Day 25: Personal Prison
The night was closing in fast, the sky a deep, bruised red as Eli, Cass, and Luke circled the decaying building. The smell of rot hung thick in the air, heavy and cloying, almost as if the earth itself was infected with whatever had taken hold of the creatures. The pulsating spore clusters were everywhere, growing from the cracks in the walls like festering wounds. Every step they took felt precarious, the wrong move potentially triggering a cloud of deadly spores.
Cass leaned heavily on Eli, her face pale but resolute, her injured leg slowing them down. Luke walked ahead, his eyes scanning for any signs of danger as they moved deeper into the shadows. The weight of exhaustion was dragging at all of them, but the threat of the infected creatures kept them alert.
As they reached the far side of the building, the oppressive silence was broken by a faint, ragged sound—a voice, weak and trembling.
"Help… please…"
Eli froze, his heart skipping a beat as he looked toward the source of the sound. There, slumped against the wall, was a human figure—a man, barely recognizable beneath layers of filth and decay. His body was slouched, one arm twisted at an unnatural angle, his skin mottled with dark patches of rot. His face was gaunt and hollow, his eyes sunken and dull, but still faintly alive.
Eli's stomach churned. The man was infected.
"Help… me…" the man rasped again, his voice barely more than a whisper. His body twitched and jerked slightly, as though he was trying to move but couldn't. His limbs were stiff, his skin peeling away in places, and his breathing was shallow, labored.
Luke took a step back, his face pale with fear. "Oh God… he's infected."
Cass's grip on Eli tightened, her voice low and tense. "Don't get too close."
But despite her warning, Eli couldn't look away. The man's eyes, though dull and clouded, were filled with desperation. He was still alive—barely—and whatever had taken hold of him hadn't fully consumed him yet.
Eli crouched down, keeping a safe distance, but close enough to hear the man's faint, raspy breaths. "What happened to you?" he asked softly, his voice trembling.
The man coughed, a wet, gurgling sound that made Eli wince. "The… spores," the man gasped, his voice thick with pain. "It… got inside me."
His body twitched again, his limbs jerking involuntarily. Eli could see the greenish mold spreading across the man's chest, pulsating faintly beneath his torn, ragged clothes. His skin was flaking away, revealing raw, infected flesh beneath.
Cass stepped forward, her eyes hard as she looked down at the man. "How long have you been like this?" she asked, her voice steady despite the grimness of the situation.
The man's head lolled to the side, his eyes unfocused. "Days… maybe weeks. I can't… I can't move."
Eli felt a surge of pity for the man. His body was already far gone, the spore controlling him from the inside, but somehow he was still clinging to life. "Is there anything we can do for you?" Eli asked quietly, though he knew the answer.
The man let out a pained, wheezing laugh. "No… nothing left to do. It's eating me… from the inside."
Luke grimaced, taking another step back, his eyes wide with a mix of horror and sorrow. "Why hasn't it… killed you yet?"
The man's breathing grew more labored, each word a struggle. "It's keeping me… alive. Just enough… to use me. It… it needs a living host… to spread."
Eli's stomach twisted with revulsion. The spore was using the man as a vessel, keeping him alive just enough to maintain control, slowly killing him but not letting him die. It was worse than death—being trapped in your own decaying body, unable to move, unable to escape.
Cass's face was grim, her voice quiet but sharp. "Did you see it? Whatever spread this infection?"
The man's eyes flickered slightly, his body shuddering as he coughed again. "I saw… it," he whispered, his voice trembling. "A creature… not like the others. It was… alive. It spreads the spores."
Eli exchanged a glance with Cass, his pulse quickening. "Where did you see it?"
The man's head lolled back against the wall, his breathing growing weaker. "It's… it's in the ruins… somewhere. It moves… through the air. A cloud of spores… around it."
Eli's heart sank. A living creature, carrying the spore, spreading it wherever it went. The infected weren't just victims of random contamination—there was something actively spreading the infection.
"Please…" the man rasped, his voice barely audible now. "End it. I… I don't want… to be one of them."
Eli felt his throat tighten, the weight of the man's request settling on his shoulders like a stone. He looked at Cass, his eyes filled with uncertainty.
Cass's expression softened slightly, and she nodded. "It's a mercy," she said quietly. "He's already gone."
Eli swallowed hard, his hand trembling as he reached for his knife. The man's body was already half-decayed, the infection spreading rapidly through his veins, but his eyes—those desperate, pleading eyes—still held a faint flicker of humanity.
"Thank you…" the man whispered, his voice barely more than a breath.
Eli stepped forward, his chest tight with emotion, and placed his knife gently against the man's throat. With one quick, decisive motion, he ended the man's suffering.
For a moment, the only sound was the soft rustle of the wind through the ruins. The man's body slumped, his head falling forward as the last traces of life left him.
Eli wiped the blade clean on his sleeve, his heart heavy. "He was already dead," he murmured, though the words felt hollow. The man had been infected, but in the end, he had been just as much a victim as anyone else.
"We need to go," Cass said quietly, her voice cutting through the silence. "If the spore carrier is out there, we're not safe here."
Luke nodded, still pale but resolute. "Let's move."
They turned away from the man's body, the weight of his final moments still heavy in the air. The ruins stretched out before them, dark and decayed, and somewhere within them, the creature that spread the infection was lurking.
And Eli knew, deep in his heart, that they were walking straight into its path.