Survival

A short story I wrote today on index cards while "in hiding", inspired by my experiences with the game Humans vs. Zombies, with the help of "Moving" by Secret Garden.

By this point, I couldn't breathe. They were all around us. And by "all" I mean ALL around us, no exits. These monstrous beings, all unseeing, unfeeling, unthinking... The thought of becoming one of them truly terrified me. They were driven only by that primal need to eat, and unfortunately for us, we were their targets.

Up until now, it had been fairly easy to fend them off. A single well-aimed bullet to the head was all it took to destroy those we encountered, sparing us a considerable amount of ammunition. We were lucky, the three of us. We were among the last.

They'd started gaining power, though, weeks ago. That was when we had fled our dorm, fled the campus, fled the town. Slowly, it seemed, the entire population was succumbing. Becoming like them. 

Now, here we stood, completely unsure of what to do. Our ammunition was very precious, and had been exceedingly difficult to obtain. I was fairly certain that neither Alan nor Geoff particularly wanted to commit another robbery, and I sure as hell didn't, but we had no choice. Unless we were to die here, which none of us were having. No, we would mow them all down, spray them with bullets. We wouldn't have time to aim, so some of it would go to waste, but I tried to convince myself that it would be worth it.

The three of us moved into our triangular formation that had worked so well in the past, each of us hoping to God that it would do the trick just once more. Alan raised his gun, and Geoff and I followed suit.

"Ready?" Alan asked us, clearly concentrating on his targets. He must have known exactly what he was going to do, which ones he'd hit immediately and which ones he'd save for later. God, he was so smart... If any of us had to live, it was Alan. He was far too brilliant to die. It was on behalf of his tactics that I still lived.

"Cora!"

The sound of my name snapped me out of my thoughts. I'd stopped paying attention again, hadn't I? Cora, you can't lose focus. You have to stay alert. Drifting away will get you killed.

"Yeah, erm, sorry," I apologized quickly, wanting to hit myself in the face for being so dim. "I'm ready."

"Okay... FIRE!"

With that, we were off, and I suddenly felt as though I'd been physically ripped from my body, and I was watching myself from above. The creatures advanced, but I saw them in slow-motion, like time had been slowed down just for us. Instinctively I knew where to turn, which to shoot, where to look. 

Exhilaration rushed through my veins as one row, then another, then another all fell at my feet. Their numbers were dwindling, and as I took down another, considerably smaller row, a hopeful feeling crept into my brain. Two words filled me with drive and pushed me onward: We'll survive.

And we would. We could do this.

Author's Note

minor edits from the original, which was written on the spot and all at once.