Misfortune and Fortune Come in Pairs

"Rae, on the count of three I need you to run like hell."

Axel had to take the risk of being seen by the shooters. Once more infected arrived on the scene, it would be near impossible for him and Rae to escape unscathed. Although it would matter less to him as he was already infected, he couldn't risk Rae getting infected.

"One..." Axel could hear the gunshots getting closer, so if they didn't hurry they would be screwed anyway. He hadn't even begun to wonder who could be shooting at who...or what.

"Two..." He could barely hear Rae's panting over the thumping of his own heart. He just realized how tired she must be after running for so long, especially with packs on. She was only twelve and he knew he wouldn't have made it even a quarter of the distance she's run so far, especially with the already huge mental toll impacting her today.

"Three!" he whisper-yelled. They ran as fast as they could. A limp had worked its way into Axel's strides, but he made sure to stay slightly ahead of Rae. If they were spotted, he could make sure that they would only see him instead of both of them. Although he needed time to find someone to take care of Rae, if worse comes to worse he could make sure Rae stayed alive while he dealt with whatever survivors or infected came their way.

He really hoped it wouldn't come to that, but he would do whatever it takes to make sure his little sister stayed alive.

They were at the gates to their hideout when six figures turned the corner halfway across the block. Surprise etched its way unto their features when they noticed Axel. His plan had worked as his relatively bulky body covered the small form of his sister as she was already halfway into their hideout. Darkness had already descended, allowing the slightly opened entrance and Rae's body to go hidden from the views of the survivors.

"Rae, listen to me. Go inside and lock yourself up in the basement. I'll be there as soon as I can," Axel said. He stared straight at the people running toward their direction.

"No! Where are you going? Don't leave me." Rae had already begun sobbing again. She couldn't understand why her brother didn't want to come inside. Living in this hell for months, she already knew the dangers the darkness brought and she still hadn't forgotten the mangled corpses of her parents.

"Some people already saw me. We don't know how dangerous they are, so we can't risk them knowing that this is our hideout. Trust me. I won't leave you alone just yet, little sister."

Rae nodded as tears flooded her eyes. Axel reached out and patted her head as he closed the gate as stealthily as he could. He was still staring forward and could already begin to see the features of the six people running at him as he started to step back slowly. Four men and two women. Three of the men were skinny, each one carrying a single backpack. The other man was bulky, bulkier than Axel but mostly because of his higher fat ratio. The two women were similar in body shape, but one was noticeably skinnier than the other who was more in shape.

All of them had black blood on their clothes.

"Shit."

His steps backward quickened. Now he knew that they weren't firing at other people, but at infected. They must have been new to the area and had run into one of the red zones. No red zones were half a kilometer within the radius of the hideout, so they must have been running for a while.

It took a second before he could see a horde turn the corner, running after them. His eyes widened as he took in the sight of hundreds, if not thousands, of zombies packed together, filling the streets with their bodies. He hadn't seen such a sight since the initial days of infected, when everyone hastened the rate of infection as the proximity of each person made it easier for zombies to take a bite out of them.

Thank god he sent Rae straight to the basement. With this many infected, they would chase after any human through the slightest peek of skin.

Right as he saw the horde, he turned and ran as fast as he could. He knew the these streets like the back of his hand and knew he could find a way to lead both the zombies and survivors far enough from his hideout to make it relatively safe. Luckily, the zombies he's seen so far were centered around physical strength, but lacked speed.

"Hey, wait!" One of the skinnier men screamed at him.

Axel didn't turn back. Who the hell would trust complete strangers in the apocalypse? The fuck they think he was? A white guy in a horror movie?

He rounded a corner, heading dangerously close to being spotted by more infected. Although red zones were rather far from where he was, infected sight could reach far in the dark. He could hear the labored breathing of the survivors running behind him. One of the scariest aspects of zombies in the apocalypse was how silent they were. Even with the horde chasing behind them, it seemed almost impossible how the street's noises were composed of the survivor's footsteps and breathing, which made the sight of thousands of zombies chasing after them that much more terrifying.

Axel had just turned around another few corners when he was able to reach the local mall. The mall itself was a red zone, but the area surrounding it was safe if you avoided the glass displays. However, his goal was to go inside of it. He would leave the front entrance open long enough for the infected to enter the building. The entrance to the mall held a long space inside until more double doors separated it from the interior of the mall. When daylight hits, infected would usually do whatever they can to avoid the light unless they spotted a human to eat, so they would definitely go inside if not scatter around. He would climb up until the second story of the building from the outside and head into a safe space within the red zone after leaving the door open, allowing him to rest for the night in there.

He had found the safe space in his search for supplies a few weeks ago. The first time he went inside, he almost died to the thousands of zombies lying inside the complex. The second time he scaled the building from outside and almost died to a zombie waiting right beside the window. From then on, he would make several trips to clear out a space on the second floor in secret in order to have a backup plan if his family was ever stuck in a bad situation. He had already planned on coming here when he heard the gunshots, but he knew his sister would find it difficult to climb. He wasn't even confident in making it up in his current situation.

He had already opened the door and started climbing when he looked back and could see the survivors and horde less than 100 meters away.

"Why couldn't y'all just fuck off?" Axel groaned in exasperation as he hoped that the survivors wouldn't be able to scale the tough climb upwards. His ankle was numb at this point from overworking it, making it both bad but easier to make the climb.

As the survivors closed in, they spotted the open entrance and the man climbing the building. The group's disharmony was seen when they began to argue which way to go. Three of the men wanted to go inside the entrance and close it, while the others wanted to follow the man scaling the building. As they neared the building, the three men split off and rushed toward the entrance and closed it. The others knew they had already begun to block it off with whatever they could find in there.

"Fuckin' assholes," one of the girls said. Although their group was made for convenience, they had been together for three weeks at that point. She thought they had some semblance of camaraderie or friendship. The two girls and one of the skinny guys started to climb after Axel.

When Axel saw both these situations, he couldn't help but curse once again at his shitty luck. He had thought the group would find another way to run after they saw him climb up. Who else would try such a dangerous climb with basically no proper footholds? Or who would even think about going inside a huge mall that was most likely teeming with more zombies than the horde chasing after them? Guess there were enough idiots for both options.

When he looked back down, he could see the three climbing upward close in on him. They were faster than him in his debilitated state as the climbing had further worsened the pressure on his ankle. The infected had already crowded the mall and the ones right below them were only an arms-length distance away from snatching the guy climbing, who was last in the group. The others had already begun to crowd the entrance, slamming their fists against the double doors. The doors wouldn't hold for long, so the three inside would eventually have to face either the horde outside or the one inside.

Axel had finally reached the window entrance, whose glass he had kicked in ages ago. Inside was a large room filled with dusty storage on one side that was connected to a hallway. The hallway had access to a bathroom, while the end of it was completely blocked off with heavy, cardboard boxes and wooden planks. Axel had just entered when he started to turn to take another look at the survivors chasing after him.

Right as he turned, a body flung itself inside the room, knocking him down. When he groggily opened his eyes, he was left dumbstruck. Long, dark brown hair covered the head laying on his chest. When the person lifted her head, Axel was left staring at the most beautiful, hazel eyes he had ever seen before.