The streets are dark now, the last hints of twilight all but faded away by night. Shamblers line the streets. Two gunshots go off in the distance as screams follow. What I call night terrors. Deadly, almost vampiric zombies that run and climb as fast as most runners. If it wasn’t for Sam and Dirk, I’d be screwed taking a civilian with me. I have to thank them later. “Are you ready Ash?” 

She nods. Time to run. It’s not long before I can hear chasers begin to follow us, but the night terrors shouldn’t join the chase, they’d be distracted by Sam and Dirk, who I knew to be some of the fastest runners around. I don’t know many of them personally, we’re all pretty much loners, but rumors spread fast in the walled city. 

Despite running with a kid, she was pretty fast, even in a shitty knee length dress. Maybe I could teach her how to be a runner? Keep her safe in case her sister tries to pull something, give her a method of income once she gets older? Running for the city was dangerous but it was a well paid service when the guardpost isn’t running low on funds. I’ll ask her about it when she’s not out of breath and we aren’t running for our lives.

The lights of the city weren’t too far off now. Just a little more and-

“SKRAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIII”

No. NO. A figure with an almost bloody looking saliva and a body that looked as if it scrapped every shade of humanity for it for pure speed and power. A night terror. “Ashley, we need to sprint, NOW!” 

I kick up to my highest speed, ignoring the protestations coming from Ashley’s body attached to me by the hand. Barely, just barely, she could match my pace. The figure jumped at us from the side, but we barely managed to dodge at this speed. By the sound of things, it recovered quickly and joined the chase. 

My surroundings began to blur around me as the cold wind threatened to tear me to pieces. Even the feeling of Ashley’s hand in mine began to fade into the back of my senses, as all that was left was the feeling of my feet slamming against the pavement underneath me, dodging in between what felt like countless shamblers and only barely avoiding the lunges of the terror that followed us close behind.

In both an instant and an eternity, we made it to the city gates, spotlights at the entrance. No point in using the flare gun, since they were already expecting us and on the watch. Gunshots echoed from the wall above us as bullets tore through the chasers running after us and only slowing the deadly fury of the night terror still right behind us. 

The gate began to open. Freedom. I dive through it while it’s still only half open and hold Ashley close in the air.

“CLOSE IT, CLOSE IT NOW!!” A familiar voice yells as soon as I slam against the ground and let Ashley go. She falls to the ground beside me on her back and we gasp for any air we could get.

 The metal gate gained a few dents from the terror trying to break through, but humanity’s creation won out against the night. We made it. One final scream from the terror marked the end of the chase.

Still on the ground I turn my head to Marcus. “Did Sam and Dirk make it back?”

“Sam is fine but… Dirk is gone.”

“Dammit. If only I’d made it to the house sooner we wouldn’t have had-”

“Stop that Chase. It’s not your fault. You saved a kid today. That’s all that matters. Ok?”

“Ok.”

Speaking of…

“Ashley, how are you feeling?” She raised a finger to me, still catching her breath. I’ll give her a minute. “Marcus, where’s her sister?”

“She was here a moment ago, but some guards brought her into the post once we heard the… what do you call them again?”

“There’s no set names for any of the zombie types yet among the runners, but I call them night terrors.”

“The night terror.”

“Can you go get her? I need to have a talk to her about Ashley.”

He nodded and went into the guardpost, and a moment later walked out with Lila, her face sullen and full of what I imagined was guilt. 

It was Ashley who spoke first, now sitting up, her legs still seemingly too weak to stand. “Lila. From now on you need to listen to me. I am your sister, not your brother, and I will not put up with any bullshit from you anymore. We’re supposed to be a family, damnit, and I still want to be a family, but if you don’t, then I’ll find some way to get by on my own.”

Lila’s face looked shocked for a moment seeing the venom coming from her sister’s mouth, but soon her face filled with a similar anger. “You don’t get to talk to me like that, I am your old sister Na-”

“Her name is Ashley.” I say, standing up. “I imagine she already told you that, but you wouldn’t listen, would you? Because you’re still so concerned with your ideas of how a family is ‘supposed’ to be. Or how she’s supposed to be your ‘brother’ and not your sister. But that’s not how the world really works. That’s not how people work, Lila. If you can’t accept that then you shouldn’t be trusted as Ashley’s guardian. Do you understand?” 

“Who the hell are you anyway, ‘Chase?’ What’s your real name, since you so obviously share the same mental illness as my brother.” 

Marcus stepped up and grabbed her arm with an iron strength. “Ms. Lila, I’m going to need you to stop antagonizing the man that saved your sister’s life and instead listen to them both. It doesn’t matter whether he was born as a ‘man’ or as a ‘woman.’ Same for your sister. They’re people, and what they know about their own identities counts way more than your assumptions. So shut up before you lose not just a brother, but your sister too. Understood?”

She was only silent at that. I spoke up again. “I don’t trust you with your sister Lila, and someone already died tonight because of this bullshit that wouldn’t have happened in the first place if you had just accepted Ashley in the first place. She’s going to stay with me for a while until you prove you can protect her or until she proves she can live on her own.” I turn to Ashley. “Does that work for you Ash? Stay with me for a while?”

“Yes Chase, thank you.” She said with a smile and tears in her eyes. I kneel down and bring her in for a hug, and she almost tackles me on the ground.

“Careful there sis, you’re going to break my ribs!”

“Shut up,” She says with a giggle in between sobs. 

Soon after Marcus made sure Lila wouldn’t cause any more problems, I took Ashley to my small apartment building that housed a few guards and runners. Sadly we all missed bar night because of the night’s earlier events, but as Marcus said, we saved a kid’s life that night. That counts for something. Ashley expressed interest in learning how to be a runner after I offered it to her, but I made her promise to rest a couple days after working her body that hard before starting training. 

I’m still not sure if Lila and Ashley will ever patch things up, you never do know with bigots, but I still hope they will. After losing my own family, I don’t think I could bear seeing another one torn apart just because of stupid bigotry. Especially in a time where humanity needs to be closer than ever. Because it’s not the end of the world just yet. 

We still have to chase the future together.

Authors note:

I hope you enjoyed Chase! If this receives enough love I might make a sequel series later on with Ashley as the main character :)