If I Die Before I wake Chapter 2
And yeah... it's a working title. Shush.
Chapter word count: 2,000
Total: 4,105
----------------------------------------------------
Chicago, IL. Some random side street. Still.
“This way.” I instructed, tugging the still shaking blond down another slightly darker alleyway. It probably wasn’t the best of ideas considering our only savior was starting to die more and more each second. But I knew this was a shortcut and the longer it took to get around this dump of a city, the easier it would be for the dead heads to find us. Because once the darkness enveloped the city? Other forms of light would attract them like moths to a flame. Quite literally. Flashlights, while helpful, could harm you as well, especially if a large crowd of them decides they want a snack.
It’s just better to get inside before the sun goes down.
Which was going to make getting out of Chicago a right bitch. I hadn’t seen or heard reports on the outer suburbs, but I could imagine the little bungalows torn apart by rotting fingers and cowering middle and lower class families all huddling in the basement, freaked and praying that they would be saved by the government that had ditched them. And then what about the outer ‘burbs or even the farming towns that weren’t all that far outside of them?
A cornfield wasn’t exactly the best place to hide at night.
Dark eyes flicked to each and every shadow as I tugged my new companion along, and for the moment she seemed content to just follow, even as my pace quickened and we hit a jogging sort of lope. My own pack thumped against my back, pressing my shirt against my cooling sweat with the weight of a few old paperbacks and a journal I kept with me. Yeah. I was one of those idiots that took the material things with them when things went downhill.
I could get supplies elsewhere. Pick up another backpack in the warehouse. The books were valuable. To me at least.
“I’m Giselle.” The young woman broke the silence both in the street and in my mind as she attempted to keep up with my long legs. She hiked her pack up a bit more and I noticed the knife in her hand, flickering in the final rays of sun once more and I couldn’t help but smirk slightly at the thought of her fending off those zombies with a simple pocket knife.
Really?
“Alexander. You gonna put that thing away?” I questioned with that same smirk that made her fluster for a moment before adopting a defiant look that allowed her the strength to drop my hand and fold up her knife, tucking it into the front pocket of designer jeans. Hm. Her blue eyes flashed with rebellion as she let the distance between get a little bit bigger, which allowed my contrasting eyes to scan her for a moment. Not with a lusty leery look like some creepouts left in the city. Hell, she was lucky she was in the condition she was in. Most other women had to look out for both the zombies and the human males around here.
It was a way and fact of life which sucked, but was completely true.
“I’m good with it, thank you.” The snide tone in her voice seemed to be a bit comfortable there, settling on her tongue like a pleasant taste and it made me frown, especially considering I still couldn’t place her accent. With a name like Giselle, I would have said French… but with the accent…
“I’m sure you are.” My voice replied, croaking and not used to a regular conversation. Normally it was yelling at dead heads or attempting to overpower the thudding motors of passing helicopters, not conversing with a pretty… whatever she was. Obviously not a fighter and I was surprised she wasn’t one of those dead heads already.
If what the remaining and shady news reports said were true. Or maybe even the radio pirates that had hijacked the airwaves and had decided that it was their time to shine in the face of an apocalypse as the ruling parties booked it the hell out of dodge.
But my response didn’t seem to make her feel better about me as she let her eyes wander the shadows, but I had a feeling that she wasn’t hunting like I was. Not that I was a hunter in the slightest, but the radio pirates had mentioned something about the walkers evolving… and the mere thought made goosebumps flicker up my dark skin despite the remaining heat of the day.
Wonderful.
But Chicago was still too new to the scene of Zombie Apocalypse, at least that was what I told myself. New York had at least two weeks on it and a lot could happen in two weeks, honestly. So whatever crawled over the airwaves from out east didn’t really apply to us in the Midwest.
Yet.
A quick scream and the whining snarl of a cat knocked me out of my reverie as Giselle jumped a bit closer to my larger body and I had to chuckle as the source of the noise knocked over a trashcan and zipped out of an adjoining alleyway and across our feet for a moment. Cats and dogs seemed to be impervious to whatever had hit initially and was spreading across the country through the sewers and pipelines. There was an abundance of animals hiding around, gnawing on the bodies of those that were dead, or dead again. They didn’t discriminate against anyone because it was the only source of food they could get to considering they couldn’t open cans or break through doors very well.
Everyone had gone primitive. Even the animals.
“Easy, Giselle… it’s just a cat.” My tone was hopefully reassuring once more, although I doubt she would take it as such and was right when fire flashed in those blue eyes and she readjusted her pack once more. I didn’t blame her for being jumpy in the slightest considering I still felt my heart race every time I heard something move that shouldn’t.
