Learning to Survive

[Maddison]

Dagny Kyle was hungry, very hungry. Despite the apocalypse that had begun about two years ago, she had rarely gone hungry. She had lost most of her family in the zombie out break, but the now sixteen year old girl still had her older brother Chad and her uncle Mike. The pair had been providing for her and protecting her from both zombies and other survivors since the outbreak of the apocalypse. As a result she had rarely missed a meal but hadn’t seen much of the world other than the inside of a few safehouses. She had basic firearm and wilderness training but had little actual use of either set of training and relatively no real world experience with them. She carried a small 9mm handgun, and it was the only firearm she had ever shot. Ammo however was scarce and she had not practiced with her gun in months.

Dagny was considering all these things as she waited for the return of her brother and uncle. The pair had left the day before to gather more supplies and food in particular. It was rare that they didn’t return the same day before nightfall, but it happen on occasion when it took them longer to find what they needed. Dagny always stayed behind at whatever safehouse they were using to “guard the supplies” they did have. She had, had to scare off a less than savory survivor only once and had not had to kill any zombies herself yet thankfully. It was now almost nightfall of the second day however and Dagny’s brother and uncle had never been gone this long before. She was growing more and more worried with every passing minute, and fighting the growing dread that maybe this time they would not return.

Nightfall came and passed, with Dagny getting very little sleep. There had been no sign of her brother and uncle and Dagny was now much more than a little worried. She tried to tell herself that they would be ok and return any hour now with a much bigger haul of supplies than normal to explain their longer absence. In the meantime she would have to make do for herself. Their current safehouse was located on the edge of the outskirts of a major city. There was wilderness to the south and a small suburb to the northwest and the city itself to the north and northeast. Dagny grabbed her pistol and backpack and carefully left the safehouse. She locked the door behind and headed a couple minutes south into the woods to the nearby stream. Once there she drank her fill of clean fresh water and filled her canteen before hooking it back to the side of her backpack. Maddison looked around and then decided to head northwest toward the nearby suburb in search of a grocery store or any place else she could find non perishable food that hadn’t been looted. She had little idea of whether this was a good plan or not but it was the best one she had for the moment.

It was difficult to sleep when you live every day in fear that a horde of zombie could eat you alive the second you let your guard down. This is why yawns constantly came out of Dennis Briggs's mouth as he walked down a relatively empty neighborhood in the suburbs with nobody...or nothing in sight. Dennis has always been alone ever since the apocalypse started two years ago and many years before then. Part of the reason was because...well the man wasn't very good when it came to being with other people but he also found it difficult to rely on others thanks to previous incidents. Besides, it was much easier to watch his own back instead of worrying about the well being of others.

"Stupid piece of shit." Dennis muttered under his breath while using his habitually vulgar language. The brunet swatted away a fly which had decided it would be a good idea to land on top of his hair which he always made sure to keep short as possible with the pair of scissors in his backpack. The tall man sighed in frustration as the fly flew away and he scratched his chin which always itched because of his stubble beard. He tried to shave his beard as much as possible but it was practically impossible to take it off completely with just a knife without scratching his face a billion times.

If Dennis had to take a guess, he'd probably be turning twenty nine later this year but he stopped counting the days soon after the outbreak started so he couldn't say for sure. He didn't really care about age too much as he readjusted his mostly empty backpack. Dennis was running dangerously low on food and ammunition for the pistol he had in his right hand so he had come to this town in hopes he'd find something that would aid in his survival...he just hoped that he didn't run into any other survivors, who were sometimes more dangerous than the zombies, as he walked down the empty road.

[Maddison]

It didn’t take long for Dagny to spot the nearby suburbs. She had on a pair of camo shorts and a tight dark grey top, which she thought helped her blend into her surroundings more. She knew that while zombies were dangerous other survivors could be even more so as many were just as likely to shoot you and rob you for your supplies and lleave you for dead than help you. Dagny walked into the town and passed a few empty roads as she headed a little deeper into the suburbs. She hadn’t spotted any zombies yet but she knew they were all about in any city.

Finally Maddie spotted an old gas station with an attached mini mart that looked pretty promising. In her excitement at finding a potential supply source she began to move quickly, and there for less carefully. As she approached she accidentally kicked the curb and stubbed her toe hard. “Oww!,” the blond hair girl hissed loudly before she quickly clamped a hand over her mouth realizing what she had done. She quickly drew her pistol and surveyed all around her. She swore for a moment she could hear quiet scraping noises, but they soon disappeared and Dagny told herself she was only imagining things. She watched for another minute and decided things were ok and headed toward the minimart. The windows were filthy and she couldn’t really see inside so she approached the door as quietly as she could. Dagny slowly and carefully opened the door her head on a swivel as she stepped inside.

