Everything looks white. I can hear voices but they sound so far away like they're at the other end of a tunnel. Something touches my hand and the voices start drawing nearer.
"Enny."
Tamara. My memory starts to come back as the white vision recedes hazily to the edges to give way to the world. My hearing returns to normal just as my vision did. Something was blaring. I blinked rapidly as I took in my surrounding. I was lying in the back seat of a car.
"Seek shelter immediately. The infected display violent tendencies and should be avoided. Do not engage the infected. I repeat, do not engage the infected. If you have been attacked by an infected individual, seek medical assistance or -"
Huh?
"Ezra!" someone yells as the car squeals to a stop. I immediately sit up, the sudden motion making my head spin. I groaned and brought my hands to the sides of my head.
"Enny."
I feel a hand on my knee and I look up to see Alison on the back seat floor. She looked pale and her hands were shaking. Ezra was in the driver's seat and Faye was in the passenger's seat. Where are we going? Why is Faye here?
"Shit," Faye mutters as a car pulls to a stop behind us.
The lanes were congested and horns were being blasted all around us. There were people everywhere, running along the pavements and between cars on the road.
"Are you okay?" Ezra asks, watching me through the rear view mirror and I groan in response. I don't think he heard.
What is going on?
A loud crack makes me jolt and Alison grabs my hand. Someone screams. I look out the window and watch a man get tackled next to a car up ahead. Another scream. A group of people surround him and it becomes a cacophony of screams. Everyone starts panicking. Some people begin to abandon their vehicles and Alison starts crying. Two people run past the window and take down the lady getting out of the car in front of us. The woman starts crying for help as I'm hauled out of the car.
The first thing I see is a man spread eagle on the floor with two people kneeling over him, stuffing intestines into their mouths.
I instantly feel sick and the world starts to spin. Cannibals? Zombies? Bile rises in my throat, choking me. Someone whirls me around. It's Faye. I see Ezra run around a corner with Alison in his arms, her face buried in his neck.
"Snap out of it."
I'm about to go back into the car when she grabs my hand, steadying me and righting the earth, then we're running. We pass a child tearing into a lady as we round the corner that Ezra took and I stumble. Faye's grip on me prevents me from falling. I glance up to be sure that Ezra and Alison are still ahead of us when we cross the road to the junior school.
There were people pouring out of the school's auditorium. Most of them were being picked off as they got out. There were some cops around, shooting off rounds into the attackers. Holy shit. I have to call mum and dad. Zeke. Daniel.
"Where are we going?" I ask as my mind snaps back into place. She doesn't reply.
"Faye!"
She came to an abrupt halt, effectively stopping me as she hunched over and took deep breaths. She gestured ahead of us and I look up to see what she was trying to say.
"How is he so fast?" she said.
I was so focused on her that I didn't notice the person approaching until the individual slammed into me. The impact knocked the breath out of me and I was sprawled on the floor with a man on top of me. The dark veins and bloodstained teeth made him look extremely terrifying.
"Don't let him bite you!"
Duh! Kind of goes without saying, right?
My arm automatically came up as his head came down. I wanted to hold it against his throat but he was faster than I was and his teeth sunk into my arm. I let our a scream, not because of the pain but because of what just happened. Faye was trying to pull him off me and I'd never been this scared in my life. He tugged his head back, ripping the sleeve of my shirt. I was temporarily glad it was the shirt and not flesh but the pain I'd felt meant his teeth actually broke skin.
The thought of been eaten was more disturbing than dying. The man suddenly fell forward and was rolled off me by Faye. I was met with two faces staring down at me.
"Are you okay?" Clareta asked as Faye pulled me to my feet. Clareta and I go to the same school but we weren't exactly close. We were the kind of friends that just nodded at each other and maybe an occasional 'hi' when we saw each other.
"I don't -" I was cut off as Faye pulled me into running.
"Hey, wait up," she called out and a while later, she was running alongside us.
I could make out the sound of rapid gunfire as store windows were being broken around us.
"Where are we going?" Clareta asked as she dodged a man that rushed out of a store and I noticed that she was wearing a tool belt.
"What's we?" Faye replied.
Everyone was running away from the direction we were heading to. Faye seemed to realize this and stopped, her eyes darting frantically.
"Do you see Ezra?"
My eyes began to skim through the shops until I saw Alison waving at me over Ezra's shoulder. Daniel was on the floor and Ezra was helping him up.
"Who's Ezra?"
I pulled Faye in the direction of the shop and the bells jingled as we stepped in. Their eyes darted to our direction and Daniel took quick strides towards me before wrapping his arms around me.
"Are you okay?" I mumbled as he drew back. His body was shaking and he was breathing heavily.
He nodded. "Are you?"
I don't think so.
Faye had gone to stand by Ezra and whispered something in his ear. He furrowed his brows and glanced at me.
"Move! Move!" Clareta yelled as the sound of breaking glass echoed through the store.
Daniel grabbed my hand and broke into a run. "There's a back door," he said as we ran down an aisle before we burst into a lot.
A cold wave embalmed me as the hairs rose on the back of my neck. There were bodies lying everywhere. Some had people kneeling over them and stuffing their faces while others were convulsing. There were also people that had their eyes on us, and were now making their way over.
We cut to the left, heading for the road while staying close to the wall. Cars were peeling out of the lot just as a familiar one came to a stop by us and I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. Zeke.
I pulled open the door and jumped in, blocking off Jack who had tried to jump out as I shuffled across the seat. Ezra got into the passenger's seat with Alison while the others piled into the back with me.
Zeke floored it the moment the door shut, throwing us forward. Jack climbed onto my lap and began to sniff me when we got to the road.
"You guys okay?" Zeke asked.
No. We were not.