It was a Bone chilling night as he ran down the hill. The man was middle aged and too heavy for running silently. He quickly looked behind to make sure he wasn't being followed, then sprinted into the woods. The man seemed to crack every branch. Trying to be quieter the man moved slower watching his steps but never stopped. Suddenly he was sprinting dodging trees, not worrying about whether or not he was making noise, jumping over fallen logs running deeper and deeper into the maze of trees. The deeper into the woods he was the harder it was to see the trees around him. The man slowed to an uncomfortably slow jog in order to navigate between the trees. After another mile of slowly jogging through the trees, the man stopped to catch his breath. Surely he was a long way from... About three feet to his left a branch exploded. The man scrambled to his feet only to be pulled back down by an incredible force. The man looked into its eyes and saw pure death. Yelling as loud as he could he brought his boot down on the creature's head with all his might. He heard a sickening crunch but the creature didn't stop and then lunged at the man's neck. Not accepting his death, the man raised his knees and when the creature lunged he rolled with it and ended up on top of it. He then stood and brought his foot down on the creatures head with all his might on the creatures head. This time he heard a piping noise and the skull collapsed and crushed the brain. The creature didn't move again. The man, now exhausted, collapsed to the ground panting. That's when the second grabbed him. The creature came from behind and wrapped its arms around the man's neck. With all his might the man tried to break its grip but failed. He tensed accepting defeat and the creature drove it's teeth into the man's neck tearing a chunk of flesh with him. The man began to black out but before he did, he thought he heard a gunshot. People say that before you are about to die your life flashes before your eyes. He saw a woman about his age on a beach lying on a towel. Two young children and a teen ran across the beach to meet the couple. They were laughing, he was laughing, he could have died then. But he didn't. He had another memory. This time the woman was crying holding one of the young children as he lay dead in her arms. She was pushing him and the teen out of a bathroom window as the other child came limping into the room. The child came at the mother and bit her leg. She screamed and pushed the window shut and closed the curtains. The teen, a boy about fifteen, was yelling at him but he couldn't hear. Then he went dark. "Are you sure?" A voice bellowed in his head. It was the boys." Yes", said his own voice, "I'll be back I promise" promise..... He awoke to find himself stiff and tied to a tree. The man coughed blood on his flannel shirt when a girl, about the boys age, stepped in front of him. She held a gun. She pointed it at his head then whispered "now or after"? The man had to dig deep within himself to answer her. His throat was swollen and his joints burned. His heart began beating slower, and slower, and slow... The man coughed again bringing himself out of the trance. It was the hardest thing he could do to mutter "camp.....my son......help him" the girl nodded then the man looked into her crystal blue eyes which reminded him of the woman, closed his eyes and whispered " now" he pictured the beach... The woman...Cindy, he thought, I'm coming... The man dropped to the ground and the girl removed the bullet from the mans head and moved on. She sobbed not because she knew him but because it was another gone. She remembered a newspaper article that showed the number of remaining humans in America ten thousand nine hundred thirty three.. She put her gun back in its belt and turned away beginning to walk back the way the man had come. There were moans and growls but she just kept going then she removed her katana from her backpack and started to run. Ten thousand nine hundred and thirty two. Three creatures emerged from the trees and lumbered toward her. She laughed. Was she insane? Yes. After losing the earth to the undead alot of people change. People need to survive. Olivia jumped into the air and four more zombies joined the group awaiting the girl to come down. Blood would be drawn and Olivia smiled knowing it would not be hers. Seconds before reaching the extended hands of the dead Olivia rolled and landed on ones head. She flipped with her blade de-heading the zombie. She smiled watching the body fall andante other emotionless beings lumber toward her. It was life, a game, survival. Whichever way. She was good. Zombies burst through the surrounding tree as the first rays of sunlight illuminated the woods. Hundred poured into the tiny opening toward Olivia. Her smile never flickered. It was unfair she thought... For the zombies. The she lunged. The game began.....

The smell of popcorn and the sound of laughter burst through the air as Olivia walked down the path toward the tents. Her mother was to her left and her father, who was holding her little brother Thomas and her new baby brother, was on her right. The family had been invited to a fair down by her school and she was enjoying the time with her family and friends. They spent hours playing games, eating food, and enjoying each others company. When they arrived home, she went straight to bed in the clothes she was wearing. It had been an awesome day. She didn't know it but that would be the last fair she would ever go to. And her last night with her family. But she didn't know and she slept peacefully. Until she heard the scream. It had ripped her from a very pleasant dream about the fair and left her starring blankly at the ceiling as she recovered from grogginess. The scream came again, louder and closer, as Olivia's mother burst through the door to her bedroom yelling at her to move. It was like a dream or a nightmare as Olivia began to run toward her mom who then grabbed her and dragged her down the stairs, and into the backyard. Olivia was floating was sure of it, she was asleep, it was a nightmare. Just a nightmare. Olivia's mother grabbed her and pushed her into a canoe they had. The next few seconds seemed to take lifetimes. She kissed her daughters cheek pushed her into the lake they had in their backyard. Then she turned around went into the kitchen and took the nastiest looking blade and sat down on the floor. She then went upstairs, opened her bedroom door and advanced toward her husband, who was tied to the bed. He snarled at her as she came toward him. The voice of death danced in his eyes. He was gone. She knew looking down at the bite on her leg that she was to. Moving closer to the thing that was once her husband, Olivia's mom brought the blade over her head and positioned it to the brainstem of the creature on the bed. She bent over and kissed the dead man on the forehead. He snapped but was restrained. She closed her eyes, envisioned her wedding night and brought the blade down. It was quick and the man slumped under his own weight. Without flinching, the woman opened her eyes and walked over to the window to watch her daughter float away on that boat. I love you was the last words she said before she positioned her knife to the back of her head and jumped out the window. It was a long drop...

