The man sat up, a dull throbbing pain in the back of his skull. He didn’t recognise where he was, but he thought his name was Peter. He glanced down at his hands, noticing a bite on his wrist. He stood up to check his surroundings; he was in a dank alleyway. He cocked his head as he heard someone cry out.

Intrigued he headed in the direction of the noise. Leaving the alley he found himself in a deserted street. He heard a noise again, this time someone cursing. He followed the noise, spotting a woman standing by the door of a car. It looked, Peter thought, like she was trying to get the door open. He approached her, excited for some reason.

The lady didn’t realise he was there until he was yards from her. She spun around shocked; she said a name, it sounded familiar, he ignored it walking closer. She said the name again, louder this time, causing him to pause a moment.

He tried to focus, she had said Peter, it was a familiar name, was it his? What was his name now, he had trouble remembering. He looked at the woman, the name wasn’t important. He was hungry…

…Ada was shocked to see Peter, but was more annoyed she’d let him sneak up on her. She’d been too busy trying to break into this car she’d found. At first he didn’t seem to recognise her at all. But when she said his name firmly he stopped. She would have gone for the handgun in her waistband, but she had to be sure he was infected.

When Peter lunged, it caught her completely by surprise. Ada fell back against the car, her brother however was knocked sideways, as a bullet connected with the side of his head.

***

The scene below was depressing; James had been watching the disaster for the past few days. He’d seen the survivors’ battle against those infected, he’d seen both fall, he’d taken out a couple of the undead himself with his trusty sniper-rifle.

James patted his gun; it was serving him well in this dark time. The scope also allowed him to keep an eye on the world below. He hadn’t seen much action today, he’d attributed it to the fact the zombies had probably eaten everyone else.

Now it was 6 p.m. James was about to retire to grab some food. He stood up, brushing his long hair from his face and lifted up his shades. Taking a deep breath, he let his eyes take in the scene unaided by the powerful eye of the rifle. It was then he saw the girl.

Quickly he returned to his gun, scooping it up and looking at the survivor with the scope. He scouted the area it was currently empty apart from her. Enough time for a bit of fun, he thought. He zoomed in, taking a look at the woman’s figure. She was very pretty, he might even have to go and ‘rescue’ her.

The lady was focused on trying to break into a BMW parked outside a pharmacy. She was too busy to spot the zombie lurch out of the alley. James could have taken it out there and then, but he waited, he preferred a challenge.

The zombie got to within a few yards of her, before she turned. Due to her reaction, James could tell she knew the poor soul. He watched intently as she tried to speak to the zombie. He was even surprised that the zombie seemed to hesitate, but as usual it ended up lunging at the woman. Instinctively James squeezed the trigger, the bullet connected with the zombie’s head just above the ear, a killing blow, the zombie collapsed its brain matter splattering the pavement.

James stared at the scene, then propped the rifle on its rest. He reached into his bag pulling out a pump-action shotgun. Checking it was loaded, he headed downstairs raising the shutters of his gun shop. He dashed across the street, helping the woman up, he assisted her into getting back inside. He quickly slammed the shutters back down. Satisfied they were safe, he took the woman to the back of the shop where he sat her down.

“Hey, you okay?” he asked concerned,

“Yeah, I’m Ada thanks for helping me.”

“It’s my pleasure, I’m James.”

Ada, smiled before bursting into tears. James went to her and wrapped his arms around her. She fell deeper into his arms trying to forget what had happened with Peter.

“It’s okay Ada, you’re safe here.”