The world rushes by in a blur and I know the pain is coming. It goes by fast, yet slow, almost suspended. Then impact. I hit the ground hard, whacking my head on a jumble of debris. Pain radiates through my body and I suck air in through my mouth.
Oh, no. No. No. No!
I hear a growl before an infected comes into view and my breath catches as I stare at it. His skin was blistered and almost looked like it was weeping.
Where's my cleaver?
He stops a couple of feet away from me and he sniffs the air. He tilts his head and stares at me just as a shriek in the distance had his head turning. I could still hear the gunshots in the distance as I immediately roll over and push myself up, feeling a little disoriented. I grab my backpack and start swinging it wildly when he focuses on me again, like it will dissuade him from coming after me. He could definitely run since he got here fast and I wouldn't be able to outrun him when he was this close.
Ezra's bat hits the ground behind the infected and I was about to run around him when an object was suddenly slammed into his head. He immediately goes down just as someone steps out from behind the tree.
Face Smasher!
She furrowed her brows at me, "Uh... what?"
My mouth falls open. She talks! Is she not an infected? But the veins... yogini with a mascara?
She sniffs the air and lets out a cough. She wrinkles her nose and drops the object she used to smash the man's head to the ground before she presses a hand to her throat. It was a hand cake mixer without the wire whisk. Was she holding this earlier? She didn't use her hand?
The gunshots were starting to get closer and I spot another infected man running toward us full tilt with others behind him. There was no time to climb a tree again. I run to grab the bat when the man's legs suddenly flew off and a sound that I've never heard before escaped me as a leg hits the tree beside me. Without his legs, he began to crawl towards us like his life depended on it.
"Oh my God," I muttered as I grab the lady's hand and began to run. Filing this away for future therapy.
The snarls coming from right behind me were enough motivation to not stop running. If we even stumbled a little, that would be the end of us. She gripped my hand tighter and I realized they were warm. Dead people don't feel warm... right?
My feet slip outwards on wet leaves, the cold evening air shocking my throat as I inhale deeper and faster. My heart beats frantically, all or nothing. Fail and we die, run and maybe, just maybe, we live.
A screech comes from my left which is immediately followed by another from the right. I was probably over thinking but it felt like they were communicating. The screeches came again, this time closer as the gunshots stopped. They'd probably run out of bullets or killed all the infected there.
She suddenly yanks me back to her and wraps her arm around me before turning us both around. What the fuck?! I try to turn us back around when she... snarled?
The sound was so shocking due to the fact that it was right by my ear and my legs went limp as my pulse began to beat in my ears. The infected in front of us stumbled and fell as the others came to a stop, confusion written on their faces. She tightened her arms around me and pulled me up before inching around them as they let out a couple of snarls. When we'd finally done a one-eighty, she let out another snarl. It was louder and angrier, making me flinch while the infected ran off.
Oh my God. She's an infected. She's an infected.
Adrenaline floods my system and my heart beats like its trying to escape. With every breath I take, I get more and more terrified. There is really only one thing I can do: Pray she doesn't kill me.
She lets go of me. "Don't stay in time forty ninth."
I wanted to run but my feet would not allow me to do so. It took me what felt like hours to finally turn around to see that she had also run off. My heart was still pounding as I took two small steps forward, expecting her to jump out from behind a tree but nothing happens.
We hadn't run far so I could see where I was going back to. My legs felt numb and unsteady and my throat was uncomfortably dry as I took off at a run. My eyes darted around as I searched for approaching infected and gripped the bat tightly. My mind played tricks on me by making me think she was chasing me, making me run faster.
I was relieved when I saw Faye and Ezra in the distance but I didn't want relief at this point, I wanted to go home.
------
It took a couple of seconds for them to turn on the torch after I closed the door behind me. The torch wasn't particularly bright but it was better than sitting in the dark which some of us were currently doing in the living room. I moved over to Roshni's mum and placed the blanket I grabbed from one of the rooms upstairs over her shivering and sweating figure.
I watched as the dark veins inched up her neck as she breathed heavily. The faster her heart beat, the quicker the veins moved and all attempts to get her to calm down had been futile. Though, I doubt any of us would be able to calm down if we were in her shoes. She didn't even know she had been bitten till Alison pointed out the veins on her side when her shirt rode up. There was nothing we could do, she didn't have much time left and I doubt Cassandra asked me to bring a blanket because the woman was cold.
The pantry felt smaller with five people in it. Roshni's eyes were red as she bent low to whisper something in her mother's ear. I moved to the door to leave when Roshni began to cry as I didnt know what to say. Hae In turned off the torch as I opened the door and stepped out, shutting it behind me. My eyes began to water and I took a deep breath before blinking the tears away.
I get on my knees and begin to crawl to the living room. All the curtains in the house were missing and this was our way of moving so as not to get spotted by the infected. I could hear the moans of the ones milling about outside. They had been at it for about three hours and we couldn't risk shooting our way out because we only had a couple of bullets left. They could probably smell us and not just know where we were. Alison sat up as I crawled into the living room.
"Enny?" she whispered.
"Yeah," I answered and she leaned back.
Ezra and Jack were in the basement because the infected outside had made Jack restless. I crawled up to Daniel and sat between him and Alison. He placed his head on my shoulder and held my hand as Alison handed my cleaver to me. I found it by the gate in the backyard we had gone through while running from the infected. I placed it in front of me with its hilt pointed towards me. I began to think of the infected lady that had saved me and what she had said.
Don't stay in time forty ninth? ...What does that even mean?
Zeke didn't know what it meant either and had told me not to think too much about it but it kept popping up in my mind. It wasn't the only thing I kept thinking about. I stared at Debbie who was by the wall on the other side of the room. She had tried to talk to me multiple times but I ignored her. I haven't told anyone she was the one that pushed me and I didn't know if I was going to.
I decided to think about the infected outside instead. There was only one working car in town, an SUV, and the minute the herd thinned, we were hightailing it out of here. It was going to be an uncomfortable ride with ten people and a dog in a car but we would make it work. We had the chance to leave an hour ago but we weren't very quiet and the ones that left came back.
"Time forty ninth?" I muttered under my breath as I stared at the clock.
"What?" Daniel mumbled.
I bring my hand up to my mouth to stifle a yawn before slightly turning my head to the side. "Don't stay in time forty ninth?"
He didn't reply and I turned my head away. He was probably sleep talking.
"Do you mean don't stay in town for the night?"
"No, I said -"
Wait. Is that what she said?
Daniel moved over to the window and peeked outside. "They're leaving."
I immediately began to crawl towards the basement door at the end of the hall to get Ezra and Jack. It was time to go.