Prologue: No Escape

“Pick it up, Theresa. We have to keep moving,” Billy said as he lifted his backpack higher on his shoulder.

“I need a break, please,” Theresa huffed and nearly collapsed against the brick wall of the alley. “We’ve been running for three blocks. We had to have lost them by now.”

Billy turned to look at his sister. Her face was flushed and sweat poured down her forehead. If he didn’t agree to let her catch her breath, he’d be forced to carry her until they found a decent place to hide. “Fine. Three minutes, then we need to go.”

As Theresa took a seat on a stack of pallets, Billy paced around the area, keeping watch. He couldn’t relax, not with the horde so close. But they weren’t the only impending danger. “Do you have any water left?” she asked, tossing her bottle into the dumpster behind her.

Billy handed over a half-empty bottle and watched as his sister finished the last of their drinking water. “Ready?”

“That was not three minutes yet,” she sighed, stretching her legs out in front of her as she took in a deep breath.

“Reese, we need to go,” Billy replied, turning his back to the alley entrance as he nearly pleaded for his sister to get up. “Or I can just leave you here.”

“Alright, just…wait ok?” It had been a while since she was able to sit and enjoy the outdoors. Peace was a foreign concept even with the safety she felt around her brother. Reluctantly, Theresa stood up from the pallets and gathered her things. She knew her brother was right. If they didn’t find a place before night, they would not make it to morning. “Behind you!” It was nearly a whisper, barely audible. Billy turned to look and retrieved an axe from his bag. 

The creature was shuffling along just a few paces ahead of him. Its right arm was dislocated and hanging at its side. Its ankle was twisted; the skin discolored and bloody like the rest of its visible flesh. It was hunting, like so many of its kind did; looking for living bodies to feast on.

“Stay back,” he said and waited for Theresa to clear the area. The zombie moved closer. Billy raised his arm and took a swing, connecting with a solid strike to its head. It fell to the ground, moaning in anguish. Lifting the axe, he brought it down over and over again. On the third blow, its skull cracked, on the fourth, the head split open with a sickening squelch.

“You ok?” Theresa nodded her head. “Now we really need to go.” Grabbing her by the arm, he pulled her out of the alley behind him. Looking around, Billy checked for any sign of life before heading into the direction from where the zombie came. They were still in need of shelter, a good escape from the streets before nightfall. As they walked, they checked some of the abandoned business fronts to see if they were unlocked. 

Ahead of them were several small fires burning in garbage cans and dumpsters, burning the dead. Quickly, they ducked into the doorway of an apartment building. Since the initial outbreak, everything had changed. Zombies were no longer the only entities threatening human existence and a recently lit fire was cause for concern.

It was a sign of the BioCore Militia or BCM for short. The BCM was a group of ex-militants decked out in tactical gear and armed with military-grade weapons. They had been hired by the pharmaceutical company to clean up the cities by killing the undead to eradicate the plague. That might have been a good thing if they didn’t kill the living as well.

They’d had their share of encounters with the group and weren’t in a rush for an encore. The last was about two weeks ago when they saw them on a zombie killing spree. Thinking they were safe, Theresa was about to approach them when another girl beat her to it. Falling to the ground in relief, she begged them for help but her pleas were ignored. The BCM had other plans for her. The bullet in her head was the only mercy they offered. Her screams haunted them to this day.

As they prepared to head away from the area, movement caught Billy’s eye. It was a man, lying face down in the middle of the street. He appeared to be dead but Billy noticed signs of life; his chest rose and fell with shallow breathing. Fresh blood poured from a wound on his side. Judging by the amount of blood, he hadn’t been there long. “Let’s go,” Theresa said, watching the wheels spinning in Billy’s head. “It’s too late for him.”

“We don’t know that. Look,” he pointed at the man and sure enough, the fingers on his right hand moved.

“Yeah? And what if he was bitten? He could turn into one of them any minute.”

“You’re right,” he sighed. There was a chance of him being infected but there was also a possibility of saving him and maybe creating another ally in their battle for survival.

