Trapped • Jackson Wang

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Slash! Another head rolled to the ground, and Jackson wiped his sword on the blades of grass, before sheathing his blade. Looking around, he saw more stumbling bodies ambling towards him. "Damn zombies." There seemed to be a never-ending supply of the brainless bodies, and Jackson was on his own fighting them, like he had been since the outbreak.

He changed direction and started jogging, avoiding the other bodies in the clearing. It wouldn't have been hard to kill the wanderers, but he didn't want to waste his energy. He was making his way into town right now, and he knew there'd be more zombies there. There were always more of the brain-hungry-used-to-be-humans in town, which was why Jackson tended to avoid buildings at all costs. However, he was running low on food, and since it was winter, he had a difficult time finding fruits and berry to live off of.

According to the map he high jacked in the last town, there was another town just a couple of miles away from his current location. He would be there before sundown, which was good, because while his vision decreased at night, the zombies seemed to be in their prime. As long as nothing sidetracked him, he would be able to find something to satisfy his rumbling tummy and a quiet place to sleep for the night.

Crash! A jar shattered in the road, spilling the sweet, golden honey onto the pavement. You weren't sure what it was about the sweet treat that made zombies go crazy. You supposed it was like the dessert after having juicy brains or something. The reason why didn't really matter, though; what mattered was that it worked.

You took a second jar out, this time keeping it steady in your hand as you opened the lid. Tilting it to the side, you let the thick liquid pour slowly out of the jar as you moved forward, leaving a thin trail behind you. A honey trap, it was the best way you discovered to take out a small horde of zombies. The main group would ooze toward the honey and grow distracted, but then a select one or two would drift off, catching the honey trail, and saunter right into your trap. It was the perfect way to take out a handful at a time.

After you finished pouring the honey out, you crouched into the shadows, hand on blade, ready to attack. Now all you had to do was sit back and wait for the mindless creatures to fall into your trap.

The town seemed strangely quiet as Jackson moved from dirt to pavement. Usually when he was this close to a city, he was already bashing heads, running, or tiptoeing around, but currently he was walking in the middle of the street without a zombie in sight. It was strange, eerie even, and Jackson didn't like it. No matter where he had gone, there were zombies, so it didn't make sense that this nice little town was void of them.

Jackson continued walking, staying on full alert and not trusting the silence. He eyes flicked around for signs of movement, but only the wind whispered through the trees, making him jump. This was very strange indeed. Perhaps everything worth sticking around for was gone, raided by survivors who fled, taking the zombies with them.

Even then, Jackson had always found zombies in ransacked towns, often thin little things, starving and crazed from lack of nutrition. Zombies were brainless after all, and without the brains in their stomachs, they grew even dumber, more helpless than animals. Jackson always made sure to put those zombies down, thinking how the person who used to fill the vessel probably would've hated being such a helpless, mindless creature.

So when Jackson didn't even see a broken and starved zombie, he grew weary. Something must've happened here to the people and their brainless companions, and he wasn't sure if he wanted to stick around long enough to find out what that was.

He looked up into the sky and frowned when he saw the sun hovering so close to the horizon. It wasn't sunset yet, but it was close enough, and he didn't want to even try going to the next town, knowing he'd never make it at night. He would have to stay here tonight, even though his skin crawled at the thought, but if he was going to stay here, he might as well search for food.