The alley was dead empty on both ends. So she leisurely picked a slow running pace toward the right, then continued through a few other empty streets of North Park, along the sidewalks, and around the crashed cars that were abandoned all around, left there in traffic jams and accidents when fear and hysteria erupted and people went nuts.

“Sincerely, no use getting a car here,” she thought to herself, seeing how many were piled up, blocking the entire streets off, even the sidewalks. “Could never make it through driving. But… a bike could do."

A lot of ideas started to swarm inside her head.

A bicycle even better. Could just pick it up and carry it, take it over the autos when there is no space to squeeze through. Would not need to worry about the gas. Just pedal with the wind in my hair. Get out of the downtown and this concrete imprisonment. Maybe see a bit of nature, go to the coast. Suburbs?

Seeing how everything around was mostly plundered and ransacked already, she had to accept the fact that things would get only harder and that she would be probably forced to venture a lot further away from her shelter,

But a change of scenery would do me good. Really good. As long as I stay away from the fence and those trigger-happy soldiers.

It did not take long at all for zombies to pick her scent and come after her. She turned her head a few times to see them emerge from the ransacked stores and restaurants. And just before entering Balboa Park, she heard them piling up behind her.

Their inhuman cries and shrieks were getting louder, and in chorus, they sounded blood-freezing monstrous, almost alien.

She spotted a few zombies stuttering ahead of her, turning around to face her, and decided to slightly alter her route, bypassing them in an arc as she got off the trail and ran over the grass.

And they were not just coming from behind her as more than a dozen of them ran on both of her flanks toward her.

But she feared them not.

Not that zombies were slow. Their twisted nervous system did not care for pain. Nor did they ever get tired. It’s just that Tala was faster, like a gazelle that could outrun them, that could actually run circles around them. And, even better, with the help of the system she knew her limits, knew how far and how much she could run for.

“Sys, tell me, what is my energy?”

Instead of displaying the message in green letters, the system spoke to her in a familiar voice,

[RR Energy is 98 of 200, 49 percent]

“Just give me percentages in the future, okay? And alert me if I go below 40 percent.”

[Alert settings change accepted]

She had that option, choosing between a displayed message and a voice one, and often changed it, if for no other reason just not to get bored. Besides, she liked hearing it speak in Trono's voice.

Trono was the one who ‘infected’ her with the system, and even though she realized a long time ago, that it was not him talking to her, she liked to hear his voice. Deep and relaxed, grandfather-like. It made her feel she was not all alone in this.

By now she was sure Trono was an alien and that she was right to trust her eyes when she saw him in his natural alien state, just before he departed. The system practically confirmed it, and there was no reason to think that the system would lie to her. It has not so far.

Let's just hope it stays that way, she thought.

“I’m running over the grass. Harder. I also broke into sprints a few times. How long can I continue like this?” she asked, feeling her heart rate shooting up and suddenly breathing faster.

[With your current Physical Attributes and Energies supplies, your muscles can repeat the rhythm of your current run for at least twenty more minutes.]

“Good. Now, how long till I get home?”

[At your current speed and your path trajectory, it is estimated at 16 minutes and 25 seconds]

“Not bad. That should be enough. So, then, I can just continue like this,” she concluded and took in lungs full of air.

She felt so light, so free. It felt so right to run and could only feel regret that it had to take zombies and apocalypse for her to find out she enjoyed it so much.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

She moved toward the trees, then changed her direction better than any running back could to go around a very large tree trunk and almost bumped into two rage zombies that popped out of nowhere, their mouths wide open, hands extended, almost reaching her.

“Shit,” she cursed, ducked down, and shifted to her right side, spinning and sprinting out of their reach.

They followed her, and she ran into the treeline, ducking below a long tree branch that came all the way down, hearing how the zombie just behind her got clobbered.

“Serves them right!” she thought, but there was no time to enjoy a break as behind the other tree, another zombie came up and blocked her way.

“Should have picked the streets. Here I can’t see for shit,” she muttered to herself, accepting her mistake as she glanced to the left and the empty space to take her out of the park again.

But a zombie came right at her. This time, she ran straight at him.

As she stepped toward him, he went mad with the desire to grab her and take a piece of her, even extending his hands to accomplish the task. But Tala saw a park bench, jumped on and pushed herself off it, made it through the air, with her boot kicking his forehead, then making a flip in the air to land on her legs. And continued to run, taking a look behind to see them come. The closest one was not more than twenty steps away, but as she sped up, she could see them falling behind.

But then, her lungs protested and she asked about her energy.

