chapter 2. Survive

Chapter 2

Survive

"Oh, fuck that, not today!" Riley was able to have a few coherent thoughts forcing her eyes to snap open, she quickly took a second to make sure she wasn't going to immediately die, she was able to take stock in what was in front of her and if she had an escape route accessible. The loss of time that had occurred during this anxiety attack caused her to be severely disorientated.

It had been more like two or three hours from when she sat down, and Riley figured the attack lasted longer than she could have ever imagined. She knew she couldn't think of that right now and pushed those thoughts away, and prepared herself for this fight to survive. She slid her right hand down to her right boot and was able to grasp the cool, metal handle. The solidness of the knife had brought a definite relief to Riley immediately and was able to ground her. Pulling the blade out, she was already in fighting mode, beginning to push her body up with her left arm, simultaneously kicking her legs up, knees bent, and twists slightly to land on the balls of her feet, still crouched. Her left hand was her leverage, balance and spotter.

Riley smirks to herself as she feels a spark of pride begin to form. She couldn't believe that move really worked, and her faith in all her hours of training and practice had paid off. But just as quickly as it came, she forced it away, knowing this is not the time to be careless. She knew she was far from perfect, and any false bravado could get her killed. She had managed to stay in a crouched position and was quickly able to scan her surroundings, focused on the situation in front of her, four infected that had shuffled their way towards the noise they heard, still a good 15 yards away from Riley.

The guardrail and overgrown bushes between her and the infected gave her confidence and she quickly retreated further down the base of the overpass, to see if she could get behind them. Luckily, for Riley, she had sat only a foot away from the edge and now had a good 50 yards to go until she reached the other edge. She quickly made her way there, quietly and carefully as she could, she looked over her shoulder every few feet. She was alert and made her steps confidently around bushes, trash and debris, as she stayed close to the concrete overpass base she was using as her guide.

As she reached the other end of the pass, her eyes quickly took in the twisted metal of cars and burned out engines. The glitter of broken glass that blanketed the floor brought tiny glints of light from the last remaining rays and reflected into her eyes. The pile of corpses she intentionally avoided drew her stare like a moth to flame. A group of 5 people appeared like friends, possibly even family, as they were huddled together, arms wrapped around their neighbor. The more she examined the pile, the odder it became. It was obvious they had been in a circle before they had all collapsed to the ground, but she couldn't be sure if they had been standing.

"Oh no" came out before she could stop it.

She walked over and stood over them, Riley's eyes grew wide with fear and her breath hitched in her throat. Her eyes watered as she stared at the scene, finally she forced herself to blink and tears dropped her cheeks. Each corpse she looked at was the same, deteriorated grayish skin with dried black blood that had once poured from identical bullet holes in the back of their heads. The amount of blood showed her they were all still alive and very human, not infected when they were shot.

She didn't need this now, so she ran to the closest car and squatted down, watching for any signs of immediate danger from the people who did that.. She paused at the edge of the car and peered around the corner, into the shadowed highway. She stood with her back to the setting sun and looked into the darkness of the interstate caused by the overpass, making it practically impossible to see what was happening and Riley knew instantly she had to go further if she wanted to see anything on the other end.

She crept slowly into the shadows, the distinct groan and smell assaulted Riley, causing her to stop and get into her defensive position. Both hands up, one with the knife the other ready to push away the attacker. She bent her knees slightly and waited for her chance.

A woman who once had long straight blonde hair, now had it half matted to her head in a bloodied clump. Her A-line dress was ripped and barely hung on, showing her decaying body and the damage that had been done. She dragged her left leg due to the obvious fracture in the knee, gouges and deep lacerations on her torso, most likely occurring after she was infected.

Riley watched and followed, readying herself for the right time. The infected lady came close, and Riley watched and when she felt the sudden spike of adrenaline, her vital signs increased immediately, she bounced on the balls of her feet, studying her attacker and she moved in anticipation from side to side. When it finally did come at her, the dead female rushed Riley, hands raised, teeth bared and mouth open. The infected struck at her from the right, and Riley's free hand was able to contact its chest and firmly push back. The infected stumbled back a few feet, but not at all deterred. It came again and had not changed its approach. Riley swerved out of its grasp at the last second, and caused it to stumble forward and lose its balance. When Riley suddenly moved to the right and got into position behind it, immediately kicking in its knee-cap the way a thief would kick in a door. The force was enough for it to lose its balance and went careening to the ground. Now it is on the ground, attempting to regain its balance and attack again, it rose up to its hands and one knee, as the other was dislodged and completely twisted back, revealing the tips of her tibia and fibula bones protruding from the top of calf muscle, as it flopped from her leg like a dying fish. To see the back of her leg, from knee to foot, facing the wrong way creeped Riley out more than it should have, but the fact that she kept coming after her with this leg hanging on by a thread, dangling by sinew muscle and ligaments, almost became too much for Riley to take.

