Screeching from a bird of prey interrupted my, let’s say, cozy slumber. I groaned and tried to move but felt myself fading into the darkness again. A hard peck on my hand yanked me back to the nd of the living. Well, it used to be the nd of the living.

  I pried my eyes open and attempted to shake the blurriness away. A rge bird with its head cocked to the side slowly came into focus. It pecked at my hand again.

  “Ow! Knock it off!” I said and pushed myself up into a sitting position. I pulled my hands out of pecking range. The bird was just under two feet tall. It had a white body with brown spots and darker brown feathers on its wings and back. Its beak was yellow with a blue tip, and it had bright yellow circles around its dark eyes. I was far from a bird expert, but I was pretty sure it was a falcon. I had seen those hunting around here, but I didn’t recognize this exact type. “Uh, hello bird.”

  The falcon screeched again and unfurled its wings, which spread out over four feet wide. The falcon unched itself into the air with quick, repetitive fpping and was gone in a blur. The st thing I noticed as I watched the falcon soar away was an orange ribbon tied around one of its talons.

  “Huh, must belong to someone. Well, at least it can fly. Jealous. Hooooly shit, my head hurts.” I covered my face with my hands and contempted lying back down for a quick little nap on the road.

  The sound of nearby growls pulled me back to the task at hand: get back to the facility. It took several seconds to kick in, but the longer I was awake, the more pain I could feel growing throughout my entire body. It felt like I slept on a jagged rock while banging my head against said rock over and over.

  The rest of my senses began to come back to me a bit at a time. I heard the crackling of nearby fmes, the snarls and growls of the approaching decayed, the shouts and gunfire of humans fighting back. I pushed myself up on my hands and knees and shook my head in a failed attempt to clear out the fog, which made the headache feel oh so wonderful.

  I opened my eyes and looked around me for my gsses. I found them near where I woke up. What a stroke of luck! I could see okay enough without them—my near-sightedness was almost normal—but when running for my life, I preferred seeing better than just okay. Especially when trying to see what was coming after me.

  “How the hell am I not dead?” I asked and touched all over my body for injuries. The amplified snarls of the decayed closing in interrupted my self-examination. “Oh, never mind. I just needed to give it another minute or two.”

  I slid my gsses onto my face and stood up. “Mal? Mal, are you okay?”

  No response.

  I looked around and saw the fming wreckage of the helicopter and pieces of the broken building. Chunks of fming debris were all over the street. A few parked cars were on fire too. Further down the street, a pack of those monsters was heading this way. The sound of the crash attracted a lot of attention.

  “Holy plot armor. How am I still here?” I said when I saw all the surrounding destruction. “Mal!”

  I saw no sign of her anywhere. The only bodies I could see were the burning remains of the decaying monsters on the helicopter.

  “Becca? Can you hear me?” I spat out some blood that had been pooling in my mouth. I may still be alive, but I sure as hell was hurting. I started limping around the wreckage, making sure Mal didn’t get trapped under a piece of the building or part of the helicopter. But there was no normal human body within eyesight. I heard Becca try to communicate.

  Becca: ehhhhh-he-he-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-Grayson?

  Shit. I couldn’t understand what she was trying to say.

  “Becca, do you have eyes on Mal? I can’t find her,” I yelled as if that would clear up the interference.

  Silence. Damn it. Mal was right here! She had to be here somewhere. I wasn’t sure how long I was unconscious, but it couldn’t have been too long; I hadn’t been eaten yet. Also, being knocked out was like, super bad for you.

  “Mal!” I yelled and tried to listen for a muffled or distant response.

  The decayed hissed at me as they drew in closer. Their gimpy walk transitioned into an unsteady run when they were within striking distance. I could dey no longer.

  “Damn it, Mal! Mal!” I forced myself to turn away from the wreckage and sprinted away from the decayed. My run was more of a stumble at first. It took several steps to get the full feeling in my feet back. The decayed moved faster than I expected; something with its skin dripping off its bones shouldn't have been that fast, but I was faster than them even when hurt.

  My knees burned, and the body aches worsened as I put some distance between me and those human-eating nightmares. I turned down the first street I reached. It was almost jarring to see the street empty of humans and monsters alike, but I had no compints.

  “Becca. Please tell me you can hear me. I really need you right now,” I said and sucked down some air. This day was difficult enough without getting hit by a falling helicopter.

  Becca: That is very sweet. Thank you, Grayson.

  “Seriously?! Focus up, Becca! Can you see me?”

  Becca: No. The drone was caught in the explosion.

  “So you didn’t see what happened to Mal?”

  Becca: I am sorry, Grayson. The st bit of input I received was of you two standing together watching the incoming helicopter.

