Anna’s POV

When I saw the place, where people who killed my friends lived, all hope I got left me instantly. Their village was big. Fences and trenches were all around it, they even got towers with machine guns.

In that moment, I realized how pathetic our wooden shelter was. The safety I felt while living in that place, was becoming more and more fake and idiotic.

While looking at enemy village, my desire of vengeance was slowly replaced by despair. How could we get people who killed my father, when they are hiding in such a place.

When I looked at Stefan, I felt already familiar fear, but it was good fear, which was making all cruel world around, feel like it was nothing special.

Like always, his face wasn't showing any emotions, only his eyes had some dangerous glitter in them, when he was looking at village.

And then, he just said.

“You know we don’t have to kill them, it won’t be bad thing if we leave it be like this. We tried to avenge your friends but enemy is very strong.”

Anger, exploded inside of me, even thought I knew that was impossible for us to kill them, I was furious about him wanted to give up. I was so angry and it was very dangerous anger, because it was directed at monster like him.

 “You promised! You..”

 I wanted to vent my anger, but his hand covered my mouth.

 “Yes yes, I remember, now please stay silent. Don’t worry I have a plan.”

He had a plan! So, why he was trying to change my mind? I got many things, I wanted to say about him, but I stay silent like he told me.

The next few hours were true example of how terrifying humans can be, especially the monster like Stefan.

He took me to zombie infested town where he found fire station with huge truck in it. At that time I didn’t know what he wanted to do.

After he left fire station, obviously looking for something, I could be a witness of how effective as a killer machine he was.

When I lived in shelter my father warned me how dangerous zombies were, and how careful the one needs to be in order to fight them.

For a moment I thought, that he wanted to kill himself. He went straight to parking on the opposite side of road. Between cars many of zombies could be seen, but Stefan wasn't care about them.

Catching attention of few undead, he climbed on the roof of delivery van. Next, he grabbed that strange pickaxe with long handle and started slaughtering zombies, which were already gathering next to the van.

I was dumbfounded, he was like a machine, using his weapon with great skill. Zombies were falling down one by one. For last three years I never thought, that they could be fought like that.

When parking was clear, he started to gather car batteries, he was trying to start truck's engine. When engine started, I understood difference between people like me and monsters like him.

He wasn’t fighting to survive, he was living in this cruel world like we used to live before apocalypse. Everything he was doing wasn't nothing special for him, just normal day of life in apocalypse.

The explanation how we use truck, made me understand another difference between us, he was able to do everything without hesitation, only to achieve his goal.

I am waiting in the place which Stefan showed me on the map. He also left me his rifle, just in case, like he said.

While sitting in the hidden car, I think about many things. How my dead friends would react if they could hear that I avenged them. What would my father say, if he knew that I sentenced so many people to death.

Countless of minutes are passing, when I hear loud sounds of gunfight, that’s the sign I am supposed to wait. I move my car from bushes, just to stop it next to the asphalt road leading to village.

Shoots are becoming louder and louder when familiar red truck appears from behind the corner. It looks like everything went just like planned.

Then, suddenly something hits back of truck with enormous force and vehicle stops by hitting trees next to the road.

I jump out of pic-up with rifle on my hands, I was shooting with weapon like this just once in the past, but I was always surprised how simple guns are.

Looking through rifle scope I can see, another pick-up stopping next to the place where truck crashed. Two guys wearing some of military uniforms are getting out from car and move in direction of truck’s cabin. After few seconds Stefan is carried by them.

I can see that he is in pain, the rain of kicks and punches continues, while they dragging him to the center of road. One of enemies is making Stefan kneel before him and takes out knife. In this moment, my body moves almost on its own, I carefully aim at guy with knife. When he is about to stab Stefan, I calmly pull the trigger.

I can see how his head is blown away by bullet. I killed a man like it was perfectly normal thing to do, without hesitation, without doubts I pulled the trigger. I fell like little part of my humanity dies and in its place monster is born.

Killing second enemy is just the formality, I aim at him and pull the trigger one more time.

 ***

Stefan’s POV

Sometimes, I envy zombies for their easy lives, or rather afterlives. You just wander mindlessly with your zombie friends and when you notice something moving, you chew on it. If it's bloody and fleshy,  good for you. If it's not, bad luck, let's wander a little more.

Sounds fun right? Maybe you are dead, but at least, you don’t have to go trough such a hell, like I do.

Unfortunately, Anna wasn’t joking about running out of fuel, it is true that I am not a big fun of using loud vehicles, but in current situation, four working wheels would be much help.

In addition we were running low on food, we still got enough stuff for 3 days, but in situation when we don’t know where we are, it's almost nothing.

