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Lazlo
When the sun began to sink below the forest, we set up camp after our first full day of walking. The trek had started with a few distant zombie howls, but by the time we were bunking down amongst towering pine trees, it had been hours since we’d heard anything.
Ideally, we would’ve found somewhere more sheltered, like a house or abandoned vehicle or even an underpass. Zombies weren’t the only threats out there, and it was always nicer to sleep someplace warm with a roof overhead.
A few hours before dusk, we’d passed a rusted out old van without any tires, and that was about the only thing we’d seen all day that constituted shelter. By the time we realized that had been the best we could do, it was too late to go back.
So we set up camp under the thick canopy of pine branches. We made a fire and spread our flimsy blankets on the ground.
Calvin and Riva sat beside each other, his arm around her with her leaning into him. I didn’t have anyone to share any warmth with, so I hugged my arms across my chest and clenched my teeth to keep them from chattering.
“How far do you think we walked today?” I asked over the crackling of flames.
“It’s hard to say,” Riva said. “Maybe ten miles, probably less.”
“How many miles do you think a zombie can travel in a day?” Calvin asked.
She exhaled loudly. “I have no idea. Do they need to rest? The fast ones can probably cover a lot of ground.”
“They can still catch up to us then,” Calvin said, and he stared off into the ominous darkness of the forest around us.
“Well, if we keep our pace, we should still put a lot of distance between us over the next few days,” Riva said. “I bet we can start looking for something more permanent in as little as a week.”
“You really think that?” I asked, because in my mind, it sounded much too optimistic.
We drove in a military truck for a week, and we still hadn’t made it out of the zombies’ range. How could a week of hiking across uneven land be enough?
“There’s only three of us. I’m hoping they lose our scent faster,” Riva said with a yawn.
“You and Calvin should get some rest. I’ll stay up for the first watch,” I offered.
Without walls around us, there was no way that we could all sleep at once, and my struggles with insomnia meant that I was the best one to begin with.
It was sometime late in the night, after I’d lost sight of the moon behind the branches and the clouds, that my eyes grew heavy, and I traded shifts with Calvin. The fire was still alive as I curled up under my blanket, and sleep overtook me.
It was deep and dreamless until the ground trembled beneath me, and I heard Riva screaming.
I sat up with a start, and our campsite had gone dark, with the fire little more than embers. But there was a commotion about, with debris of dirt and pine needles flying everywhere.
In the darkness, I made out the shape of a massive creature standing over where Riva slept, and it was stomping down on her with long legs.
I couldn’t do any good if I couldn’t see, so I scrambled over and grabbed a stick from the firepit. It wasn’t burning, but I hurriedly lit it with my matches, and soon I had a working torch.
Across from me, Calvin was bloodied and unconscious, and nearby was Riva, futilely attempting to ward off an enraged moose. I had never seen one up close before, and it appeared much more like a furry dinosaur with cloven hooves. It had no antlers, but it was definitely doing enough damage with feet alone.
“Hey!” I shouted and waved the flaming torch in the moose’s face before it pulverized Riva into hamburger meat.
The moose looked at me and gave an unnerving guttural bellow, and then it began to charge at me.
I grabbed my backpack in case I might need my machete, and then I turned and raced onward into the trees. Behind me, I could hear the branches cracking and breaking as the giant beast gave chase, and I didn’t know how much longer I would be able to outrun it.
I glanced over my shoulder and saw the moose barreling toward me. That split second of not looking forward was enough, and I tripped on a pinecone before I went flying headfirst into a tree. Then everything went black.
8
Lazlo
Scattered bird calls woke me up, but it was the splintering pain in my skull that had me alert. I opened my eyes and stared up at the morning sun filtering through the branches.
