Is it the End or the Beginning? » Places

         

It had been a long day for Nova.
Morning had begun with a rude awakening: a blaring burglar alarm and about four and two thirds of zombie. She'd managed to not die, which was, as always, quite convenient, but a bunch of the undead bastards on the horizon meant she had to pack up and move out, as well as bid goodbye to the great, abandoned manor that had been her hangout for the past three days. It was a shame, what with the burglar alarm there to warn her of incoming murder machines, that she had to bid the place adieu, but in a way, she was kind of relieved. The place, with its creaky frame and its empty halls, had been starting to creep her out.

She had only encountered one zombie since then, when she was raiding convenience stores for cans of food and medical supplies. He had been chewing on the body of... well, she wasn't exactly sure what. By that point its corpse was mangled enough, and, to be honest, she didn't really care to know. With the baseball bat that she kept slung over her back, tied in the same cord as the sawn-off shot gun next to it, she did what she'd recently had an awful lot of practice in. She smashed its head in.

Next? A clothing change. Shopping was so much easier now that money wasn't a necessity. No endless pondering. No worrying that it might be a little too expensive. Nope. Just grab what you want and go. Slipping off her bloodied, pale blue singlet, she replaced it with a dark green one, sliding her familiar and precious leather jacket over the top as she shoved some fresh clothes into her backpack.

As she left the store, Nova smirked slightly to herself. You know, this day is actually going pretty we-
Crash. Rain. Nova glanced up at the sky, eyes narrowed in an expression that clearly said, 'Seriously?' before sighing and shrugging her back over her shoulder.

Another stop at the convenience store had left her with an umbrella, and, as she wandered through the woods, she reached a hand out from beneath its cherry-red dome. The droplets of rain kissed at her fingertips, falling quickly and eagerly, bubbling in her palm. She sighed once more, and kept walking.

As pleasant as it was, it was also cold. Really cold. Nova hugged her jacket closer as she scanned the woods for somewhere, anywhere, to get shelter. Her eyes lit up when she caught a glimpse of something in the distance. House?

A cabin. And someone was outside it. Nova's eyebrows furrowed, and her hand slid to her back, pulling she shotgun from its makeshift holster. However, before she could do anything, the girl revealed herself as human, and shot a zombie that had suddenly appeared in the corner of Nova's vision.

Well, she did shoot it. But not the first time. The first time... missed. As the zombie fell, Nova approached the trembling teenager, who clasped her leg in a feeble attempt to stop the flow of blood...

And burst out laughing.

"Nice shooting, Ace."