In its near-mindless state,
it grasps no remains of
emotion, personality, or
sensation of pain.

The building was a mess — inside and outside. Graffiti lined it through-and-through, distracting my eyes momentarily from the chipped bricks and peeling paint. Inside the floors were trashed with open bags of candy and chips, and the fridge isle was molded from old beer and soda. Sadly, there was no power and what was left in the fridges was a lost cause.

I walked down the candy isle, side by side with the nameless bluenette, my pistol fully functional in my palm and her rifle cocked at her side.

Hearing a loud crunch, I looked at the floor to find a bag of potato chips under my foot. The label was unreadable and the chips were shriveled up and black.

But that wasn't all I heard.

It took maybe three seconds for my posture to stiffen at the sound of a moan, and I readied a knife in my opposite hand. The door in front of me read Restrooms, with a bloody handle and flickering lights peeking underneath.

I felt eyes tracking me but I paid them no attention, rather flipping the blade in my hand repeatedly. The moan was too quiet for them to hear, especially with their distance, but when the door handle began turning all scrutiny was off me.

The rubber handle of my hunting knife began spinning quicker in my palm with heavy anticipation.

A walker barely emerged with a loud groan, immediately lunging at the closest person — me. My body acted on instinct, and I grabbed its throat in one hand, plunging the knife into the side of its head with the other. Her eyes flared at me unblinkingly, and I dropped the limp corpse.

Wiping my blade on my pants, I glared at her body and put the weapon back in my belt. Once done, I turned to the others to find them staring in shock.

"What? If anyone had fired a gun it would tell every walker in a five mile radius that we were here. It would be like calling soup's-up, so I suggest we keep to close-range kills," I nodded to Aaron's gun, which had been pointed at the dead woman before I did the deed for him.

He got the message and turned the safety on, strapping the AK-47 to his back and pulling out a machete. The others did the same, putting away guns in favor of blades or a crossbow.

Everyone gathered what they could — which wasn't much. Most of the food was on the floor or growing a third head in mold, but there was a package of stale gummies in the shape of fish, a few small bags of potato chips, some small plastic water bottles, and two chocolate bars.

I eyed one curiously, and the blue woman leaned against the counter beside me. "You gonna share?"

Looking up, I found her watching my moves warily, and I shrugged apologetically. "Sorry," I replied, looking back down and flipping to the back of the plastic where the ingredients were labeled. "I've never seen one before."

She scoffed. "Yeah right. You want me to believe that you've never had chocolate? Please, you can't get extra rations playing like that," she grabbed the candy from me and tossed it to Aaron, who had been watching curiously.

My cheeks burned and I followed the others as we left the station.

The city got worse as we made it toward the center. More blood, useless military-grade weapons, and many, many rotting corpses. None were fresh.

On the way they kept up small talk, but in these situations I slip into a consciousness where survival is my only thought. It's how I've learned to live; at least for these recent months.

I listened closely to the streets, watched every shadow and body. Which is why I was so quick to react when a hand grabbed my ankle.

I'd picked up a new knife three streets back, and it took two seconds for it to pierce the skull of the walker. I got free and scurried to catch up to the group which hadn't noticed my run-in.

"Shouldn't we save them?"

"For when? A celebration? Come on, it's gonna melt anyways," Garroth shot back his brother, opening one of the candy bars and dealing the pieces out evenly.

I caught one and stared at it for a minute after mumbling my thanks. My gloves were fingerless and I watched the chocolate melt against my skin.

Aaron came around to my exposed side. "You really haven't had it before, have you?"

Without taking my eyes off the sugary substance, I shook my head in denial. Garroth nearly choked. "How is that possible?"

"I've just never had it. We never had any at home, and when we did. . ." I cleared my throat. "I've just never had it."

"We'll go on then!" The blonde urged, biting his own piece and clearly savoring the flavor as he shut his eyes for a moment, shouting in happiness. He was quickly elbowed to shut up, and I giggled at the silliness before popping the candy in my mouth.

I nearly stopped walking, causing me to trip over my own feet. Everyone laughed as I felt the brown rectangle melt in my mouth, creating a thick layer on my tongue. Once it was gone I licked my fingers.

"Well?"

"Wow was that sweet," I replied. Another round of laughter erupted as I tried to get some out of my teeth. "I've never tasted something like that, it's. . . soft? And—and—" I couldn't find words, so I just continued to lick my fingers while the others laughed.

We killed two more walkers in the next ten minutes, and found stairs going underground into the subway.

"Maybe we shouldn't," I commented. They were on the way down, but I stood at the top of the steps and shifted on the balls of my feet. "We could get trapped—"

"Well Ms. Survivalist, where else can we go?"

