Under the Alpha Moon

“Run!” I yelled, “Don’t stop until you reach the boat!” I stopped allowing the others to pass me, Gerald was struggling, just barely cresting the hill the others had already descended and were halfway across the field. “Come on Ger, you can do this, you must push harder! They are catching up; I don’t want to leave anybody behind today!” Gerald slowed to a stop with a sinister grin on his round face, his stomach heaving over the belt he pushed to its critical limits. “I don’t have to be faster Isa, I just have to keep moving,” he pulled his 9mm up and a shot rang out. Blinding pain shot through my knee. That mother fucker shot me! In all the months I have been currying survivors from the mainland, none have ever even attempted to lift a weapon towards my team. Why would they? Without us they would all be dead by now, devoured, their flesh fed to the beasts. “No offense doll, survival 101- you don’t have to outrun the enemy, only outrun the slowest of your companions. They will be too preoccupied tearing you apart to notice me.” He chuckled. “You will pay for this; they will know what you did!” I growled angrily. He smirked, “nah, who wouldn’t believe our benevolent savior was taken down saving my life, you were outnumbered and outclassed. A tragedy really, this world is slowly developing a lack of pretty faces and hot holes.” A heavy sigh left his mouth, he turned and took off at his half walk half jog. It’s a wonder the bastard lasted this long. A sinking feeling in my gut screams that I may not be the first to be left behind to save his cowardice life. “Well, I’ll be damned, he was right.” I scoffed, fucker. Evan, my brother, told me before I left that I shouldn’t go on this run, that something significant would shift if I did. I was too proud to heed his warning, 1,507, the number of people I have rescued since this s**t show started. 1,507 human lives saved by my team, whole families, as well as individuals, some proved good in a fight, others stronger in more domestic tasks that I, myself am helpless at. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that my decisions lead me here, mom always said I took after my father, god rest their souls. My father was impulsive, he never thought through the consequences before he acted. It is no wonder he died when I was only weeks old, home invasion gone wrong, he protected mom and I, but took a bullet in the head for his efforts. Mom worked hard to raise me to be like her, she was demure and submissive by nature, not me though. From the start I took no s**t and anybody that messed with me or my mother was faced with my twisted revenge tactics or outright violence. She passed during the first wave of attacks, all people over 50 were targeted first, easy targets I suppose, there was very little left of her to identify. I sat down careful to shift weight off my injury and pulled the emergency pack of cigarettes out of my boot. Don’t judge, I quit over seven years ago. When all hell broke loose, I started carrying a pack around as a final salute. With a trembling hand I took out a stick and placed it on my lips, the BIC I stole from my ex in my hand, YOLO wrote across it. Queue eye roll. Dumbass, it isn’t life I only get to do once, its death, if I’m going out might as well indulge. Shuttering as pain wracked through my knee I waited, it wouldn’t be long, bastards were fast, and we had a great head start but it never takes them long, they move faster than us, like three times faster. As if queued by my words the trees over the hill start rustling, obviously something running quickly past them. I sighed, taking my .357 out of the holster to count bullets, 6, well that’s not going to cut it. I re-holster it, grabbing my katana out of its sheath, using the handle to help stand up, it is called a last stand after all, can’t sit on my ass. The group crests the hill, seventeen of the most beautifully terrifying monsters I have ever seen, dressed to the nines in suits you would have seen in board rooms in the old world. Acquisition Squad uniforms, f*****g alpha males dressed to kill. Is it wrong for me to notice how hot they are when they are coming to kill me? Probably, but COME ON, how could you not appreciate it, when stuck in a world full of Gerald’s?