"Zombie City: The Final Mile"

"Zombie City: The Final Mile"

Eldridge had once been a thriving metropolis, teeming with activity. Cars raced along the highways, towering skyscrapers lined the streets, and laughter resounded in the parks. That was before to the pandemic, though. It was now a cemetery of broken glass, wrecked cars, and rotting bodies. The streets were eerily quiet, save for the occasional groan from the undead, and the air smelled like rot.

Lena never thought she would witness such a day. As a clerk at a nearby store, she had been just another face in the crowd, going about her existence in a city that seemed to go on forever. But then the world shifted on a terrible day. Rumors of weird happenings, violent attacks, and missing persons began to circulate in the news. However, until the first outbreak occurred, no one took it seriously.

It had been assumed to be another flu. They had believed it to be a one-off occurrence that would pass quickly. However, it spread more quickly than anyone had anticipated. In a matter of days, Eldridge saw the first instances of reanimated bodies, or zombies. The military also attempted to contain the virus as it spread, but it was too late. Within a few weeks, the city crumbled.

Lena's footsteps reverberated off the crumbling pavement as she strolled through the empty streets. She was among the few people who survived. She believed she was, anyway. The illness was indiscriminate, making everybody it came into contact with one of them regardless of age, gender, or social standing.

Lena had a rusted crowbar in her hand, her only weapon of protection, as she navigated the remains of the neighborhood that had once been hers. There was a quiet in the city, a quiet that was both reassuring and unsettling. She scrounged for food and drink in the darkness, having learnt to stay away from the zombie hordes. Now, though, she was more afraid of the other survivors than the zombies.

After the catastrophe, it appeared that humanity had turned against itself. They would divided into groups, some of them barely clinging to humanity. However, some have started to terrorize the survivors, such as the ruthless group known as the Red Dawn. They took what little was left and killed for fun, leaving no one alive.

It was something Lena had discovered the hard way. One of the first groups to be infected was her family. Even though she had escaped, her heart was broken. She had roamed the city alone, constantly alert for danger, both zombie and alive.

But today felt different. She had heard stories of a safe haven, a location unaffected by the plague, from another survivor. Lena had no other option, but it sounded too good to be true. She needed to locate it. She could not stand the idea of living in this nightmare any longer, and she could not live in this metropolis any longer.

Lena kept her focus on the objective and proceeded cautiously through the dilapidated city, navigating the crumbling streets. She went by the ruins of a once-famous café that was now covered by trash and weeds. She had to resist the impulse to gag because of the lingering stench of decay.

Abruptly, she heard a deep snarl. Lena's heart pounded as she froze. That sound was familiar to her. Nearby were the undead.

She held her breath as a bunch of zombies moved past, pressing herself against a nearby wall. They moved slowly and erratically, their eyes empty. Unaware of her presence, Lena waited and watched until the monsters limped away. Her pulse thumping in her ears, she let out a breath when the coast was clear.

"Keep it together," she told herself in a whisper.

With a renewed sense of urgency, motivated by the prospect of salvation, she proceeded on her trip. She followed the improvised map the survivor had made for her, hoping without hope that it was accurate, since she knew the city like the back of her hand.

After several hours, Lena's feet ached. She felt exhausted, more exhausted than ever. She could not stop now, though. Not with her so near.

Lena reached the coordinates she had been told as the sun started to drop, illuminating the destroyed city with long shadows. Her throat tightened each breath. A huge, fortified structure could be seen in the distance. With the lights still flickering in the windows, it appeared undisturbed.

A haven.

She staggered forward, not believing it was real, tears in her eyes. She had succeeded. At last, she was free.

However, the earth shook beneath her feet as she approached the gates. Her heart sank into her stomach as she whirled around. The faint sound of her footsteps was drawing the attention of a huge swarm of zombies who were advancing from all directions. They were on their way.

The first zombie surged at her, and the sanctuary's gates crashed shut. Lena was certain at that moment that she had exchanged one type of torture for another. There would be no haven or way out. Now this was the world. And the globe was perpetually hungry.

The flickering beacon of hope, now permanently extinguished, was the last thing Lena saw before the zombies seized her.

-I hope the spooky story was enjoyable! If you require any changes or another story, please let me know. Thank You.-