After the Last Dawn - TWD

Chapter 9

Day 11

Two days have passed since the official start of the end of the world. Until two days ago, people still had hope that the government or the army would take action. Perhaps some still do, but many have lost faith in them.

The morning after the Atlanta bombings, I left the small town and started driving towards my destination. That is, prison.

Unfortunately, nothing ever happens the way we want it to. All the main roads were blocked with cars of people who wanted to leave or get to other places.

I had to take adjoining roads, but that ended up making the journey longer than if it had been on a straight road. And they weren't even good roads. It looked like they hadn't been treated in years. They were full of potholes, cracks and plants sticking out of the asphalt.

In short, I had to sleep in the car in the middle of a road abandoned by God. And now, here I am eating a slice of bread after spending the night in the car.

My plan for today is to stop in a small town a few kilometers from where I am now. There must be some kind of market there. What for? It's always good to have supplies.

As I finished eating my bread, I noticed a movement out of the corner of my eye. As I looked towards the tree line, I saw a group of five zombies coming towards the car.

Sighing lazily, I put on my mask and got out of the vehicle. I start to approach the two zombies and then take the knife out of my holster. The first zombie died with its skull split in two. When the second one came up, I kicked it hard in the head.

The third and fourth were killed in the same way. The last one was eliminated with a stone that I threw at it. I slapped my hands together, as if wiping them, and got back into the car, heading for the city.

As I drove along the road, I started humming songs, because I was bored. I was currently humming "Life is a highway".

"We won't hesitate 🎶

To break down the garden gate 🎶

There's not much time left today, yeah 🎶

Life is a highway 🎶

I wanna ride it all night long 🎶

If you're goin'- 🎶"

In the middle of the song's chorus, the car started to creak and switched itself off. I also smelled smoke, just before I saw it coming out of the gaps in the car.

I got out of the car and opened the hood. Instantly, the smoke began to rise and spread on the wind.

"Fuck!" I complained as I tried to get as much smoke out of sight as possible. Even so, as I don't know anything about engines, I don't know what's wrong with it.

Taking a deep breath, I concentrate to think.

After a while, I sighed and made my decision. I close the hood of the car, put the handbrake down and start pushing the vehicle. This was one of my dumbest ideas, but it would be quite problematic to carry two bags, two gallons of water, two gallons of gasoline and my own weight.

It shouldn't be heavy, but it would be quite limiting. If a zombie appeared in front of me, I'd have to drop everything and kill it. But with me pushing the car, I'd just have to stop pushing it and go and kill them.

Of course, that option was bad too, but as long as I'm alone, that's how it's going to have to be.

Theoretically, the car should be heavy, but since I had enhanced strength, it was like pushing a baby carriage. On a much larger scale. But that was also just a matter of habit.

Twenty minutes later, I finally reached the city. It wasn't that big, to be honest. You could see the end of the city from the beginning.

Anyway, there must be a market at this end of the world. After getting the weights off my back, I clean my hands, stretch my arms and relax my body. I've literally put the cart before the horse. Finally, after preparing myself, I take out my revolver, which I got from Tristan, and fire it into the air.

Bang!

.

.

.

The sound echoed for a few seconds and then dissipated. My surroundings were silent for a few seconds, until I heard the growls of the zombies.

"Time to work." I pull out the Remington and holster the revolver. First we'll waste a few bullets on them and then we'll go with the knife. I snap my neck and start shooting at the first zombies that appear.

There were more than I expected. There were about 80 or more. Of course, they were together, so it was easy to kill them. Whenever the gun ran out of bullets, I reloaded it with a new magazine.

I did this for a while, until the ammunition ran out. I had only prepared four extra magazines for this gun, and as each magazine holds 14 bullets, I ended up killing 64 zombies. Some shots caught two zombies at once.

Of course, there were still plenty of bullets in the bag, but it would take a while to put them in the magazine.

As there were about 20 zombies left, I went into hand-to-hand combat with the knife and kicks. Why not use the other weapons? Well, I'm a stingy person and I didn't want to waste any more ammunition.

After 12 minutes of shooting and fighting, I finally approached the last zombie, which was still approaching slowly, passing the fallen zombies in its path.

"Still excited, aren't you? Come on, come on. Keep going!" I said to the zombie, who was still struggling to get closer. When he was within arm's length, I grabbed him by the shirt and threw him to the ground. Before he could get up, I threw the knife at his head.

I look around and see myself surrounded by corpses, this time dead for good. I breathe a sigh of relief at finally having finished off this horde. Although it wasn't physically tiring, it's always stressful to have to do this. The danger of ending up cornered and always being on the lookout for any threat from behind is quite exhausting.

I can't wait to get to the prison, clear it of zombies, fix the back, which is probably already broken, strengthen the walls and have more people to help me. After all that, I'll finally be able to relax a bit more.

Calmly, still wary of any zombies, I went back to my car. While killing zombies, I finally found what looked like a market. A market? It was small.

But first, I started collecting the zombies from the street and throwing them in a corner. Then maybe I'll bury them or burn them.

When I entered the store, the first thing I noticed were some empty shelves, with only items not so necessary for survival. Some of these were medicines for specific illnesses, plastic items, condoms, chemicals and cleaning products, but there was nothing for food or drink.

"I wonder if there's anything for cars in this place." I started looking around the place for something, but there didn't seem to be anything. I went to the back door of the store, where there might be a storeroom.

