Babygirl.

The Dead Girl.

I wake before the sun has even risen, I change into my warmer clothes for the day, knowing it's going to be cold for most of the morning. I eat the tin of sardines, trying not to vomit them up, drinking some water to wash them down.

I pull my hoodie on and pack up my backpack, I slip the strap of my ACR over my head, so the gun lays across my back, but in a place so it's easy to reach, I tuck my Desert Eagle into its place on my thigh holster.

I sigh and push open the door to the old house, stepping outside into the early morning chill. I walk briskly through the streets just to stay ahead of everyone and to keep warm, it has not been this cold in a long time, winter is just around the corner. I'm going to need to find food and other supplies to make it through this winter I can already tell it's going to be bad.

I shiver relentlessly, by now the sun has slowly started to rise and I'm out of that shitty old ghost town, kinda wish I got the chance to search more houses for food and water, but I don't have enough time.

As the day warms up I start to walk faster as my body is no longer stiff from the cold, on the horizon ahead of me I notice a figure walking along the road as I am. I continue to walk cautiously, before long I can see it's one of the dead, a girl.

She looks to be about sixteen, I stay behind her not getting to close just following behind as we walk along the road. I wonder what her name was? I wonder if her family are still alive or not? She shouldn't have lived such a short period of time, now she's just a rotting corpse walking along side the road.

If she knew I was here she would try and kill me, tear my flesh from my bones and drink my blood. I cringe at the thought, this new world is so violent, it's like something you only see on tv, except it's not. This is my life now, I'm practically like that dead girl, just trying to find food all the time.

I hear the rumbling of a big truck coming down a side road, oh god is it those men again, have they found a truck to catch me with. I run into the woods near the road side and continue to walk along it, staying close to the dead girl, she strangely gives me comfort, makes me feel less lonely.

A huge military truck pulls out of the side road and roars up onto the main road, I see a man hanging out the passenger window with a gun in hand. I realise what he's going to do, but I can't do anything about it.

BANG.

The truck roars past me and drives off out of sight, I head out of the woods and walk along the road side again. I stop in front of the dead girls body, now limp and unmoving on the grass. I look at her face, she would have been beautiful if this never had happened to her.

I shake off those thoughts and continue along the road, hoping to find shelter before the day ends, it was not those men in that truck, there was not enough space in it to fit that many of them.

I decide it is best to head into the woods to find shelter, at least there is some cover and I'm not so out in the open. I walk through the trees for hours, having nothing better to do at this point.

It is probably best if I set up camp soon, that way I can hunt for some food and create a sort of safe space to sleep for the night. I find a nice tree with limbs that are easy to climb, deciding I'll sleep in the tree for the night, I climb up and put my backpack and ACR up in the tree. Taking my Desert Eagle and hunting knife with me.

I go in search for food in the general area, looking for edible plants like my father taught me, I even set up a snare to catch a rabbit. I find some berries that are good to eat, but there were not that many on the bush, I also found some mushrooms which were also safe to eat. I head to my snare, but it is empty, I kick it hard, probably was not going to work anyway.

I find my tree and climb up to the nice high branch where the rest of my stuff is, I eat half the berries and half the mushrooms, knowing I should save some for the morning. I wrap up what is left in a bandana that I had in my bag, then pull out some rope, carefully wrapping it around the tree and then myself and tying it off, this way I can not fall out of the tree in my sleep.

I take my small throw blanket and unroll it laying it over myself to try and keep warm, I wedge my backpack, behind my back so it does not fall and because it more comfortable then leaning on the tree itself.

I put my ACR strap over my head so it rests in my lap, I flick the safety on and do the same thing for my Desert Eagle. The sun soon disappears and the night is filled with sounds of the crickets chirping.

My thoughts drift back to the dead girl, that could have easily been me like that walking along the road. What reason did I have to survive? I have no family anymore, I don't have a group to laugh and cry with. It's just me, what purpose am I alive for? Should I just end it all?

I roll my eyes at myself and my stupid thoughts, I didn't go through everything I have been through to just kill myself now. I'll find my purpose soon enough, I just hope it involves some decent people and a safe place to stay, where I do not have to worry about anything.