WIP: Zombie Apocalypse AU
The wooden undergrowth was cracking underneath his boots, twigs snapping, branches and roots breaking, threatening to take him down to them if he made just one uneven step. His breath came in fast pants, lungs burning with exhaustion, muscles aching with adrenaline, as he made his way over the unsteady terrain.
Fuck-fuck he was so fucked. He was so stupid.
He heard the sickening cries behind him. A fog of groans gurgles and reaching ever closer.
They were closing on him.
He picked up his speed once more, daring his legs to run faster than possible.
His body ached, his wounds screamed. He kept on running.
He was in the middle of nowhere; surrounded by the silence of the trees and the gurgles of his pursuers. The last town was miles away, the next more than a day of walking away. He hadn't passed any signs of civilization for the last hour, and hadn't seen nothing but trees.
If this was how he died, he wouldn’t have forgiven himself. It was a stupid mistake, made entirely on his part, that had gotten his car stolen and his companion killed. He had been making a delivery. Just some odd job to earn enough to feed himself and Taima. But he had gotten distracted. They were driving together, Taima sleeping on the backseat, her soft snores filled the car. The occasional wiggle of her tail indicated her enticing dream of a hunt. Charles let himself relax against his seat, eyes on a road and the world expanding before him in the colours of the late afternoon.
It must have been because of his lack of sleep. Or maybe he let himself, for the first time in he didn’t even know how long, relax. It didn’t matter. It was him to blame that he had not seen a bullet penetrating one of the wheels. It was his fault that the raiders took advantage of an easy target, that he lost control of the car, that they shot him in the arm, that Taima whined in pain, that he was running like a coward. Everything happened so fast. At one moment, the air was easy and the sun was shining on Taima’s spotted fur, the other she was quiet, laying on the backseat - unmoving. He had said his quiet goodbye and apologies before he escaped. But he knew he couldn't be forgiven.
Now he was running from a horde of the undead, in the middle of nowhere.
A groan to his left.
Charles turned, aimed, shot.
The zombie was down, Charles kept on running.
