Supernaturals

She was running. Then it had occurred to her that she had been a very good runner, the best in her school and she never went to a girls only. One wouldn’t be surprised if Anna told you she was very athletic, her long straight legs, her fit and flexible body, how vibrant her strides were, how assertive her stance was—these and more would easily convince anyone that chasing Anna Towadise was always going to be uphill. Still, she hoped it would be enough to outrun the herd of zombies that pursued her.

Not many witches would keep their calm if they were in Anna's shoes. Most witches would even get so uneasy if a dozen Undeads came at them. Funny enough, zombies weren't quick at all; a frightened five years old would outrun them even without being given a headstart. They were slow, very idiotic and weaker than the average human—yet they had succeeded in killing almost a third of Supernaturals, and almost all of humanity. Everyone feared the zombies, it didn't matter if you could bring fire from your mouth or your backside, it didn't matter if you have lived a thousand years and was strong enough to pass through a building made of solid concrete, or you could turn into a big wolf...everyone was perpetually terrified of the brain-munchers. Everyone but the demons.

She had gone too far from the haven. She and eleven other witches had gone deep into the city in search of supplies—food, clothes, drugs, just about anything. No matter how much they brought, it could never last beyond two weeks. That had had them always going into the city via different routes, in order to cover more ground. This time when they had gone out on their usual weekly hunt, being fed up with going out every weekend, they had decided to push fear aside and make their way into the city. They had collectively—the regular twelve people who always went for the food hunt—decided to move beyond the fear that the vampires and the demons ruled the main city. They had all agreed that it was high time they all stood strong and did good by the haven—even though the Queen—what the coven leader was called—was very much against anyone going beyond the places where the safety of their kind was more assured.

While they had all given each other quality pep talks, they hadn't had an idea of what the city held. At first, as they entered the city, it seemed doable. They had magic, after all, they weren't regular people who were in search of food. They felt like it would be difficult but they would get more food—may be more than their bags and bicycles' front baskets could hold. The first attack had been terrifying and had made Anna have a double mind. Close to two hundred zombies had ambushed them. Seeing their ugly savage faces in such a large number had made her so sick in the stomach that she had contemplated closing her eyes while burning the hell out of them. And there came the second ambush.

After the first attack which had been overwhelming but a success nonetheless, they had all become relaxed, it seemed like they could really pull this off. Ideas came from everyone and they all appeared to believe Anna's mother—the coven Queen—was just too scared of the other beings. And then they it had happened. Ostensibly, they had come nowhere but from everywhere. They couldn't think of fighting, all that was left to do was run. As expected, when the first set had come after them, others followed. Without being hyperbolic at all, Anna could beat her chest and say that at the very least, sixty thousand zombies came after them. That was sixty thousand relentless brain-munchers, no one cared if you could bring out fire from your hands or move things without touching them—if they had even waited one minute, they would dead bodies on the ground waiting to rise as dead beings. That was a fate worse than death.

She pushed her thoughts from her mind and ceased sprinting for a while. Where was she going to? She didn't know where she was but she knew she was still in the city, but had no clue on getting out and more importantly, getting home. She couldn't dare stay in the city for too long, they were many beings that could really hurt her. Then it occurred to her that she should try to communicate with fellow witches/wizards in the city, but that meant she had to find a place where she would sit quietly and meditate. She had done a little bit of a search before she saw a car that actually had a door. She tried to start it as the keys, surprisingly had been in the ignition hole. She laughed at herself as she tried to turn the key...and bam! The car started. The sputtering sound of the car's engine made her leap in surprise. It felt so unreal! How could this be actually happening, besides bicycles, there was no existing vehicle.

Were wheelbarrows vehicles? How about scooters? Anna wondered.

She, once again, abandoned her thoughts and tried contacting her friends. It was no good—they were either dead or very far from where she was. She prayed for the former. Tears poured down her face, if only they had listened and sought for any crap they could take as food, maybe they would have hopes of seeing the sun. She took a deep breath and tried again. There was no response, she tried again and again and again...

She came out of the car, wondering what she would do. She couldn't stay any longer, nobody was going to save her. She was alone this time, no team. And then she spotted an Undead, slowly making its way to her. Since it was far, she tried to look at it in the face. Most of the time she avoided looking at the faces of the zombies but this time she decided to. It was savage, ugly and quite scary too. It had some tattered clothes around its body, it was difficult to say what race it was but Anna guessed it had been caucasian. Also, it had been a woman before the Hamzak-101 had struck the world, though she hadn't any breast anymore—they seemed to have been severed—it was apparent it had a been a woman. It could have been someone's daughter, someone's wife, someone's best friend, or someone's lover. Anna didn't know who she had been but she knew the creature before she was a mockery of the person whose body was being controlled by the virus. With that in mind, she set the zombie ablaze and prayed she found peace.

She sank back into the car, and for some reason, had decided that it wasn't safe there. She didn't who owned the car—someone definitely did—but she couldn't leave the car. Cars were as rare as gold, whoever owned it, sure as hell, stole them too. So it was fair. She couldn't just drive and head nowhere, she had to think. She had to think of a way to go back to the Haven. It was the smart thing to do, it was what her mother would have wanted her to do—to think, to plan and then act with zeal.

At the back of her mind, she felt even that won't help now.

She then saw a building with a wrought iron fence, and was thoroughly fenced. It seemed untouched by the apocalypse, though weed had almost covered the whole lawn. She was, at first, sceptical about walking into such a compound—in fact, she had no business walking into the compound. She was in a car, an actual car, the only car she had seen in months was Mason's—her kid brother's toy car. But she wasn't thinking clearly, she couldn't leave the city and find her way back home if she didn't have a very good plan and that needed time. Clearly, staying in an old car during an apocalypse wasn’t the smartest thing to do. So she pushed her childish fears away and headed towards the church compound—with the mysterious car key in her pocket.