Part 1 (1/2)

Dead Days Season Eight.

Ryan Casey.

DEAD DAYS: SEASON EIGHT.

EPISODE FORTY-THREE.

AND HE SAW IT HAPPENING ALL OVER AGAIN.

(FIRST EPISODE OF SEASON EIGHT).

Prologue.

She looked at the ma.s.s of undead in front of her and she knew this wasn't going to be easy.

The autumn leaves were frosty underfoot, which was a sure sign that autumn was segueing into winter. The thought of the imminent winter didn't scare her. It alarmed her a little. But in truth, not a lot could truly scare her anymore. Not after the things she'd been through. Not after the things she'd witnessed. Not after the things she'd done.

Winter was just another hurdle in a landscape of many hurdles.

And one of those hurdles was right ahead of her at this very second.

She stood still as the cold breeze blew against her, sending a s.h.i.+ver creeping up her spine. She was still protected by the trees all around her. She'd grown used to using the trees for shelter. When she was out of the woodlands, buildings would take the same role.

She'd been surviving alone long enough in this world to know the best ways to stay invisible.

She breathed in deeply, right through her nostrils. She knew some people might call her mad for that. After all, the stench of death never got any better. It got worse, as time went on, as rot kicked in even more. Much, much worse. But that was something else you just had to learn to deal with. Something you had to teach yourself to adapt to.

If you couldn't handle a bit of smell, if you couldn't train that gag reflex to behave, then you wouldn't still be here today. Simple as that.

She felt her hands shaking, her heart thumping. She knew she'd have to stay still. Very still. There were a lot of undead at the bottom of this hill. A h.e.l.l of a lot. Hundreds of them. They seemed to be congregating in bigger groups lately. It'd been strange, watching the evolution of the infection right from the very beginning, even if the evolution of the infection seemed to have halted and even regressed of late. At first, they were the walking type of zombie. Then some of them started running. There was communication, of sorts. Hive mind behaviour.

Then there were the other things. The ones who looked like normal people, unbitten, but had the parasites inside their skulls.

They gave her the biggest creeps. Because you just never knew whether you were coming face to face with another survivor, or something else entirely.

And she couldn't lie. She kind of missed people. She missed being around them. She'd always been a social being, even if she never used to realise it. She liked interacting with others. She was a kind of extroverted introvert, or maybe it was an introverted extrovert. She drew energy from other people, but at the same time, she needed a break from them every now and then.

She'd been on a break from people for a long time now.

She didn't know whether anyone she cared about was left.

All she knew was that she had to keep on moving, keep on hoping that one day, she'd find a sanctuary all over again. A place of peace.

One day, she'd find hope amidst the darkness.

And if there's one thing this world was rife with, it was darkness.

She started to ease back into the forest, knowing that she'd have to watch her step. If she so much as cracked a branch under her foot, she'd draw attention to herself. And drawing this crowd to her wasn't her idea of a perfect Sunday morning.

Or wait. Was it Sat.u.r.day?

She wasn't sure anymore.

s.h.i.+t. What did it even matter? The days lost their relevance a long time ago.

She edged back gradually. At the same time, she gripped on to the axe in her right hand. It was a close combat weapon, but she kind of preferred it that way. At least at close range, she could be totally sure she'd taken her enemy down.

As she stepped back into the woods, breathing deeply to keep herself calm, she thought about some of the other horrors she'd witnessed. The bodies she'd found, mutilated, by something that must go way, way beyond mere undead. The talk of beasts with long, sharp teeth and jet black eyes... those murmurings scared her.

They scared her so much that she looked over her shoulder into the woods.

In the distance, she saw something.

She frowned. At that moment, her focus dropped.

There was a girl. A young girl, with long brown hair.

The girl was holding a gun, pointing it right at her.

She was-.

She recognised her, then. She recognised her and it took her right back.

It made the dread fill up inside her body.

It made the fear take a hold, take over her breathing, take over everything.

Because it reminded her.

She was lost, then. She knew when she was lost because she couldn't think straight. And sure, she tried to tell herself just to focus on the present moment because this couldn't be real. This was nothing more than an illusion. She tried to tell herself to focus on her breathing. To bring herself back to reality.

But that girl.

That girl holding the gun.

That girl looking right at her.

That girl...

She heard the blast, felt the bullet pierce her skull, but after that everything went blank.