Ray stumbled over a wooden broken chair and fell to his knees, knocking down a half-opened drawer beside him.
"Oh gosh!" Cathy quickly ran over to Ray and helped him up.
"Hurry, give him the broken leg," Cathy picked up the leg of the chair and pushed it into Ray's hands, her hand shaking with fear.
"God dammit! Maddy!" Tate growled as Maddy savagely used her nails to scratch the side of his neck.
He used his elbow to hit her beside the head, knocking her off him for a second and using that opportunity to turn away from her.
"Uuuuuhh!" Maddy dived Tate's leg in lightning speed, drawing him back to her.
"Ahh! Give him the chair! The chair, Ray!" Cathy was shaking beside Ray, hitting his arms impatiently.
Ray snapped out of his daze and blinked. He looked toward Tate and saw how he was struggling to get the rabid Maddy off his leg.
He was hesitant because he didn't want to hurt their friend, but as he stared at Maddy, he realized that the person attacking Tate was no longer the friend he knew, but rather a virus-infected person.
"Tate! Catch!" Ray shouted and threw the wood beside Tate.
The moment Tate saw the wood, he kicked Maddy off with his free leg and reached for it.
But before he could touch the wood, Maddy drew him away by his legs and she proceeded to drag him into the room she had jumped out from.
"Ugh, Ray! Fucking stop her you moron!" Tate shouted as he grabbed a leg of the table beside him as he was being dragged across the floor.
Ray quickly picked up another piece of chair and hurried over to Tate.
His heart was pounding in fear as he approached Maddy who was growling and relentlessly tugging on Tate's leg to get his hands off of the table.
Ray's hands were shaking as he lifted them with his fingers tightly wrapped around the wood. He cautiously strode toward Maddy and aimed for her head, but before he knew it, like lightening, Maddy dived him and pushed him down to the floor, caging him between her legs, she then ripped the wood out of his hands and hit his head hard with it, knocking him out instantly.
"Maddy! Stop!" Cathy was crying now.
Maddy snapped her head toward Cathy and snarled her teeth at her.
"Argh!" Cathy screamed and shrank against the wall.
Maddy sprang up from Ray's unconscious body; slowly, she walked toward Cathy. The weak wooden floor creaked scarily beneath her feet, and her low, throaty snarls evoked chills from within Cathy's bones.
"N-no s-stay, stay a-away f-from me..." Cathy stammered, her lips shaking in fear.
"Food..." Maddy slurred, spit dripping out of her mouth like an infant faced with his favorite food.
"No, no, I'm not food!" Cathy cried.
Maddy was reaching for her, just a few steps and she'll grab Cathy with her fingers that were now looking pale and veiny.
Tate looked up in alarm and saw what was happening; he had been trying to free his leg from the broken door Maddy had shoved it into, but when he saw what was about to happen to Cathy, he bit his lips and roughly pulled his leg out from the shared woods.
"Ugh! Damn it!" He cursed as he felt his leg get grazed by the broken wood.
But he quickly ignored the pain and stood, he picked up the wood Ray had thrown to him and quietly went behind Maddy, and just as Maddy was about to grab Cathy's arm, Tate raised the wood and landed it hard behind Maddy's neck.
With a pained growl, Maddy fell limp to the floor.
"Oh my God, Tate! Thank you, thank you so much!" Cathy flew into his arms and cried.
"Ouch, easy, Cathy," Tate limped on his foot from the pain on his heavily grazed leg, but he still managed to hold Cathy.
"Oh, I'm so sorry, I didn't know you were hurt, oh no, what are we going to do now?" Cathy asked with serious worry.
Tate was quiet for a second as he stared at his two friends lying unconscious on the floor.
"Come on, crying won't help us. We have to wake Ray up," Tate said and walked toward Ray.
Cathy immediately followed him behind, scared of what would happen if Maddy suddenly woke.
"What if she wakes up, Tate?" Cathy asked as Tate lowered himself beside Ray.
"We hope she doesn't," his reply didn't make Cathy feel better in any way.
"Ray, Ray," Tate called, shaking Ray's shoulder lightly.
But Ray remained motionless, not responding.
"Oh, for fuck's sake! This is not the time. Ray!" Tate suddenly slapped Ray on the cheek
It worked.
Ray drew in a sharp breath and instantly sat up, looking around in alarm.
"Focus, Ray. We have to get away from here," Tate stood and offered the confused Ray a hand.
Ray winced and held his head as he stood, he looked around and saw Maddy lying on the floor.
"What happened?" He asked, pointing at Maddy.
"Knocked her out," Tate said and went over to Maddy.
"Are you okay?" Cathy asked, touching Ray's face.
"I'm fine, at least, I'm still human," He chuckled.
Cathy frowned, "Still making jokes in such situations," she sighed.
"I'll carry Maddy. You guys get the bags," Tate informed and lifted Maddy off the floor and onto his shoulder.
"Come on, let's get out of here," Ray told Cathy.
They walked toward the door and Cathy leaned down to pick up the backpack that sat beside another weak wooden drawer.
But as she lifted the bag, it hit the handle of the drawer, causing it to fall and shatter into debris.
