© Arrows

by KaleTheQueen

All rights reserved.                                                                       

                                                           | p r o l o g u e |

A man, or the remains of something that was once a man, stumbled down the lonely highway with an expression void of emotion. Thick clots of blood slid down his chin and throat. His lips had rotted away, revealing decaying, yellowed teeth with bits of flesh caught between. A sort of white pus oozed from the man's dead eyes. His wrinkled flesh creased with the groan he released. 

One wrist donned a watch, the other was missing. His plaid shirt was torn at the hem, his jeans at the knees. His right boot dragged along the ground as he pressed forward, those gruesome sets of teeth snapping against eachother. When a sudden sound came from somewhere further up the road, he paused. It seemed to listen for a moment. Then, like a dog, it's head tilted in the direction of the scent of it's prey. 

Eli raised his crossbow, finger on the trigger, and steadied his aim on the man's forehead. It's eyes locked on to his form standing nearly three feet above him on an overturned semi. All at once, he began to move again. The creature's once lazy pace turned frenzied, nearly catching his foot on the tire of a car and tripping. He regained his balance quickly,  hand slapping against the window and leaving a smear of blood and dirt across the glass. 

He was practically hurling himself forward now, but Eli only waited. A snort escaped his mouth when the man snagged his shirt on a scrap of metal near the passenger's door. Unable to move, the man snarled, his only hand thrusting in Eli's direction. Eli lowered his bow, shaking his head as he slid into a crouch and then lowered himself onto the road. 

He spared a last glance at the hungry little shit and then turned towards his beloved motorcycle, a sleek, black thing. He threw the bow over his back before slinging a long leg over the bike. He kicked the stand up just as he hit the gas, sending the bike soaring forward. 

Easily, he dodged through the mass of cars left abandoned along the highway just as the semi was pushed forward and a hoarde of the undead spilled onto the road.

Hundreds of them.