Outlast (1) - The Walking Dead

Chapter 1

Thank you guys for coming back to read the prequel to Fury, hope you enjoy it as much as I do. Apologies for the delay, this has been a tricky story for me to start, I couldn't get the setting right and as an author that is important if I want you guys to feel what I'm feeling through this book.

Soo lets get into it!

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The early morning sun cast an orange, eerie glow over the air. There was no wind, no noise at all which would indicate any signs of life.

Sol's hooves tapped on the tarmac as we rode away from the car. Usually I would hear birds tweeting, wind rustling, maybe even children playing. I hated kids but I'd give anything right now to have the satisfaction of knowing I wasn't the only one left on this planet.

We passed by a freshly abandoned car, I looked inside and saw a body, the image almost making me sick. Blood was covering the (now hopefully) dead person's neck, his skin was ghostly pale, bloodshot eyes wide open staring at the roof of the car.

The figure suddenly shot upright, making Sol spook and veer left away from the car. I grabbed a chunk of her mane to keep myself balanced as she jogged on. The figure watched us leave, arms outstretched and groaning.

"What is happening?" Whimpering to myself, tears building up in my eyes making my vision blurry. Everything happened so suddenly, one minute I was enjoying a peaceful ride on my horse and then we were on the run from cannibal, possessed humans. My parents, Jimmy, they were gone.

I swallowed the growing lump in my throat while blinking away tears and nudged Sol into a forward trot, distancing ourselves from the car. My hands shook as I fiddled with the reins while I directed my horse down the highway.

We had been travelling for quite some time, the sun had broken out of the clouds and was beating down on us. I pulled a baseball cap out of one of the saddle bags and placed it over my black hair, pulling the low ponytail out the back.

The water bottle I had stashed was increasingly becoming empty. The heat was really taking it out of me, if I couldn't find shade or cover soon the sick people would be the least of my worries.

Also in the bag was a map which I fished out and looked at our location.

"Seems like we're heading towards the city." I looked up from the map and surely enough I saw the skyline of Atlanta appearing.

Hopefully we'd come across other living beings.

A short while later the city entrance dawned upon us. I expected to see someone on watch, but no one. I couldn't see anyone or hear anything. Halting Sol for a brief moment I listened intently, my hearing focused onto something not too far away, but from a distance I couldn't make it out.

Walking on the noise got closer, I decided to investigate on foot. I dismounted Sol and tied her to a nearby post. Grabbing the rifle out of its holster I held it with shaky hands and advanced towards the noise. My jodhpur boots echoed on the road as I walked which made silence almost impossible.

Peeking around the corner of a building I saw men in military uniform escorting people inside a building. They all looked well and healthy, startled none the less but not injured.

"Any bites, scratches, fever?" One of the men at the back asked a lady and patted her down. She shook her head cautiously and he let her go past.