"Ah! Damn it!"

He had little time to react. The motorcycle lost stability, speed, and control, and at the same time, a sharp stab of fear rose within him.

Everything that followed happened in a single second: the rear wheel suddenly lost traction; the vehicle's speed began to waver, swaying from side to side. Unable to do much, the handlebars twisted, the motorcycle surged forward mercilessly, and it struck its first obstacle.

It was a road sign, consisting of two posts and a massive metal plate in the middle. Not an issue in itself, except it seemed to have been involved in some accident during its useful life, causing the metal plate to bend, leaving its lower edge in a dangerous horizontal position.

The rider had to make a drastic decision at that moment, and through the tinted visor of his helmet, his blue eyes recalled a particular piece of advice his mentor had given him months earlier:

"Never jump off the motorcycle if you want to live! If you can dodge… Do it!"

In that same second, his body moved by instinct, shifting his weight to one side. His helmet absorbed the solid impact from the metal edge, then the wheel wobbled once more, scraping along the curb; and as a result, he felt the full force of inertia carrying both him and his vehicle, launching them forward.

A sudden surge of adrenaline rushed through his body, filling his lungs. He was suspended in the air, and no matter how hard he tried, his hands lost their grip on the handlebars, and the motorcycle slipped away from him, completely out of control.

The fall was brutal.

The bike crashed through a fence, knocking it down, while he, on the other hand, landed on another section of the wire mesh that didn't give way, breaking his fall.

Dazed, dizzy, and with great effort, he managed to drag himself over to the curb to steady himself. His helmet felt as if his head was inside an erupting volcano, so he removed it and hooked it onto one of the horizontal straps of the backpack he was wearing.

The clear light of an afternoon on the verge of fading greeted him.

As he took off an olive green beanie, poorly positioned on his head, to wring out the sweat it had accumulated during the last hours of his journey, he looked around for his motorcycle.

It seemed to have taken quite a beating: the rear wheel was still spinning aimlessly with some kind of black plastic tangled around it, and the body of the bike lay flipped over, resting against the fence mesh. That wasn’t good…

For two reasons.

First, that shiny chopper-style motorcycle was his only means of transportation. Second, and undoubtedly the more pressing reason, was the massive horde of monsters that had been alerted by his fall.

Terror filled his gaze when he made eye contact with one of them, and fear materialized inside him like a surge of electricity when that creature let out a brutal scream into the air.

He didn’t think twice, adjusted the beanie on his head, and threw himself towards the bike.

One scream triggered another, like a pack of wolves howling and communicating amongst themselves that the metallic prison blocking their path had finally been breached…

And with it, a six-foot-three trophy of flesh to boot.

Upon reaching the bike, he stopped the wheel from spinning and removed the piece of plastic stuck to it. Just thinking that a few garbage bags, in the wrong place at the wrong time, could lead to being trampled to death by zombies was almost laughable.

As he struggled to put the motorcycle back into its usual position, he could feel the ground trembling beneath him, signaling that if he didn’t act swiftly and carefully, his time in this world might be over in a few seconds.

Adrenaline sent a surge of strength to his arms, allowing him to wrestle the bike free from the fence. The sound of hundreds of infected feet pounding the ground grew louder, merging with the intense screaming pouring from their throats.

He didn’t dare to look back; he mounted the bike, and just as he felt the faint brush of one monster’s hand on his back, the motorcycle roared and sped away.

The monsters had missed a valuable opportunity, but none of them had any intention of giving up. Some of them, frustrated and blinded by rage, started running to pursue the young man; others lost their balance in the chase and fell behind; but only a few, the most ferocious of all, driven by their primal hunting instinct, began to outpace the rest with impressive speed.

Their brown skin, hairless and hardened by the wind; their sharp fangs, stained with the blood of past victims; and their snouts, which served not only as deadly weapons but as a means of communication between them, with fierce growls, made it clear: they had a new prey in their sights.

