Apocalypse

She looked down at the lifeless body of her friend and let go of the baseball bat. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she kneeled down beside him, avoiding carefully to look at his bashed in skull.

“I'm sorry”, she cried, squeezing his cold hand. “I'm so, so sorry.”

Finally, she let go of her friend's hand and picked up a shovel.

“I'm gonna give you a proper burial, John. That's the least I can do for you”, she promised the dead man as she started digging.

Hours later, the exhausted teenage girl dragged the body to the hole in the ground. At the same moment the body rolled into its grave, the rain came pouring down. The girl cursed and used up her last strength to cover up the corpse with soil, before went to seek shelter in a nearby decayed house.

Inside, she found a dry spot where she rolled out her sleeping bag and crawled inside. The physical and mental exhaustion allowed her to sleep deeper than she had done in weeks.

She was woken up by the sound of moans and sat up abruptly, instinctively grabbing at the bowie knife she always kept close to her. After fumbling in the darkness for a moment, realization hit. She hadn't brought any weapons with her when she went into the old house.

Her heart started racing as the moaning came closer. The floor boards creaked not far from her and she couldn't stop herself from screaming in pure horror. The scream guided the moaning creatures towards her as she panickedly crawled out of the sleeping bag.

The sound of the suffering creatures got closer, causing the floor boards around her to squeak. She breathed raggedly as she stood with her back against the wall, trying to discern a way past the unholy creatures. When she couldn't find any way out, she prepared herself to fight with her bare hands to save herself. 'And if I get bit', she thought to herself 'I'll end my life before I turn, so that no one else will have to do it'.

The creatures started closing up on her. She balled her fists and bit her lip in determination. 'If I don't make it, I'll get to see John again. And Mom. And Dad.' The thought comforted her as she prepared herself to fight till death.' At least I won't go without a fight', she thought as she threw a punch at the undead creature closest to her. The creature flinched at the impact, but kept moving towards her along with the others. The adrenaline rush the girl just had experienced was washed by fear as she felt their hands grabbing at her.

A second scream left her lungs. When she was just about to give in, she could see a light outside the window. 'A flashlight?' Again, adrenaline took over and she roughly pulled the creatures' hands off her as she gave another scream.

All of sudden the light was shining upon her and the unholy creatures. Before she knew it the head of one of the was penetrated by an arrow.

“Take this”, her savior called from the other side of the room, throwing her a handgun. She caught the heavy object in the air and started to execute the undead closest to her, meanwhile the cross-bower systematically penetrated head after head with his arrows.

When all the undead laid dead across the floor, the man with the crossbow approached her.

“Thank you”, she said in a weak voice, offering him the gun.

“Are you bit?” the man asked in a southern accent, giving her an incredulous look.

“No”, the girl replied severely. “And if I was, I would rather kill myself than turn into one of those... creatures.”

“Keep the gun. It might be useful, even though you're a lousy shot”, the man muttered and started to pull the arrows out of the now dead creatures.

“Thanks”, the girl accepted, placing the gun in her belt. “Wait”, she said as she man began to walk away from her. He turned to look at her with narrowed eyes.

“I'm not taking you with me”, he said, before she had the time to speak.

“I wasn't going to ask you to do that”, she said angrily, trying to hide her disappointment. “Could you just help me get my things back?”

“I guess, but let it be quick”, he replied with a shrug and she led the way towards where she'd dug the grave. There were no undead in sight. She picked up her backpack that she'd left on the ground near the grave, put the sheeted bowie knife into one of her knee highs and grabbed the baseball bat. She was glad that the rain had washed away John's blood from the bat.

“What the hell were you doing in the house without any of these weapons?” the stranger asked in disbelief. The girl just shrugged ashamedly and walked over to the grave. “Did you dig this?” the man asked and she nodded slowly, trying to hold back the tears.

“He got bit and wasn't strong enough to do it himself, so I had to do it. But I just couldn't, not until he turned into one of them. He was suffering so much, and yet I couldn't do it”, she confessed to the stranger in a shaky voice and kneeled in front of the fresh grave. “If only I'd had this”, she said and picked up the gun. “It would have been easier, quicker and less painful... but I had to bash his damn skull in. Of course I couldn't do while he was still alive.” She held the gun towards her temple.

“What are you doing?!” the man shouted in astonishment. “Are you going to kill yourself after all the trouble I went through saving you?”

“I will die sooner or later anyway”, the girl replied in a shaky voice. “What just happened is proof enough that I won't be able to make it alone.”

The man snatched the gun out of her grip before she had the time to react. “What are you doing?” the girl asked angrily, turning around to glare at him.

“Stupid bitch! I didn't give you the gun so that you could shoot yourself in the head with it!”

“What do you care? You're going to leave me here all alone anyway!” she shouted back at him, finally bursting into tears.

The man glared at her for a moment before grabbing her by the arm, pulling her up into standing position. “If you come with me, you gotta keep up with me 'cause I won't let you slow me down. Understood?”

The girl looked up at him in astonishment and nodded her head.