I looked around, seeing the sun setting over the buildings. It was getting dark and the street ahead was covered in a collapsed parking garage, probably thanks to the military tank in the rubble. The side streets were long, but both ends would inevitably lead us back where we started. Earlier Aaron said they wanted to get through the city, not lost in it.

Sighing, I trudged down behind them to a platform with blinking lights and graffitied walls. The tunnels were dark with long-since abandoned tracks.

Aaron was the first to climb down into the tunnel and flashed his light down both ends while Garroth and Zane followed, helping Kawaii~Chan once they were down. Nameless blunette sat on the edge and jumped down, which I followed after grabbing a map of the tunnels.

Once we were all down I took out my knives again and someone cocked their gun.

"Keep your eyes open," Aaron whispered, his voice carried only by echo.

"No shit Sherlock, I was just about to take a nap," came the blueberry's snarky response. Even I smiled at that.

"I can't see anything," Kawaii~Chan mumbled, getting agreement among everyone for Aaron's dying flashlight.

I remained silent, watching the shadows like before and focused solely on where my foot landed; one step after the other.

Each platform is about a kilometer apart according to the map, which is just over half a mile. It took ten minutes, but we finally found more blinking light. Unfortunately, there were three walkers ahead of us on the other side of the tunnel.

Aaron lowered his light in favor of raising his gun, but I quickly put my hand on the nose and lowered it. "The noise," I murmured.

My voice carried through the tunnel and a walker noticed our presence, snarling. The others followed suit, and more sounded above us.

"Shit," Garroth commented, bringing our attention to the many more on the platform. Ten or so groaned and scuffled closer, one falling in and beginning to crawl in our direction.

"Run," I whispered. Then louder, as a rather fast one approached, "Run!"

We took off in the direction we came, sprinting as the animated corpses chased us.

This time when we got to the platform we began at, it was all but empty and added another few walkers to our long list of worries.

A few of us tripped as we slowed, realized it wasn't safe, and took off again.

"Where did they come from!" Blueberry shouted.

"Do you really need an explanation!" Aaron responded, panting through his words as our footsteps bounced around the walls of the tunnel.

My gun was folded at my wrist and knives were in both my palms, so when a walker came into my sight, I sprinted ahead of the others and threw one into its skull. "Go!"

Everyone continued on as I stayed behind a moment to grab the serrated steel blade and cover their backs. Getting back to my original position, I stayed last in the group to stand a line of defense.

Nana was clearly getting tired of the running and began slowing down, so I grabbed her arm and put it over my shoulder. This made her trip, but I quickly helped her onto my back and ran a little faster.

Maybe twenty minutes later we found a stop that wasn't walker-infested and everyone clambered up the ladder, nearly collapsing at the "safety."

I put Nana down and urged her up before I followed.

"Come on guys, don't rest now, we have to find somewhere secure and there's no time to waste," Aaron commanded, attempting to get Garroth on his feet, who groaned in protest before accepting the aid. Nana was hugging Blueberry who was clearly worried for her friend.

Zane was next on Aaron's list to get standing, and I watched all of this as I leaned over my knees and gasped for air.

After a minute we all exited the underground and found the streets black with night, and not as quiet as they were when we originally went down.

We were off course by a few streets thanks to a sharp left turn we took in the tunnels. It still kept us going the direction we wanted, but we would have more ground to cover in daylight.

Everyone crouched and stepped carefully as we entered a nearby diamond store with broken windows and empty jewelry cases. The floors glittered in every light, but wether it was glass or diamonds I couldn't say.

Something dug into my boot's traction as we approached the stairs. Checking for signs of danger, I indulged my curiosity when it seemed safe.

It was a ring, carved minimally with a silver band and a small round diamond. One of the small indents to hold the diamond was bent back at an odd angle, which explained why it stuck to my boot.

I stuffed it in my pocket and followed up the stairs, where we searched every floor and rested on the roof. It was a seven-story building, so it wasn't the safest — but good enough for one night.

There were two entrances to the rooftop and we locked both with chains and padlocks before setting up sleeping arrangements and warming food over the portable stove.

"Hey."

Blueberry sat beside me and I spared her a glance before accepting a child-sized serving of beans and looking back over with a hum as response.

"I saw how you helped Nana. We all did. Thank you for that."

I shook my head. "I just did what anyone would have. Or at least, what I hope someone would do for me."

"Well said," she stuck out her hand. "I'm Katelyn, by the way."

"Nice to meet you," I replied, giving a firm shake.

"Finally," Zane groaned, making everyone laugh.

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Word count: 2000
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