Twisted Condemnation

Strangers

September 7, 2026

"This is it, the apocalypse, woah, I'm waking up, I feel it in my bones..." Imagine Dragons

Ezra twisted back in his seat, taking in the infected that were still banging against our windows. "Jenna, come here," Erza ordered, leaning against the center console.

She didn't move or respond, she just continued holding her hands over her ears with her eyes tightly squeezed shut. I glanced back at the man who was frantically waving his hand over his head at us. I contemplated our next move seeing as following a stranger seemed dangerous, but what choice did we really have? "We need to move," I mumbled to Ezra.

"Jenna," Ezra spoke more urgently, beginning to crawl over the console himself. I snatched my bow off of the floorboard as he unzipped the duffel. When I turned back to them, he held out one of the hunting knives to me.

I studied the three infected that were still lingering on our side, as I heard Jenna's buckle click. "Let me go out first. Clear them out for you two," I announced back to Ezra.

"No," he shook his head.

"You have Jenna. It is safer for her," I rebuked, my fingers wrapping around the plastic door handle. He shot me an unsure look, before he glanced down at Jenna, sighing as he nodded his head. Sporadic explosions were still going off in the distance, giving us a chance.

I pulled on the plastic handle and tried to push the door open, but with the weight of the two infected at my door it would barely budge. Still holding the handle open, I slammed my shoulder against the door, hurling the infected into the concrete below.

I jumped out, as the infected were trying to fumble back to their feet. Their decaying putrid stench immediately overtook my nostrils. Something I most certainly did not miss.

While the closest one was almost up, I harshly brought the knife into its temple, releasing an awful squelching noise, as the knife penetrated its skull.

I kicked back the other, sending it stumbling back into the concrete. Cold hands clawed at my neck, tugging at my maroon sweatshirt. I twisted my body back to the creature, just as the back of the truck door flew open, knocking it off balance to its knees.

A grunt left my lips while I jabbed the knife into the infected's red eye. A stomach churning goo oozed out with the knife. I turned back to the last infected on this side, using my weight I slammed it into the side of the truck. Thrusting the knife into his skull. My eyes flicked to behind the truck where a group of a dozen infected were staggering back this way at the commotion.

I nocked an arrow, pulling back the string, letting the arrow fly into the head of an infected woman that had made it to the bed of the truck. Ezra's feet hit the concrete, and we ran towards the man, with a dozen if not more infected on our tails. The man brushed his wavy mahogany hair out of his sweat doused face, as we approached the barricade. I climbed onto the hood of a red honda, sliding over it to the other side.

As soon as my feet were planted I set my bow against the car holding out my arms for Jenna. Ezra passed her to me, she instantly buried her head into my neck. Ezra snatched my bow, as we continued towards the tall man.

"Come on," the man demanded, with a slight southern accent. His honey eyes were sweeping over the incoming infected. When we reached him, he turned and bolted into a trash cluttered alleyway. I squeezed Jenna closer, as my feet pounded against the concrete, echoing around the stone buildings around us. Ezra tailing just behind us.

"This way," the man gestured with his head into a two story concrete building.

I entered the building behind the man, finding myself in a dingy office space. The wooden work desks were overturned, tossed documents and office supplies that were covered in dry blood littered the oak floor. A banner that was ripped at the center read, "Go Bulldogs."  Ezra shut the door behind himself, cautiously examining the tall, muscular man.