Jing Jing and I watched the truck drive off leaving a trail of dust
"we have to leave the bike here and go on foot, riding the bike would get us unnecessary attention"
Jing Jing agreed to my suggestion
"I know a shortcut that would easily get us to the supermarket" she added
we walked out into the darkness with our weapons in our hands and fear in our hearts, at this point we both knew that there was a big chance we wouldn't see another dawn but we had to go
luckily for us we hadn't encountered any zombie for atleast a mile but our lucked failed when we walked into a dark alley
I smelled something rotten and Jing Jing smelled it too because I could see her sniffing the air
"there's a zombie close by" she said
we looked to and fro trying to figure out where the smell was coming from
out of nowhere a zombie jumped on Jing Jing
she pushed it's head away but it struggled for a bite
I cocked my gun ready to shoot but Jing Jing stopped me
" don't shoot, you'll alert the others" she whispered
i used the back of the gun and hit the zombie in the head, it fell off Jing Jing's body
Jing Jing sprang to her feet and and sliced open the zombie's head with her sword and to our surprise..... the zombie let out a shrill shriek.
suddenly we heard other zombies letting out shrill growls
"shit, it alerted other zombies of our presence, it will be only a matter of time before the find us" Jing Jing panicked
"a zombie's vision is gray during the day, which means it can't even see at night" as I said the words an idea was springing up in my head
"they solely rely on their sense of smell and hearing to locate a prey" I added
"thats true but how is that gonna help us" Jing Jing said
"we could mask our smell and try to be very quiet" I said excitedly
"how do we do that?" she asked
"easy, we'll just have to cover ourself in zombies gut"
"that is disgusting, there is no way am walking around smelling like dead meat" she said with disgust on her face
"if you don't do it... you'll be dead meat" I borrowed her dagger and cut open the zombie's belly
I rubbed the zombie's blood and gore on my body, it was disgusting and repulsive but it was our only chance to survive
Jing Jing reluctantly knelt beside me and rubbed the zombie's gore on her body too, she threw up twice while rubbing it
in a few seconds we covered in zombies shit and piss
we began moving again
when we reached the end of the alley a large swam of zombie were waiting for us
Jing Jing reached for her sword but I stopped her
I told her to be quiet
the zombies didn't attack us, they merely sniffed the air trying to know where the delicious human scent was coming from, we walked past them and they didn't seem to notice us,
we got to the supermarket, it was empty and quiet except for dead zombies on the ground
"he was here, it all happened out here" Jing Jing said quietly
I looked around trying to find out what happened to Trey
I noticed his dual gun on the ground, my heart skipped a beat, if there was a slight chance that he was alive then he was out there defenseless
"Kat, come over here" Jing Jing called me and pulled me out of my thoughts
I walked towards her and she took my attention to a trail of blood
" it has to be Trey's, zombies don't bleed red" she added
I looked at the markings on the ground one more time
" the body was dragged on the ground..... the trail of blood is there for miles" I said
"zombies don't take their kill home, they eat it there and then" Jing Jing said a bit confused
"do you think a human did this?" I asked
"that's the only possible explanation but we can find whoever took his body, all we have to do is follow the blood" Jing Jing answered
"okay, let's go" I said and started moving towards the blood's direction
we followed the blood for miles, we encountered a few zombies but they didn't seem to know we were human Because of the zombie intestines on our body
Jing Jing seemed a bit weak, she kept stopping to breathe, I felt it was because we had been walking all night
" whoever is dragging the body must be super strong, how do you drag 100 pounds of muscle for miles without stopping" Jing Jing said
"have been thinking about the same thing too" I said while moving
we walked a bit longer and the more we walked the weaker Jing Jing became
after a few more miles we stopped in front of the HOPE RESEARCH FACILITY
"the trail ends here" Jing Jing said a bit panicky
"the person took him into the research facility" I said my legs becoming weak
Jing Jing was genuinely terrified "who would be dumb enough to go into the facility, that place is crawling with zombies and worst of all... she's in there"
I didn't need further details to know who she was talking about, the first human who became a zombie, my heart started beating three times faster
"I can't go in there" I panicked "I can't face her" I felt hot tears flowing down my eyes
"am scared too but Trey needs us, you are stronger than I thought you were, we can do this" she said trying to make me braver but little did she know it wasn't death I was afraid of.
my conscience had been haunting me ever since that woman turned into a zombie, she blamed me, she hated me, she believed that I had hurt her intentionally.... that I had turned her into a monster
"I can't go in there" I repeated
" you have to, am not strong enough to go in there on my own" she said with fear stinging her eye
the fear in her eyes made my own fear turn into worry for her
"Jing Jing what's wrong with you" I asked
"nothing, am just tired and hungry" she said, it was obviously a lie
I looked at her and noticed her clutching her arm, without thinking I grabbed her and rolled up her sleeve
"Kat stop, what are you going?" she struggled
what I saw made me drop to my knee, Jing Jing's arm was infected, there were deep scratches on her arm, the zombie in the alley had dug his nails into her body
"oh my God" I gasped " why didn't you tell me"
"because I was avoiding this exact reaction, there is no time to worry about me, we have to find Trey" she said trying to sound strong
" there must be something I can do to help you, I can't let one more person become that thing" I said while tears flowed down my eyes
"there is no cure, eventually am gonna become one of those things but before that happens..... put a bullet through my head" she said it like it was nothing and started heading into the facility
I stood there watching her not knowing what to do
she turned back and looked at me "are you coming or not"
I slowly followed her into the facility while grieving deeply in my heart
the place smelled like rotten flesh, it was nothing like the facility I used to know, I could hear distant growling
the blood trail had now faded, it seemed whoever it was that dragged him in there had lifted him up
"let's split up, we will find him faster that way but let's come back here after thirty minutes whether we find him or not" Jing Jing said in a calm manner
we split up and searched the facility.