*****

He held his breath, slowly getting out of bed, taking care not to make the springs creak as they usually did. The first noise had been loud enough to make him arm himself, but it was the second, heavy and deliberate, that gave him the courage to swing open the door and aim his gun straight ahead.

The light in the camper was off; however, there were few things there that could gleam as sharply as the steel barrel of a gun, one that, not by chance, was pointed directly at his head.

Junior froze, his gaze locked on the silhouette of someone leaning casually against the kitchen counter. It was a striking silhouette, curvy, with wide hips and long hair—a girl.

A girl who, while he kept his gun trained on her, finished off the rest of the soup he had prepared. When she was done, she quietly set the pot down where she’d found it and turned her gaze toward him.

A thief?

"Hey," she whispered in a relaxed tone. He couldn’t see her well in the darkness, but he could almost sense that she was smiling. "Sorry about the mess… Could you turn on the light? I think it would be better for both of us."

He didn’t respond immediately, but he considered it appropriate to reach behind him and press the switch in the bedroom. The camper’s interior wasn’t very large, so it was enough for the light to spill into the hallway and illuminate a good portion of the main area.

Two emerald-colored eyes, subtly hidden behind sleek, dark bangs, fixed on him with an intense, lingering gaze.

Her hair was tied back and draped over her left shoulder, and her flushed skin glistened with a slight sheen of sweat. She wore a military-style suit, fitting her slender, athletic body like a glove. It was made from high-tech fabric that seemed to adapt perfectly to her every movement.

Her jacket had multiple pockets and functional details, while her pants hugged her legs and fastened at the waist with a thick, sturdy belt. A diagonal strap across her chest held up to six sharp throwing knives, each glinting dangerously.

Despite the high functionality of her outfit, the way she was armed, and the aura of confidence and determination she projected, she was undeniably beautiful.

Suddenly, Junior’s eyes caught sight of something new.

If he had taken one more step forward, his foot would have struck the lifeless skull of a corpse on the floor. Noticing it, he recoiled in visible alarm, and his gun instinctively swung toward the creature.

That made him hesitate, and his gaze shifted to the girl a moment later, followed by his gun. But at the same time, he couldn’t ignore that the creature was just inches away from him. The gun’s barrel swung back and forth.

In this new world, distrust was second nature, and Junior had learned the hard way to never take anything for granted. Many of the monsters roaming the streets came back to life even after being killed, regardless of the number of bullets used.

Fortunately, there was a key to ensuring their permanent death: their “hearts.” Those dark, protruding bulges that were sometimes quite visible, standing out on their bodies, while in other cases, they were much harder to find.

Some zombie hearts were located in unusual spots, like the one he had once found in the lower back area. A spot that wasn’t visible from the front, and no matter how many bullets you shot into its head, limbs, or torso, they were pointless unless the heart was hit.

In this case, the monster before him lay face down on the floor. There were no visible traces of its heart, and the worst part was that this zombie was heavily clothed, making it harder to spot any veins.

Another important aspect to consider when killing them was to look for the black veins that usually surrounded the heart. As his mentor had explained to him a while ago: “If you find the veins, that’s where you have to shoot.”

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

The girl noticed Junior’s obvious nervous reaction and took a step forward, but once again, the blood-red Beretta indicated that it was best not to move.

She raised her hands, pointed the barrel of her own gun upward, and calmly asked him to relax. When she saw the young man’s muscles loosen a bit, she used the edge of her heavy boot to nudge the body and flip it over.

Once again, surprise flashed across Junior’s face. The zombie had a throwing knife embedded perfectly in the center of its stomach, along with two more knives, one in its right chest and another in its lower abdomen. Even so, as he scanned the body, he couldn’t identify any black veins or noticeable bulges.

“It’s dead, don’t worry,” she said. “Otherwise, it would be making a lot more noise.”

“How did you kill it without seeing it?” he asked.

“Well… I imagine you know about their lethal points.”

“Their what…? Their heart?”

“Yeah, that. We call them lethal points. Anyway, generally, most have it in their chest, in the pit of their stomach, or in the abdomen. So I took my chances with the knives, and I got lucky. At least on the third try.”

