Chapter One: The Chase

She was running, her ponytail blowing in the massive wind storm. Sweat beaded down her forehead, mixed with falling rain and a little bit of blood.

The blood wasn't hers.

How did she get here? Running away from the monsters who'd torn her father away in front of her eyes.

She kept running, rounding a street corner and dodging rusted cars standing in her way. The thick grass in between the cracks of the streets was slowing her down. She needed to get indoors, somewhere safe.

But is anywhere safe?

She ducked her head under a fallen telephone pole, knocking a few of the monsters to the ground. She didn't even know what to call them. Her Dad had called them all sorts of names, mostly profane words though. B******s, A******s. But one word did stick out among the rest.

"Walkers! Run Alice! Run!"

She winced at the thought of his words. The mixture of cold air and wet rain turning to slushy snow began eating her nose raw. She was soaked, which made the situation that much worse. She turned another corner. There was a bridge only a few blocks away, really bigbridge. Her legs burned from the extreme exertion of energy. She wanted to live.

Closer. It was getting closer. If it was a cloudless day, she would be able to see the setting sun over the horizon. The snow pounded hard on her, making her loose her grip to the concrete and slip a few times. She lifted her arms up over her eyes, shielding the snow flakes from her vision. There it was. The entrance. The toll booth. She hopped over the guard rail and climbed on top of the first car she encountered. The whole bridge was littered with them from one side to the other. All she had to do now was focus on her jumping and just keep running. The added obstacles slowed the Walkers down a lot. She began to sigh in relief. They were good runners, but bad climbers.

She was halfway across the bridge when she realized her next problem.

There was a giant gap between this side of the bridge and that side. It wasn't too far ahead now, and she began to panic, unsure of how she'd get across without falling into the icy waters of what her father called the Hudson River. She remembers fishing with him there one day, a long time ago. He used to tell her stories of what the city was like way back when things were normal. Before she was born.

The one thing he never liked talking about was the monsters.

The Walkers.

She reached the end. The gap was too big to jump over. She turned to face her enemy, far enough behind for her to think something out.

There was a bus halfway across the gap, stuck by metal framing and steel cables. It was likely going to fall with her added weight, but if she could get on top of it and jump as it fell, she could possible make it.

So she climbed. Her legs were aching, wanting to rest so badly. The yellow paint was beginning to get covered in white, and she had to take care precaution about walking on top of that thing. She slowly made her way toward the end, crawling on her knees to get to the front.

She wished so bad that her father was here to protect her. She wish she had the guts to hold a gun, to shoot them.

She slipped. Her grip fell to one of the broken windows on the side of the bus. /the glass had cut one of her hands, making her cry out in pain. She used her arms to pull her inside. She heard the bus creak as she lifted herself in, and it swayed a bit when she fell onto one of the brown cushioned chairs.

The aisle was thin and had stuff covering the ground. Clothes, suitcases, garbage. She made note not to look in the seats. She knew what was there. She just didn't want to see the skeletons. The windshield was also broken, so she cautiously climbed out, standing up. The nose of the bus began to tip forward.

Now was her chance.She lept across, jumping as far as she could. She reached the other side, but barely. She was hanging on for life now, listening to the sound of the bus crash into the water. Her arms, so tired, began shaking as she pulled herself over and she rolled onto her back.

She was finally safe.

She was ready to survive. To live.

Author's Note

If the text looks weird, it's because I copy-pasted it from the original posting I made. I figured that was easier than going through it and re-writing. :L