Ryan didn’t stop to close the door behind him. His brain couldn’t think or focus on anything other than running as far away from the zombie as humanly possible—trying to survive despite the numbness from the table. Trying not to lose his breath, though he wasn’t paying attention to that. He nearly stumbled and tripped himself up again, but he regained his footing and forced his legs to push harder, run faster even.

  “Somebody help me!” His cries echoed throughout the city. Nobody answered his pleas.

  A gust of wind hit him as he sprinted, his vision blurry, unable to see anyone or anything in front of him. One thing was certain: if there was no response, then...

  A twitch hit him in the leg, prompting him to hop on one leg and grip the other tightly. Ryan reluctantly slowed his pacing down and stopped to take a breather. Sweat poured down from his body as his breath was heavy and slow. He turned back to where he came from. Nobody was nearby. He sighed and wiped his forehead. The coast was clear.

  Crash! Ryan’s ears picked up more glass breaking. He snapped around and froze in place, as a limping figure crawled its way over the broken window, letting out loud grunts along the way. A different grunting figure appeared from the corner of his eyes, emerging from an alleyway.

  Ryan’s eyes darted back and forth as more appeared and made themselves known in the city. He clutched at the shirt surrounding his chest, his heart pounding so much and so fast; with so much going on, he feared he was going to have a heart attack at this rate.

  No way, there’s more of them? But why?

  Ryan stepped back. He tried to run, but the strain in his leg kept him from going too far. He dragged himself to hide behind a car on the sidewalk and crouched down. Ryan massaged his leg and blinked to get the dust and tears out of his eyes, easing himself from some of the pain. During this process, he cursed himself for pushing too hard, and inadvertently attracting them to come out here.

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  After he finished, Ryan looked up and stared at the cloudy sky, wondering where and how it all went wrong, and what he could do to fix his predicament. None of the zombies paid him any mind, just wandering around, probably looking for something to munch on. Something to munch on. Munch on. Munch.

  His stomach lurched and let out a sickening growl. His eyes widened as he clutched his stomach, trying to get it to stop making noises. Eventually, the noise died down, prompting him to sigh in relief. Ryan couldn’t believe he had spent this whole time finding other people and hadn’t considered getting any food for himself.

  Then again, that one zombie had pretty much killed his appetite at the time. Even then, she basically beat him to the punch when it came to grabbing a bite to eat. Wait, weren’t zombies supposed to be interested in brains? Ryan didn’t know much about them, but figured that was the case since he watched a lot of those types of movies and shows growing up. He didn’t have time to think about that now, especially on an empty stomach.

  Ryan groaned and slammed his fist on the side of the car. The vehicle blared its horns, causing him to jump back and yell. The zombies stopped what they were doing and turned to face the car. Ryan peeked out the windows; more of them were coming this way. He looked all around him, on all sides. They approached the car, showing no signs of stopping. No way out. He could feel his chest tightening and his heart catching in his throat. With everything happening around him, all at once, and on the same day, he thought he’d faint from all the intensity.

  Ryan didn’t know what to do or how to react, as panic froze him all over. The vehicle didn’t help matters, as it kept ringing loudly in his ears. Wait. As part of the shock wore off, Ryan could spot an opening right between two of the zombies, a gap wide enough for him to sneak past. He pushed himself away from the loud car, and made his way around them, one by one.

  He stopped on the sidewalk and placed his hand on a wall, catching his breath. His gaze slowly shifted over to the middle of the street. The zombies kept thrashing and pounding at the car. It was just as he thought. They were more interested in the noisy distraction than him. Ryan breathed a sigh of relief through his nose, the chaos drowning out any small inkling of a sound he could make.

  He had no time to waste, especially since that vehicle wouldn’t last long. Ryan trudged his way through the sidewalk, his hand tracing the rough painted edges of the wall, keeping him from falling.