BEFORE

The shots rang out and Karina suddenly forgot what she was doing there. All the news reports turned out to be true. How was she supposed to know? It wasn't easy trying to distinguish ordinary rioting with sociopathic cannibalism. The street was no place to be. She only had a couple of blocks to go until she was home. The question was, would Karina make it?

Step by step Karina contemplated in her mind whether to look harder at her surroundings or remain as ignorant as possible. She could hear the screaming, the glass breaking, the fires burning. The gunfire was already close enough, how much longer until the biters came? Karina could not take it anymore, she turned the corner of the block and made a break for the first door she saw. Between that door and Karina stood a man, the blood in his veins as cold as the very ground he walked upon. Blood dripped from his hanging jaw, his eyes still throbbing after a fresh meal. It zoned in on Karina. She had nowhere else to run but towards it. But she was not brave enough. The horrors from the street caught up with her, pushing Karina closer to the truth. The world as she knew it was gone.

The door opened behind the zombie, light shining from within distracted it, turning its attention around. And its head was bashed into crude pieces from behind. The body dropped and Karina turned to see the looters being overtaken by a gathering horde of hungry corpses. She ran to her savior and into the light. Once inside the man dead-bolted the door and hammered wooden planks into it. When he turned around Karina realized just how formidable he was. The man towered over Karina even though she was crawling back on her hands and feet. Something was off about him right away.

He kept on coming at Karina. She thought the danger would be over. The danger was never over. Poor Karina would have to learn that the hard way the day she met Hamilton. He took her up the bell tower by the collar. When her collar ripped he took her piece by piece up the staircase until they reached the top and there was nothing left of her.

Karina remained at the top of the tower, a damsel waiting for her champion to save her. She watched as the days went by and the town fell. She witnessed Hamilton take in only the strong like him, muscle-bound men who could care less about anything else. When the initial horde went inland for a better food supply, it was Hamilton’s men who took over Savannah. New locals like Syd who managed to survive everything had to give up whatever they had left.

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NOW

Syd finished explaining to Samuel and his group as he brought over fresh cups of coffee. “All the months it took to put that attack together and it was over in minutes,” Syd despaired, “I don’t know what I was thinking.”

“You were trying to save your town. You were standing up for the little guy,” Samuel said reassuringly.

“I can take you to the Liberty Terminals, it looks like a massive industrial port. If your friend makes it here, that’s where they will go.”

“Are you sure you want to risk it?”

“Get some rest. We leave before dawn.”

And they did, Syd with a handful of men escorted Samuel’s company to the Liberty Terminals. They did not realize at the time that they were being followed.

“These places haven’t been cleaned out as much as the stores in town, you might be able to salvage supplies for-”

Hamilton’s men kicked the doors in, guns drawn, getting the drop on them. They had no choice but to surrender. Samuel was brought to his knees. The leader of Hamilton’s contingent leaned in and smiled as his men gathered all their guns and supplies. No matter what Samuel did there was no avoiding what would happen next.

“Let’s go meet the big guy” he continued to smile.