Tomorrow, Today (© Miles Fowler)
Eliza strolled silently along the remains of
Staines high street. Either side of her were the shops that once were open for
the carefree people who knew nothing about the hell that was about to grip the
earth. In front of what was Waterstones were two of the undead horrors who had
turned to face the girl when she was close enough. Eliza shouldered the old Lee
Enfield she carried, took aim and blew one of the zombies heads off. She
swiftly bolted the gun, aimed again and with an almost deafening bang the other
one took a bullet to the eye. It fell to its knees, then slumped to the ground.
Eliza pulled back the bolt on the rifle and refilled the chamber with the five
rounds it would hold. Eliza had got the rifle from her grandfather
after he had turned. It was his from the war, and his house was stashed with an
unnatural amount of ammo for it. Eliza had a messenger bag full. It was heavy
stuff, but in these built up areas food wasn't hard to come by meaning that
weaponry was the only thing that you needed to carry. The street was littered
with corpses, all of them decaying with bullet holes in their skulls. That was
the only way to kill them-a shot to the head. Eliza was desensitized to all of
this. It was something she had to come to terms with a long time ago. And she'd
seemingly coped quite well all things considered. She continued to walk along
and went under the bridge towards the pharmacy on the second row of shops. More zombies ahead. Eliza took out all the ones
that posed a threat, reloaded and continued until the pharmacy was on the
right. She quickly peered inside the shop, then quickly smashed the door in
with her rifle butt. Eliza was surprisingly strong for a thirteen year old
girl, but it was what was needed of her. Luckily enough for her, this one
hadn't been looted yet, so she picked up a load of essentials: bandages,
codeine, caffeine tablets, paracetemol and nurofen. Painkillers were hard to
come by, and you never knew when you'd need to take the edge off a nasty
injury. After leaving she took out a few of the closer undead and headed
straight for the off license. This door was open, and she got in easily. Eliza
looked around and took two bottles of vodka for sterilising wounds. She then
made a swift exit to head for her shelter. At the moment she was seeking refuge in a hall
set up by the local Baptist church. It had been seriously reinforced after the
outbreak had happened and the Christians who ran it had opened it up to those
seeking food, shelter and protection. Eliza didn't believe in god, but she
genuinely liked the people who ran the mission and had respect for their
beliefs. She headed for the large wooden doors of the hall which were covered
in barbed wire and spikes and she pushed the doorbell. Quickly a small peephole
opened and a suspicious eye looked her up and down. The peephole snapped shut
and one of the doors opened to let her in. She quickly went inside, welcoming
the warmth and light that was there to greet her. Several people looked up as
she came in, but then there attention turned back to whatever they were
occupied by before. Eliza sat down, put her rifle and messenger bag on the
floor and removed the stab proof vest she was wearing. There was a piece of glass stuck in her arm,
probably from the chemist she broke into earlier. She pulled the shard free and
fresh blood oozed from the wound. Immediately she soaked a bandage in vodka and
wrapped it around the wound. 'bite!' yelled one of the women near her, and
Eliza knew this was it, even though the woman was mistaken. The perimeter had
been breached-anyone infected must be killed. Two men pointed rifles at her
head, and she just managed to shout a curse at the woman who'd cost Eliza her
life before one of the guns fired and ended her life. Immediately afterwards
there was a small scuffle for her belongings and rifle.
- THE END - |