Chapter 2

I sighed, veering off the road and into the Thick wood that surrounded the road, I couldn’t make camp out in the open, that would scream trouble. I trudged through the knee high snow, panting as my skin glistened with sweat, I was exhausted, but I couldn’t stop. I needed to be further away from the road, I couldn’t risk being spotted. Rule number 3; stay hidden.

The sun was beginning the set by the time I duck-taped some old tarp between a cluster of trees, it would protect me from any snow that may fall in the night. I had cleared out the small area below the tarp, scraping away the snow with my hands, though luckily I had found four pairs of gloves at the last town three days back. I pulled out the thinner thermal sleeping back for the floor and the second to wrap around my shaking body.

I did my best to use the snow to hide my small camp, ensuring that my fire only gave of embers and not flames, not enough for the tiny amount of smoke to be noticeable. It wasn’t enough to banish the chill that had seeped into my bones, but it was enough to ward off illness and warm the tin of sweetcorn and rice I had decided on for dinner.

I shuffled some snow into the pan I had and brought it to boil (the sun had fully set before it was ready) allowing myself to indulge in a much needed coffee from the instant packets I had managed to scavenge. I added one sweetener, they were harder to come by and I didn’t want to use them too quickly. If needed I could drink coffee without sugar, but before everything ended that April, I had sugar and milk. I had liked everything sweet and bursting with flavour, though now, I got what I could and didn’t complain.

I pulled out my pocket map whilst the food cooked sipping on my coffee as I marked off the last town I had visited, their wasn’t much left there other than rice and a few tins of food, so doubling back that way would be a waste of time. I needed to find a new circuit, the one I had used these last several months or so was now bare. That’s why I was heading to a new town, I needed somewhere that had enough left to last a few months, I needed matches and fresh bandages for my feet, maybe some shampoo if I could find one that hasn’t been smashed.

I never stay in a town more than a couple of hours or so, depending on how big it is, staying close to them only caused trouble, that’s where the hounds would mostly roam, as well as the ones who ended life as we knew it. I couldn’t let them find me, according to father they enslaved our people (those that had useful abilities) and took some humans as servants for their homes here on earth.

I went over the route I would follow to the town a few more times before I folded the map and put it back in the ziplock bag, it didn’t keep it safe from everything but it was enough to make sure it wasn’t destroyed in the rain or snow. I ate my small meal quickly, having another coffee from the pot I had made, it warmed me more that the embers of flame could.

I shuffled inside the sleeping bag and zipped it up, laying as close to the embers as I deemed safe, I needed to sleep, but as I stared at the dying embers my mind wondered to all that could have been, and I guess what the world would be like if the gates of hell never opened.

I woke just before sunrise, quickly melting some snow and pouring it into three water bottles and placing them against the icy walls of my small camp, I heard the distant howls of the hell hounds and knew it was time to move. I packed everything as quickly as I could, and downed a strong coffee, I’d need it for the hike into the town, by the time I made it back to the road from the night before, the sun was now lighting the way. It wasn’t up fully, rather that the sky was a beautiful mix of red and orange.

My feet we sore and cold, even in the boots I had found a few weeks back, I had to fill them with old socks so that my feet didn’t slip out, but it was easier to trudge through the snow with them on. I was wearing a thermal vest, long sleeve top and thick jumper, all that had seen better days. I also had a hip-up jacket on and a hat that covered my mattered brown hair.

The day was moving quickly as I trudged the knee high snow at a intense pace, I needed to make it in and out of the town before nightfall, father and I had tried staying in an abandoned building on the outskirts of a town before he died and that’s when we saw the night walkers, they were chasing a man down the street, taunting him. I remember their pale skin and blood red eyes, the way their blackened fingers nails dripped with the mans blood, father said they were draining him of blood, their teeth unnaturally sharp.

That image will forever be locked in my mind, a warning of what would happen if I strayed away from the rules, it was safer out in the cold that in a town when the sun set. That was always the first place they looked, they knew that most people would not stray from old habits, that they would want the shelter a building offered from the elements.

I listened to the sound of birds, the wind whistling against the trees and the rhythmic sound of my boots crunching in the snow with each step, I had always been in tune with my surroundings even before the end. Though I guess it was more important now, I needed to recognise changes in the sounds, know if anything was different. If I was being followed. It’s easy on your own to become paranoid and jump at every knew sound, every new echo of nature, but my paranoia had saved me more times than I could count. So perhaps it wasn’t so bad to be alert all the time.

A twig snapped to my left and I dropped straight into a crouch, watching the trees closely, I forced my breathing to slow down and steadied my pack, if I needed to run I would be gone before they could reach me. I wasn’t the best at running, but I have had plenty of time to practice.

Another twig snapped, then another the sound of hell hounds growling and snarling filling my ears, I jumped to my feet and turned to run, knowing that I needed to be as far away from those creatures as possible. I only made it a few feet before I heard the gut-wrenching cry of a man and the tearing of flesh, making my stomach turn and gurgle. I spun my head back around, wishing that I hadn’t, a woman, perhaps the same age as me was limping backwards, three of the large hounds surrounding her as they growled and snapped.

Fuck.