C H A P T E R  5

❛ who the hell are you? ❜

QUINN

    THE ROAD BEFORE HER WAS COMPLETELY EMPTY as she pulled the car to a stop. She reached for the backpack on the seat next to hers and pulled out an apple. Then she opened the door, stepped outside and took a seat on the hood of the car. Biting in the fruit, she reached in her pocket and pulled out the map the soldier had given her all those weeks ago. Quinn felt slightly stupid for still looking at it. The two safe zones, the FEMA camp and the army base she'd run into so far were all overrun. She'd managed to scavenge some food and even a gun but was forced to leave each time.

The dead had taken over the world in a matter of days. Everything she'd seen so far was completely gone. She wondered if there was anything left, anywhere. Whether it was just America that had been hit or other continents as well. It made her brain hurt to think about it and so she pushed those thoughts out of her mind and focused on the map again. She knew she couldn't stay on the road forever. Somewhere along the way there had to be a place to settle. To try and make things slightly normal, but so far she hadn't run into anything. She hadn't seen anyone for days and she'd never felt more alone. Her eyes scanned the lines on the blood stained map, blood of a soldier long gone now. She had forgotten the date, the time, every day just felt the same now. Surviving, that was all that mattered. She couldn't think about anything else. Find food, find water, find gas, move on.

A small sigh left her mouth and she gazed up to the horizon stretching out before her. Was she the only human left standing? Was Milo still locked in that prison while the world around him had died? The questions were slowly consuming her, driving her crazy but she couldn't let them get the best of her, she refused to.

She took one last bite and then threw the core of her now eaten apple into the grass beside the road. She jumped off the car and folded up the map before putting it back into her pocket. She was about to get back into the car when a noise stopped her. It was a slight snarling along with the sound of feet shuffling on the ground. The smell of rotten flesh and dried blood reached her nose and a shiver crawled down her spine. Quinn turned around, taking the kitchen knife out of her belt. She had figured long ago that the dead were drawn to sounds. And so she'd decided to only use her gun in desperate situations, plus the weapon made her feel clumsy since she never learned how to use it. All she knew was from what Milo had told her and the movies she'd seen. So, she preferred to use her knife.

The corpse came stumbling towards her out of the forest that surrounded the road. Its clothes were torn and there was a gaping wound on its cheek. Biting her tongue to not throw out the little bit of food she'd eaten that day, she tightened the grip on her knife. Then she took a step forward, raised her leg and kicked the walking corpse in its chest.

Snarling at her it fell down on its back, its arms outstretched, trying to get to her. What she hadn't anticipated though was the strength of the creature. It managed to grab her leg and before she knew what was happening she was pulled to the ground, the knife slipping from between her fingers. A panicked shout escaped her lips as her face was suddenly inches away from the snapping rotting teeth. Its hollow eyes stared right back at her as it tried to sink its teeth into her flesh. Struggling to hold its arms down so it wouldn't scratch her, she searched the grass for her weapon.

The corpse snarled at her and a wave of sickness hit her at the horrible smell. She moved up into a sitting position, desperately trying to keep its arms down. Finally she managed to get her legs in front of her so she could pin its arm against the ground while having one hand free to take her knife. She reached out, her fingers closing around the hilt and she let out a small breath of relief. Then she raised the blade and slammed it through the skull of the corpse with all the strength she could muster.

Immediately the snarling stopped and the corpse went limp.

A shaky breath left her lips as she pulled the knife out of its head. She wiped it clean using the shirt it was wearing. Then she stood up, staring at the dead human before her on the ground. It had taken her a long time to figure out she had to go for their heads. When Quinn reached the first safe zone, the soldiers were fighting off the dead. They were shooting at them but they just wouldn't get down. And so she thought them to be indestructible. It seemed logical, they were already dead so you couldn't kill them again.

She'd managed to sneak into the safe zone and take some food, medicine and even a pillow. And then she got out of there as fast as she could. Stealing wasn't new to her. She'd been forced to do it many times, sometimes to get money for more drugs and sometimes for the drugs themselves. Maybe her heart had been hardened by it because she didn't have any trouble leaving all those people behind to die. Humanity had never been kind to her, so why should she start being kind to them now? The only person she cared about was locked away in a prison. She had no idea whether he was alive or dead and had no way of finding out. And it was slowly killing her, but every time she forced herself to swallow it and keep on moving.

By simply driving down the road she'd come across another makeshift safe zone. It was completely overrun, no living human being in sight. Still, she had to try to get inside. She was out of food and never had been a very good hunter. Her knowledge about berries and mushrooms was as good as zero, so she had never dared to eat the food she found in the forest, scared she would poison herself.

Sneaking inside hadn't been the problem, taking the food hadn't been either. However on her way out she'd accidently thrown over a trash can. The sound had drawn the dead ones like moths were drawn to light. In that moment she thought herself to be dead and out of pure, blind panic she'd taken a stone from the ground and thrown it at the first approaching dead one. It had been luck, she knew that, but it was the best luck she ever had. The stone had hit the dead one right on its head and the corpse had fallen down, not getting back up.

That discovery had returned all her will to live and she had managed to somehow make it out of there. The whole thing was still a blur to her. She vaguely recalled the pushing and shoving and her arms aching from bashing in the skulls of the corpses surrounding her. It was still a miracle that she'd made it out alive. Afterwards she had desperately cleaned herself in the nearest river. The dried blood on her hands had made her throw up. She must have looked like a mad woman. Half crying and panicking, washing the red sticky blood off her hands.