Olivia awoke to find herself in her canoe in the middle of the lake in their backyard. Olivia vaguely remembered her mother screaming and pushing her into the canoe, but that had been a dream. She hoped it was a dream. After a few moments, she was fully awake and found the paddle to the canoe by her feet. She began to paddle back toward her house when she saw a figure standing by the backdoor of the house. When she was close enough to see who the figure was, she detect it as the wife of their neighbor, but she was more old and gray looking. Olivia reached land and began walking toward the lady. That's when she saw her mothers body. She gasped and fell to the floor sobbing. And thats when it turned toward her. The lady released a loud moan that broke Olivia out of her trance. Olivia, who now was looking into the lady's eyes, knew what she was. Olivia jumped to her feet and grabbed the boat paddle. The lady began stumbling toward Olivia, moaning loudly with hunger. Olivia had watched enough movies to know that if she didn't defend herself she would die. She was average size and weight, but had a strong swing from playing softball. Olivia went into survival mode as the zombie came within five feet of her, she wasn't going to die. The zombie was now about a foot from her as it reached to grab her. Olivia took a step back and swung the paddle as hard as she could at the zombies head. It was a nice hit and sent vibrations into her as it bounced of its head. The zombie stumbled back a couple of feet but immediately resumed coming after Olivia. Was it fear or instinct that made Olivia drop the paddle. Now weaponless, Olivia backed away from the approaching zombie and eventually tripped over the canoe. She knew that the paddle wouldn't kill it. But it was dead. Undead. Unable to be stopped. Doubt surged through her mind but she quickly banished it. Doubt would get her killed. And she wasn't gonna die. Adrenaline took over as the zombie grabbed the front of her shirt. Olivia rolled her body to the left ripping the front of the shirt and freeing her from the grasp. Now behind the zombie, Olivia it's back with all her strength, knocking the zombie into the canoe which Olivia then pushed into the water. But the zombie grabbed a bush and began towing itself back toward land. Olivia darted away while the zombie was getting back on land. She ran over to her mothers body and removed the blade from her scalp, bringing a sob out of her, then turned to the zombie who was almost on land. She took the zombie trying to get back on land as a head start and ran at it. As the zombie reached land and got out of the canoe, Olivia was there prepared to strike. The zombie roared and reached for Olivia who ducked Under the hand a shoulder checked the creature, making it stumble back. Then Olivia rushed forward throwing her weight into the zombies mid section and flipping it over. Letting out a sound like an animal, Olivia stomped on the zombies spinal cord which left the zombie immobile. Olivia had won but she couldn't stop. Using the blade as a saw, she cut the zombies arms off and threw them away. She then flipped the zombie over and stared straight into its eyes. Olivia didn't see the eyes of the undead, but the eyes of a woman smiling greeting her with a friendly smile. She staggered back, coming out of her animal state and realized that she was tearing her neighbor limb from limb. She threw up then walked back to the lady lying in agony. Olivia cut her head off and threw it the lake. She threw up again and started crying. The realization of her mother's death was now hitting her hard. She rose wiping tears from her eyes. Crying wouldn't help, her mother would have wanted her to fight, to survive. Olivia walked into the house past her dead family and into her room where she changed, she then began searching the house for weapons. She had a bat and a couple of steak knives. Tired from the day Olivia went into the kitchen and ate a bowl of cereal. Then went back to her room and went to sleep. Before going unconscious Olivia saw her mother she stood before her and with a clear voice told her to leave tomorrow, find people she could trust and survive. Survive. She looked back to the face of the zombie she had killed. The lady she had killed. And smiled. Somewhere within her enjoyed the rush and waited for the next encounter, because the rest of olivia's life would be killing zombies. Until a zombie killed her. Until.

