Chapter One
The crisp salty breeze of the coastal city rattled the tall palm trees, making them croak in response and the highest peaks of the trees to sway to the sides. Sunshine peered in and began to cloak and warm the surroundings, mellowing sun rays seeping through and sliding down the broken rooftops of the houses. Quiet footsteps on the sidewalk could be heard in the clearing and the distant low grumbling of infected made the morning eerie.
“This way.” a quiet usher said in the shadows of a building, and the cracking of broken glass underneath shoe soles filled the abandoned coffee shop. The scrawny boy grabbed at the little supplies left behind in the shop, a roll of duct tape and an almost empty rubbing alcohol bottle, and put them in his bag.
“Abby, you should rest.” The boy said, his eyebrows furrowed as they stayed low on the marble floor of the cafe. “I’m fine, Lev, we need to keep moving,” Abby mumbled back, “We’re almost there,” she added after some struggle.
As much as she tried to hide it, the huff in her voice as she spoke gave away her condition. Lev hesitated for a moment, his eyes looking into the woman’s tired blue ones, then nodded. “Just eat something first please,” Lev said, and took their last protein bar from his pocket, handing it over to Abby.
“No, save it,” Abby said with a shake of her head, to which Lev insisted that she took it. The blonde looked at the protein bar then back at Lev, and with a sigh she took it. The woman opened the wrapper and decided to split the protein bar in half, giving the bigger half to the boy. The two ate quietly and quickly before standing up and continuing their way towards the pickup point.
Abby kept alert at all times despite her fatigue, Lev walked closely behind her, also fighting the soreness that seemed to be weighing down every muscle in his body. Along the coast, the two battered escapees made their way past Santa Monica and down towards the direction of White Point beach.
They walked for what seemed like forever until they came across a broken-down neighborhood. The way towards the beach was blocked by barricades and washed up boats on top of houses. Abby and Lev maneuvered through broken debris and cars, until coming across a housing complex. The loud thud of the door being kicked down echoed through the deserted halls of the houses; almost immediately the deafening screech of a clicker could be heard, along with several pained screams following the first one.
Abby immediately looked around for anything they could use as a weapon, having all her things left behind in Santa Barbara made combat even harder. Adrenaline began to pump into them as erratic footsteps approached faster than they would’ve liked. Lev wasted no time and ran into the kitchen of the house, coming back with a blunt weapon.
“Abby!” Lev called out to her and tossed the metal pipe to her. Abby skillfully took it in her hands midair and began to move, “Come on!” She said as she ran up the stairs the opposite way to the sounds, being followed by Lev. Once the two of them made it up the stairs, Abby looked around and pushed a nearby coffee table down the stairs to slow down the incoming infected.
Abby panted as she tried to think about a way they could make it to the neighboring house in time not to get eaten alive, and lifted her head once Lev called out to her. Lev had slipped through a crack in a hole in the wall of the bedroom on the door next to them.
The growling grew closer as Abby crawled through the hole, using her remaining strength to push through with her elbows and legs. Abby let out a grunt as she made it through to the other side of the wall, but let out a loud cry as she was tugged back by a clicker; its rotting hands grabbing at her foot.
“Lev, the wardrobe!” Abby yelled, and Lev quickly ran to the side of the wardrobe and began pushing it, using all his strength. Abby pulled her foot away and kicked down to the clicker’s face to try and pry it away but to no avail. Abby then reached for the pipe and swung it harshly on the clicker’s head.
The clicker screeched and was momentarily stunned, “Quick!” Abby yelled as she swung the pipe a bit more. Lev let out a struggled cry as he pushed the wardrobe more until it covered the hole entirely. On the other side of the hole, the clicker and what sounded to be two more infected let out groans and screams as they scratched and hit the walls.
The two pushed themselves away from the wardrobe, Abby was panting and trembling as she tried to catch her breath. “That was close.” she gasped out in between breaths; they needed to get to the pickup place, and fast before their bodies couldn’t take it anymore.
Lev got up to his knees, sighing as he did so. Abby sat on the ground for a few more moments before she struggled onto her feet, “Let’s go.” She said, and the two wove through the complex, finding ways to go through each house until they reached the other side of the barricade.
At this point, the two survivors were barely hanging on, pushing their limits as they followed the directions they were given and headed toward Western Avenue. They continued walking sluggishly past the Royal Beach Park playground until they reached the cliff. They began climbing down the cliff, taking the sandy dirt trail down towards the shoreline. The two barely had any energy to even take in the beautiful landscape they were in. The cliff overlooked the sea that was calm and tender, getting warm as the day grew older and the sun rose higher.
The low tired grunts and panting of the pair quieted down as the sound of waves crashing became louder. The ground beneath them thinned out from subtle and dry underbrush to dead grass covered by a soft layer of sand. The sand itself was just beginning to boil, the billions of grains of sand being embraced by the sun’s heat. Lev dropped to his hands and knees, grabbing a handful of sand weakly.
“We made it,” Lev said, relief coating his voice, yet with a twinge of bitterness hidden to it. “We sure did.” Abby replied, also letting her body surrender to the fatigue, and sat down on the sand. “Now we just wait, they’ll come for us.” Abby said, desperately pushing down the insecurity that weighed her heart that all this could just be another trap.
They had come so far to get there, and been through so much; the thought that it could’ve all been for nothing terrified Abby beyond belief. The two stood close together, barely having the strength to sit up and look over the endless horizon, looking for anything that could indicate a boat coming towards them; with each passing hour, the pair grew more drowsy and tired, barely hanging on.
By the time the sun started setting, the two had collapsed next to each other on the shoreline, completely exhausted and on the brink of death. Abby was just barely hanging on to consciousness, one of her eyes half-lidded. She held on for as long as she could until her strength seemingly slipped from her fingertips and she felt herself be enveloped by darkness.
The whirring of a faraway boat cut the silence of the night and the incoherent mumbling of different voices echoed across the deep dark waters. The crunchy footsteps of shoes onto sand swirled into the ears of the unconscious pair, and before they knew it, their bodies had been dragged into the cold floor of a boat.
The rhythmic buzzing of the engine just lulled the pair deeper into slumber, the vibrations somewhat soothed their tired souls as the boat headed into a slight salty mist. It seemed like the boat floated upon hours into a mystery, aimless and alone in the vast ocean; until it abruptly came to a halt.
The slurred roughness of the sand rubbed the underside of the boat as it came to shore. Voices filled the air, tuning in on each other as other ones replied back; all with differently indistinguishable tones. With strange hands holding them carefully, the two were held and taken to someplace else; someplace comfortable.
Abby and Lev felt the exhaustion melt away from their flesh and bones and into the bedsheets they were laid upon. It was the first time in weeks they had felt any soft texture underneath their bodies to rest on; and the comfortable bedding further kept them in a temporary blacked-out peace.