“Only three tries? If you ask me, that’s a lot of ‘luck.’ It’s not always like that…” he replied confidently. “This morning, I killed one that had its heart on part of its neck. They’re not always in the middle area.”

“But…” She raised a finger to the sky and smiled. It seemed she’d been waiting for that remark. “In that case, they’re visible and easy to identify. When they’re hidden inside the body, there’s a pretty good chance they’re in one of those three spots I mentioned. Trust me. I’ve been testing it for the past two months, and I’m on a streak.”

Junior took a moment to examine the corpse. The truth was, the noises he’d heard in his room had been loud bangs. One could easily be attributed to the creature’s fall.

He checked the door: it was open and seemed to have been forced, perhaps by the girl. So the first sound was likely from that struggle. Beyond that, he hadn’t heard a single gunshot. So maybe she wasn’t lying, but there was still something that didn’t add up at all…

“Alright. Let’s cut to the chase. Why are you here?” he asked, with a sharp, cold look. “What do you want from me? To steal? To kill?”

“Oh, no. I just wanted to help.”

He chuckled, incredulous.

“Oh, really? Then if I ask you to leave, you won’t make up any excuse, and you’ll go?”

“If that’s what you want…” she said, barely able to hold back a smirk as she waited for his reply, “but if you do, you might regret it.”

“Oh, don’t tell me. I suppose you’re the one who’s going to clear things up for me. Right?”

“Ah, I don’t know anymore,” she said playfully. “Now I don’t feel like it. I don’t like sarcastic people.”

“Perfect, then let’s end this show already. Because something doesn’t add up with your story…” Junior said. At that moment, he saw a subtle flash of surprise in her emerald eyes. He’d got her. “Why would that zombie come in here in the first place? The way I see it, you saw my camper, and you wanted to break in and try to rob me. I don’t blame you; I know how the world is now. Then a zombie followed you, you defended yourself, but made a lot of noise and woke me up. So, end of story, girl.”

The young woman sighed, stepped to the side, and pointed to the window facing the driver’s seat.

“It came in through there. I saw it from outside, crawling through the window. You know when zombies stop wandering aimlessly and start overcoming obstacles? When they’re chasing food. Your window was broken, and it smelled the leftover soup in your pot, so it came in. If you turn on all the lights, you’ll see the trail of blood it left on the driver’s seat,” she said, crossing her arms. “Like I said. I came after, saved you from a heart-stopping scare and a possible horrible death. You’re welcome… kid,” she emphasized the last word.

Junior frowned.

“The soup? But zombies don’t eat soup…” he replied, less certain now, as his voice revealed.

“No, but they do eat meat. The soup I just ate had meat in it.”

If anyone could search the internet and type in “dumb face,” the first image to appear would probably be Junior’s expression at that moment.

“Shit… I can’t believe I was so careless, being so close. If you hadn’t shown up…”

He lowered his weapon, casting her a look tinted with internal shame and frustration as he apologized.

“It’s alright. We can’t always remember everything…”

Suddenly, the young woman’s expression changed to sudden surprise, and she checked a tactical watch on her left wrist: the screen showed an incoming call. She pressed a button and brought the watch to her ear.

“Sam. Can you talk?”

A voice came from the watch; Junior was a bit farther away, but he could clearly hear every word.

“Yes, I can. What’s going on?”

“Have you reached the visibility point?”

“Uh… no.” She glanced at Junior. “I had a slight detour. Don’t worry, I’m very close. Don’t tell me it’s already started…”

“No, not yet, but we need to change the plan. You’re going to have to come here and be part of the reinforcement. There are more creatures than we anticipated, and we’ll need all the help we can get.”

“But we’ll have sniper support, right?”

“Yes, but it’s just Ocampo this time.”

“Got it. Alright, I’ll head out right away.”

“Good. Come as soon as you can. I’ll send you the location.”

A sharp beeping sound repeated three times.

