A Candle in the Dark

There was a dull thud as the monster fell to the ground, an arrow protruding from the side of it’s head. Seconds later, two others had followed suit. With tentative feet and her crossbow raised and loaded, Astrid approached the lifeless creatures. She kicked at one with her foot and, satisfied that it would not be moving any time soon, she pulled her arrow from it’s brain and wiped it on the grass. Astrid did the same with the two other arrows and put all three back into her quiver.

It unnerved her that they had started to travel in groups without tearing each other apart. Up until that point she’d only had to kill one at a time, two on the rare occasion that there was another within range of her bow. But three at once was unusual, and she wondered if they were growing an acquired taste for live flesh.

Astrid whistled. Within moments a large German Shepherd loped forward from the tree line, tail swishing back and forth in the air. The dog went straight for Astrid and ran her tongue over the young woman’s open palm. “Hey, Monroe,” Astrid murmured, scratching her companion’s ears. “I thought I told you not to wander off.”

The dog, Monroe, gave her master what could be a sheepish look. She licked Astrid’s wrist and her tail twitched.

“Okay, fine. Just don’t do it again.”

They left the clearing, returning to the relative safety of the woods. It would be getting dark soon, which meant that more would be coming whether they attacked each other or Astrid and her dog. She needed to find a place to stay for the night, and soon.

Astrid and Monroe went through the forest at a rapid pace, their eyes and ears alert for any sign of life, if you could call what the creatures had life. With every minute that passed, Astrid hoped that they were heading in the direction of civilization.

Time passed slowly, and no more of the creatures appeared. When the sun inched lower in the sky, the woods thinned and a road stretched out before them. Astrid breathed a sigh of relief and set off down it, assuring herself that a house was bound to be along the road somewhere. After ten minutes of walking, the buildings began to rise on the horizon. If they were lucky, Astrid and Monroe had an hour before it was dark.

It took some time to find a house suitable to stay in. The one Astrid chose, with chipped blue paint and dead flowers in it’s window boxes, had a sturdy door and boarded up windows. It would have to do. She and Monroe searched the house for monsters before Astrid barricaded the door with a mould infested sofa. While Monroe explored another room, Astrid found the kitchen and went through the cupboards for non-perishable food. She found a can of soup and a small box of saltine crackers. Astrid grinned, she had finally found something that would accompany the peanut butter from two days earlier. Monroe would enjoy the beef in the soup.

Astrid rolled out her sleeping bag on the floor where the sofa had been, setting down her crossbow next to her. Then she rifled through her backpack for the jar of peanut butter, her mouth watering at the prospect of eating their first meal that day. There had been no time in the morning, with the creatures surrounding the house they had stayed in and then not wanting to stop on the long walk through the forest to the next town.

Monroe had stretched out to her left, watching Astrid’s movements. The young woman procured her can opener and let Monroe enjoy the beef soup. It was a sight to see, the large dog awkwardly ate out of the can but still managed to get every last morsel in her mouth. Astrid ate slowly by comparison, savouring every bite, because she wasn’t entirely sure when her next meal would be.