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A woman wakes up before she groans in pain from the lack of sleep. This woman is Rosa Gonzalez; she is 24 and has been struggling with her sleeping problems for the past six weeks since the pandemic started. Back when everything was fine, she was known as a famous street biker and a trafficker by selling guns for high prices. Now, she believes she is the only woman standing and hiding from the zombies lurking around the clock. 

Rosa walked to another bedroom where her little brother was playing with his legos and knocked: "Juan, vamos a explorar. Quieres venir?" In an instant, the mention of exploring caught the little boy's attention and he gets up to slip on his Captain America sneakers.

"Sí!" He cheerfully says bypassing her downstairs but stops when he asks, "Y podemos buscar más comics?" 

Chuckling at him, she ruffles his hair and nodded, "Claro, déjame terminar de bañarme y luego podemos irnos." As soon as Juan eagerly rushes downstairs to prepare sandwiches for the journey while Rosa goes to shower. Later, she dressed in her biker gear and paused to reflect, "Otro dia, pues." She let out a gentle sigh when she saw her white cat named Fiona purring at her feet.

Rosa smiled slightly as she fed her kitten. She then proceeded to her garage, where her little brother was shining a bit on the motorcycle, sandwiches already in their backpacks, and gear awaited. Equipped with guns, small knives, and a sniper rifle fastened behind her back, she was armed from head to toe.

Once she was ready, she handed him his Spiderman helmet to wear and they drove around the city. She does not want to find any survivors since she gave up on finding them a long time ago. Her routine is to wake up, get her little brother to make some sandwiches, and they both go together for more food supplies. 

Little did they know that their routine would change.

Somewhere in Brooklyn, New York...

Rosa had just parked her motorcycle in front of a store that she had found called the 'Old Mercado,' abandoned with nothing—no people except herself and her little brother. The 'Old Mercado' was a place Rosa had stumbled upon in her endless patrols through the now lonely streets of New York. It had a nostalgic charm, reminding her of the days before the world went to hell. 

As Rosa reminisces, she recalls the memories of her and her little brother Juanito visiting this spot to do homework, buy groceries, and even purchase Captain America and Spiderman merchandise for entertainment. This spot also marks the first time an American couple warmly welcomed her parents and helped them with anything they needed; Rosa also remembers the time she told the couple that she required medical attention since she's half-Mexican and half-American. 

Everyone did not want to attend to her, so she softly but sadly smiled at one memory where the American couple agreed to heal her wounds whenever she was in trouble. Rosa remembers these happy times until she was forced to do something that made her life crumble, but we will discuss that later; Cut short when she felt someone tugging her tracksuit and looked down to see Juan nervous. She never wanted to see him afraid, so she holds his hand and they both silently nod together to stay silent. 

Both of them sighed in sadness before cautiously stepping inside, Rosa's senses on high alert, as she always did in this unpredictable and dangerous new world while Juan nervously tried his best to act tough which was an adorable sight to see, in her opinion. 

The inside of the 'Old Mercado' was dimly lit, while the thought of th possibility of empty shelves, however, Rosa and Juan were surprised to see that almost all the food and frozen stuff was still whole and half-picked by scavengers and looters long ago. Rosa scanned the area, her fingers hovering over the handles of her weapons, ready to defend herself at a moment's notice.

As she moved further into the store, something caught her eye. It was a flicker of movement in the corner, a shadowy figure that seemed hunched over something. Rosa's instincts kicked in, motioned her little brother to close his eyes and his ears by placing him near a shelf, she approached slowly, keeping her breath steady and her footsteps silent. The quieter she is, the better the chance that Rosa continues to get closer until she realizes that the figure is a zombie:

It's tattered clothing barely hanging on, its skin pallid and decaying. It was gnawing on something, and Rosa's heart sank a little, but she never hesitated when she realized what it was - the remains of another survivor.

Rosa acted swiftly, raising her sniper gun, aiming accurately, and firing a shot that pierced the zombie's head, ending its existence. The creature fell to the ground, twitching briefly before going motionless. After taking deep breaths and surveying her surroundings, Rosa handled the immediate threat, she went back to her little brother and pulled him into a hug and he returned it with tears in his eyes since it pained her to see him like that. 

However, they didn't have time to exchange comforting words right now as the gunshot sound could cause more danger. "You know what to do, Juan." She continues, "Tenemos que traer la mayor cantidad de provisiones de comida lo más posible antes que los zombies vengan."

Doing as told, her little brother hurriedly scoured the store for valuable items and grabbed a few canned goods, while Rosa found some frozen pizza and a couple of water bottles. 

Though not much, it was better than having nothing at all.

"Hermana ya esta todo." He tells her, and walks with her, "Muy bien...Hmph, at least there's electricity to keep the food well." She muttered. As the duo left the 'Old Mercado,' Juan couldn't help but feel guilt and sadness, "Hermana, ojalá pudiéramos curarlos..." He begins to shiver in disgust at the dead bodies earlier: "Los cuerpos de zombies me da miedo, pero sabes que? Un día, los superheroes van a curar el mundo!" 

The world had changed dramatically, and her life had been reduced to surviving daily, one encounter with the infected at a time, "Yo tambien quiero eso, Juan..." Rosa softly smiles at him but frowns once more by getting him and herself on her motorcycle: "Pero no hay alguien quien puede hacerlo." Shortly after, she started her motorcycle and resumed riding it with the food supplies safely and well-tightened to the sides of the bike from falling.

"Si, es cierto." He wrapped his arms around his sister's waist, "Pero como Captain America dijo: 'Sometimes by losing a battle, you find a new way to win the war'." Juan proudly demonstrated his point by failing in his English pronunciation, causing Rosa to smile at his encouraging words underneath her helmet but frown again: "Cierto, now! Vamos a buscar comics y pa'casa vamos." 

Of course, the only thing they could do now was resolve to survive and maybe discover a glimmer of hope in this grim new reality.