Stray // Daryl Dixon

If Tomorrow Never Comes

The smell of blood and rotting flesh filled my nose as the stench leaked from my skin. The dirt, blood and sweat stained my body like it was the current perfume of the new world. Gore, death, and misery were what came with the art of survival now, everything I once knew was gone. My heart beat heavily in my chest, so hard that it was the only sound I could hear, other than my uneasy gasps for air. I stumbled over bodies in the road trying to keep my footing as we searched for a safe place to hide. Turning a corner we found a building that looked relatively safe from the outside and raced in, away from the creepers.

"Quick, give me something to shut the door!" My brother spoke frantically, ushering me to grab something.

Thinking quickly I took off the belt that held up my torn-apart jeans and wrapped it around the handles of the door, clipping it in place just in time before the creepers slammed against the glass trying to get in. The noise of the fifteen-plus bodies crashing against the door startled me, causing me to jump back slightly and into a cold, rotting body. Screeching, I turned myself around as it grabbed at my shoulders. Ben froze in place from the chase and didn't react in time to help, leaving me to reach for the crowbar sticking out of my backpack and shoving it through the creeper's skull. Again the smell of decaying flesh filled my nose, but it was something that no longer had any effect on me, it was now just another bad scent. A new layer of splattered blood coated my arms and the right side of my face. The feeling was almost relieving, to know that at least it wasn't my own.

"Shit," Ben exhaled which pulled me out of the thoughts spinning in my head.

"Let's clear this floor, then make our way up to the roof," I said as I pulled my Glock from its holder which rested on my hip, "From up there we can get a good look at the city and how to get the hell out of here."

The Glock was never my favourite weapon, but it got the job done and was an easy shot. I preferred the use of my AR-15 sniper rifle, but that one was better for the distances, not so much for the up close and personal the clearing of rooms could get. I was a pretty good shot myself, and learned from a young age, with my father being the strict military man he was and my older brothers following in his footsteps, I quickly learned my way around how to properly work a gun. Being the youngest out of three boys, my mother really wanted to try for a girl, to go on shopping trips and have girl talk over brunch, but instead, she got me, the girl who was right there with her brothers not only trying to keep up but outshine them.

"Clear!" Ben yelled from the room across the hall.

"Same," I responded and made my way to the stairwell, before slowing down when I caught a glimpse of my reflection in one of the office windows. I backed up a bit and looked at the mess that the new world made me. My strawberry-blonde hair had been stained an even darker red with blood and my skin was damp with sweat which allowed the dirt to stick to me easily. The bags under my eyes were horrible as I couldn't remember the last time I slept more than forty-five minutes. Shaking it off, I threw my long hair up into a high ponytail and made my way over to Ben.

"So, any ideas as to how the hell we are gonna get ourselves out of this shit show?" Ben asked as we walked out the door leading to the roof.

The sun was blinding as the door swung open, and for the first time in the last five days, I could breathe without the scent of rotting flesh filling my nose. Walking to the edge of the roof and looking over the city of Atlanta there were creepers limping around as far as the eye could see.

"I don't know yet," I shook my head, "I mean even if we get ourselves past the creepers and out of the city, we lost the horses when we got here. We have no way back to the farm, walking would take too long for the little amount of food and water we have left." I ran my hands through my hair frustrated with the impossible situation.