Including the sounds of a Zombie moving. It was nasty.
“I knew that.” She spat back, a frown distorting her pretty face and making it less like whatever she was or had been in the real world (model, actress… trophy wife). “How much further?” Her accent was getting thicker the more the darkness began to sweep around us and I was betting a high class Brit, but couldn’t be entirely sure as I jerked my head down the street.
“Down the block. C’mon.” And with that, I upped the pace a bit more, my pack thumping once more on my back. The sounds of her heeled boots made me want to groan inside as I realized this chick was dressed more for the runway than anything else. Designer jeans, designer jacket…. Hell I was surprised she wasn’t carrying a Prada purse instead of a North Face backpack. At least the heels were slightly chunky and could carry her down the street without fear of her twisting an ankle. Injuries were not allies and it got people left behind to get torn apart. It wasn’t pretty and I didn’t want to have to do it to this one, if only because I’d probably have to hear her screaming no matter how far I got outside of the city limits.
Chain link fences came into view, not surprising considering where the warehouse was. Whoever the idiot was that had placed this monstrosity in the middle of a lower class neighborhood and had assumed that barbed wire was going to keep looters out was obviously not part of said class. Although, it surprised me as we grew closer and I couldn’t see any broken windows or shattered glass to suggest that people had thrown large pieces of concrete into the building to gain access to the supplies inside.
Shocking.
“I’m not climbing over that.” Giselle stated calmly as we came to a stop outside a chained gate, both pairs of eyes flicking to the curls of barbed wire that seemed to have kept people at bay for now. Were we really the only few left in the city? By the looks of things, the answer was yes because any other time this place would have been looted and left empty to rot by now. The thought sent another chill down my spine, especially as I realized we had no choice.
This was going to be home for the night.
“You don’t have to.” I grunted, throwing my weight into a kick that sent the chain links rattling in defiance. A laugh broke through the sounds and it took all my energy not to turn and glare at the woman behind me who seemed to have lost all her nervousness from before. This was going to be a treat. “I’m doing this for your benefit, you know.” I snapped, knowing full well I could at least scramble up the fence and avoid most of the wiring. A few scratches and torn pieces of clothing would be worth it, especially if the lock kept out future looters or dead heads. But Giselle had refused and I couldn’t just leave her there. A sigh escaped my parched throat and my stomach yearned for whatever food held in gallon sized containers could be stored in that warehouse. I couldn’t remember the last time I had eaten something that hadn’t been shrink wrapped and put on a gas station or convenience store shelf months ago. Preservatives and sweets had been my nutrition for the past couple of days and I yearned for something else that would satisfy my hunger. With another quick grunt, I kicked once more, and with the fake gasp of surprise from Giselle, the lock and chain tumbled to the ground, rust flaking off and fluttering to the dark pavement.
“Let’s go.”
I ordered quickly, pushing open the gates far enough to let us both through before closing them immediately, not bothering to gloat at her. Giselle had already taken off across the expansive parking lot, but slowed as she realized I wasn’t following. My body groaned with the surprised movement of bending down as I picked up the chains and wrapped them around the posts, temporarily shutting the gate. It wasn’t enough to keep out anything with enough brains to untie the makeshift knot, but that was the point, right? A sign that there might be humans inside those gates, but it could maybe keep out the fumbling and clumsy zombies that couldn’t even open doors.
Hopefully anyway.
Brushing my fingers free from rust flakes, I turned on my heel and jogged past Giselle, who had to struggle slightly to get going again and keep up. Glass doors glinted in the final rays of sunlight and I knew that hopefully we were going to be somewhat home free. The warehouse was home base in a game of tag and the zombies were ‘It’. We would be fine once inside of the giant building.
If the zombies decided they couldn’t get over the fence like Giselle.
The woman stopped on the rubber mats that directed people in and out of the store, a white arrow pointing in on one side and another pointing towards us on the other. In and out. Easy as that. But when she stopped, the doors didn’t open for her and confusion flickered across her pretty face as she turned to me to fix it.
“Power’s out, Giselle.” I replied with a bored tone, reaching out and grabbing the handle of the door and pulling, working against whatever mechanism that knew it wasn’t supposed to be worked that way. I caught the quick glare of those blue eyes as she waited impatiently for me to open the door for her. Luckily it didn’t give too much resistance and we were both able to slip into the dark warehouse with a few seconds of daylight to spare.