Dagny did a quick sweep of the inside of the building and didn’t see anything that looked dangerous. Considering how dirty and stained the windows were it was fairly dark inside the mart, but she decided to start looking rather than let her eyes adjust to the dim light from the daylight. There was a small overturned shelf that had a bit of color sticking out underneath it that caught Dagny’s eye. She headed that way when she spotted a lone zombie huddled in a corner. In a panic she screamed and drew her gun. The zombie instantly turned her way and Dagny opened fire. She shot the zombie three times in the chest as started coming for her. The shots barely staggered it however and Dagny took a deep breath as she remembered she needed to aim for the head with her small caliber of bullet. As the zombie lunged closer she aimed at its head and hit it twice in the forehead. The zombie gave a final lurch and then fell to the ground. Dagny exhaled deeply as she saw the zombie lie still on the floor apparently dead for good this time. She approached carefully with her gun drawn and aimed at its head as she kicked it cautiously. There was still no movement but Dagny shot it one more time in the head just to be safe. Maddison was terrified and relieved all at once. No wonder her uncle and brother hadn’t wanted her to come along! She was actually a little proud of herself though for killing a zombie on her own.

Dagny turned back to the overturned shelf and could now see the color poking out was a bag of beef jerky. She squealed in excitement and got down on her hands and knees. There were several unopened packages of beef jerky and she scooped them all out from underneath the shelf. She opened her backpack and throw them all inside. She had just zipped up bag when she heard a lid crashing sound in the back. “Shit!,” she exclaimed as she realized there was a backdoor and that several zombies were shuffling through it. She realized she had caused quite a deal of noise and she sprinted back to the front door to escape.

As Dagny plowed out of the front door she ran right into another group of three zombies. The nearest one lunged for her and Dagny just barely managed to keep from getting tackled. The zombie still managed to crash into her right arm though and Dagny fell down next to the zombie, dropping her 9mm. The zombie on the ground lunged to bite her without getting up but she kicked it full force right in the face. She started to rise when the second zombie lunged and knocked her back down. This time she did not get lucky as she fell and landed on her left elbow and her head hit the pavement directly. Dagny grunted in pain and barely saw the third zombie coming as it dove on top of her. She was nearly crushed by the weight but she managed to get her arms out and grabbed the zombie by the neck. Dagny screamed as she fought with all her might to keep the zombie’s face and head away from her own as it tried to bite her again and again. The other two zombies were getting up to join the dog pile as Dagny struggled to kick and buck the zombie off of her as blood started to stream down her forehead from the cut she got falling.

Dennis himself wore a pair of tattered blue jeans and a plain white shirt which had a dried blood stain on his chest; this stain would prove itself as a giant pain in the ass considering it wouldn't come off no matter how hard the man would scrub when he passed by any rivers. The brunet readjusted his backpack and rounded the street corner just in time to hear a loud gun shot echoing throughout the town causing him to fidget.

"What the fuck are you doing over there?" Dennis asked whoever shot the gun under his breath as if they could hear him. Glancing around him to make sure no zombies were on their way towards the loud noise, multiple more shots rang out causing Dennis to raise an eyebrow. Was this person getting ambushed or something? Didn't they now gun shots only attract these things? The noise would help the man in any other scenario since it would bring the dead guys away from him but unfortunately the store where the gun shots came from happened to be only across the street from where he was standing.

Rolling his eyes, the brunet was preparing to turn around and walk back where he came from until he suddenly saw a blonde who looked to be somewhere around her older teens sprint out of the store with a small pistol waving around in the air. This only seemed to be an idiotic move because a few zombies, which Dennis himself had failed to pay attention to, cornered her and after a small scene of events, ended up on top of her. The man frowned at the sight of this stranger who was practically had death written all over her.

Dennis's first instinct was to leave and let this girl be a distraction for the zombs but one look at the girl suddenly caused his heart to seemingly stop for a moment. She looked so much like his niece which he used to visit back before the apocalypse. Of course the man rarely saw her but she was one of the few amount of people that didn't absolutely piss him off...this small detail caused Dennis to change his mind as he pulled out his gun, regretting his decision already. He took a few steps closer to get a better shot before shooting his gun, the bullet smashing into the first zombie's head and killing it instantly.

The obvious choice was for Dennis to shoot the one closest to the girl because it was the one about to bite her. Now it's dead body could be used as a sort of shield and protect her from the other two. The second bullet killed the other zombie instantly but the third bullet grazed the final zombie's forehead forcing him to use the final bullet in his clip to kill it. Dennis ran towards the girl and quickly shoved the dead zombie off of her while turning to see there were at least five more coming at them from inside the store...he wasn't going to be able to kill those with just his pocket knife.

