Blue Through the Grey

I knew the outside world was bad, but I didn’t know how bad. My dad sheltered me, he didn’t want me to know what was going on outside, but he also wanted me to be prepared. He taught everything, shooting, fighting. He was a great man, even when he came down with the sickness, he still kept his cool. I miss him everyday. The snow is deep and cold, but the sun is bright for the first time in months. It shines in the blanket of white, almost making it unbearable. The smell of fresh air lingers in my nose, it’s a lot better than the smell of rotting bodies. For three months, flesh cooked in the sun, the wind blew the odor even to the farthest of farmlands.
Most people died when the virus hit, I don’t know exactly what it was, but now survivors are getting sick and it’s not the sickness that wiped out the population, it’s turns them into...monsters. My rifle is my best friend, I keep it snug in my hands, I don’t know what I’m going to see out here. Aliens? Monsters? God, I shouldn’t have to worry about things this, no human should have to worry about a fucking alien dropping down into their home and shooting lasers at them. The world fell apart, and we had to get stronger.

Behind me, a noise I’m so familiar with, the noise my dad made as he turned into a violent creature, right before my brother took his head off. But there’s not just one noise, there’s two, and then three. Eventually, I lose count and reluctantly turn around to see my foes. A group of them, a group of those...I’ll call them stalkers, cause that’s what they do. They see me, I see them. Now it’s a game of who’s gonna take off first. I won’t be able to run fast, the snow is too deep. The decision is final, I run. The forest is just up ahead, I could probably lose them. I try to run, but I just can’t make it through all the snow. I look behind me, they seem to have no problem, they’re sprinting. My heart beats so fast, it could fly out of my chest. I take off running, slicing through the snow, not even paying attention. My life is on the line. I make into the woods, the snow isn’t as heavy. I can run a bit faster, and so can they. My lungs are on fire. Here I am, just celebrated my 15th birthday by myself, now I’m running from a pack of wild virus ridden people. I leap for a limb and grab tight. My arms are too weak and I don’t think I’ll be able to pull myself up. One grabs onto my leg, I get a glimpse of it’s face. Blood running down it’s cheeks, flesh between it’s broken teeth, it’s eyes bloodshot. I kick it in the face over and over until it lets go. I pull myself up and climb high enough to where they can’t get me. I take deep breaths, trying to fill my lungs with oxygen. Those things were people once, I thought I even recognized one. They stand at the bottom, trying to climb but failing. I grab my pistol, I dropped my rifle when I started climbing. I don’t know if these things are like zombies or whatever, but I’ll aim for the head.
Bam, one down. Then another, and another. When they’re all dead, I climb down. My rifle is somewhere underneath the mess of bodies. I close my eyes, take a deep breath and start to push around the corpses. I grab the gun quickly and pull it out. My hand gets snatched by a stalker that wasn’t properly put down. It sinks it’s teeth into my wrist. I let out a scream so loud that it could reach the cosmos. I shoot it with my free hand and fall to the ground, holding the wound.
“Fuck.” I say to myself. “Oh fuck.”
I wait a few seconds, nothing happens. I wait minutes, still nothing happens. I bandage the wound and hope I don’t die.
I find myself on the highway, not knowing how I got there. My head is fuzzy and my eyes are blurry. I can feel the wind pick up and the snowflakes smack against my face. I fall to the ground, looking up at the sky that just a little bit ago, was shining bright.

I wake up in a small room. A table beside me, tubes in my arms. I look at the bite mark on my arm, it’s not fully healed and looks kinda gross. A door opens with a whistle and in walks a woman. Her skin is a beautiful brown and her hair flows down to her shoulders.
“Hello.” She smiles.
“Where am I?.” I ask.
“You’re in Refugee City, just outside Cincinnati. We found you on the road. You were in direct contact with the Virals.” She points at the bite.
“Yeah. Shouldn’t I be...dead, or undead by now?.”
“You’re immune.” She checks some things and unhooks me from all the tubes. “There’s a few people here like you.”
She hands me a coat, it’s clean and smells great. “It’s cold outside.”
I slide on the coat and follow her down long winding halls and then outside. The outside grounds are huge and also snug. Shacks, work trailers, tents, small fires, this really is a city. Refugee City.
“These are all survivors.” I say to myself, surprised.
“I take it you haven’t seen many people.”
“No.” I smile, almost tearing up. “The only people I had seen was...the men that killed my horse.”
She puts her hand on my shoulder. “How old are you?.”
“I just turned 15 a few days ago.”
She looks at me in shock. “And you managed to stay alive this long?.”
“I know how to fight. My name is Ellie by the way.”
“You can call me Alexa. Come to me if you need anything. You’ll be in bunkhouse 10.”
I make my way to the bunkhouse, I can feel eyes watching me as I walk. The bunkhouse is a shipping container turned into a small home. It’s very cozy, windows, microwave, bathroom. My stuff is sitting by a bed, which probably means that’s mine.
“Hi.” A girl says. “I’m Jo.”
“Ellie.” I say, I shake her hand and plop down on the bed. I look up her and see she’s reading something. “Dude. Is that Dark of ages? That’s like my favorite comic.”
“Hell yeah it is.” She smiles. “Finally someone in this damn place has some good taste.”
I reach into my bag and pull out a comic. “Issue 8, Dark of Ages Vs. Boobzilla. Last they’ll make.” I hand it to her. “It’s a great read...If you’re into Boobzillas.”
“You were sent from heaven, weren’t you?.” She laughs.
“Possibly.” I lay down and stare up at the ceiling.