Keeper’s hair brushed against the side of her face, short, lightened, golden-brown locks that trickled down, almost to her shoulders but not quite. The wind was calm, placid, gentle, caressed her skin as she stared into the distance, wondering about all that lay beyond her. Glistening, the sand reflected the beaming sun. She loved it here. 

She stared, her eyes glued to the horizon, then she found her eyes focused on the ship. The ship was tall, magnificent, old, it moved towards her at a slow pace, waves lapping at its sides as it came closer and closer. She did not have to light the signal, luckily for her it was daytime, and this meant that she could relax, ponder, stare as much as she wished. In her mind, she could already start painting this singular image. The white cruise ship would gently move across the ocean, delivering passengers to their new destination. A map of places, a path that led to anywhere they seeked. 

She was a lighthouse keeper, a girl surrounded by many duties; those that could fill her entire day, those that were less important. These tasks fueled her inspiration, much like the ships would as they came into the bay. She loved to paint pictures in her mind, images that she often found herself reminiscing about. 

The ship had now almost made it to shore. It kept moving, creeping quickly towards her with no intent of stopping. It ploughed through the ocean, making no notice of anything that stood in its path. She thought it was odd, peculiar that it was not doing what it should be, shouldn’t it at least move diagonally so as to not hit the shallow water? She had many questions. Why did it not stop? Her stomach tightened, she ran, ran towards the light, she thought to herself, perhaps the captain was dozing off, maybe the light could wake him. 

Her lighthouse was old, it was not automated as the newer ones were, she thought of it as a minority, an antique. She loved it, maybe more than her village did, it was her safe place, where she felt most at home.. She was almost there, she saw the top, swiftly flew up stairs, lit the light. The beam was brighter than the sun, she pointed it in the direction of the ship, surely he would see it? No reaction… What? 

Keeper started to worry even more, her stomach gripping itself as she imagined what would happen if the ship ceased to stop. It was dangerously close, so close that she could now make out the figures of people, people who started to jump off the ship? huh… why? They fell, masses of people did, it was chaos, a sea filled with bodies. Curiously, she grabbed her binoculars, peering through the lenses, studying the ship. Her eyes flew open widely, she gasped as she saw that people were attacking each other, noticed growths sprouting from their bodies, some vastly different from the rest, a scattered array of bulbs. . the ship was soon to hit, the edge of the island was just there and so was the ship. 

Instinct took over, and she ran, her legs falling in and out of time with each other as she grabbed her backpack, filling it with supplies; a clean set of clothes, food, water, that was all she needed. Rapidly searching outside of the lighthouse, she looked through boxes, looked around for a weapon of some sort, got it! she pulled it out, a knife, a blade made of cold iron, big, shimmering, hopeful. How else would she make it out of here alive? 

Right as she was about to flee, she heard a sound; metal tearing into rocks. It was so loud and clear, that it had disrupted the peace of the environment around her. With the crash came screams, moans and cries for help. Her panic only grew worse with every noise that came from the now crashed ship.Her heart pounded, her breathing becoming heavy and labored. She knew, knew she needed to run. 

Without looking back, she fled, sprinting to the other side of the island where she knew there was a little boat. The land that she was now at was little, surrounded by water. Despite being small, she knew it would put some distance between the lighthouse and crash site.. Quickly, she reached the boat, exhaled deeply as her little rowboat looked so promising. Swiftly, she grabbed a hold of her backpack, throwing it into the boat and started to row. Her arms moving quickly until she was far enough off of the coast 

She needed help. It was at that moment that she realised that it was not only her who was running. Looking behind her, her eyes flooded with distraught as a girl, maybe around the age of 17, trembled as she attempted to stop the boat. Cried out to stop keeper. The girl screamed, helplessly bellowing out to Keeper as she frantically ran from a couple of infected who chased her. Keeper wasn’t sure if she wanted to actually wait, for all she knew that this could put her in danger.