AUTHOR'S NOTE;
we're still in the same moment from the last chapter.
Here, we're going to be jumping from Mel to Lesley and back and forth.
If anyone gets confused, I put (M) and (L) on each scene to make it clearer on who we are on.
Even though, I think it's not necessary.
__________________________
(M)
Run.
Don't stop.
Keep running.
Don't stop.
You have to run.
Everyone is dead.
There's only you.
You have to run...or you'll die.
A bruised and pale woman ran for her life through an abandoned alleyway. Although, calling it running was inaccurate.
Her left leg had a metal shard imbedded in the calf, that was bleeding and shooting bullets of pain up her leg. She was limping like a madwoman, hopping on one foot as if her life depended on it.
Which it did.
Her breath came in gasps of fear and exhaustion. On her body was a white shirt, blue trousers with red lines on the sides and a red cross. She was a squad fighter from Deadpool.
And she was on the brink of collapse.
But she couldn't stop.
Anymore than a tired man would when he's being chased by a lion.
Although, if it had been a lion chasing her, she might have had a chance.
A very small chance.
But still a chance.
Like the sin of crime, her blood had stained the ground with it's crimson hue. She wished she could find a place to rest,try to fix her leg and hopefully think of a means of escape.
Escape from what?
"Ghaaa!"
A bunch of running and rotting corpses growled like starving demons, their jaws slack and dripping saliva. The woman turned to see them and felt her heart scream for the twelfth time.
"No, I don't want to die! I don't want to die! No! No! I don't to die!" She shouted as she hopped and limped faster and made a turn.
But that was a fatal mistake.
The woman's greenish brown eyes widened in shock as she saw what was infront of her.
Hard metal, like a grim executioner stood infront of her, cold, old and unfeeling. She had arrived at a metal gate, that was shut and locked with a large bronze lock.
"Noooo!" The woman screamed as her hands shot out and grabbed the fence with hatred. How could this happen to her?
She couldn't die!
No!
She began to shake the gate, hoping beyond hope that by some miracle it would open. But she was going to be disappointed, for the fence held strong and did not give.
"No! No! God no! Huh huh!" Her voice wept with anguish as she clutched the gate, this time so tightly that her hands got cut by its rust.
"Huhg grahh."
Her heart stopped screaming and instead beat faster, faster and faster , knowing that they had arrived.
The zombies were in the alley.
She needed to move.
To escape.
But there was no escape.
This was it.
She was going to die.
With tears in her eyes, the woman turned around and looked with terror upon the rushing zombies.
"HELP!"
Like a divine gift of mercy the gate swung open and the woman was pulled into a strong embrace.
Her heart shot to the roof of her throat and she had to swallow it back down. In fear she she began to struggle, desperate to escape the confinement of her captor.
"It's okay. Do not fight me. I'll make sure they won't hurt you."
The voice filtered itself into her terror choked mind and the woman felt like fainting.
Reassurance.
Another person.
Hope.
She was not going to die after all.
But wait,she thought instantly of the zombies!
She turned her head to look at the monsters and to see where they are.
"Ahhhhh!"
Then she screamed.
The zombies were right there!
Only five steps away, they were literally looking at her.
"We need to run. Now!" She told the person who held her.
"It's okay. They won't hurt you." The person, it was a man from the deep base in his voice.
"What are you talking about!? They are right there!" She screamed and winced as she put a lot of pressure in her leg.
"They won't hurt you." He said softly and the woman looked at his face incredulously.
All the blood left her face, right there and then.
A young man with blonde hair was looking at her. His face was striking and would have been handsome if it wasn't for the gruesomeness it held.
Blood, fresh and flowing stained his lips and his teeth. An unhinged smile was on his face and his eyes were a polished silver grey.
It was only then that the woman noticed the smell.
It was a striking smell and she couldn't believe she hadn't noticed it before.
It was the scent of dead meat after a period of sunbathing and attention by flies.
The smell of a dead body.
It was coming from the young man who held her.
He was-
"Let me go! Help! Someone help me!" She screamed and the young man lost his smile and tilted his head.
"HELP!"