"Are you an idiot or something, kid? Run!" Dennis called out to the stranger who was seemingly too shocked to move for a moment. The brunet picked up the kid's gun off the floor as a reward for himself for doing the right thing before sprinting off down the street, not even looking back to see where the stranger went. Dennis did all he could to save her so he couldn't care less whether she got herself killed or got away at this point.

[Maddison]

Dagny fought for her life with everything she had. Her short life was already flashing before her eyes though as the zombie on top of her kept bringing his head slowly closer and closer to her neck, despite her best efforts to throw him off. Dagny didn't even register the shot as it rang out, but she screamed as dark blood exploded all over her face. She thought it was her own blood for a moment, but there was no pain. The zombie was still on top of her but it wasn't fighting her anymore and she could see a small hole in the front of its face that become large a hole as it exited the back of the zombie's head.


Dagny's first instinct was to run but the zombie on top of her was still just as heavy as it was alive and it took her several seconds to shift its weight off of her and push herself out from underneath it. Three more shots rang out as she struggled and Dagny was aware that someone killed the other two zombies next to her as well. She checked that her backpack was still on and secure as she rose to her feet. Once on her feet, Dagny froze in disbelief, relief, and gratitude that she was still alive as she surveyed the carnage around her.


Dagny only snapped out of her fog when someone yelled to ask her if she was an idiot and told her to run. She turned to look at the voice and saw a rather scary looking man with brown hair and blood all over his clothing. She hadn't considered what her own clothing looked like now as blood dribbled down both her forehead and her left arm from her wounds in the fight. But she also finally saw more zombies coming, the ones that had chased her out of the store to begin with but beyond that there seemed several zombies beginning to shuffle this way from many directions, attracted by all the fighting no doubt. Dagny just started to move toward her gun, which she calculated still had about ten bullets left in it, when the man already grabbed it and began to run.


Dagny was about to say something but the man was already in a full sprint down the street in the opposite direction of the zombies coming out of the mini mart. Not knowing what else to do, Dagny began to run after him. Even if she returned to the safehouse that was her only gun and she knew she needed it back to survive. She also wanted to thank the man for saving her life, but it honestly wasn't going to do her much good if he abandoned her without her weapon. "Wait!," she called after him as she ran. The man did not seem like he was going to wait however, so Dagny just ran and ran after him. Now only was her head and arm both killing her but soon her heart and lungs felt like they would both explode out of her chest. Dagny had willpower however and she forced herself to keep putting one foot in front of the other as fast as she can as she followed the stranger out of the suburb trying to catch up and hoping he would eventually stop before she dropped to the ground unable to continue or he got so far ahead he lost her.

After a minute or so of running non stop, Dennis made a sharp left turn towards a small two story house which he had spent the night before so he knew there were no zombies inside of it. The man quickly ran through the front yard and opened the brown front door before entering inside. He was about to shut it until he saw the girl who he had saved before sprinting behind him with blood all over her body from her own wounds and also the zombies from what he could tell.

Once again feeling a little too kind, Dennis kept the door open just long enough for the teen to run inside before he shut it behind her. He considering scolding her like a child for shooting so many times earlier knowing damn well that too much sound could kill you in the apocalypse until he saw what it looked like outside; the guns caused zombies to scatter everywhere in the town and even though they didn't know where they were right now, it would take a couple hours before it would be safe enough to leave.

Silence was the best option as Dennis dropped his backpack off the floor and sat down on the couch with a calm expression. "Did you get bit?" The man asked his new acquaintance before starting any other conversation. "If you did then you might as well go out there and let those things take you out. I'm not wasting any more bullets on you."

[Maddison]

Dagny's lungs were on fire and screaming for air as she scrambled into the building behind the man that had saved her. She heard him close the door behind her as she collapsed on the ground and began panting desperately for air. She rolled to her back to look up at him and was just about to thank the man for saving her life when he asked her if she was bit. But before she could even answer he told her that if she was she could commit suicide by zombie because he wasn't going to waste anymore bullets on her. Her initial reaction was to give him a few profane suggestions of what he could do with himself but she stopped herself as she remembered he had just saved her life.


"No I didn't get bit.....thanks to you. My name is Dagny by the way," she introduced herself as she sat up and wrapped her arms around her knees. "I feel light headed," she added before taking a few more deep breathes. "I dont know what kind of gun you have but if you need 9mm bullets you can have the ten left in my clip if you don't mind helping me get back to my house. I got a few more there," she explained. "God my arm hurts and my head," she added as blood continued to steadily drip from her forehead.


