Lampshades on Fire

Lillian sprinted into the house, closing the door behind her- trying to be quiet, but trying to move quickly. A quick look around the home told her it'd been quickly deserted, perhaps not even that long ago. Ripped papers and abandoned personal belongings littered the floor. She could see scratches and dents in the walls and doors. It wasn't safe here. Then again, no place was truly safe anymore. Not after the outbreak. As much as she may have wanted to, she knew she couldn't stay here, but she wasn't necessarily planning on it anyway. This was just a quick supply run. Just some food, gas, and ammo, then she'd be out of here, back on the road.

She figured she'd look for the kitchen first, so she carefully opened a door. Ahead was what she thought was a living room before this house was abandoned. It'd been looted pretty considerably already, but it looked like there were some cabinets and drawers that hadn't yet been gotten into. More worryingly, there were a couple of zombies in here...but it didn't look like they'd noticed her. Not yet. At this time of the day, they were pretty sluggish. Across the room was another door, one that she hoped would lead to a room that was more useful than this one. Cautiously, she stepped in, leaving the door open behind her- the less noise, the better, and it was good to have an escape route- and started tiptoeing around the room's perimeter, hoping to stay out of their peripheral. They didn't have good vision; it was loud noise that she really had to be worried about. But she figured it would be better to avoid being seen as best as she could anyway.

She kept her eyes intently on the pair of zombies as she moved. Perhaps a little too intently. A moment of not watching her step and her foot slipped into a hole in the floor, where a ripped-away floorboard once was. It was just a brief stumble; she tripped onto her hands. But just that alone was enough to make her heart skip a beat. A sudden movement, a noise. She was sure they'd noticed her now. And sure enough, she looked up to see their pallid, eyeless faces turned in her direction. No hiding anymore. She scrambled to her feet and she ran.

The door was still open and it was morning. She had time. Rushing through the door, slamming it behind her, she expected to see a clear way out, but the door out lay in broken pieces on the floor, and the dead crowded around the doorway. No getting out that way. She looked, frantically, from side to side before deciding to open the other door, running into a- thankfully- empty room. She slammed the door and slid down to the floor, leaning against it, and taking the moment of reprieve- however brief- to survey the room. There was a window she could open, but sadly, little else. It looked like this house had been a waste of time. She jumped when she heard the zombie pair smash through the previous door, but since she was already in here, she figured they'd lose her. For now, at least, she was safe enough to catch her breath and pull herself together. Getting up to have a closer look around the room, she let her guard down for a moment.

What she hadn't noticed was that the door she'd just run through was already damaged...a zombie could crash through it with one well placed tackle, and one indeed did.

She turned at the sound of splintering wood to see one lunging in her direction. Only barely did she manage to jump aside and watch it slam its wretched hands into the wall. There was a sick crunching sound, but Lillian knew that a broken wrist was hardly an impediment for a creature of its resilience. Realizing dimly that it'd missed its prey, it groaned heavily and turned back towards her. In that moment she realized she was cornered, no running anymore; she had to defend herself by any means she could. She unholstered a pistol and lifted it with shaky hands, aiming for the head.

The gun clicked.

Out of ammo.

Shit.

She had no chance to reload, or even to look for ammo, for that matter. She was already on the floor, vulnerable. It lunged again and grabbed her by the neck, dragging her around and to the floor. Her heart raced. This is it. I'm going to die. She grabbed at the arm wrapped tightly around her neck. Maybe I'll even become one of them. Who can say I haven't already been infected? With her thoughts racing just as fast as her heart beat, she couldn't focus. The thing lifted a rotting hand, and, like a wild animal, swung and clawed into the side of her face, ripping horribly through her soft skin. She instinctively yelped in pain, but tried to grit her teeth and fight through the pain. She was in a horrible situation now, but screaming would only bring more zombies to her. Then she'd be dead for sure. She could barely take it; the waves of pain, the panic in her mind, the racing of her heart-