"Oh, sorry," Cathy apologized automatically.
Tate and Ray turned back, looking at the fallen drawer.
"Who are you apologizing to? Don't tell me there's another Zombie," Ray scanned the whole area with his eyes.
Tate narrowed his eyes as he saw something amidst the wood debris on the floor.
"What's that?" He pointed beside Cathy.
Cathy looked down and that's when she saw a picture lying beneath the debris.
She bent over and picked it up, but there was something else beneath the picture. A folded paper.
"Hurry, pick it up, we'll see what the papers are all about later, we have to leave, come on," Tate nodded and walked out of the cabin with Maddy on his shoulder.
"Stay close to me, Cathy," Ray said to Cathy as they followed Tate behind.
The woods seemed to have gotten darker, and more fogs were rising above their ankles.
Owls were hooting as they passed through the weirdly shaped trees.
"What if that zombie scientist wasn't the only one, what if others are lurking around the trees?" Cathy whispered, clinging to Ray.
Ray quietly looked around, "I don't think there's more, if not, they'd be trying to eat us by now," Ray replied in a quiet tone.
They reached the two-way path and paused.
Tate was trying to remember which way they had followed.
"I think it's the right path," Cathy informed and started to walk toward the right path.
"Stop," Tate suddenly ordered.
Cathy frowned and turned to him, "Why? We have to find a way out," She reminded.
Tate shook his head, "Let's go the opposite way, that path would just lead us back to the hospital," Tate reasoned.
Ray was quiet, looking from Tate to Cathy, he wanted to see what they'd agree on. He didn't have an issue with whichever way they chose to go; as long as it didn't lead them back to that damned hospital and led them out of the woods, then he was fine with it.
"But you're not sure; we don't know what lies within that path either; it might just be more dangerous," Cathy replied.
Tate sighed. "When we were walking around, I looked around the area and discovered that it led to nowhere, just woods and more woods," He explained.
"There were no familiar road tracks like the one Gordon had driven us through. Let's walk this way, we might find the tracks and make it easier for Gordon to find us when he comes," Tate explained further, looking from Cathy to Ray.
"I think we should go with Tate's decision," Ray spoke, slowly walking over to Tate.
Cathy took a deep breath; she just didn't want them to get into any more trouble.
She looked longingly at the right path as if she was thinking about heading that way alone.
Suddenly, a low growl was heard from behind a tree in Cathy's direction.
"Oh my God, did you guys hear that?" Cathy jumped over to Ray, grabbing his arms and almost pushing him down with her weight.
"Uh, calm down, calm down, hear what?" Ray asked, squinting his eyes and looking toward the opposite direction.
"We have to move, guys, that was a wolf," Tate informed calculatedly.
Cathy's eyes widened and her hand tightened around Ray's arms.
"Shit, walk," Ray pushed Cathy to follow Tate, then he walked behind her.
The growl seemed to be getting closer as they walked. They hurried their footsteps, trying to get away from the unseen yet approaching wolf.
"Mmm," Maddy suddenly moaned and moved her hands behind Tate's back.
"Fuck, she's waking up!" Ray panicked.
Tate turned his head to the side and looked at Maddy's face; her eyes were twitching, and her limbs were moving.
"She isn't; she's running a temperature; we have to hasten up. Ray, can you try calling Gordon again?" Tate questioned.
Ray nodded and took out his phone.
Growl!!!
The wolf growled louder this time and it seemed to be closer than before.
"Argh!" Cathy tripped on a branch and fell at the same moment the wolf jumped out of the dark.
"Damn it, get up, get up, get up!" Ray grabbed Cathy's hand and dragged her away from the angry wolf.
The four friends ran, maneuvering their way through the dark bumpy path.
Tate was grunting as he ran; his leg was bleeding, and Maddy's weight was making it hard for him to move faster.
"A track!" Ray shouted as they approached a thin lonely path.
"It's getting closer!" Cathy screamed as the huge wolf increased the speed of his chase.
"Across the road!" Tate shouted and headed to cross the thing road.
Growl!!!!
The loud growl sounded angrily behind them, and the loud thudding of heavy paws made their adrenaline pump; they needed to survive.
Survival was the only thing their instinct told them, at that moment, they became numb to pain and ran as if nothing else mattered.
"Cathy, watch out!!" Ray shouted as a speeding bus came out of nowhere and hit Cathy off the run.
"No!!" Ray screamed.
Seeing the light from the bus, the wolf ran back into the woods.
"No, no, no," Tate quickly lay Maddy beside the road and ran over to Cathy, her head was seriously bleeding.
The bus stopped at a distance and the door opened.
"Tate!" Gordon ran over to them and quickly lifted Cathy into his arms.
"I'm sorry I didn't expect to see you guys here, I'm really sorry," The man apologized as he rushed toward the bus.
"It's okay; we just need to hurry and get them to the hospital before it's too late," Tate replied as he carried Maddy onto the bus.
Ray remained quiet as they entered the bus, the shock of everything made him speechless and frozen.
As the bus drove off, Tate and Ray looked back into the woods, and for some unsettling reason, they felt that this was just the beginning of their trouble.