Aftermath

Day 1: 6:15 PM

A soft wind blows through the air, an old oak tree atop a nearby hill gently sways its leaves through the breeze. A man stands in an open field, except this is no man, this is the reanimated remains of a man, standing in an open field.

 His (or rather its) skin is diseased and burned, its eyes are bright white and overgrown, its teeth are jagged and pointed out of its mouth and its clawed hands twitch violently as it's head lies tilted up towards the bright orange sun.

 David looks at the creature from a nearby wheat field, concealed well enough for it not to notice him. He looks behind his back, “There it is” he whispers, “take the shot.” Anthony rises slowly, his hunting rifle gripped firmly in-between his hands. He looks down the scope, squinting his right eye as he slowly moves his head towards it, his expression still. He squeezes the lower base of the rifle tightly with his right hand, slowly moving his left towards the trigger. He focuses his aim, and moves the coloured dot on his scope directly towards the creature's skull. He takes a deep breath as he slowly squeezes his trigger finger, David watches him and the creature slowly.

 Suddenly the shot is fired, the rifle jolts upward as smoke and sparks erupt from the vibrating barrel. The 5.56 mm bullet shoots out of the rifle at high speed, hurdling towards the creature as it breaks through layers of air. But then the bullet moves to the right, and instead of hitting the creature through the skull, it fly's towards it's mouth, knocking it's lower jaw clean off. Blood erupts violently from the creature's mouth as it starts to make an inhuman growl, using what remains of it's tounge.

 “Shit” Anthony whispers, swiftly taking his eyes away from the scope and letting the rifle drop. His eyes widen as the creature turns it's head and begins to stagger towards him. David pushes Anthony's shoulder, “Anthony, get back, get back!” He quickly stands up and reaches for his pistol holster, trying desperately to get his gun out before it gets to him. His heart rate increases, as he tries to heave the pistol out of it's holster. “David” Anthony says, his voice trembling with fear.

 Suddenly Angela steps up from the grass, her pistol locked and loaded in her gloved hands, her expression serious as she fires a 9mm bullet towards the creature's skull, making it's head snap back instantly and dark red blood drip from it's wound. But yet it does not fall, and instead growls at Angela fiercely, still in an inhuman tone. Angela is not affected though and fires another hard hitting shot against the creature's temple, this time, dark blood spraying out of it's damaged vein, but yet it still stands tall. Now more determined Angela fires a third and final shot towards it, hitting it in it's right eye - It's head snaps back once more, along with it's body as it crashes towards the ground.

 Angela lets her arms sway in the wind and takes a deep breath. Anthony looks at her in amazement, David just looks at her in relief, wiping sweat away from his forehead. “Thanks” Anthony says, his voice still shaking, Angela just looks at him with a dismissive glance and moves towards the body, David does the same. Angela moves her pistol along the creature's corpse, carefully checking for any sudden movement, she tilts her head up towards David, who is now standing next to her. “I thought you said he could handle himself now?” she asks judgementally, waving her arms in the air. David sighs and rubs his eyebrows, “Look he just... needs more practice ok”. Angela rolls her eyes, she had heard the practice line so many times before now, she was sick of David's faith in him.

 “Hey i'm sorry ok, it's these fucking rifle sights!” Angela crosses her arms at him while David walks over. “It's ok little brother, you'll get em' next time” he says with a fake smile, patting his hand on his shoulders. Anthony grinds his teeth, he was sick of being called a 'little brother', he was nearly seventeen now, nearly old enough to be out by himself. David looks up at the sun, it's bright orange glow spreading throughout the sky, “C'mon it's getting late, let's go back home.” And with that, they left.