Originally part of Samuel Peralta's 'Z Chronicles' anthology, the story follows Elie and Little Shrew, two disenfranchised American teenagers fleeing the apocalypse.
Clocking in at 6,000 words, 'Girl, Running' is available now for just 99p, or if you are part of the Kindle Unlimited programme, you can borrow it for free.
Excerpt
Little
Shrew is still calculating in her mind – speed versus distance
versus pain in joints – when Elie says, 'Okay, in five seconds,
we're going to run for the Harbour building.'
'Elie,
no. I'm in a lot of pain.'
'Sweetie,
we can't wait, you know that, right? The soldiers aren't going to
shoot because the sound will bring even more of
these...people...over. There's not enough of them there to hold the
place as it is. If the fence comes down, the military are going to
close the doors and sail away.'
Little
Shrew is incensed by Elie's steely calm observations. She's not sure
whether the pain she is in is stopping her from thinking straight, or
her inability to think is somehow contributing to the pain.
Elie
slaps her on the back and practically pulls a salute. 'Time to
shine, Little Shrew. This is where that time on the track is going
to pay off.'
'Two
more minutes,' Little Shrew pleads.
Elie
vaults the wall in a single movement, graceful as a cat. One of the
shamblers nearby is more alert than the others, and takes a
three-iron to the temple for its trouble.
