The Chase

Prologue

I'm running as fast as I can. I've never been a fast runner, but right now, I'm fast enough.

I can hear rough erratic breathing trailing so close behind me, that I can almost feel its hot, sticky breath on the back of my neck. It makes the hairs on my neck stand up. My heart is racing so fast, that I can barely hear anything else. The smell in the air is so putrid. It almost makes me gag. I won't dare look back.

This town is completely torn up. Bridges have fallen, leading into water that has been filled with radioactive contamination. Just one drop of that water, and I'll turn into one of them.

Ugh! Those things. My thoughts of them and what they possibly look like are probably not anywhere near close to has horrid as they really are.

"Don't look back.", I remind myself.

The streets are cracked and broken. Abandoned cars have been strewn about. Houses are crumbling down. It's an eerie sight to behold. It wasn't that long ago that this town was filled with life. Now, these things roam the streets, and here I am running from one.

I'm running out of time. If I don't lose this..."thing" soon, it won't be much longer before others join it.

"Don't look back.", I have to tell myself again.

Curiosity has stricken me. It's getting so difficult to resist.

I wonder how things got so bad so quickly.

I'm slowing down. I can't! My only chance of survival depends on my running, but it's getting closer...

"I have to.".

I turn my head ever so slightly, just enough to catch a glimpse of my fate. There are hundreds of them. I realize now that I can no longer hear them. All I can hear is the sound of my own heart, but I know there are hundreds of decaying carcasses chasing after me.

This is it. This is the end. I can't outrun all of them.

Suddenly, while I was accepting my new found fate, my foot got stuck in one of the many cracks in the road.

"Okay. You knew that they were going to catch up to you. You knew you couldn't run from them forever. Just accept it. Don't struggle. Don't scream.", I say to myself, aloud.

I clench my eyes shut and ball my hands up into fists, numbly hanging at my sides.

Only a few more seconds, and it will all be over. I'll never have to see or run from these things again.

They've reached me. I can feel their breath on me, now. I'm ready to succumb to what I know is inevitable, when everything just stops. I slowly open my eyes and look around. I'm still here. I'm still stuck. They're all gone.

I'm still alive!

I breathe a sweet sigh of relief, but I quickly realize that I am far from alone.