She watched as the infected struggled to get back upright to attack again, and used this to her advantage and took the offensive position instead of always being made to be defensive. Using her strength and leverage above it, she picked up her foot, placed it on its head, and pushed it to the ground completely. Its elbows made a sound like someone cracking their knuckles before a fight, and then collapsed underneath the body, the dead girl's head slamming into the ground, face first.

This was the best it was going to get, and Riley knew that waiting for a better chance was like waiting to wake up and find all of this was only a nightmare, and she knew better than that. Without a second thought, Riley took one big leap and with a skill and finesse that only came from a mix of natural ability and hours of practice to improve it, she measured the distance and landed with her feet on either side of the infected body, keeping her left hand out, helping with her balance and aim, she planted it firmly on the dead girl's shoulder, and with a quick, fluid movement, she brought her right hand down and plunged the knife into its skull.

The groans and snapping of teeth quickly ceased and the only sounds Riley heard was her own-ragged breathing. She sat on the dead-for-reals girl and looked at her knife sticking out of its skull, like a grave marker in a cemetery, announcing locations of people's last resting place. Except this lady, who was someone's daughter, sister, mother, or even just someone's friend, will not have a burial or even the dignity of a funeral. No, she was killed a long time ago, probably alone and scared, cursed to become what killed her.

Riley stood up and with a force, the black blood spewed from the hole with a squelch when she pulled her knife out, sounding like a rotten melon being dropped to the floor. Backing away, she wiped her blade on the clothes of the infected, each side until it was clean. Reaching around into her bag, she pulled out her old, faded black bandana she had for years. It was given to her by her freshman track coach, to keep the sweat out of her eyes during practice. She used it ever since, with every sport she played after that. And now, it was designated specifically to shine her weapons after each use. It is a ritual she seems to do, not only to keep her weapons clean and shiny, but the repetition of cleaning the weapon, brings her down from the adrenaline high of fighting and brings Riley back to herself. It is a form of mediation and Riley needs the effect it brings her more than ever.

Having spent a great deal of time and energy on this one lone eater, Riley decided against her initial plan to go completely Black Ops and take out the four she had seen earlier. She knows she will encounter more later, and would rather leave them alone for now. She didn't have any extra time and needed to keep moving forward.

All Riley had to do was continue West on Interstate 10 for another four miles, exit Sierra Avenue and follow it North until she reached Lytle Creek. Her end goal was getting to Lytle Creek, with its mountain like town located at the foothills of the mountains, it offered Riley a place she could easily survive with the creek, for fishing and freshwater, and the forest for hunting and catching small animals for her much-needed food requirements.

She knew she would never make it before nightfall, but she was determined. Riley made a compromise with herself, if she got to her exit by dusk, she would scavenge for a place to rest and catch her breath, maybe even find something decent to put in her stomach, get some sleep and finish the trip tomorrow. She had to hurry with the setting sun quickly approaching. and there was one more overpass she had to get through before she would be able to exit the freeway. Glancing at her watch, she couldn't believe it was hitting 4:30 in the afternoon. She made the decision to travel outside the pass, like she had just done. It was faster and easier, and her vision wouldn't be compromised in the darkened shadows from under the bridge

She bit her bottom lip when she thought about tomorrow, feeling them crack and split she winced in pain. When she realized why her lips were so dry, she wanted to smack herself. She had been so preoccupied with everything that happened during the day, hydrating was the last on the list. Not even a drink of water since early this morning. She reached around to her backpack and fumbled for the side net pocket that always held her water bottle. She grabbed it and unscrewed the cap, tilting her head back to drink, barely getting enough to wet her lips.

"Damn." She whispered.

She looked around at the discarded vehicles and began her search with the nearest one. She couldn't make it any further without water. Her lips were already chapped and bleeding, her throat was dry and hurt when she swallowed whatever saliva she could produce. She took one more look around before she walked to the first abandoned car.

Riley dropped to her knees to quickly check under the first car, an old, teal Honda Civic that looked beat up even when it was drivable. The elements have not been kind to the car, and Rust had already begun to take over. Every window was shattered, glass spread out all around. Riley wondered why they were all broken, what caused someone to break each one? She shook her head to stop her mind from wandering too far from the task at hand.