Olly olly oxen free.
Chapter word count: 2,000
Total: 4,105
----------------------------------------------------
Chicago, IL. Some random side street. Still.
“This way.” I instructed, tugging the still shaking blond down another slightly darker alleyway. It probably wasn’t the best of ideas considering our only savior was starting to die more and more each second. But I knew this was a shortcut and the longer it took to get around this dump of a city, the easier it would be for the dead heads to find us. Because once the darkness enveloped the city? Other forms of light would attract them like moths to a flame. Quite literally. Flashlights, while helpful, could harm you as well, especially if a large crowd of them decides they want a snack.
It’s just better to get inside before the sun goes down.
Which was going to make getting out of Chicago a right bitch. I hadn’t seen or heard reports on the outer suburbs, but I could imagine the little bungalows torn apart by rotting fingers and cowering middle and lower class families all huddling in the basement, freaked and praying that they would be saved by the government that had ditched them. And then what about the outer ‘burbs or even the farming towns that weren’t all that far outside of them?
A cornfield wasn’t exactly the best place to hide at night.
Dark eyes flicked to each and every shadow as I tugged my new companion along, and for the moment she seemed content to just follow, even as my pace quickened and we hit a jogging sort of lope. My own pack thumped against my back, pressing my shirt against my cooling sweat with the weight of a few old paperbacks and a journal I kept with me. Yeah. I was one of those idiots that took the material things with them when things went downhill.
I could get supplies elsewhere. Pick up another backpack in the warehouse. The books were valuable. To me at least.
“I’m Giselle.” The young woman broke the silence both in the street and in my mind as she attempted to keep up with my long legs. She hiked her pack up a bit more and I noticed the knife in her hand, flickering in the final rays of sun once more and I couldn’t help but smirk slightly at the thought of her fending off those zombies with a simple pocket knife.
Really?
“Alexander. You gonna put that thing away?” I questioned with that same smirk that made her fluster for a moment before adopting a defiant look that allowed her the strength to drop my hand and fold up her knife, tucking it into the front pocket of designer jeans. Hm. Her blue eyes flashed with rebellion as she let the distance between get a little bit bigger, which allowed my contrasting eyes to scan her for a moment. Not with a lusty leery look like some creepouts left in the city. Hell, she was lucky she was in the condition she was in. Most other women had to look out for both the zombies and the human males around here.
It was a way and fact of life which sucked, but was completely true.
“I’m good with it, thank you.” The snide tone in her voice seemed to be a bit comfortable there, settling on her tongue like a pleasant taste and it made me frown, especially considering I still couldn’t place her accent. With a name like Giselle, I would have said French… but with the accent…
“I’m sure you are.” My voice replied, croaking and not used to a regular conversation. Normally it was yelling at dead heads or attempting to overpower the thudding motors of passing helicopters, not conversing with a pretty… whatever she was. Obviously not a fighter and I was surprised she wasn’t one of those dead heads already.
If what the remaining and shady news reports said were true. Or maybe even the radio pirates that had hijacked the airwaves and had decided that it was their time to shine in the face of an apocalypse as the ruling parties booked it the hell out of dodge.
But my response didn’t seem to make her feel better about me as she let her eyes wander the shadows, but I had a feeling that she wasn’t hunting like I was. Not that I was a hunter in the slightest, but the radio pirates had mentioned something about the walkers evolving… and the mere thought made goosebumps flicker up my dark skin despite the remaining heat of the day.
Wonderful.
But Chicago was still too new to the scene of Zombie Apocalypse, at least that was what I told myself. New York had at least two weeks on it and a lot could happen in two weeks, honestly. So whatever crawled over the airwaves from out east didn’t really apply to us in the Midwest.
Yet.
A quick scream and the whining snarl of a cat knocked me out of my reverie as Giselle jumped a bit closer to my larger body and I had to chuckle as the source of the noise knocked over a trashcan and zipped out of an adjoining alleyway and across our feet for a moment. Cats and dogs seemed to be impervious to whatever had hit initially and was spreading across the country through the sewers and pipelines. There was an abundance of animals hiding around, gnawing on the bodies of those that were dead, or dead again. They didn’t discriminate against anyone because it was the only source of food they could get to considering they couldn’t open cans or break through doors very well.
Everyone had gone primitive. Even the animals.
“Easy, Giselle… it’s just a cat.” My tone was hopefully reassuring once more, although I doubt she would take it as such and was right when fire flashed in those blue eyes and she readjusted her pack once more. I didn’t blame her for being jumpy in the slightest considering I still felt my heart race every time I heard something move that shouldn’t.
