Supernaturals

1. Into the city

ANNA

I was running. Then it occurred to me that I had been a very good runner, the best in my school and I never went to a girls only. One wouldn’t be surprised if I told you I was very athletic. My long straight legs, my very fit and flexible body, how vibrant my strides were, how assertive my stance was—these and more would easily convince anyone that chasing Anna Towadise was always going to be uphill.

Still, I hoped it would be enough to outrun the herd of zombies that pursued me.

Whether slow or not, no one ever wished to meet a herd.

Not many witches would keep their calm if they were in my shoes. Most witches would even get so uneasy if a dozen Undeads (zombies) came at them. Funny enough, zombies weren't quick at all; a frightened five year old would outrun them even without being given a head start. They were slow, very idiotic, and weaker than the average human—yet they had succeeded in killing about a third of the Supernaturals, and almost all of humanity. Everyone feared the zombies. It didn't matter if you could bring fire from your mouth or your backside, it didn't matter if you have lived a thousand years and was strong enough to pass through a building made of solid concrete, or could turn into a big wolf...everyone was perpetually terrified of the brain-munchers. And for very good reason.

Everyone but the demons.

I had gone too far from the haven. I and eleven other witches had gone deep into the city in search of supplies—food, clothes, drugs, just about anything we could get our hands on. Food was clearly the top priority. No matter how much we brought, it could never last beyond a week. That had had us always going into the city via different routes, in order to cover more ground. This time when we had gone out on our usual weekly hunt, being fed up with going out every weekend, we had decided to push fear aside and make our way into the city. We had collectively—the regular twelve people who always went for the food hunt—decided to move beyond the fear that the vampires and the demons ruled the main city. We had all agreed that it was high time we stood strong and did good by the haven—even though the Queen—what the coven leader was called—was very much against anyone going beyond the places where the safety of our kind was more assured.

Mum wasn't one to take risks.

While we had all given ourselves quality pep talks, we hadn't an idea of what the city held. At first, as we entered the city, it seemed doable. Our goals seemed achievable! We had magic, after all, we weren't regular people (not like regular people were still a thing) who were just in search of food. We felt like it would be difficult but we would get more food. With our magic, we could carry literally anything so all we had to do was to search.

The first attack had been terrifying and had made me have a double mind. Close to two hundred zombies had ambushed us. Seeing their ugly savage faces in such a large number had made me so sick in the stomach that I had contemplated closing my eyes while burning the hell out of them. And there came the second ambush.

After the first attack which had been overwhelming but a success nonetheless, we had all become more relaxed. It began to look like we could really pull this off. Ideas came from everyone and we all appeared to believe my mother—the coven Queen—was just too scared of the other beings. And then it happened.

Ostensibly, they had come out of nowhere but from everywhere. We couldn't think of fighting, all that was left for us to do was run. As expected, when the first set had come after us, others followed. Without being hyperbolic at all, I could beat my chest and say that at the very least, sixty thousand zombies came after us. That was sixty thousand relentless brain-munchers. No one cared if you could bring out fire from your hands or move things without touching them—if we had waited even one more minute, we would have been dead bodies on the ground waiting to rise as walking dead beings.

That was a fate worse than death itself.

I pushed my thoughts from my mind and ceased sprinting for a while. Where was I going? I didn't know where I was but I knew I was still in the city, but had no clue on getting out and more importantly, getting home. I couldn't dare stay in the city for too long, there were many beings that could really hurt me. Then it occurred to me that I should try to communicate with my fellow sorcerers in the city, but that meant I had to find a place where I would sit quietly and meditate.

I had done a little bit of a search before I saw a car that actually had a door. I tried to start it as the keys, surprisingly, were in the ignition hole. I laughed at myself as I tried to turn the key...and bam! The car started. The sputtering sound of the car's engine made me leap in surprise. It felt so unreal! How could this be happening? Besides bicycles, there were no existing vehicles anymore. I hadn't heard the sound of an engine since the apocalypse hit the world.

