opportunity that the zombie was down on it’s knees to aim for the neck, and swung his bat fast and hard, popping the zombies head right off. The zombie seemed paralyzed for a moment until it tumbled sideways, almost in slow motion and landed with a thud on the ground.

Caz exhaled and got up from the ground, securing his rifle, and watched a Keith ran over to him with the biggest grin on his face.

“Did you see that?!” he exclaimed proudly, and fist bumped the air. “Am I cool or what?” he laughed then aimed his fist at Caz, waiting. Caz looked at it and sighed before he fist bumped Keith before he shook his head and swung his rifle over his shoulder.

“Well, you wouldn’t have been able to without me,” Caz reminded him then glanced at the zombie before he turned to face the woman.

“I think we should be safe for a while, but nearby zombies might have heard the gunshots so we better leave,” he said as he glanced at Keith.

“Yeah, we better find shelter soon, or we might end up wandering in the dark,” Keith replied and looked at the woman. “I’m Keith,” he said and reached out his hand to the woman.

“Heather,” she replied and shook his hand briefly, but Caz could see she looked uncomfortable. He decided to introduce himself with a simple wave which she nodded in return.

“And who is this little guy?” Keith asked and leaned closer to the toddler in Heathers arms. The toddler frowned and pulled away from Keith, as far as it could in Heather’s arms, then turn it’s head to avoid looking at it. Keith frowned sadly, almost looking like a sad puppy, which Caz found amusing but decided to not react to.

“I don’t know, as I just found her wandering the streets,” Heather explained and looked at the toddler. Caz couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Here he was helping a woman and her kid, only for it to not be her kid but some strangers. Could this day get any worse, Caz thought and sighed a little.

“Well, doesn’t matter, we need to get going, I rather not stay here any longer if it means zombies will show up,” Keith said and crossed his arms. Caz nodded in agreement and looked around. He wasn’t sure where to go, as the motel was burning, so badly that there soon wouldn’t be anything left, and they couldn’t go back go their best guess would be to go in the direction neither Caz and Keith had been, nor Heather.

“Heather, in which direction did you come from?” He asked her.

Heather points to the other side of the motel. “I came from that direction. I was searching for a place to stay, when I stumbled upon this place” she said and looked at the kid that had dozed off. All the crying and screaming had probably taken its toll on it, then her eyes widen, and she looked around. “Ah, I am missing my bag, it should be here somewhere,” she said as she kept looking around.

“I think I saw it somewhere over near the building, I’ll go get it,” Keith said and hurried off before any of them could say anything.

Caz looked after Keith, impressed he noticed anything else other then the zombie as he fought, then turned his focus on Heather. “Let me guess, nothing good in your direction either?” Caz asked Heather who nodded in response.

“Yeah, unless you enjoy zombies,” Heather said sarcastically. Caz nodded and noticed Keith head in their direction, holding a shoulder bag, with a crowbar sticking out of it and Caz determined it couldn’t have much in it as it looked pretty empty. He glanced at Heather and wondered why she didn’t have more stuff as she took it from Keith’s hands, thanking him in the process. 

“So, what’s the plan?” Keith asked as he took on his backpack and secured the buckles, bouncing a little so make it more comfortable.

“Well, she didn’t come from the directions we are headed, so I guess we just have to move on and find a place to stay,” Caz said and made sure his backpack was comfortable on his shoulders.

“Unless you want to go back?” Keith suggested, which was probably more sarcastic suggestion then a serious one.

"Fuck no" he rasped. "Not after we got away from that thing," Caz reminded Keith and shook his head. “No, we should continue in the direction we were headed, and hope we find some shelter.”

Heather and Keith both nodded before Heather took off her brown checkered flannel shirt then took on her shoulder back, except she had it over her neck and decided to have the kid kind of sit on the bag, supporting it under the kid before she tried to tie the sleeves of the shirt around her stomach and kid, maybe to use it as support for the kid so she had her arms free Caz thought. Keith seemed to notice what she wanted to try and asked her if he could help. She nodded and let him tie it behind her, making sure it wouldn’t go up before he stepped away. Heather thanked him with a kind smile, then looked at Caz.

“Is it ok for me to tag along, just until we reach the next city or something?” She asked and Caz knew he would be an asshole if he said no, as they had just saved her and the kid, and if they abandoned them now, he might as well had let the zombie kill her. 

“Sure, though I’m not sure for how long, I mean, you want to go to the nearest safe town right?” He asked her for confirmation.

For a moment she hesitated before she looked down at the kid and nodded. “Sure, that would be the best.” Caz nodded and looked at Keith.

“Then we better get going,” he said, and they all started to walk. 

They walked for half an hour in silence. Caz glanced at Heather who seemed kind of uncomfortable as she tried to adjust the kid and the bag, but she didn’t say anything, almost as if she didn’t want to let the others know. Caz glanced at Keith who as glancing at him, almost as if they both had the same thought, but none of them said anything. Then they reached a point of the road where the road forked out into three roads.

“Which one?” Keith asked and looked at Caz, almost he expected him to know the answer. Caz looked a little hesitant at the roads, unable to figure out where to go, as he had no idea where they were or what could lie ahead.

“I think we need to go left,” Heather said and both Caz and Keith looked at her in question. “I saw a map before I got to the motel, and if I remember there should be a small town with a mall not long away from here, might take an hour on foot,” Heather said. Caz frowned a little at her. An hour on foot, to a mall that probably wasn’t even safe, but it wasn’t safe here either.

“What about the other roads, where do they go?” He asked her. 

“Well the straight road takes us to a town, but I heard it’s over runner with zombies, plus it would take us three hours at least, and the road to our right just goes to a highway with nothing in sight for miles, which means maybe half a day on foot to the nearest big city,” she explained. Caz listened as he though and nodded. They couldn’t go much longer as the sun would be setting before they get there, plus they would need to rest soon. Taking a chance on the zombie town were out of the question but who’s to say the other town weren’t full of zombies too?

“I guess we go left,” Caz said as he had no idea what else they should do. He wished he had a map so he could weigh his options better but for now, they just had to hope going to the mall won’t be a bad choice.

“You sure?” Keith asked hesitant, but when Caz nodded, he sighed a little and accepted the answer.

“We better get going then,” Keith said, and they started walking down the road and hopefully towards the zombie free town.