Caught at the wrong end

Tired, defeated, hungry, thirsty, these are all the words that describe my current state, I have narrowly escaped with my life and don't know what the future holds for me.

We were all caught unguarded as the zombie virus spread, there was no place safe nor any place we could think of, where our survival was guranteed, I saw so much of destruction, that I thought it was a nightmare!

But it wasn't a nightmare, it was my living reality and my mind tried to grasp all the ways I could survive, it was the survival of fittest and I was determined to do whatever it took to survive.

For a few months I managed to survive locking myself in a storage room, luckily for me, food and water were available in plenty and I just hoped someone would come to rescue me.

But as months passed, my hope dimnished until I started feeling hopeless, there was no one coming to rescue me and the food that had seemed plenty earlier, was starting to run out.

I started panicking, I did not want to starve to death, I did not know what to do, I didn't want to become a zombie but I could no longer stay where I was too, I fell into a dilemma and finally gathered enough courage to go out and take down the zombies and escape somehow.

An abandoned shovel in the storage room became my weapon of choice, it was really heavy to lift at first but as I started using it, I got the hang of it and was able to take down many zombies before finding a car that still had the keys plugged in.

It was a stroke of luck that I ended up finding that car and I thanked God for being my saviour, I had packed how much ever food I could get my hands on and had picked bottles of water along the way, I didn't know how far my journey was going to be.

I have been travelling for hours now and although I am hungry and thirsty, I don't want to end up finishing my supplies, I don't know how long it would take to reach a safe place and I want to save it for the worst.

The city I had left had long disappeared but I could see no sight of another place, the road was completely deserted and I could see that I was the only one there on it.

That struck me as strange and I was worried that I would run out of fuel soon, I prayed that I reach a safe destination before that happens, I didn't have time to plan out everything and didn't take any fuel cans with me.

As I continued to drive, the weather suddenly became hotter, it was getting unbearable but I wasn't going to switch on the air conditioner in case the fuel runs out faster than expected.

I looked down on the blood stain on my sleeve, it had dried long back but it was a reminder of the violence I had endured and the violence I had indulged in to escape.

It wasn't easy hitting the zombies with the shovel, my mind could fully grasp that these monsters were once human and it was hard to kill another human but my survival instincts got the better of me and I did whatever it took to get out of that hell.

My hunger wasn't allowing me to concentrate on the road ahead, my mind was telling me to not even think of touching the food or the water, I had to bear with my hunger and the food was meant for emergency but my stomach was giving out and making it really difficult for me.

I slammed the brakes hard, I saw something running past my car, I couldn't see exactly what it was, it was dark and I guess I only saw it's shadow but my heart leaped in my throat.

What if it was a zombie?

I didn't want to think about that possibility, I started sweating and knew very well that it wasn't because of the heat. I did whatever I could to escape those monsters but had I really escaped them?

I tried to shake off that thought but I knew I had to get out and check, I stepped out, my feet trembling in fear, I gulped clutching the shovel as tight as I could, I looked around, it was dark but not too dark, I had a flashlight but I was conserving it for an emergency.

There was no one around and after looking around and calling out to someone for a few minutes, I gave up and went back to the car, as I started driving again, I dismissed whatever it was as an illusion of my mind.

I had to eat, there was no way of going around it, even a little bit would help and although guilt coursed through my veins, I put it aside, I wouldn't let hunger get the better of me, I took out a small chocolate from the stash and began munching on it, it didn't make my hunger go away but I felt better than before after having it.

The sun shone brightly and I hadn't gotten any sleep, I was getting really tired but I was too afraid to stop, I still could see no city or town in sight and the road was as deserted as ever, I didn't know how long I could keep going as my car was slowly running out of fuel.

I was getting thirsty and despite my mind warning me to save the water for an emergency, I ended up drinking two bottles of water and instantly felt guilty, I knew I wasn't at fault and my thirst was genuine but I still felt I was jeopardizing my survival.

Soon it got dark and the car stopped to a screeching halt, I knew what it meant, the car had run out of fuel. I panicked and tried to restart it but it was of no use, defeated, I picked up my supplies and began to walk.

Walking was more difficult than I had thought and I ended up eating half of the food, I felt foolish but I needed strength to continue. I felt like I had been walking for hours and still there was nothing in sight, I wished I would find someone else like me or an abandoned house but as the night sky got darker, the road continued endlessly with no sign of an end.