Champ

Champ breathed hard as she forced her legs to pump despite the pain. The men were slow, but not so far behind. Ahead were the taller buildings of the ruins, which were only getting closer.

Jafe called out to her again, “Hey Champ, we only want to talk!”

She didn’t pause, but the repeated cry of peace gave her hope, clearly Jafe was concerned she would escape as the ground became flatter and the trees thinner.

A minute later she passed the first of the old ruins, which most people would never approach. She glanced behind her but couldn’t see her pursuers, who had either given up or were biding their time, waiting for her to emerge from the ruins.

Champ considered entering one of the burnt buildings, but kept penetrating deeper into the old gigantic village. She slowed to a walk as she passed by the towers that seemed like black fingers that once tried to reach for the stars, but had become broken and burnt from the angry sun when they got too high.

Champ didn’t take a straight path but took a twisting path in case the men were still following her. However, it appeared she was by herself.

Deep in the ruins, Champ turned a corner and froze, seeing something she had rarely seen, and never so close – a zombie ship! It was shiny like her knife, standing on three stout legs in an open meadow. A door to it was open.

She crouched and quickly slipped behind a nearby bush to examine the large shining building, which she knew could fly. She breathed hard, trying to capture all the details in her mind.

Suddenly a zombie appeared in the ship’s opening. The female creature had long yellow hair like hers, but dressed oddly. The zombie pointed a strange looking stick directly at her. The stick made a little popping noise and a moment later there was a sting in her arm. Champ quickly looked down to see that a large red bug had attacked her. She slapped the strange bug from her arm, which had had a painful bite.

She looked at the bug lying on the ground – it was no bug. As Champ looked, she felt dizzy, the world spun once again and she collapsed.