-suddenly, something rushed through her. A shiver went through her limbs. She refused to die like this. So she lifted her leg and kicked with everything she had. The zombie stumbled backward at the shock, but was barely deterred. Lillian stumbled to her feet and looked around the room for something to fight with. There was a floorboard on the ground. It was fragile, but it would have to do. She dove for it, and the zombie lunged but missed. And without skipping a beat, she turned and swung with all the force she could muster, hitting the zombie in the head. A disgusting crack echoed off the walls as the thing's cranium split open. It fell to the floor, but Lillian wasn't done. She kept going. She swung and swung and swung, beating down on it until it was little more than a pile of black blood and rotting flesh.

Finally the room went quiet, cold. She looked around. No more of them in the room. Another wave of pain radiated from her cheek and she grimaced, lifting a hand to her face. Her palm came away wet with blood.

I'm bleeding. A lot. I'm bleeding and I don't see any medical supplies.

I don't know what to do.

I'm gonna die.

I'm gonna die I'm gonna die I'mgonnadieimgonnadieimgonnadie-

The adrenaline rush that was keeping her standing wore off, and she fainted.

"...hey! Hey!...Come on, wake up...Please, you have to wake up."

Lillian slowly blinked her eyes open, her vision blurry, and she saw a tall, thin, red-haired figure standing over her. She was looking away for a moment, but looked back to see Lillian finally stirring.
"Oh, thank God...I was afraid you weren't gonna make it for a good while there. I was trying so hard to get you to wake up but I wasn't sure you'd..." Her voice trailed, and she looked down at nothing, as if stopping to think. "...Eh, you're awake. No use dwelling on that now. Come on, let's get you somewhere a little safer than this." The red-haired woman gingerly lifted her up and helped her to her feet, allowing her to rest against her shoulders as they walked. "Hey, careful not to touch your face by the way. Your cheek was completely fucking mangled. I tried to clean and bandage it best I could, but I ain't an expert. Just keep your hands off it so it doesn't get infected."

They arrived at a hastily-constructed campsite. The tent looked sturdy enough, but had clearly been put up in a hurry, and the fire was barely contained. The redhead sat down on a log, allowing Lillian to sit on another across the fire from her. She turned around and reached into a plastic bag, pulling out a can of ravioli and a pair of tarnished tongs and tossing them to her. "Here, eat this. Just hold it over the fire with the tongs for a bit to heat it up. Not for too long, though, you don't want it exploding." She chuckled. "Name's Scarlett, by the way. I was just passin' through the little town you were in, came across you passed out facedown and figured, shit, I can't just let this girl die. Checked your pulse and you were still alive, so I picked you up and hightailed it outta there." Lillian, afraid to open her mouth for fear of ripping her face open any more, simply nodded, before carefully placing the can in the tongs and leaning over the fire.

One mediocre but acceptable meal of canned pasta later, the two were resting in the tent. Scarlett had told Lillian a whole bunch about the adventure she'd been on, the people she'd met and some of the close scrapes she'd been in herself. Lillian, by comparison, hadn't said much other than telling Scarlett her name- opening her mouth hurt and she wanted to avoid that. But now, they mostly just wanted sleep. Scarlett was curled up in blankets while Lillian was laying on her back, just one blanket over her, but she was alright with that. Laying alone with her thoughts, she suddenly realized there was something else she needed to say, but hadn't yet. She reached over and gently shook Scarlett awake.

"...mmngh. Why am I awake." She rolled over and gave Lillian a glare. "This better be good, Lil."
"...Thank you."
"What?"
"Thank you. For saving me." She smiled as wide as she could without hurting herself. "I owe you."
"...You're welcome. Really. No jerk left behind." She laughed. "Now go to bed, dork. We need the sleep for tomorrow."

Lillian smiled and nodded, and the two both rolled over and slept until the sun came up again. Then it was back on the road. But they were both feeling better now- things were a little less hopeless with another person. A friend.