Including the sounds of a Zombie moving. It was nasty.
“I knew that.” She spat back, a frown distorting her pretty face and making it less like whatever she was or had been in the real world (model, actress… trophy wife). “How much further?” Her accent was getting thicker the more the darkness began to sweep around us and I was betting a high class Brit, but couldn’t be entirely sure as I jerked my head down the street.
“Down the block. C’mon.” And with that, I upped the pace a bit more, my pack thumping once more on my back. The sounds of her heeled boots made me want to groan inside as I realized this chick was dressed more for the runway than anything else. Designer jeans, designer jacket…. Hell I was surprised she wasn’t carrying a Prada purse instead of a North Face backpack. At least the heels were slightly chunky and could carry her down the street without fear of her twisting an ankle. Injuries were not allies and it got people left behind to get torn apart. It wasn’t pretty and I didn’t want to have to do it to this one, if only because I’d probably have to hear her screaming no matter how far I got outside of the city limits.
Chain link fences came into view, not surprising considering where the warehouse was. Whoever the idiot was that had placed this monstrosity in the middle of a lower class neighborhood and had assumed that barbed wire was going to keep looters out was obviously not part of said class. Although, it surprised me as we grew closer and I couldn’t see any broken windows or shattered glass to suggest that people had thrown large pieces of concrete into the building to gain access to the supplies inside.
Shocking.
“I’m not climbing over that.” Giselle stated calmly as we came to a stop outside a chained gate, both pairs of eyes flicking to the curls of barbed wire that seemed to have kept people at bay for now. Were we really the only few left in the city? By the looks of things, the answer was yes because any other time this place would have been looted and left empty to rot by now. The thought sent another chill down my spine, especially as I realized we had no choice.
This was going to be home for the night.
“You don’t have to.” I grunted, throwing my weight into a kick that sent the chain links rattling in defiance. A laugh broke through the sounds and it took all my energy not to turn and glare at the woman behind me who seemed to have lost all her nervousness from before. This was going to be a treat. “I’m doing this for your benefit, you know.” I snapped, knowing full well I could at least scramble up the fence and avoid most of the wiring. A few scratches and torn pieces of clothing would be worth it, especially if the lock kept out future looters or dead heads. But Giselle had refused and I couldn’t just leave her there. A sigh escaped my parched throat and my stomach yearned for whatever food held in gallon sized containers could be stored in that warehouse. I couldn’t remember the last time I had eaten something that hadn’t been shrink wrapped and put on a gas station or convenience store shelf months ago. Preservatives and sweets had been my nutrition for the past couple of days and I yearned for something else that would satisfy my hunger. With another quick grunt, I kicked once more, and with the fake gasp of surprise from Giselle, the lock and chain tumbled to the ground, rust flaking off and fluttering to the dark pavement.
“Let’s go.”
I ordered quickly, pushing open the gates far enough to let us both through before closing them immediately, not bothering to gloat at her. Giselle had already taken off across the expansive parking lot, but slowed as she realized I wasn’t following. My body groaned with the surprised movement of bending down as I picked up the chains and wrapped them around the posts, temporarily shutting the gate. It wasn’t enough to keep out anything with enough brains to untie the makeshift knot, but that was the point, right? A sign that there might be humans inside those gates, but it could maybe keep out the fumbling and clumsy zombies that couldn’t even open doors.
Hopefully anyway.
Brushing my fingers free from rust flakes, I turned on my heel and jogged past Giselle, who had to struggle slightly to get going again and keep up. Glass doors glinted in the final rays of sunlight and I knew that hopefully we were going to be somewhat home free. The warehouse was home base in a game of tag and the zombies were ‘It’. We would be fine once inside of the giant building.
If the zombies decided they couldn’t get over the fence like Giselle.
The woman stopped on the rubber mats that directed people in and out of the store, a white arrow pointing in on one side and another pointing towards us on the other. In and out. Easy as that. But when she stopped, the doors didn’t open for her and confusion flickered across her pretty face as she turned to me to fix it.
“Power’s out, Giselle.” I replied with a bored tone, reaching out and grabbing the handle of the door and pulling, working against whatever mechanism that knew it wasn’t supposed to be worked that way. I caught the quick glare of those blue eyes as she waited impatiently for me to open the door for her. Luckily it didn’t give too much resistance and we were both able to slip into the dark warehouse with a few seconds of daylight to spare.
Olly olly oxen free.