Riley popped back up after she checked under the vehicle and walked slowly to the other side. She made a complete circle and saw that there was nothing hiding that could catch her by surprise. She needed to find water and being caught off-guard would not help her thirst situation. She couldn't afford to waste time or waste her body's reserve. She could not believe she allowed herself to get this bad. Riley was silently yelling at herself for her stupidity, she knew better than this.

Trying to figure out how long it had been, she quickly did the math in her head. 19 hours, in 80* degree weather. She felt like an amateur. She was becoming slightly off her game and started to notice her movements had become slightly sluggish. Her quick mind had started to slow down, just enough for her to notice. She had a routine she had established a long time ago, when it came to search and seizure of any vehicle. She had it down to a science and her best time was 60 seconds. Always start in the trunk, back seats, front passenger. Like clockwork.

The sun was setting fast, and the shadow monsters wanted to come out and play, but Riley knew these monsters were real. Riley walked up to the front driver's seat, opened the door and sat down and began to feel under the seat and looked around. It took Riley two minutes to realize she had been doing it wrong and quickly jumped from the seat. She hastily looked around her location, afraid she had missed any kind of threat or possible sign of danger.

She ran behind the Civic, pulled open the trunk and began to move the clothes and extra bags. She felt around the sides and under the luggage were two new bottles of water. Riley was so happy, she wanted to cry, but quickly regained her composure.

Riley scanned the area again, grabbing the bottles and ran to the side of the road, out of view. Crouched down, she opened the first bottle. Being careful, she brought it to her lips and drank the cool liquid down. She gulped half the bottle and was instantly relieved. She quickly poured the remaining water into her own bottle and opened the second one and did the same. She loved her water bottle. It was from her boxing coach, when she had just started to train full-time. He saw she had a natural talent for the sport and had hoped she would go Pro. He gave her the over-sized black bottle with a squeeze straw that hung out of it. She had eventually traded the straw for a spout around the same time she had painted purple broken hearts all over the bottle. That was the summer before her senior year, the summer she had met Rico.

She stopped short and looked around for a moment. She couldn't believe her water bottle had brought up a memory of Rico. She felt strangely detached from the name, as if it didn't belong to anybody she knew, and didn't remind her of the boy who broke her heart.

"Probably because he's dead, Riley." She chastised herself. Even saying those words out loud didn't do anything to her.

"Hmm. Figures it would take the end of the world for me to get over him. Jerk." She said bitterly.

Riley knew she was cutting it close. She had two more miles to go before her exit and the end of interstate 10. For now, anyway, as she knew she would have to eventually travel somewhere else and most likely do it on the 10, as she called it. It's what all the people in the area had called it, back when there were people.

Dodging to the right side of the interstate, she traveled just off what would have been the slow-lane and kept to where the road and the dirt met. She could find a place to hide more easily if she had to, with the huge overgrown bushes and trees that lined both sides of the lanes. It was close to 6:00 P.M. And the sun was low in the sky. It cast brilliant and brilliant colors of orange, red, and purple on the horizon. She marveled that such beauty still existed in a world full of decay, death, and blood. Her painter's mind wanted to stop and take in the details of the clouds and the glittery sun's reflection, but she didn't dare. There was no time for wanting anything. It was all about needs. What was needed to survive just one more night, one more day. Or even one more hour.

She spotted the exit up ahead. Not by signs or freeway markers, but by sight. By knowing the lay of the land from being around it her entire life. She knew it by instinct. It was so close. Only a few hundred yards. She just wanted to get off this lonely, Godforsaken interstate, find a secure place, and close her eyes. She was exhausted. The trauma of the day's events weighed her down tremendously.

She started to jog up the exit ramp now, excitement and probably more than a little deliriousness mixed in, but she felt like if she could just get off this road, she would have accomplished something today.

She turned on the ramp, followed it to the right, and she did a double-take. . She didn't know what she expected to see, probably more of the nothing that she had seen everywhere else, but she wasn't prepared for actual living, breathing, non-eating-non-infected people.

There was a row of five cars, lined up in a neat little line, engines rumbled. They appeared to be waiting for a sign that Riley wasn't privy to. They caught her so off guard, she continued her slow jog and came into view, causing the first car to honk and flash their high beams. It was chain reaction as each car had systematically followed suit, and all Riley could think of was what a bunch of morons, calling every infected in a mile radius straight to them. How immature could they be? Everyone knew the sound riled them up and brought them down hard to the area.

"Oh" she spat out.

'Not immature or moronic after all. Pretty damn smart' she thought. She had to admit, their security system was brilliant and protected them against people. Riley was an intruder to them, as she realized they purposely called the infected to take care of their intruder.