He looked at her with his dead eyes and as if deciding something, he opened his arms and let her go.
The woman felt a spark of relief, with a flame of terror but before she could try to escape, the young zombie struck.
With a viscous punch in her gut, he sent her spiraling whilst coughing blood and spit. She was hit so hard, her body only stopped when it reached the wall of the alley.
"Huh huhh... he...lp,"she tried to shout but her body was in too much pain and the best she could do was a whisper.
"When the night is cold, I'll be there to warm you."
The woman lifted her head as she heard the young man sing. No, he was a zombie.
The zombie was singing.
"Every dream you've had before, I'll make them all come true."
The zombie moved slowly towards her, his voice sweet like a Grim reaper's melody of souls. Even she had to admit, it was a lovely voice and in a different situation, she would have listened to it.
But not now.
Not when it's a monster about to kill her!
"H...h...h...he...hel...hel..p" she wheezed and coughed it out and the zombie moved closer, his eyes growing oddly darker.
The other zombies from before had already moved out of his way, as if in fear. They did not rush towards the woman but stood on the sidelines, watching with their putrid eyeballs.
The blonde zombie reached the woman and grabbed her hair, yanking it so that she was pulled up. Her scream shook out tendrils of pain that did nothing for the monster infront of her.
"Because you are my baby girl," the zombie sang infront of her face and then like a psychopath clown, he smiled with his blood stained teeth,"I'll always love you."
He tossed her to the wall like a rag doll.
...
(L)
Lesley grabbed his throat with both hands as he felt like he was being choked to death.
"Hugh!" He coughed as he experienced a burning red hot claw of agony burn his windpipe.
The tattoo on his neck became darker and more clear, but so did the red streaks that appeared around his throat.
"Hel...p" he wheezed as he felt his body start to boil. The feeling of being immersed in bubbling water, scratched his skin. Yet strangely , instead of growing redder, his skin became paler.
Tears stung his eyes as Lesley felt his blood scolding his very being.
...
(M)
Thud!
The woman landed on the ground with a sound that would invoke a wince of pain from many.
Her shoulder had taken most of the impact though and unsurprising, it was now giving her a kiss of agony that rivaled her leg.
"Haaaa! Haa... ahhh! " Her voice lapped the air with tongues of pain and the zombie walked up to her again.
His shirt was grey and torn, and it looked like it had gone through a lot. Bloodstained, ripped and dirty, his pants were in a similar condition.
The woman looked at him with horror, her face the Mona Lisa of terror. With quivering limbs and a soreness that could win a world record, she tried to move away from him whilst sobbing softly.
The blonde zombie looked at her with a pair of eyes that had greying pupils.
His smile stood strong and cruelly crooked on his mouth, and with the blood on his face, this was truly a horrendous sight.
"God, no! No! No no no!" The woman's cries fell on deaf ears as the zombie kicked her face and sent away five of her teeth.
Blood splattered on the ground and the zombie's smile opened wider as he seemed to enjoy himself.
Nobody noticed the black circle on his chest.
...
(L)
In a desperate attempt to alleviate the agony consuming him, Lesley gritted his teeth and went into the jacuzzi.
He only stopped at his chin though, because a bit of his stubborn will wouldn't let him submerge his head into a vat of urine.
The feeling of being set on fire seemed to drop a bit as he felt the lukewarm liquid appease his pain.
But this was only the beginning.
An overwhelming feeling of joy washed over Lesley like a tidal wave.
And what an incredible feeling it was.
Happiness fell short, excitement was bland and not even lust could describe the feeling he was having.
This joy, this... EUPHORIA!
Lesley felt a bit confused but it all was washed away as he felt the feeling seep into him.
A smile blossomed on his lips, and he began to slowly giggle as his eyes grew darker.
...
(M)
Thud!
"Hga!"
Thud!
"Hgaa!"
The woman was experiencing a new meaning of pain as the zombie stomped on her body again and again and again and again and again and again.
"Haha." The zombie chuckled with a pleasurable smile of blood.
His eyes moved towards the woman's legs and he stomped on her right leg with his full power.