It had been months since she had seen traces of human life and she was debating if it was a bad thing. Her last encounter wasn't pleasant. After walking up the day after her first zombie encounter, Olivia took another shower because she knew it would be a while until she would get another one. She then stocked a backpack full of clothes and food. She had decided to go light on weapons bringing only two knives and a softball bat. Olivia starred at the front door for a while before leaving. She knew the world outside would be terrible and filled with death. She began to sob but stopped herself. Crying wouldn't help. She exited the house and never turned back. The streets were filled with scattered cars. Some overturned, some left behind. Olivia had to climb over the cars carefully, looking for zombies that might be between cars. After about a mile of overturned trucks, she stumbled upon a gate made from the cars. Smart. As she approached she began to notice the makeshift fence surrounding the area around the fence. She guessed it extended about two miles in both directions. "freeze" the hoarse voice of a man called. Olivia looked up to see a fat man sitting on a lawn chair above the gate holding a riffle. She stood and looked at the man. He was young, probably about thirty, wore a tattered tee shirt and jeans. He wobbled as he got down from his perch and approached Olivia. She relaxed he was trustworthy she thought, another human to help her survive. She was wrong. The man was a few inches from her face when he punched her. He was stronger then he looked and she felt blood gushing from her nose. She tried to stand but the man stepped on her stomach knocking the thought out of her. He then took the back pack of her back and the bat from between her fingers. When she thought he was done she turned to see the man unlacing her shoes. Furious Olivia moved her leg back and kicked at the man's face. He grabbed her foot and took the shoe of then swung it aside climb onto of her and laughed. A million things ran through her mind when she noticed her had removed her other shoe. He then tried to remove her jacket when she had enough. She waited for him to shift his weight to reach for the jacket arm, when she freed her arm a removed the blade hidden in her jacket lining and stabbed the man in his arm. Clearly unexacting an attack the man fell off of her and stood. Olivia readied herself for an attack when she was grabbed from behind. When she awoke again she was bleeding from her head, not heavy but not light. She was in her undershirt and jeans. They took her jacket, sweatshirt, shoes and left her to die. She shifted to her side and found a note. "thanks for the stuff xoxo". Olivia crumpled the note. Her body ached and she couldn't stand. Then she noticed the zombie coming toward her. But instead of getting ready to fight Olivia pictured the fair and closed her eyes. She had no fight left. "you okay?" instead of a pair of zombie eyes, the hazel eyes of a boy about her age stared at her with good intentions in his eyes. Olivia smiled then passed out. When she awoke again she was in a bed, and when she turned to her left the boy was asleep in a chair next to the bed. He had been watching her, she smiled and went back to sleep. The next day the boy died from a bite he had when he rescued her and she killed him. Humans meant attachment and attachment meant loss. And Olivia was done with loss. So she left that house and went into the woods. Weaponless and with no shoes. She was dead. But was surviving. She was a zombie. But had a beating heart. Barely...

In months she had gone from a helpless girl, scared without any weapons or shoes, to a warrior who was more animal than human. Her home was a small two bedroom house removed from the rest of society by a forest. It was almost undetectable from all sides and was marked as hers by rows of zombie that surrounded the perimeter of the house. Olivia had made a name for herself in the new world. She was known as the Florida devil. Before the apocalypse people gossiped about people that they didn't really know. Zombies hadn't changed that. Nobody knew who started the name, because more than one person claimed to have done it, but almost everyone along the east coast knew the tale of Olivia. Although the tale was extremely exaggerated it had truth to it. The day after leaving the boys house Olivia was changed. She was empty from loss and didn't have ambition. She decided that since she was dead inside to make her life useful by bringing justice. By killing the people who stole her stuff. It was early morning when she sneaked to the side of the gate. The man who was guarding the gate was asleep holding a gun across his chest. Olivia climbed the cars and walked across the tops to the man sleeping. The gate was obviously not made to keep humans out. Olivia walked over to the sleeping man and stared at his face. He seemed so innocent sleeping. She almost felt sorry for him, living in this zombie infested world. But he had tried to kill her or worse. And he took her stuff and left her to die. Her sympathy was gone. Olivia went behind the chair and pushed it off the perch it was on. The drop was bigger then she had thought and before the man awoke to realized what was happening, he was on the ground below with both legs broken crying in agony. Olivia climbed down and stood over the man. Then she spit in his face and stomped on his hand holding the riffle then took it from his hands and smiled. Payback was sweat. But she wasn't finished she went to the gate and opened the door that separated the settlement inside from the outside and shot her gun straight in the air. With no guard the zombies would find it easy to go right in. She left before finding out what was going to happen. When she returned a week later she found the community abandoned with tons of zombies roaming the area. She had killed them all and it made her happy. Olivia was a legend and everybody loved her. She just didn't know. It was a very cold night, bone chilling, when she heard screams coming from the distance. She went toward the sound to find a man running from zombies. Why was he being so loud she thought. She didn't help but just followed him until he got bit. Then Olivia realized that it was wrong to leave him for zombie food and shot the zombie. She then silenced the man after being told about his son. She sobbed not for him, but because that was one more gone. She had read a news paper article about the remaining population and thoughts rolled through her head as she walked the way the man had come. She was going to save the boy. For the man. Suddenly zombies burst out of the trees and Olivia removed the katana which she stole from an abandoned karate dojo, from a backpack which she doing in the house she inhabited. She ran and smiled as she reached a small clearing. Zombies burst through the surrounding tree as the first rays of sunlight illuminated the woods. Hundred poured into the tiny opening toward Olivia. Her smile never flickered. It was unfair she thought... For the zombies. Then she lunged. The game began.....