For His Sister

Six months after everything all went to shit, zombies roamed the earth with little to impede them.

It's been only a few hours since Axel and his sister Rae were left alone. Axel was holding off a dozen zombies after his family was spotted searching a convenience store for supplies. He shouted at them to run, telling them he would find a way to escape after they were safe. His only weapons included but a few knives from home that he'd been using since the time that the first infected began terrorizing the remaining human population. After such wear and tear from hacking and stabbing at least a few dozen zombies before then, they finally broke. At such a shitty moment.

While he weaved his way through the zombies clambering after him, dodging and distracting them long enough for his parents and sister to escape, he heard a scream come not far from him. Dread instantly filled his heart as he hoped and prayed to whatever higher power existed that his family was safe. No time to even think about what he was doing, newfound strength renewed his body as the adrenaline pumped through his veins.

No more dodging, just straightforward smashing.

He picked up a thick, wooden stick, likely remnants of a large cabinet, and smashed the head of whatever zombie came near him. Muscles he arduously built through the course of years came alive and strained with power. He was no bodybuilder, but he was dedicated enough to lift weights and run daily since the beginning of high school.

By the time he was done killing the dozen zombies surrounding him, a few minutes had passed and weariness had made it difficult to lift his arms. He dropped the stick covered in grime and blood, while gritting his teeth and forcing his body to keep moving. Relaxing his body would have meant death at that moment, leaving himself defenseless as all the adrenaline would come crashing down on him.

He ran as fast as he could in the direction his family had escaped. What he saw brought hot tears to his eyes. Tears mixed with sweat as his eyes stung at the sight of his parents being devoured by a pair of infected. They must have only made it to the alley behind the store before they stumbled upon the infected. A sob racked his throat as his heart clenched uncontrollably at the reality of never being able to see them again. Never seeing their smiling faces look upon him and his sister.

His morbid thoughts immediately cleared as he failed to see his sister, giving him hope that she was still alive. If all of them left him at the same time, he knew he would be left broken. A shell of a man. He scanned the area and looked at the group feeding upon his parents. Looking at his parents more closely, he felt close to vomiting, but he realized that their bodies were unmoving even as they were being ripped apart. As if they were intently shielding something from the zombies.

"Rae..." Axel whispered.

His body moved without much more thought as adrenaline and fear filled his body once again. He had no time to find a weapon. If he waited much longer, his parent's bodies could no longer protect his little sister. He had a window of opportunity while the infected were still focused on getting to Rae.

By the time he reached the bodies, he could see the tear-stricken face of Rae peaking at him from what used to be his parents' chests. As one of the zombies reared its head to bite his sister, he tackled it with a force that shouldn't have been possible considering his condition. He scrambled to his feet and heard the screech of the other zombie. As he turned to look at it, it stared straight back at him, his parent's intestines clamped between its teeth.

His heart ached and was set aflame with rage at the sight, but before Axel could move, a sharp pain ripped through his right ankle as he felt teeth sink into his skin.

No time to process what the bite represented, he used his left foot to repeatedly smash the zombie's head to the ground. He needed to free himself before the other zombie could reach him. Soon, he felt the familiar crunch of a skull breaking under his foot right as the other zombie charged at him and knocked him to the ground. He used his forearm on its neck to block the bloody teeth from taking a chunk out of his face. Sweat poured down Axel's face as his body begged him to give up.

His screams of effort mixed with the zombie's screeches as he used all his willpower to keep it from mauling him into pieces. But his body was too tired and too overworked. Killing that last zombie had already sapped him of his energy and all that remained was sheer desire to save his little sister.

Just as his arm was about to succumb to the pressure, he heard a small war-cry and felt the infected on top of him shift ever so slightly.

However, it gave him time and space, while its attention was split between two potential meals, for Axel to use his other hand to pull the zombie's hair. He quickly overturned it and left its grasp by throwing it to the side. Before it had time to get up again, he mustered his remaining willpower and strength to smash its head to the ground.

Once.

Twice.

Three times.

He lost count of how many times he bashed its skull into the dirty alleyway pavement. The adrenaline left his mind blank as his instinct to survive and protect overrode everything else. He only stopped when he felt a pressure rush against his back and almost topple him over.

Warm tears and heart-wrenching sobs woke him up from his absentmindedness. Axel ignored the pain in his ankle and turned to look at Rae.

One look was all it took before he kneeled down and scooped her up in his arms, both lost in the pain of losing their parents and the relief they had in having each other.