"Ahhhhhh! Ahh! God! Ahh!" She screeched.
Like a twig it broke in two, separating from her body and more blood flowed, much to the zombies enjoyment.
Thus the remaining leg had to go as well.
"Haaaahhhhh! Help me! Help me! Help me! God someone help! " The woman begged for someone, anyone, to help her but disappointed would not divorce her.
" So much... haha." The zombie smiled like a child.
Literally.
His joy didn't seem to be the acts of a tyrant or the unhinged sadism of a killer.
He was just enjoying himself.
That made it even more morbid.
...
"Hahaha." Lesley laughed uproariously as if seeing an amazing joke.
But if anybody saw him, they would gasp in horror.
His skin looked bloodless and pale like the victim of pneumonia and bloodloss. Which did not correspond with his surroundings.
The air in the room was lucid, and seemed to be bending like metal dissolving in a furnace.
The liquid that Lesley had cringed and run from was now boiling, bubbling like magma and the drops that touched the floor sizzled.
Slowly Lesley got up and placed a hand on his face, his laughter still ringing in the air.
Images popped into his mind;
A woman strangled.
A man stabbed.
A child hung on tree.
A dog butchered.
A house destroyed.
A building set ablaze.
Bones rotting with rats .
Blood flowing into an eyeball.
A painting smeared with guts and entrails.
And a hand reaching out with a knife.
"It burns...," he whispered and his eyes closed.
The air froze and the liquid stopped bubbling and went flat.
It's as if the atmosphere was holding it's breath in anticipation.
His eyes burst open and like a forest adrift in the dark, they were green surrounded by black pupils.
"IT BURNS!"
As if lit by a match, Lesley burst into flames.
...
(M)
Green veins pulsed on the zombie's flesh and the sounds of bones crunching and twisting could be heard as he raised his leg to stomp on the woman one last time.
He was aiming for her neck this time.
"It burns!"
All the forgotten zombies, who had been standing a safe distance, raised their heads to the sky and screamed that one sentencte, at the same time.
"I'll always love you, m-"
Before the zombie could finish his sentence,the circle on his chest finished what it had been doing.
The circle was about as wide as two adult male hands put together and pure black . Inside it however, there were two interlocking shapes like a star and behind it a mass of vines.
Before the vines had surrounded the star only but as the zombie carried on attacking the woman and his body changed, they started to change and spread out.
The veins became like the branches of a dead tree and slowly spread until they touched the circles edge, which was when the zombie was about to stomp on the woman.
"Balance shift."
A melodious voice rang out in the alley and the zombie froze like a statue, before crumpling to the ground.
The woman, a sad and sorry sight, lay there weeping and wheezing. Her legs were severed and she couldn't move anything except her head.
At least, you'd think she couldn't.
But her tight grip will to live held her together and let her remain conscious as he brutally assaulted her.
But she saw.
Saw the monster that had been tormenting her fall!
Not caring if it was a trick or not, she moved her broken and dying body onto him. Her face a picture of rage, pain, hate, grief and savagery.
She would rip it apart.
She would die killing that thing!
It wasn't like she was going anywhere now. Any thought of hope had died a while back and she just wanted to attack it.
Even if it killed her.
But she didn't get the chance.
As soon as she moved towards it, the other zombies rushed up and grabbed her.
"No! Nooo! Let me have it! I don't want to! Noo! Noo...haaahhh!" Like the song of a harpy, she screeched and screamed to be released but it fell on dead ears.
The zombies grabbed her limbs and ripped them apart.
The last thing the woman saw was the fallen zombie sit up and look at her death.
"Monst-" she never got to finish her words.
The zombie, now with blue eyes , looked around him in confusion. His eyes glanced at his chest, just in time to see the circle fade away.
His hands touched his chest, trying to understand what that was.
"Help me."
As if struck by lightning his head turned around and looked to the distance.
A pair of green eyes and red hair appeared in his mind.
"Le... he's calling." The zombie said and got to his feet.
He quickly began to run, an amazing feat for a lot of zombies but then again, this was no ordinary zombie.
Mel didn't even think of eating the woman like the other zombies.
But if he had, he would have...