You may ask, why don’t you just hunt some animal, you are stuck inside of forest right?

That's true, but once again, we are lost. Hunting in unknown area with very loud rifle it's not the best idea. Someone could simply hear our shoots, after seeing place where Anna was living, I stopped to trust even deepest wildernesses.

So, I will hunt only, if I have to.

We decided to leave our pick-up as soon as it was possible, I mean I decided, Anna just nodded in confirmation.

By the way, if we talk about Anna, I have to say that she changed a little after that night when she broke down. She speaks even less than before, but her movements are somehow more confident. I don’t really know how to describe it, but she looks like feeling much better now, at least it is what I think.

I said we had to move out as soon as possible, but in reality, it took another day before we were finally ready. I wanted to give my chest another day, it probably didn’t change anything, but I was in really bad shape, it won't be a lie when I say that I still am.

In addition, we had to carefully prepare all gear we got left. Unfortunately stuff which Anna was wearing, wasn’t as practical as it should be, at least in my opinion.

After an hour of digging trough pile of loot, collected by previous owners of atruck,  Anna got herself a new outfit. Finding decent cloths wasn’t a problem, there was nice jacket and sturdy jeans trousers, but problems started when Anna was trying out boots.

Finally she ended with pair, which was almost good, I know I know, almost is the last word, you want to hear when getting new footwear, but it was still better then Nikes she was wearing before. Hopefully we will find something which will fit her better in near future.

After getting some change cloths and backpack, Anna was pretty much ready to go.

Next morning was quite heartbreaking for me, it was a time to part with my sword. Unfortunately my injured chest made, carrying full packed backpack, almost impossible for me. In order to make it a little easier to handle, I left every unnecessary bit of weight behind. Unfortunately, sword was on the list.

After saying good buy to my weapon, we left our little campsite. I choose to walk along wide, dirt road, it was made quite well, so even after three years there was barely anything growing on it.

After short word exchange with Anna, I decided that we won't follow our trails. Apparently, she was driving on that road for few hours to get here, and she could only see trees around her all the time.

So, with set direction we started our march. After an hour I found out that it won't be as easy as I thought. Sun was heating strongly and even hiding in the shadow of trees wasn’t helping. In addition air was dense and humid, with my chest still hurting a lot, my breathing became sharp and painful.

After three hours, we weren't able to advance anymore, I was covered with sweat and Anna wasn’t in much better condition. Fortunately new pair of boots wasn't that bad, with additional pair of socks, she was able to walk normally. But weather and heavy backpack took a huge strain on her stamina, so she was even more tired than I was.

After three hours of rest we were able to move out for once again. You may ask why it took so long? Three hours of rest is way to long, right?

There were two good reasons, why we spend so much time on resting. First one, quite obvious, I am fuckin injured. Normally doctor would made me stay at least two weeks in bed, before I could stand up, unfortunately there are no doctors and number of beds without zombies fall down greatly during last three years.

Another reason was sun, we were unfortunate enough to have our road going almost directly south. Walking in full sun without any cover, is not something you should do. And before any of you ask, no we couldn’t go trough the forest next to the road. Imagine yourself, going trough dense bushes, with sweat dropping in your eyes and all kinds of flying bugs all over you.

Fucking Amazonian jungle in central Europe.

So, it is already third day of our torment, my whole body hurts, I got burns and bruises in some very delicate places and my lips are dry and cracked. Exhaustion is so overwhelming that I almost don’t feel pain in my chest, that's the good thing right?

You see, food wasn’t the main reason to be worried. Amount of our drinking water was pretty low too, and a after three days of extensive sweating, there is not much left, at least our backpacks are a lot lighter.

I tried to gather some water from birch-trees, it's pretty easy, you need to cut bark on the tree in v-shape, and stuck something  which water could flow on. Unfortunately this method is rather slow, in addition  it was already too late to collect birch water, so after whole night I only collected 1 liter of it. Oh, I almost forgot, it taste like shit too.

So, I told you about bruises, dehydration, what else? Oh, yeah BUGS. There is no escape from them, mosquitos at night, huge biting flies in a daylight, they are basically eating us alive. Apparently, smell of our bodies works great as a bait for those little bastards.

Seriously, walking like this, makes me see my career as a zombie in bright colors, you now, parties with other zombies and of course braaiins. By the way that whole thing about brains is bullshit, zombies are not picky, leg, arm, stomach, it doesn't matter, everything is tasty.

I don’t know where I get all that strength to move my legs, but it works pretty well. Left, right, left, right, here you go, I am moving forward like a champ. Anna isn’t in much better condition than me, but honestly speaking, I am pretty impressed that she didn't fall yet.

