"It's too late for me" she shouted above the noise of the rotating helicopter blades, clenching her jaw as she fought back tears. Immediately his eyes darted to the blood that seeped through her shirt. "It wasn't a falling board with a nail in it. Was it?" He asked. His only reply was a sardonic smirk. He swore, the sound lost in the thudding of the copter blades. Checking behind him he saw the few others that were still...Normal. Their faces dirty and scared. He couldn't blame them. Hell, they were all scared. The dead were walking, eating the living and in turn the living became the dead to search for their kin. A vicious circle that scared the crap out of him. "We can't stay here, the noise will attract them!" The pilot shouted. "Come with us. There has to be a cure" he said, hoping his voice didn't sound as hopeless to her as it had to himself. A single shake of the head. "It's too late for me". A firm embrace, and then he was pushed back into the copter. Before he could begin to protest the copter was off the ground, steadily climbing into the sky. He leaned over the edge and watched as the ground, and his friend, drifted away. Slowly she made her way back to the house that they had cleared out. Hopefully it was still clear. The pain in her shoulder was growing sharper while the pain in the rest of her body began to slowly fade. The hunger that had been gnawing at her stomach was also going away. She ascended the steps then turned around, looking into the dusk sky in all of it's brilliance. She wouldn't live to see the sunrise. Tears silently went down her cheeks. She buried her axe into one of the porch's support beams and pressed her back against the door. Slowly she slid down, not heeding the needle-prick pain of splinters going through her shirt into her skin. By now her hunger was gone completely. The only pain she felt was from her shoulder. The sun had set and the breeze had an unnatural chill to it. In the distance she heard a groan. She looked at the rising new moon one final time before allowing her mortal eyes to close. A final, long sigh. Just as she died, the sky of the horizon suddenly bloomed in a spectacular blossom of fire. A few hours latter several survivors who had fled to the mountains came across the site of the explosion. There was a helicopter blade drove through the trunk of a large tree. ------- Part one of two. Thanks for viewing.