She had been on his trail now for a week, and if not for the tracking device, it would have proven difficult to locate him. In the past year, destruction had overtaken the world. Walking on the streets alone meant an early death, or, even worse, becoming infected. Fear had left her a while back, among other things, and if any residue of it was left, she needed to clean it out. She could not afford any mistakes and thinking about the outcome was not helping her nerves. She needed to complete her task and hope for the best. What else did she have? Nothing to look forward to other than death and misery, she thought.
He was in her sights but she could not hit him from that distance. Getting too close might be a mistake she would not live to regret, however. Maybe it was not a good idea to have come by myself, she thought. Like a tiger slowly getting ready to attack its prey, she felt fear slowly crawling in to her, slowly filling the void in her chest. She could not allow anything to hinder her task. She could see him but she needed to get closer. The target just stood motionless in the void, staring at nothing. It was a very eerie sight to look at. His rotting skin denounced his humanity, but from a distance, one could easily be confused. Those things had multiplied with a deadly force, overtaking the whole country; and she was not sure but assumed the world as well.
She slowly made her way next to a blue dumpster, making sure she did not make any noise. The smell of rotting flesh and metallic, dried blood filled the air; she gagged but with all her might, kept it in, ensuring she did not make a noise. While looking around, she could see that the weeds were winning the battle over the concrete streets. They rose from under the streets like knives cutting through butter, protruding the hard concrete with ease.
It had been a while since someone had attended to the streets and, anyway, no one in their right mind would be worrying about how the streets looked. For those who were still alive, the only thought was how they would survive the next day. A strong gust of wind blew by, bringing fear with it; for a moment, her heart skipped a beat. Old newspapers and dust flew right past her into the direction of her target. She knew those things had a very good sense of smell and she was close enough to the infected, that it could easily pick up her scent. If it did, then she definitely would be in trouble. Luckily she was next to the dumpster and whatever was inside masked her smell. Around the corner of the dumpster, she could see her target. There was a car about ten feet from where her target stood; if she made it to the car, she would be in firing range. She would have a significant chance of hitting it. No time to be afraid, she thought, and she slowly crawled her way over to the car.
Her heart was pumping so hard and so fast, it felt as if it would tear her chest apart and fall right out of her. She tried to calm herself down but whatever she tried, it did not help. She felt her heart racing, making her neck throb as blood passed through her arteries and veins. She was in a flight or fight state. Slowly keeping her head down, she crawled. The feet of the creature were visible through under the car. She could not wait to be under the cover of the car, getting ready to fire at it. As she was getting closer to cover, she concentrated on calming herself down for the shot. She moved closer, inch by inch, but then she kneed a Coca-Cola can. It went flying under the car, landing on the passenger door side. It made a rattling noise all the way through its final destination. She looked at it and her heart sunk; for a second, she lay flat on the ground, disappointed at herself. The infected human turned in an instant, ready for its next meal. It walked slowly towards the can. She had not but a second to decide what her next step would be. She quickly jumped up and, with tranquilizer rifle ready to fire, lifted and moved her arms, to find her target. Like a locomotive slowly gaining speed, the flesh eater charged at her. She placed her right hand on the trigger and her left on the green alloy barrel to stabilize it. Although the rifle had a scope, she had no time to look through it; the infected would be on her in a matter of seconds. She fired the tranquilizer gun; it met its target. She hit him on the left arm, barley. She expected him to drop but with no avail it kept charging. Frantically, she dropped the tranquilizer rifle and reached for the Smith & Wesson SD9 she had brought with her in case the first option did not work. Her hope was the 9 mm round would be powerful enough to stop the flesh eater. It kept charging as she was going through the process of taking it out of her jeans. She lifted her arm ready to fire; it made its way around the car. She detonated the pistol and missed, but it did not.
It bit her arm, forcing her to drop the pistol. She instinctively pulled her arm back tearing at the skin where his mouth and teeth had landed. Blood gushed out; it was life and death for her now. She kicked the infected, forcing it back. What used to be human, stumbled back, giving her enough space to run down the stairs into an alley. If she had had enough time to think, she might have decided on another place to run to but everything was happening so quickly. Her breath was erratic; she could not contain her fear anymore. She went down the flight of stairs like she had never done before. Blood spilled out of her wound, leaving trail of blood with every step; it trickled down her arm and into the concrete alleyway.
Her only hope was to get into one of the shops as she was defenseless against him. Running for her life, she dropped on a bike that lay against the red brick wall. Pulling it by the handle bar, it fell across the 6 foot wide alleyway. The infected tripped over it, giving her some hope of escaping. Whatever she could find behind her, she would drop in the alleyway in the hope that it would hold her attacker long enough so she would be able to find a back door open. She flew passed a dangling sign of an old massage parlor; at one time, a very busy one. She tried the next door but it was locked. She pulled it several times, thinking it would open but it did not. He was 10 feet away. She gave up on that door and ran to the next shop. The infected was gaining on her.
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