Dagny pulled off her backpack and opened it up. She quickly tore into one of the bags of jerky she had secured and began to eat it hungrily. "Want some jerky?," she asked holding it up to the man. "Not bad for my first time right?," she asked trying to make a joke to break the tension she felt. "And can I have my gun back now please?"

"Dennis." The man muttered a fairly quick introduction, glad he hadn't risked his life for someone who was dead meat anyways. It was fairly refreshing to see the kid still have a sense of humor after what she just went through but Dennis didn't laugh. Instead he stood up and motioned for her to take a seat on the couch. "Come on and sit down already before you pass out. I have a first aid kid in my bag." He continued talking as he pulled out the first aid kit. "Also, no you can't have your gun back. Clearly you don't know how to use it considering you used five bullets on what I'm guessing was one zombie since you hadn't ran away yet."

Dennis pulled out a cloth and began to wipe away the drip of blood that came down her forehead; luckily the wound wasn't releasing blood continuously so he would be able to stop it from getting infected before bandaging it. "So how many people are at your house? I have a hard time seeing you survive in this type of world by yourself but I also can't see any of your possible friends being dumb enough to leave you alone for long and expect you to live." He couldn't but question Dagny. He was curious about the extra ammo she offered him but wasn't willing to travel with her just so her group could interrogate him and stuff like that.

Now that there wasn't any blood left around her wound, Dennis pulled out a bottle of hydrogen peroxide and a cotton ball, pouring the alcohol onto the ball. "This is gonna be a pain the ass, don't scream or anything or we're fucked." The man warned before pressing the wet cotton ball against her wound. He considered just pouring the alcohol from the bottle onto her cut but figured she wouldn't be able to handle the pain in silence so just took the slower and less painful route.

[Maddison]

Dagny wasn't sure what to make of this man yet as he didn't acknowledge her joke in anyway. She felt a little better though when he at least offered his name and seemed interested in fixing her wound. Dagny took a moment to gather her strength and stand up, and then made her way to the couch where she was directed. Dagny tried to remain calm as he told her that he wasn't giving her, her gun back. "What do you mean no? Why save me if you plan on leaving me defenseless? You know I'll die without one and you already got one. And I do know how to use it, I killed that zombie. I forgot to shoot in the head at first, but then I did and then I made sure it was dead like you are supposed to. I told you it was my first time." Her tone had been quite combative until the very end as she got quiet. She wasn't giving up on her gun, but if the guy wasn't going to give it back to her she would just have to find a way to steal it back.


Dagny held still as Dennis began to wipe her wounds down. She blushed at what Dennis said next and her blood began to boil at the insults. At the same time she also thought about her brother and uncle because of his questions and began to quietly cry despite her best attempts not to. She was seething with her anger which only added to her crying, as that was how she often handled being upset. She forced herself to remain quiet though. "I live with my older brother and uncle, they are all thats left of my family. We were pretty much out of food so they went on a supply run. Its my job to guard the supplies while they are gone," she added trying to make it sound like it was an important job though she realized now that they were probably just trying to keep her safe. "They've never been gone two days before, and I was getting really hungry so I decided I had to look for food before I got too weak. And at least I found that stupid jerky." Her tone was clearly angry and upset, but she kept her volume under control as she spoke. "I'm going to find them next," she stated matter of factly.


Dagny watched as Dennis pulled out the alcohol and warned her not to scream. "I'm not a child I am sixteen," she answered snidely, tired of the way Dennis kept insulting her even if he had saved her life. She winced and hissed though when he applied the alcohol to her wounds, but she made no loud noises. "Am i going to be ok?," she asked suddenly. "I didn't lose too much blood did I?"

Dennis was alive because he was a survivor, he knew how to handle most situations calmly and didn't become afraid very easily. Even with all that experience there was one thing the man was terrible at: talking to teenagers...he never really understood their moody tantrums and insistence on being treated like an adult even though they don't act like it. So when he saw the girl begin to cry from frustration, he quickly backtracked with eyes widened. "A-alright, relax! I...take it back alright? If you were useless then you wouldn't be alive right now so, uh, I'm sure your family trusts you or whatever. I guess I apologize just stop crying."

A sigh of annoyance came out of the man's mouth at being forced to become a babysitter as he answered her question. "This'll leave a bad ass scar but you'll be fine. As for the gun..." Dennis stayed quiet as he began to bandage the cut as the final step of cleaning her up. "Let's make a deal, kid."

Finally finishing up, Dennis stood up and tossed a bottle of water from his bag at Dagny for if she was thirsty. He then sat next to her with a grunt. "I'm not going to waste a good gun on someone who doesn't know how to use it so...how about this? Once we get back to your base then I'll teach you how to use it and in exchange you can hand me most of your bullets. So you'll get vital lessons that will help you save your friends and I'll get ammo to survive. Sound like a deal?"