Billy watched a moment longer before finally making up his mind. Taking a hesitant step into the street, he stopped suddenly as a realization hit him. What if this was a trap? They’d seen and done quite a bit since the world exploded, including setting their own traps when out scavenging for supplies. Was this someone else’s plan of ambush? 

He stepped back beside Theresa as he once again considered his options. “There’s no point. He’s going to die,” Theresa tried again, this time tugging on her older brother’s arm in an attempt to get him moving again.

The man jerked once more and Billy’s mind was made; he moved quickly from the sidewalk toward him. Rolling him over, Billy checked his injuries. His upper body as well as the ground beneath him was covered in blood but, something was off.

Then it happened. The movement was so fast that if he’d have blinked, he would have missed it. The man pulled a knife from his boot and slashed at his throat, forcing him to jump back. In the next instance, a bullet whizzed by his head, barely missing him before burying itself in the street near his leg. “BILLY!” Theresa cried out.

Turning on his heels, he snatched his sister’s hand and together they ran as fast as they could down the street, ducking under cars and other obstacles for cover. Moments later they could hear the heavy pounding footsteps of someone chasing after them. Theresa felt a pull in her side and her hand moved to it. Now was not the time to nurse a cramp. Hastening their pace, they turned into an alleyway, searching for an open building or anything that could save their lives.

Just as they were about to reach the end of the alley, Theresa spotted a fire escape ladder. “There!” They jumped for it, climbing as quickly as possible with Billy pulling up the rear.

“SHIT!” Billy grumbled as he lost his grip on his axe and watched it tumble over the railing and down to the ground. Theresa stopped to check that her brother was ok and felt him push against her rear. “Keep going!”

Heavy boots plodded up the metal steps below them but neither dared look to see how many were shadowing. At best guess at least four and, without his axe, they were defenseless against them. The steps were getting closer. Their pursuers were gaining on them. They needed to get some distance now or risk losing everything…and Billy wouldn’t let them take his sister. He couldn’t.

An open window caught his attention. Pushing Theresa faster, he directed her through it and slammed it shut behind him. Ignoring the lock, they clambered to their feet and tumbled through the empty apartment, hoping they didn’t run into any zombies as neither had a weapon.

They found their way into the hall and quickly turned to the left, searching for a way back to the street. As they darted around the next corner, a hand reached out and grabbed Theresa, pinning her against the wall. It was the man that had lured her brother earlier. Theresa screamed and kicked her knee into his groin, causing him to double over in pain. Billy spun around, grabbing at the man’s knife and quickly stabbed the blade down to the hilt into his temple. The man fell to the ground in a slump.

“Reese?” For a moment, Theresa sat there staring at his body, eyes wide and unable to move. A crashing in the apartment brought her back to the present and she hurriedly sprinted after her brother down the hallway.

The siblings rushed down a new set of stairs, taking them two at a time. By the time they reached the first floor landing, the pain in Theresa’s side had increased and she paused to take a breath. Her heart pounded violently and her lungs burned from the strain of running so hard. “I need a minute.”

“Not now. We gotta keep going. We need to get away from these guys,” Billy urged. Opening the front door, he rushed out into the streets, dragging his sister behind him.

“Where to now?” she asked, finding them right back where they’d started. They took off down another side alley but it wasn’t long before they heard the telltale sounds of the BCM. The door opened behind them and three militants stepped onto the street. They had guns strapped to their backs but they wanted to take their time and make this last. They were all holding a weapon of some kind; each deadlier than the last. This was how they derived their pleasure.

“Wait. Please.”

“We’ll wait…but only long enough to decide who goes first with her,” the one in the front grinned and took a step forward.

Suddenly, a barrage of bullets rocked the trio of soldiers, splitting their chests open and exploding the sides of their skulls. Billy threw himself over his sister as one bullet after another erupted in the narrow backstreet. One–by-one he heard their bodies hit the pavement. And after what felt like hours, the shooting stopped.

Billy ventured a peek over his shoulder and stood in wide-eyed amazement. A truck, decked out for zombie hunting, was parked just a few yards away and near it, their salvation. “Hi, I’m Matt. A group of us are holed up at the prison. Come with me if you want to live.”

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