[RR Energy is now 46 percent]

Maybe I should slow down, give my body a chance to catch some air, and recuperate a bit. Sprinting like this, crazy fast till I drop dead, is not a solution, she thought.

She looked for a place she could use to stop, just a little bit, just to catch a breath or two. Climbing up a tall tree could certainly do it. But coming down was another manner.

"What if zombies converge on the tree and there are like hundreds of them? And then comes another hundred of them? And they stay underneath the tree forever? No. I would not be cornered. I need something better."

Suddenly, her left ankle gave in, and a bolt of pain shot through her leg and she fell down.

“A gopher’s hole!!” she shrieked in horror, seeing what she stepped in and fell over.

She only had a moment to pick herself up and continue to run, speeding up as she went, not paying attention to the pain that was traveling from her twisted ankle.

I need to get to the solid ground. If there is one gopher hole, there must be more. And now, it’s getting so dark so fast. Pretty soon I really won’t see shit. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Should have just stayed on the streets.

She could not stop with the screeching behind her now going louder, closer.

Too close for my taste.

“Don’t you fuckers ever stop??” she growled and for a moment started to limp, trying to shake the pain away. But it was no use. She just had to ignore it. Besides, even if it was gone for a second or two, she knew the pain would return, worse.

If I stop and the wound cools down, it would hurt like a bitch, so keep on running, bitch, she told herself.

Looking over the ground, jumping over the spots that looked darker than others, she made sure the leg she landed on was her right one.

Cannot go down again. No, I will not go down again! No, I will... Stop thinking about falling down and just run!

Luckily, she picked up the path and then ran next to the kid’s playground where a few zombies were busy trying to get out and catch her.

But she was faster and they only found a way out to knock against the zombies running behind her.

She made it out of the park to spot two of the zombies coming across the street, straight at her. Two would not be a problem. But then, three, or four more came out of the building behind them, and she ran down the street, not liking her odds.

She looked toward the first tall building there. She could run up and look for respite there, find a hiding place inside. An office to lock herself in while they calm down.

"No. That’s stupid. I might be on a detour, but I’ll run along the park. What the hell do I know what is inside this building?"

She looked away, shaking her head. "Besides, I need to get to my joint today. Or am I forgetting how Theresa needs her insulin and Eaton his antibiotic?"

The closest zombie to her was now not more than ten steps away, a particularly nasty male zombie who ran with his mouth wide open, most of his face smudged by blood from his last meal.

Still running, she reached with her right hand and pulled out a hammer. It was a great tool and a deadly weapon she learned she liked quite a bit. A few hard blows could crack the tempered glass of a store window and let her inside to face zombies one at a time. And a strong smack to their foreheads would send them down to bite dust. Unless they were significantly taller than her. And the one running on her heels was one of them.

Sure she could smack him sideways over his temple, or right up his nose, and mouth, hit him so hard over the chin to drive the bones into its brain. But…

Why risk it? Why risk not making that perfect blow and having to hit him again? So… Just keep on running.

“Arrival time, please?” she asked.

[At the present trajectory of running around the park and maintaining your current speed, you would arrive at your targeted destination in approximately 16 minutes and 10 seconds.]

“Shit, that’s too long,” she suddenly thought.

She jumped on top of a large white sedan and turned around to see the nearest zombie reaching for her, the stench from its mouth making her twitch. But before it could sink its teeth into her legs, she raised her right hand high in the air and brought the hammer on top of his head.

A loud crack as if she smashed a watermelon followed and a zombie’s brains splashed the windows of the car and her shoes.

With no time to waste, still kneeling against the car's rooftop, she spun around and rolled over the top of the car, landing gently on the other side of it, and choosing which way to run, deciding to run to the opposite side, going over the top of a few cars that piled up in the middle.

She was trying to catch up on the air and heard her Energy dipping below the 40 percent mark. But none of it mattered as she saw a group of zombies emerge from the side street to her left. Her eyes were drawn to the dark figure standing behind them, a figure that was almost a head taller than anyone else, all covered in black cloth.

They did not run toward her. Not till the dark shape extended its limb pointing at her and screeched something awful and inhuman toward her.

“Shit!” she cursed, not ready to deal with the dark monster now.

Especially not as for the first time, the figure dropped its cloth, revealing its strange alien figure, unlike the one she saw before. Its limbs were thin, pure bone, the upper body all covered in dark leather But, the scariest was a long silvery blade it held in its left arm. And as it raised the blade high above its eye-less skull and moved toward her, she felt something she thought she could not feel anymore.

Fear. Cold. And clutching. Sobering. Mouth-drying. Paralyzing.