But somehow that adventure had shown her that she did want to live. She had no idea why though. Maybe it was pure survival instinct or maybe just stubbornness. A fat middle finger to the world, a silent scream at mother nature, meaning that the world couldn't just kill Quinn Morales. Whatever it was, she wanted to live and that was what she had tried to do so far. Survive.

Sighing Quinn turned around, leaving the dead one to rot even further in the grass. She jumped into the car and drove away without looking back. Driving in this new, empty world felt free. The roads were completely empty, except for the dead wandering around sometimes. It was that sound drew them closer or she would've put some music on. With the windows down she drove onto the highway. The safe zone on the map was near Atlanta, which was quite far from here, but she had all the time in the world. That was until she turned around the corner.

A curse left her lips upon seeing the traffic jam ahead of her. At least fifty cars blocked the road because of a chain collision up ahead. There wasn't a single human in sight, all the cars were deserted. It looked like a graveyard. And she had no interest in getting caught by possible ghosts that might be lingering about. Having no other option, Quinn jumped out of the car and shouldered her backpack. She took her gun as well and held her knife in her other hand as she approached the traffic jam in front of her. While listening for possible walking corpses, her eyes searched the cars for anything useful. All she could see though were the bloody bones of human remains in the car seats.

Her eyes fell on a car stocked to the top with suitcases. She made her way towards it and opened the trunk. As quick as she could she pulled the suitcases out of the car and searched through them. Most only had clothes but one was filled with some survival tools. A flashlight, a pocket knife, some duct tape, even some water purification tablets. Quinn didn't hesitate to put them in her backpack. Then she moved on to another car. 

After searching through the cars she was left with the survival tools, some bottles of water and a few food packages. She put everything in her backpack and then continued on her way. The entire scene had left goosebumps on her skin and so she fastened her pace. She didn't want to spend a moment longer lingering around than was absolutely necessary. 

The sun was scorching down on her as her feet carried her over the asphalt. Sweat crawled like tears down her face and it took all her strength to not just sit down and take a break. She didn't want to wander around alone on the road in the darkness. In her car she at least would have some protection but without it she didn't want to risk exposing herself like that. She was hoping to come across a tank station soon to have some shelter for the night. 

The road took a right and she went with it, focused on staying on her feet beneath the burning sun. It was the smell that hit her first. She almost choked on the thickness on it. She froze in the middle of her step, her eyes widening in fear. She lifted her gaze to look at the scene in front of her.

It was the biggest group of dead ones she'd ever seen. All stumbling around, right there in the middle of the road. Her breathing came out panicked and uneven as she stood there. Her whole body seemed frozen and unable to do anything. She bit her tongue not to scream as she stared in disgust at the decayed corpses before her. Her hands became sweaty and her legs started shaking. Her mind was completely blank.

Suddenly one of them turned to her, almost like the wind had turned and it had caught her scent. Slowly it turned its rotting body towards her, stumbling forwards, biting in the air at the sight of its next meal. And then the others followed.

Quinn was inwardly shouting at herself, cursing for not moving but her legs were stuck. Her entire body was frozen by the fear floating through her veins, poisoning all her rational thoughts.

The rotting corpse stretched out its hand towards her. A sob came out of her throat as she prepared herself for the feeling of its flesh against her face. 

However the expected pain never came.

The sound of steel meeting flesh cut through the air. The hand of the walker was cut clean off and fell to the ground. With wide eyes and a wild beating heart Quinn turned to look at her left.

A woman with black skin, dreadlocks, and a blood stained katana in her hand stood beside her. She was breathing heavily and her eyes were wide with panic. Then she took a step forward and drove her katana straight through the head of the now one-handed corpse.

Quinn stared at the corpse on the ground, but there was no time to be shocked. She turned back to the woman, who had appeared so suddenly that Quinn almost believed her to be a fragment of her own imagination. It was only then she noticed the two corpses behind the stranger. They were bound in chains held by the woman. Their arms were cut off, as well as their jaws. Quinn felt a shiver crawl down her spine at the sight.

'Let's go!' The woman shouted, finally being able to shake Quinn awake. 

Then they were both sprinting towards the trees. 

Her backpack was heavy on her shoulders and sweat fell down her forehead as she pushed herself to run as fast as she could. The snarls and moans of the dead creatures soon faded into the background but still the two women kept on running. The forest ground was uneven under her feet and a few times she almost fell down. Still, she kept pushing herself to run. The mere thought of the huge herd of corpses behind them made her scared enough to keep on running beneath the scorching sun.

She didn't stop until her saviour did. Her throat was dry and she desperately tried to catch her breath. She doubled over, her hand on her stomach while she waited for the painful cramps in her side to die down. When they were nothing but a dull ache she looked back up at the woman who just saved her life with a katana while pulling two chained up corpses along. Her brain seemed unable to comprehend what just happened and so, once she was able to slightly breathe again, she only managed to say a few words.

'Who the hell are you?'

A U T H O R 'S  N O T E

She finally met Michonne! I can't wait to write this friendship and dive into Quinn's character even more as she starts to learn how to trust people. I wish I could upload all the chapters I've already written all at once, just to hear you guys your opinions on it, but, I can't.

So, you're all just gonna have to be patient, just like me. In the mean time please leave a vote or a comment, they really inspire me to write more!

Thank you all so much for reading this story, it means the world to me.

xXx

UYM

edited: ✔