I am so deep in my thoughts, that I almost do not notice, clearing which suddenly appeared from behind dense wall of trees on the right side of road. We passed a lot of crossroads and clearings on our road, but this is little different, because there is wooden lodge on it.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

I am pretty calm, nothing unordinary, just a wooden hut inside the forest, probably empty, we just need to be careful and everything will be alright. Then suddenly loud dog's barking can be heard.

Fortunately, tried or not, my instincts gained during three years of constant struggle to stay alive, are working well. With one fluent movement I grab my rifle which was attached to the side of my backpack.

Obviously, I am not scared of dog, but someone had to feed that animal, right? I don’t have to wait for long, with loud yelling owner of the lodge, charge at us trough the from doors.

I have seen many weird things in my life, most of them in last three years, but nothing could prepare me for such a view.

Bald, guy with long grey beard and with double barrel shotgun in hand, running in strange matter in our direction, it's nothing out of ordinary, right? But what if this guy was naked? Only in waders on hi feet, with his weiner swinging from side to side.

Oh my fucking god, why? Why it all happens to me? Unfortunately, I don’t have much time to cry about my fate because, old guy tries to aim his shotgun,(goddammit that sounds so wrong now).

Fortunately, he is a moron, he tries to aim while running…

Boooom!!!

Recoil of two barrels fired in this same time, almost twist his body. I don't think that I have to say that he missed? Both slug shots hits trees, about ten meters to ours left.

Baldy, stops he tries to reload his weapon, he reaches to his pocket to take out some shells, but there is no pocket, someone forgot that he run out of his house in Adam's outfit.

I don’t give him much time to think about what went wrong, I pull the trigger and bullet from my rifle hits him in chest, directly where hearth should be.

When effects of adrenaline fades off, I feel like exhaustion fills my body. Seriously, my vision goes weird, like I was watching everything from the bottom of the well.

I look behind, just to find out that Anna is sitting under the tree and resting. Feeling that I won't be able to stand much longer, I sit besides her.

After about half an hour, I find a bit of strength inside my body, it should be enough to clean that mess.

First things first, I take my pickaxe, which was attached to Anna's backpack. She makes confused eyes, but don’t say anything. I give her my rifle and with hand gesture, I show her to follow me. It is not about being silent, I just don't have enough strength to speak.

With pickaxe in my hands, I am getting closer to the place where the dog is. Saying that this beast is huge, is a little understatement. Only thing that is stopping this cross of bear and wolf from ripping my throat out, is a rusty chain made from thick links and attached to the three.

With the wide swing I launch my pickaxe to the dog's head. With loud crack, steel spike meet with skull and piece it. After short second of hesitation, I swing my weapon once again, just for good measure, this dog looks like pricing trough the brain could be not enough.

While checking are behind lodge, I find something I was really hoping for, it is hand water pump with metal tub under it . Almost unconsciously, I start to pump water into tub, while drinking plentifully.

Fortunately cold water, brought a little of my reason back and reminding about few things. Firstly I didn’t check inside the hut yet, I am ashamed of myself, if there was someone else in there, we would be probably dead.

The second thing is that, I am not alone. There is a lady with me, as exhausted as me or even more. Rising on peaks of culture and propriety, I let Anna take her bath and take her time.

Muttering about how too soft I am, I leave her alone. From close, lodge looks very solid, wood is well preserved, windows are clean, there is no mold or moss. When I enter trough the door, air inside is filled with smell of smoked meat, the smell is so intense that almost unbearable.

While checking slowly all of three rooms, the last one is, where I find source of smell. About five meter in length and three in width, whole room is filled with smoked meat hanging from the celling.

There is everything, whole legs, ribs, all kinds of tasty looking animal parts. I thank to god, that all of meat is clearly from animal source, it may sounds funny, but since apocalypse started it's easier to find cannibal than vegetarian.

Yeah, yeah, disgusting right? Apparently, zombie filled landscape makes some people snap and change their diet to zombielike one.

When I take a bite of the meat, heavenly taste fills my mouth, I am pretty sure that it shouldn't taste so good, but salty meat is clearly what my dehydrated body needs.

Anna, took my advice very seriously, when I walk out from the hut, dim sounds of splashing water can be heard. Unfortunately, I still got some more of dirty work before I can dive in that tub.

Firstly, I have to remove body of previous host, I don’t have any energy to dig him a grave, but if move it deep into a forest, it should be good enough.

Of course there is control swing of my pickaxe, directly to dead man's head, better be safe. We don’t want him, nocking to our doors later, right?

When I was done with body, it is time for a dog to reunite with his master. Old man had to hunt a lot, to feed this beast. It takes me almost fifteen minutes to move it's massive body.

