A simple supply hunt for a source of water in the middle of Atlanta turns sour quickly for Erin as she come fist to face with a fuming, handless Merle Dixon.
Alone in the middle of the apocalypse with only a racist guy who doesn't know the differen...
"Hold on to every breath of life in a world of sacrifice." World Of Sacrifice, Black Veil Brides
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Keeping her mind off of the few rogue strays that had noticed her leaving in the hopes they wouldn't follow, Erin ran down the side street next to the building, avoiding the open and packed main roads in favour of the smaller alleyways with only one or two strays ambling around. The first one she came to barely had chance to groan before she cut it down with her machete in her left hand, finishing it off with a blow to the head from the stiletto dagger in her right.
This drew the attention of one further down the street, standing gormlessly between her and the road her truck was parked up on. Behind, she could still hear Merle attacking things with her bat and, by the sounds of it, the glass hadn't given way yet so she pushed her worries for his safety to the back of her mind. She figured he was probably older than her, meaning he was old enough to look after himself - she wasn't going to hang around as his babysitter...
Moaning angrily, the other stray began to pick up speed, rushing towards her only to meet the tip of her dagger as it sliced through its eye and into its frontal lobe. It let out a pained sigh, sliding to the ground at her feet while she wiped the blood from the blade onto the worn thigh of her jeans, stepping over it and continuing down the street.
She kept a keen eye out for any others, staying alert and checking the street behind her when she was satisfied ahead was clear. The strays who had noticed her exit appeared to have gone back towards Merle and the building, perhaps deciding he was making a more interesting noise, so her coast was clear on both sides so far.
As she approached the corner, she stayed against the wall of the building opposite, remaining out of sight in case of any creatures lurking down the road that could see her. Cautiously, she poked her head round and cursed under her breath, eyes wide at the sight.
"Shit..."
About twenty metres along, exactly where she'd left it, was her trusty green truck but that wasn't what concerned her. No, what really worried her was what was standing, or rather shuffling, twenty metres beyond that...
Filling the street for as far as she could see past the truck, ambling along at their own slow pace, was a fully fledged mob of strays. There must have been over a hundred, all wandering towards her or more likely the sound behind her, their stench hitting her nose all at once like a pair of Todd's socks but a thousand times stronger.
She began frantically weighing up the options in her head; if she turned back and returned to Merle, they would both be trapped, quickly killed by the strays if he didn't murder her first and the weapons in the truck would be lost; if she ran to the truck, there was a big chance the strays ahead of her would notice and she'd have over a hundred bodies hurtling towards her if she didn't start the engine fast enough.
In her eyes, neither sounded pretty appealing, but one ended in certain death so she figured her only option was to leg it to her truck - sooner rather than later as the mob was gaining ground on it every second she hesitated.
Taking a deep breath, she clutched both her knives close to her chest, cursing herself for letting Merle have the bat as it would have come in handy right about now. Her knuckles were burning white despite the warm air, tightly grasped around the hilts of both the blades which were glinting in anticipation for their next piece of action.
Erin decided not to let them wait any longer as she sucked in another breath, held it for a second, and then she was off, charging down the edge of the street. Her boots pounded on the asphalt, catching the attention of the strays much earlier than she'd hoped as the shuffling grew louder up ahead, but she didn't stop to check their distance. The wind blocked out their hungry groans, whistling past her ears and keeping her focused on the truck only ten metres away from her now - so nearly within her grasp.
At five metres, she dug her hand in her pocket, holding the dagger between her teeth for a moment as she grabbed the keys and unlocked the truck just as a couple of strays reached the bed of it. They began shaking the tailgate, pulling against the hinges as a few of their friends advanced towards Erin, drooling at the smell of human that filled the air around her.
But she was quicker than them. She had a brain which, when met with a bunch of the brainless undead, gave her quite the upper hand unsurprisingly. By the time the strays had got halfway down the truck, she was already in the driver's seat, shoving the keys in the ignition. The sound of the engine starting up drew even more creatures towards her as she slammed her foot on the accelerator and sped off down the street with them hot on her tail.
A glance in the rearview mirror showed her they were struggling to keep pace with her, and a quick head turn and flick of her wrist sent the dagger flying through the air and into the forehead of one that had somehow clambered into the back. The tip of the blade went straight through and pinned it to the metal, meaning she thankfully hadn't lost a good knife killing a single stray.
Skidding around the corner, her breathing hitched a little at the sight of so many of them crowded around the entrance to the building. For a second, she worried about Merle, but the continuous sound of the bat hitting whatever he was hitting calmed her conscience as she careered straight towards the pulsating mob.
A few turned just in time to get a face full of windscreen as she knocked them out of the way, their feeble strength no match for the four by four she was behind the wheel of. Once she saw a clearing near the doorway, she took a chance on it and put her foot down. Hard.
There was an ear-splitting crash as the truck hit the glass, sending fragments everywhere, especially over the strays which moaned as the shards rained down on them. Erin looked through the carnage, her eyes landing on a bewildered Merle who seemed to have ducked just in time to not get impaled by the wreckage and she barely had to say a word as he ran over and clambered in the passenger seat.
The second he closed the door, she put the truck in reverse, hitting the strays that had tried to get behind it and knocking off those that had climbed onboard as she did a full one-eighty turn and hit the gas, Merle taking care of those that hung on with the bat. They finally got about a hundred metres clear of the mob as they reached the interstate to the north of the city and Erin blew out a breath she forgot she was holding while Merle collapsed against the back of the seat, breathing hard.
She slowed the truck down slightly, lessening the noise of the engine but keeping them ahead of the strayss. He turned to face her, propping the bat up on the dashboard, "Ya freakin' nuts, ya know tha'?"
Erin breathed a shaky laugh, her heart still pounding like it was on steroids, "So.. where exactly is this brother of yours...?"
