They sat stiller than a corpse, staring at the silhouette that could quite possibly end their lives. It felt like hours before the hunched figure tried the door handle and found it locked. It then almost instantly lost it's temper, roaring angrily and thrusting itself at the feeble door. Glass smashed, wood cracked. It was now inside...
Melissa let out a quiet whimper, her shaking bouncing off everyone else. Adam held her tightly, trying to reduce the movement so they'd stay undiscovered. It's head hung down like it was loose, swinging in their direction. It was listening, smelling, looking.
After a few moments, it seemed to give up. A long huff escaped it's nose as it turned around and trudged away disappointedly.
Mel let out a sigh of relief and crawled out from the blanket to check the door. She let out a gasp as she stood on pieces of glass.
"Watch." Brie whispered and lifted her up, carrying her across the glass and sacrificing her own comfort in the process. John grabbed her arm, shaking his head silently.
"Do not go out there yet." He growled, pulling her back inside. "It is still out there."
A few moments passed and the stomping could be heard around the building. The monster was indeed still lingering and it sounded like it was smashing up the building.
"What if it doesn't leave? We need a distraction." Brie argued back, and John's face said everything. He knew it wouldn't leave. This creature seemed smarter than most, and it was sticking around as long as they were there.
"I'm going to lead it away." Brie decided, putting Mel down.
"No! I won't let you." Adam yelled, grabbing her arm.
Realisation dawned on him as he realised the creature had fallen silent. It was coming. "I'll be back, I promise!" She argued, pulling away and storming out the room.
"NO!" Adam chased after her, and when she turned back she noticed his skin had gone pale. He was sweating, his nose began to bleed.
"Adam... What's going on?" She studied him, watching as his pupils shrank, his blue eyes began to fade to a dark red.
"Your eyes, they're changing colour!" She glanced back to see the creature was approaching fast. She quickly took initiative, turning and yelling loudly.
"Come get me!" She then began to sprint towards the front door, which was busted and gone. She charged through, feeling the ground shake as the huge thing came bouncing after her. Her socks slapped off the pavement, recoiling with every step. Stones stabbed at her soles. The monster let out a groan of excitement as she ran out into the open, glancing behind her once to see it was already close on her tail.
She sucked in a quick breath and pushed herself forward, launching up onto a nearby brick wall. She climbed up and ran along it. The wall climbed up higher and higher and trailed along the houses, leading into gardens and there were short gaps for the gates. She hopped over each one, checking back again to see it had slowed down in an attempt to destroy the wall instead of her.
She nodded in victory. Of course! It wasn't as intelligent as her. It saw the wall and assumed destroying it would therefore destroy her. It was simply thirsty for destruction. It continued to pound at the brick wall, missing her greatly. She focused on running on the wall, wobbling slightly as she balanced.
As she took another look back, she spotted Adam running, catching up to them with something in his hand. As she focused more, she realised it was a machete.
"Where did you get a machete from?!" She shrieked, jumping off the wall and landing messily, almost causing her to trip. She changed directions smoothly.
"John." He spoke with a monotone voice, holding the blade out in front of him menacingly. This was a side of Adam she'd never seen. He was almost emotionless, fearless.
He swiftly ran forward, swinging and slicing the creature. It cried in pain and recoiled, backing away with shock.
"LEAVE!" Adam yelled out, and the creature crawled away without a moment to think.
Brie stood in utter shock. She made eye contact with Adam to see his eyes were glowing red.
"You... You're infected." She glared at him, pain coursing through her body. "Why didn't you tell me?! How long do you have left?" She ran up to him but he backed away quickly.
"I don't want to infect you. I don't know how long I have, but it's taking over my body slowly, just like everyone else." He held his hands out to show his skin. It was turning a pale blue, like there was no blood flowing through his body.
"No... no! I won't let you die!" Brie felt herself tearing up, the anxiety she'd done so well to hide crawling back up her throat. Then, an idea struck her.
"I'm going to find a cure." She lifted her head boldly as Adam stared at her like she was insane.
"You barely passed biology never mind find a cure for a world-ending virus!" He yelled, his nose beginning to bleed again as rage seeped out of him. It seemed every time he got emotional, something took over him.
"I'm going to find people who can!" She argued back. What else could she do? Watch him die?
Brie turned around, facing away from him, and began to angrily storm back to the station. "You can't stop me." She persisted and soon Adam was back on her tail.
"What if they hurt you?" He marches up to her side, pacing.
"I'd rather get hurt and have a chance to save you than to watch you die." She avoided eye contact, studying the ground. There were cracks in the road from where that horrifying creature had left it's mark. She shuddered at the memory. Only 5 minutes ago that giant was smashing his fists at her, almost killing her in one swoop.
She raised her eyebrows unconsciously as she realised how brave she had been. She didn't feel fear, she felt adrenaline. This was improvement. She was getting stronger and it felt good to know that. Especially now, when strength is needed the most.