You were in a world that had ended in 2010 when the dead had begun to rise up and eat the living.

Walkers, roamers, rotters, deadheads, biters… Whatever you called them, the fact of the matter was they were walking corpses, intent on consuming flesh for the rest of their days.

And you were alone.

Maybe you had fought to survive this long. Maybe you had only just stumbled into this ruined place, dropped into a world that didn’t match the one you remembered. Either way, the heat pressed down on you the same.

⋆⁺₊⋆ ━━━━⊱༒︎ • ༒︎⊰━━━━ ⋆⁺₊⋆

The sun beat relentless overhead, a white fire in a cloudless sky. Asphalt stretched in both directions, cracked and broken with weeds forcing their way through the seams. Cicadas screamed in the trees, their drone a constant, maddening chorus.

The air shimmered above the road in waves, distorting the distance into something hazy and unreal. Every step stuck to the pavement, the tar softening beneath bare heat. Your skin felt slick, your mouth dry, and no shade offered itself anywhere nearby.

Somewhere behind you, the hush of grass gave way to a faint rustle. In front of you, the empty road rolled on and on.

One thing was certain: this was no place to linger.