“I’ve got it. See you soon!” The girl ended the call, pressing a red button on her watch and shrugged. “Well, looks like you got your wish. I have to go. I was planning to offer you a proposal, but unfortunately, I don’t have much time, and judging by your attitude, I doubt you would have accepted it anyway.”

Junior’s mind started forming a lot of questions about that quick and strange call. Some of them centered on how interesting that watch looked; however, above all, it seemed his impression of her as a thief was starting to fade.

And what was that proposal she mentioned?

“What kind of proposal?”

She navigated through an interactive map on her watch screen until she found her colleague’s exact location. She was about to answer, but then, just as she lifted her gaze to meet the camper owner’s eyes before heading out, her attention was drawn to the map hanging on the wall in front of her.

She studied it for a moment in silence, then her eyes shifted back to him. She regarded him seriously, lowered her gaze, and finally… smiled.

She took a marker hanging from a shoelace, which was nailed to the wall, and used it to draw a route from their current location to a very specific area southeast of the city.

“I was right,” she said, looking back at him. “You wouldn’t have accepted my proposal.” She opened one of the many pockets on her pants, pulled out a metallic gold card, and handed it to him. “Here. This makes you part of the Golden Nation.”

Junior was speechless.

“What?”

“Yes, you see… it’s hard to get into that nation now. It’s not like it used to be,” the girl explained, blowing one of her bangs off her forehead. “Let’s just say it’s full, and even if you make it to the gates, they won’t let you in. That card I gave you certifies, by law, that you can apply to be a member. So they’ll consider you, and they won’t be able to turn you away. Of course, they’ll have a sea of questions, but I’ll sort that out when I return.”

“Really?” Junior felt a chill run through him as he stared at the back of the card in awe. “You’re part of the Golden Nation?”

“Something like that. Make sure you’re behind the gates when you show it. From that point on, it’s considered ‘Golden Nation territory,’ and their laws will apply to you too.”

“So, the nation is real? It’s not just a myth?”

“Oh, it’s very real, I swear. And it’s legal too. We have a government system, currency, security, healthcare, institutions…” She winked. “The full package.”

“And is it safe?”

Sam smiled again and started heading towards the exit. She looked outside to check for any monsters, and seeing none, continued:

“Listen, I’d love to keep chatting; however, it’d be better if we do this at a better time. In my nation, we have a pretty good bar. It’s called The Phoenix Feather. Drop by sometime, and we can continue our conversation there.” She suddenly remembered she was one knife short in her harness and approached the corpse to retrieve it. “I’d suggest you go right now.” She pulled out the knife and wiped off the stinking zombie blood on the back of her boot. “You won’t take long if you leave now. The city’s pretty calm, but it won’t be for long. My team and I are about to stir up the hornet’s nest tonight. So, you know. Be quick.”

He didn’t quite understand her last remark. Meanwhile, she headed back to the door and, just to be sure, glanced around the exterior once more.

“So, the important thing: when you get there, show them the card. Don’t say I gave it to you, and don’t mention you saw me. Let’s bend the story a bit, alright? Just say you found it somewhere. They’re very picky, but they’ll let you in and try to verify your story the next day in a hearing. But don’t worry; by the time that comes around, I’ll have spoken with someone important, and we’ll have it sorted out. So, there’ll be no problem.” She flashed him a warm, captivating smile. “Good luck! See you later!”

Without further ado, the girl leaped outside energetically. Junior had the urge to follow her until he saw her coming back in as fast as she’d left.

“Almost forgot! Did you come via the highway?”

“Uh… Yes, yes, why?”

“Don’t take the north access. Ever! Got it? Great! Now, goodbye!” she replied, leaving definitively this time.

Junior stuck his head out of his camper door.

“Wait! I want to ask you something else!”

Sam mounted a motorcycle, started it up, and put on her helmet. Junior, still wanting to clear up one last question, followed her.

“I have to go now. One more question! Come on!”

“Is it safe? The Golden Nation? You didn’t answer that…”

She stayed silent for a moment, then nodded.

“The safest of them all…” She revved up and started moving. “See you… kid!”