Black Earth » Places

         As the sun rose the following day, Laura woke with a sharp gasp. Her breath coming out in short sharp puffs of white as her mind slowly begins to comprehend her surroundings. The same questions she asks herself every morning pinging around her skull.

What is your name? Where are you? Are you safe? Are you alone?

With effort she forces her breathing to calm down, the image of a mountains of corpses still clouding her mind as she regains control of herself.

Laura. Supermarket roof. Yes. Yes.

She rubs a hand through her unruly crimson hair, pushing it away from her eyes as she stands slowly. Today was the day she would move on. Her universal rule of moving at least once a week kicking in. After standing, she tightens the belt on her hip along with the harness over her back. With both swords in place, she slings her backpack over her shoulder. The weight comforting between her shoulders. The relaxation of routine.

Three hours later she was striding down the center of one of the main roads that crisscrossed through the city. Instict told her to stick to the storefronts, to not make herself so obvious. But hell, at least if someone attacked her she'd know that she wasn't the only one alive. She sheer impossibility of that hope immediately dampened her mood.

Hours of looking for another place to set up camp were fruitless. Though, pacing down a smaller street near the city edges, she found footprints in the dust of the ground. Kneeling she gingerly trails her index finger around the edge. So I'm not alone. The thought was both comforting and terrifying. She exhales gently, standing once more as she rests a hand on the pommel of her parry-blade, setting off to follow the tracks, the faintest of smiles tugging her lips.

~~

The tracks had been a dead end. Leading into a small house which had contained the rather depressing bodies of a large male and a younger child. Both several months old. She couldn't bring herself to check them for gear, instead muttering a slight prayer and returning outside. She followed the street as the sun went down, eventually deciding it was time to set up camp, finding the first multi-story home she could. Laura had always wanted to be up high. She shoulders open the door, moving into the dim interior. Inside, a lone zombie meandered through the corridors. She sidestepped him, taking little joy in the outmaneuvering of the beast. It's lack of sense leaving it to be a very small accomplishment. She made her way upstairs, finding the first bedroom. Inside, the door shut behind her with a cabinet pushed up against it, she lay on the floor. The bed too unnatural to her by now. She remained where she was, simply staring at the roof. Thinking.