DEAD END

Chapter 3

They reached the building just a few seconds after a mobbed of undead slammed into the metal door shaking the building.

Gabriella was trying to catch her breath when the hinges of the door started to lose, her eyes widened when she realized that the door will break any minute.

"In here" Ryan called from the far side of the building, her legs are shaking due to fear and exhaustion.

A loud bang made her yelp. Looking behind, the door was smashed under a pile of undead, panic rose into her throat giving her profound adrenaline to reach Ryan within seconds.

"Upstairs, go Gabriella" she hoists herself and ignores the burning pain on her legs, fifty, sixty, seventy. Just a few more steps and she will reach the top. Gunshots can be heard downstairs but she didn't dare to look behind.

Two hundred steps, she reached the third floor of the building. She welcomes the cold breeze of the night as the rain started pouring. Catching her breath and allowing herself to drop to the ground.

When she managed to calm down, the tapping sound of the rain is the only sound she could hear.

"Ryan? Lucas? " silence, no gunshots, and no sign of the two men.

She grabbed the gun and slowly made her way into the door, she heard a grunt followed by the loud slamming of the door.

"Gabriella it's us, drop your gun" her heart dropped when she saw Lucas carrying Ryan on his shoulder.

"No, what happened?" she ran towards them and support his other side. She could hear him breathing, relief flood through her but by the looks of it, Ryan is severely injured.

They placed him on the ground, grabbing her bag and turn it into a makeshift pillow.

Lucas locked the door and started making a fire. Her worries started growing when she saw blood on Ryan's legs.

"Lucas? " she looked at him hoping to have a different answer to her unsaid question.

"Don't worry they didn't get him. He hit himself at the exposed sharp metal while we tried to block the stairway"

She released a breath and clutch her heart, she might have hated him for lying to her but Ryan protected her throughout the years and she couldn't bear losing both of them.

Gabriella took the container sitting on the ground and fill it with rainwater. She cleans his wound to avoid infection and stitch it close. She heard Ryan's heavy breathing but he never said a word.

"Here drink this, it's a painkiller. I found it in the clinic when we made our way in here"

Ryan took the pill and swallowed it like it's just a piece of candy. She cringed but didn't say a word.

Within those years that they've fought for survival, she learns the basic things of treating someone.

They sat around the fire, warming themselves while trying to scavenge what was left to eat.

"We will move first thing in the morning"

Lucas said before retiring for the night.

She lay down in her makeshift bed, as the fire slowly dwindles, leaving tiny sparks in these dark hours. Steady breathing, heartbeats normally, but hunted memories constantly running through her mind.

She opened her eyes and decided to take a walk, the cold night air and the silent whispers of the wind bringing the comfort of the life she has come to know.

Sitting down at the edge of the building, a thousand stars mocking at the world beneath them. We used to have everything, now we are left with nothing.

"Mommy do stars see us from here?" her tiny fingers played with her mother's hair.

Her mother hummed before pointing out different constellations.

"Your grandmama used to say, stars give us directions. Look in there, you see the biggest and brightest star away from everyone else? That's the north star, if you follow that star you will reach the coast"

The north star, she gasped when she realized that her mom gave her the hint all this time. She looks at the horizon, but what she finds is not just the north star but rather the largest ship that they've been looking for all those years. The light of the moon reflects its surface making it noticeable at the night.

A surge of energy spread through her body as she found a new hope of survival.

But her excitement slowly dies as her gaze drops into the ground. Thousands of undead are all over the place. The ship is so near yet so far, she dropped to the ground defeated.

"Mom, Dad, what should we do"