Were wheelbarrows vehicles? How about scooters? I wondered.

I, once again, abandoned my trivial thoughts and tried contacting my friends. It was no good—they were either dead or very, very, far from where I was as I couldn't make contact with them. I prayed for the latter.

Tears poured down my face. If only we had listened and sought for any crap we could take as food, we would have had hopes of seeing the sun the next day. I took a deep breath and tried again. There was no response, I tried again and again and again…

Futile waste of time, effort and magic. I just couldn't make any contact.

I came out of the car, wondering what I could possibly do. I couldn't stay any longer, nobody was going to save me. I was alone this time, no team, no friends, no support. It was just me in a city where everything that moved was definitely going to try to kill me.

And then I spotted an Undead, slowly making its way to me. Since it was far, I tried to look at it in the face. Perhaps I was trying to see if there was any life in the thing that approached me, staggering like a malnourished drunk. Most of the time, I avoided looking at the faces of the zombies but this time, I decided to.

It was savage, ugly and quite scary too. It had some tattered pieces of clothing around it's pale body. It was difficult to say what race it was but I guessed it had been caucasian. Also, it had been a woman before the Hamzak-101 had struck the world, though it hadn't any breasts anymore—they seemed to have been severed—it was apparent it had been a woman.

It could have been someone's daughter, someone's wife, someone's best friend, or someone's lover. I didn't know who she had been but I knew the creature before me was a mockery of the person whose body was being controlled by the virus. With that in mind, I set the zombie ablaze and prayed she found peace somewhere else. Hopefully.

I sank back into the car, and for some reason, had decided that it wasn't safe there. I didn't know who owned the car—someone definitely did—but I couldn't leave the car. Cars were as rare as gold—perhaps rarer. Whoever owned it, sure as hell stole them too. So it was fair. But I couldn't just drive and head nowhere, I had to think. I had to think of a way to go back to the Haven. It was the smart thing to do, it was what my mother would have wanted me to do—to think, to plan and then act with zeal.

Not like I was known for doing what she or any other person said. I had to think nonetheless.

At the back of my mind, I felt even that wouldn't help me now.

Then I saw a building thoroughly fenced with wrought iron. It seemed untouched by the apocalypse, though weed had almost covered the whole lawn. I was, at first, sceptical about walking into such a compound—in fact, I had no business walking into the compound. I was in a car, an actual car. The only vehicle I had seen in a very long time was Mason's little truck—my kid brother's toy car. But I wasn't thinking clearly, I couldn't leave the city and find my way back home if I didn't have a very good plan and that needed some time. Clearly, staying in an old car during an apocalypse wasn’t the smartest thing to do. So I pushed my childish fears away and headed towards the church compound. With the mysterious car key in my pocket.

Going through the wrought iron fence was very easy for me, all I had to do was to wiggle my fingers and the fences made way for me and went back to its original form as I passed through. I struggled to walk as there seemed to have been a fight or something, as the whole compound had broken bottles littered around. I, apparently, couldn't stay in the compound, not unless tetanus and a dozen other infections weren't unappealing to me.

The church's door was a bit stiff, which half-convinced me that the building was empty. As I stepped into the church, I was relieved. It was empty, free from the brain-munchers...and no brain munchers equaled no problem. The church building was quite pretty and the high ceilings made it look bigger than it did from the outside. I found a pew where I could sit and plan my movements. For a second, I felt peace. Then I heard sounds. I immediately dismissed it as fear and was nearly mad at myself for being too jumpy.

Then, I heard it again. And again.

And I saw them all.

There were zombies in the church, some had been kids and elderlies, so it was clear that they had been hiding from the zombies, only to die and become them. I was surprised that there were at least sixty zombies in the church I had wanted to stay in for a bit. I had to move, no time to overthink things. I ran to the entrance door, halted and for some reason had felt pity for them, for what they had become. I whispered, “I’m sorry.” And then I set the whole building on fire, darted to the car, started it, and fired off.