  Yeah, that was what I assumed happened. But it had still put a pit in my stomach. I hoped Mal was okay. Maybe she saw a safe pce and went there to take shelter? I knew I was lying to myself. I was just desperate to come up with an idea that meant she was still alive. She more than likely got dragged off by one of those monsters, but I had to keep hope somehow, someway. Until I learned otherwise.

  “Alright, Becca, I got a group of those nasties behind me. I’m going to keep moving, but guide me the best you can to the doctor. The sooner we’re back at the facility, the sooner we can figure out what is happening,” I said and kept gncing behind me to make sure I didn’t get caught off guard.

  Becca: I am unable to provide guidance from the air after the destruction of the drone.

  “We have multiple drones; just use one of the other ones.”

  Becca: Someone wanted to harass the geese at the park and did not remember to charge the drones.

  “Ah… That’s, uh, my bad.” I rubbed the back of my head in embarrassment and felt my cheeks get warm. Stupid Grayson. Stupid.

  Becca: Looking at your current situation, do you believe your antics were worth it?

  “Those geese are assholes, so I regret nothing. If I die wandering around out here today, it was a worthy death.”

  Becca: I shall feed your remains to the geese.

  “Traitor!”

  I reached another cross street and turned left, trying to head away from where I knew a lot of those things were. This street was more active. People were fleeing their apartments with some belongings and supplies. So much for that shelter in pce order. I felt a pang of dread for these people as I remembered what was chasing me, hopefully those monsters gave up or the people outside got to a safe space quickly.

  Several people rushed into their cars and floored it, hitting parked cars and others in the street without slowing down. I’d bet traffic was already at a complete stop leaving the city. I could only imagine how many wrecks there were because of the desperate drivers.

  Shouting down a small street between apartment buildings captured my attention. It did not sound like a conversation family or friends would be having right then. I gnced back behind me to see if any of the decayed were there. So far, so good.

  I slowed my pace and walked down the path between the two buildings, trying to hear what was being said.

  “Becca,” I said in a hushed tone. “Can you hear what those voices are saying?”

  Becca: In my current state, I cannot decipher what you cannot hear clearly. But I have an idea.

  “Great! I’m all ears,” I said and came to a stop.

  Becca: Stop whatever you’re pnning and return to the facility promptly.

  “You know what they say; curiosity never killed the cat.” I walked farther down the path until I was at the corner of a building.

  Becca: How audacious! You know that is not how that expression goes!

  I ignored her and focused on the voices yelling at each other.

  “Last chance! Give us what’s in the bag and your car keys or get cut!” A man's voice that was awkwardly deep and gruff; I got the impression he forced his voice lower to sound tough. It sounded fake to me.

  “P-please. We just want to leave. The world is falling apart, just let us go!” Another man spoke; this one was scared to the point his voice was quivering.

  It sounded like someone was taking advantage of the chaos to rob the people trying to escape. That was just sick.

  Becca: Alert! Blood pressure rising. Please engage in our practiced deep-breathing exercises to calm yourself.

  I was clenching my jaw so hard it hurt. I was able to force out, “I have something else that will calm me down. Just a small dose of murder.”

  I peeked my head around the corner to assess the situation. There was a small paved area between the apartment buildings. There were two thin men dressed in bck with hats pulled so low that they covered their eyes. They were holding knives and pointing them at a family of four.

  The person standing in front of the family was an obese man whose shirt was stretched and struggling to contain his stomach. He looked to be in his te forties with big circur gsses and a rge bald spot in the middle of his dark hair. The contrast between his dark hair and pale white skin accentuated the ck of hair. His eyes were bouncing from the knife of one man to the knife of the other at an impressive speed. He had a backpack pinned to his side. To say he was scared would be an understatement.

  He was acting like he had never been held at knifepoint or something.

  Shielding herself from view with the back of the man was a small blonde woman who seemed to be of a simir age. I assumed from their simir age and the way he was protecting her that they were married. Behind her were a man and a woman, who both looked to be te teens or early twenties.

  The woman caught my eye. Despite the fear painted on her face, she was stunning. Ptinum blonde hair, sharp features, and emerald green eyes. She wore baggy clothes that were frayed and discolored. She stood out from the rest of the family, whose clothes looked less worn down and better fitting. Despite the loose clothing, I could see she was fit, and the baggy clothes could not hide her lovely curves.

  Bad Grayson. Focus.

  The other man looked like another version of the big guy, but twenty years younger and two hundred pounds lighter, with all of his hair. For now.

  Both the younger woman and man had backpacks on. The men with the knives must have seen the bags and the weak-looking man in front and thought this was an easy get.

  I went to step out and say something to defuse the situation when the rge man turned and grabbed the young woman behind him by the arm. She let out a shocked yell as he threw her forward and then grabbed her backpack when she hit the ground. He shook it off of her and handed the bag to the other woman.

  “Please, just take her and let us go!” the rge coward said.

  Dude. What the fuck