Back in the lodge, I find Anna vigorously munching on some smoked deer's leg. She looks much better than hour ago. Knowing that bathtub is free I can't handle my poor, sweaty and exhausted body anymore. With last bits of strength, I rushed behind lodge.

While pumping water, I am trying to remove my clothes in the way that won't strain my injured chest. After three days of constant struggle, I and pain of my crushed ribs became best buddies. It's constant presence became totally normal for me.

When I finally enter the tub filled with cold water, I let long and loud moan from my mouth. Relief floods my body, making my tired limbs finally relax. I close my eyes, feeling enormous wave of somnolence coming. I don't try to fight, fuck it. If zombie apocalypse wants something from me, it has to wait.

*** 

“Stefan!”

What….?

“Stefan, wake up!”

I open my eyes and see Anna standing next to bathtub and shaking my arm. My sleepy mind can't get grasp on this situation yet.

“It's already evening.”

Indeed, sky is in pretty red color and sun is hiding behind the trees. It looks like I spend few hours napping in a bathtub.

My mind finally starts to work properly and I realize that someone is pretty shameless. Anna is standing next to me, with truly cold look on her face. I am slightly disappointed, it's not like I had any romantic plans for her, but she should at least blush a little, while looking on my perfect, shaped by zombie apocalypse muscles.

While Anna is standing with her back to my direction, at least she shows some modesty, I leave bathtub and I try to put on my pants without straining my chest. It looks like, elastic bandage is only thing that stops my ribs from hurting with every movement.

Fortunately, Anna is here to help me wrap that bandage. After one painful yell, and few moans, I am almost like new.

When pain in my chest is on bearable level, I realize that sleeping in the bathtub, wasn’t the best idea.

Firstly you have to understand, that tub was pretty small. It was big enough to hide all my torso under water, but my arms and legs under the knees were just hanging outside the tub.

You remember when I told you about bugs? Yeah, while I was sleeping like a stone, dozens if this little fucker had quite a feast on limbs and head.

Fighting with urge to scratch my limbs, I walk in to lodge with Anna following me. Apparently she didn't bothered with searching trough the wooden house carefully.

After, looting room, which is suppose to be a kitchen, familiar feeling of danger fills my mind. In one of cabinets we find dozens of bottles filled with bourbon, another one was full of military food rations.

Instantly, I connect all hints, and found out truth about crazy old man from before.

“Anna get ready, we are living early in the morning.”

Anna looks at me with surprised eyes, last three days was really hard for her, obviously she wouldn’t mind to spend some more time on resting in this place.

“This guys wasn’t living here, he was send by someone else to collect meat and smoke it. There is too much booze and rations to transport without a car.”

After my explanations a glint of understanding appears in her eyes. But that’s not all, the most important detail needs to be said.

“Looking at amount of meat h gathered, the group which send him here, will probably arrive soon.”

 Anna listen to this revelations with stone cold look on her face, after hearing all of that someone could think that she will be full of questions, but she have only one.

“Shouldn't we leave immediately?”

The sound of her voice terrifies me a little, it's totally emotionless, I guess traveling with me is hard for her. But, don’t worry about her, I already have an idea how to help her.

“We don't have to, I don’t think that they will come at night. This place it's already quite hard to find at daylight.”

There is also one very useful thing in that kitchen, on one of walls, big map of all forest complex is hanging. With use of maps which I collected earlier, I am able to find out our location.

I have to say one thing, of we talking about running in panic, Anna is true master. In 48 hours, she drove almost 400 kilometers, without meeting other survivors or zombies. It's quite an achievement.

Right now, we are in forester's hut located in huge woodland area located between two big national parks. In short there are woods everywhere around us.

Knowing where we are and obtaining a map is huge help, in the next fifteen minutes I am bale to find quickest way out of woods.

As we should leave early in the morning, I am collecting everything I find useful in the hut. Besides smoked meat, booze, and military rations, there are few more things that can became handy in the future.

Firstly, there is shotgun which old man was using, in one of cabinets I find two boxes of ammo for it. I give shotgun to Anna, after I lost both of my handguns, scoped rifle is only range weapon I got.

The people who send crazy old guy to this wilderness, left him well equipped. In the bedroom I find I find first aid kid, mostly bandages and a little of painkillers. There is also one thing that catches my attention, big knife in dark leather sheath, laying on the table.

I am not exactly knife guy, but it looks extremely high quality. While unsheathing the blade I almost cut myself with it, it is insanely sharp. Guess what? It looks like I found myself a new knife.

Returning back to the kitchen I fills our backpacks with food, unfortunately three years old military rations are not anything special, so smoked venison is half of the food I take. Only thing left is to fill all containers we can find with water.