Snippet #1753130

Kristie Batiste
Day 6
Downtown - Near the corner of 23rd and Pine

Kristie woke lightly at 8:05 exactly. On a normal day she'd smack her alarm, grumble about only having been asleep six hours, and roll over to ignore the world a little while longer.

Today wasn't a normal day. In fact, Kristie was starting to have trouble remembering what normal felt like. For instance, she had always been a heavy sleeper. That had changed on night three when a group had broken down the door of a house she'd escaped into. She slept lightly now. She woke promptly. Things had changed. She'd changed, and as she thought about it she could feel the tick creep up the left side of her face.

"You don't have time for stupid shit like that Kim-b." She blinked it away and focused. There was work to do today. She rolled out of the borrowed bed and stretched, then crept over to the window. She was on the third floor of an old apartment complex, a remnant from the times when the town had prospered and promised growth and possibility. As she looked out the window and down 23rd all she saw was decay and silence.

The window was attached to a fire escape and she slipped out onto it, careful to not make noise. She'd found out quickly that the zombies or whatever they were loved noise. A handy trait if you knew how to capitilize on it; a huge danger if you didn't. She'd been on both sides of that trait already, and she was going to make damn sure she stayed on the good side of it from now on.

The street was clear, and none of the objects she'd mentally marked in her head had been disturbed. None of the corpses moved, either from being to torn apart to function, or from being re-deaded.

Kristie sighed to herself. There had to be a better way of putting it then re-deaded, though she supposed it didn't really matter. If she ever met another living person perhaps she could have a conversation about it. She missed conversation...

She could see the 7/11 from her perch, but unfortunately it was a little to far away to see if anyone had been there. She didn't exactly need anything from it. On day four she'd made it to this complex and holed up, barracading the door and learning the layout. She'd already raided the 7/11 several times for food and liquids and had enough to last her for a bit. Her key had let her slip in the back way, which was fortunate since there were usually a few shambling corpses milling about the intersection.

Last night though, she'd realized something she'd forgotten to do. She hadn't left a message for anyone. She sure as hell wasn't about to waltz about looking for people, but she knew she wouldn't be able to survive long on her own. She figured survivors would be attracted to the food, and especially the chance at bottled water, that the store provided. So, it was time to leave a message there and wait.

She slipped back into the apartment to down a bit of coke and a bag of funyuns. Not exactly the breakfast of champions, but it gave her the energy boost she needed, and she didn't want to crack into any of the more important food items she'd procured. She figured water, beef jerky, and canned goods were going to be pretty important items soon, and she'd bet anything that those cartons of cigs were going to become a valuable trade good.

She grabbed her backpack and cleaver before slipping back onto the fire escape and slowly heading down. When she reached the ground she stayed low, hiding behind cars and being careful to scan her surroundings and keep herself alert as she headed towards her goal.

"Slow and steady this morning, baby. Slow and steady."