As soon as I opened the door, I saw a dead body inside. Not wanting to risk it, I stabbed its head. There were a few boxes in this small storeroom. But they were all empty. It looks like someone has already been here and taken everything.

"Talk about bad luck. My car broke down and I still haven't found anything useful here." I went to the counter and started opening the drawers. Until, in one of them, I found something that might be useful. Silver tape.

Maybe I could do what Stiles did in Teen Wolf and to repair the car with this universal tool. In fact, this would be a great place to be reincarnated. Shaking my head to clear my thoughts of things that won't change, I leave the store and go to my car, which I had left in front of the store.

I open the hood and try to identify the problem. Whether it's a punctured hose, a hole in some part of the engine or something else. Another item for the list. Learn to fix cars.

Thanks to the smoke coming out of the hose, I managed to find the hole. So I took the tape and started to cover the hole. I took extra turns to make sure it wouldn't come out.

I got into the car to start it, but it didn't work. It made a starting noise, but wouldn't start.

"I wonder if there's another hole." I went back to look at the engine, but there was no more smoke coming out of it. "What about under the car?" Just as I was about to lift the front of the car to see what it was, I heard the sound of a car approaching.

I quickly ran to my supplies and hid them on top of the store. I also hid the weapons that were out in the open, leaving only the guns hidden behind my jacket.

Of course, I didn't take off my mask. Let's see what these people want. I was leaning over the hood when an old red pick-up truck pulled up. Seven people got out. They were all armed with knives and baseball bats. Three of them carried a hunting rifle each.

They approached with rather unpleasant expressions on their faces.

"Look what we have here, boys! A mysterious stranger!" One of the men, the one who looked the oldest, spread his arms and looked at his colleagues as if they were having a conversation.

"What do you want?" I asked them, my voice sounding deeper because of the mask. I watched every suspicious move.

Especially those with guns. They tried to surround me, but I moved slowly to the side of the car. That way I would have cover from behind. There were three people on my right, three on my left and one of those with a gun was further away.

"We just want to know who you are. Maybe we can help you. Of course, if you can pay." The leader says this while trying to look inside the car.

"Yeah? Well, unfortunately I've got nothing but this wrecked car. So you're wasting your time." I reply with a shrug.

I can see that some of them are getting in a bad mood. I smile a little behind my mask. I found the hotheads. And one of them is the one with the gun.

"Really? That's too bad. Maybe you can help us. We heard some shots coming from here. You wouldn't happen to know anything, would you?" He looked around the street and noticed the bloodstains on the ground.

"You know how it is, right? These things are attracted very easily. One little noise and grrr..." I say sarcastically, at the same time as giving him a warning. It's as if to say: "Don't use your weapons or we'll both be in trouble". More them than me, of course.

"So where's your gun? You didn't fire it with the wind, did you?" One of the guys with the gun asks, as he approaches with the gun pointed at me. It looks like he's already pretty pissed off. I sigh, showing boredom.

"Let's get this over with. You don't want to help anyone. I think it's more the other way around." I accuse them, and they smile.

"Apparently, you're more than just a pretty mask." The leader of these assholes laughs, and the others join in. "Good. That makes it easier for us."

"You come with us. Let's go for a walk." The asshole who's pointing his hunting rifle at me says, with a mischievous grin:

"I'm not in the mood." I reply as I prepare for the fight that, logically, was going to happen one way or another. I still made a point of listening to what they had to say, but it seems to have been in vain.

"You're wrong if you think you have a choice, kid. Surrender now!" The idiot with the gun points it straight at me as he engages. This is it. I pretend to think as I look at him and lower my gaze.

"Nah." As soon as I say that, I pull one of my guns out of my jacket and shoot the idiot who was screaming, killing him. A second idiot with a baseball bat appears to my right, but I elbow him twice in the neck, causing him to choke and pass out immediately afterwards. To top it off, I grab him by the shirt and throw him near another armed man, distracting him enough to get close to him.

He still manages to concentrate to shoot, but I grab the barrel of the gun and raise it upwards, making the shot miss. Then I elbow the guy in the hand who still had his finger on the trigger. To finish him off, I punch him hard in the chest. I feel his ribs break on impact and he is thrown back a few meters.

With three more to go, I turn to the one with the knife. He tries to hit me with a thrust, but I grab his hand and twist it, using the man as a shield so that the third man with the gun doesn't shoot.

Taking advantage of this hesitation, I shoot the leader, who was starting to come towards me. As soon as he's hit in the chest, I lower the man I'm using as a shield and knee him in the face. He falls to the ground, holding his nose. Before he can complain, I eliminate him.

I turn to the last man with the gun, but notice that he's already running to the car. As I prepare to shoot him, I feel a burning sensation just above my waist, followed by the sound of a gunshot. This made me kneel down and look back.

I see the man whose rib I broke trying to raise his rifle again, but before he can, I shoot him in the hand, causing him to let out an agonized scream.

His scream is no louder than the sound of the engine being started. Realizing that the last one was running away, I fire at the car, but he manages to escape.

"Fuck!" I curse as I realize that one of them has managed to escape. Taking a deep breath, I ignore the pain and go over to the man whose rib I broke. He's coughing up a lot of blood, and his punctured hand isn't helping to stop the bleeding.

It's time to get some answers.