Caution Is Calling
Six Months Earlier.
"Zack! Fuck, what do we do?!"
"Swing and run!"
My heart was pounding so hard I was certain I was going to faint. Cold, rough hands were grabbing at me, tugging on my hair and wrapping around my throat. A horrible smell filled the field as they opened their mouths, drool running down their chin as they snapped at us, their teeth nearly grazing our warm flesh.
The bus lights were fading fast. There was no chance we could ever catch up to them - Doubtfully any chance they would want us to. To them, we were dead, eaten alive or or turned. It would be cruel to prove otherwise. The guilt they would feel for leaving us in such a bloody mess..
"Riot, let's go!"
Skulls were cracking as Zack and I raised our guns to slam into their heads. Sometimes they would fall over on top of us, try to drag us to the ground, but somehow we found an exit. The edge of the woods. We could hear more coming, but we couldn't see them. The moon was blocked by the tall trees and the sound of branches breaking below our feet only caused us more panic.
"I've got nothing," Zack whispered, tugging at his clothes to find something, anything, to help us survive this night. "No bullets, no water, no food. We're completely fucked."
"We can get back to town. If we stay in the shadows and move fast we can find somewhere safe to stay tonight."
"Have you lost your fucking mind?" I couldn't see him, but I could hear him pacing. Honestly, I was more concerned about the growls growing closer to us. "Riot, those damned things are everywhere. We don't stand a chance against them."
"Do you have a better plan?"
"We could scale a tree. We stand a better chance above ground than on it."
"And do what Zack? Wait until they get bored of us? Or until they find someone else to eat for dinner? We'd be stuck up there for God only knows how long. We'd either lose our minds or starve."
"Fine, we'll do it your way, but don't expect me to die trying to save you again."
"I never asked for your help to begin with. Don't forget that."
"That's your problem, Riot, you never asked for any of our help, ever. And yet, half of my friends are dead because of you. They died trying to save you, they died to protect your sister and you're still playing the self-pity card. I get it, you killed your mom to save yourself. Congratulations, you've lost a whopping one person since this shit started."
"That's not fair-"
"Don't talk to me about fair! You were infected and you survived. Your sister is the only person on the face of this Earth that can survive the infection without the cure. You selfishly threw a fit because Rian and I wanted to go find our own loved ones to protect and now I'm here, stuck in the middle of nowhere fighting for my life with a girl who could give a shit less about my well-being."
Fair. That word didn't really have a meaning anymore. I wouldn't necessarily call crying over the loss of more friends a selfish fit, but Zack's mind was set on it. And to say I don't care about his well-being - Why did he think I got so upset in the first placce? It kills me not knowing what happened to Jack and Alex. Living in this new life, knowing I've got people out there that I can't save if they need me.. It seemed impossible to let them go, to let them do that to all of us.
Maybe I was selfish, but I had a reason to be.
In mourning the fact that I was about to lose two more of my friends, this new family I'd created, I'd lost the only blood I knew for a fact I had left. Zack had lost his best friend and now they were stuck with the fate that I couldn't handle.
I could have given up, right then and there, scaled that tree with Zack and waited until the time came for me to die, but Tori needed me. I would not go down without a fight.
"We're wasting time. Let's move."
My heart sank with the bitterness of his tone. Did he really have any right to blame me for the fact that he was here right now? He could have stayed on that bus, could have left me to die.. But he didn't...
"I'm sorry," I whispered, moving close behind him to watch his back. "I know you risked your life for me."
"Correction: I'm risking my life for you. Now shut up, I don't want them to follow us."
His words hurt, but I knew he wasn't trying to be vicious, at least not right now. I stayed close on his heel as we found the edge of the road. From here, we could see the field through the moonlight. It was crawling with infected, some of them injured from our blows and even more pissed off than the rest. We could hear them stalking through the trees after us, but the road looked clear. We could move faster on pavement and if we kept our pace, we could find a building or a store to hide away in for the night. Tomorrow we'd start our search for a vehicle, because there's no way we'd survive on foot.
Zack seemed to be thinking the exact same thing I was. He inhaled a deep breath and took off. I was fast, but I could barely keep up with him. His feet were so heavy that I was sure the undead could hear us, sure they were coming for us. Panic made my heart beat faster and in a short moment, I was right beside him, pushing myself to move faster.
We rounded a corner, taking a different street. At first, I didn't understand why Zack would want to go this way, but I quickly realized it's because the infected were roaming the field. It wasn't likely they'd look for us here, and if they did, they'd be too slow.
Our pace calmed down as we came upon a small gas station. There was protective glass around the doors and the freezer lights were dimly lit. Zack made the first move, sticking his face to the glass to see if it was clear inside. When he gave a nod, I pushed the door open as he held the bell in place.
"We can't stay here tonight," I whispered, my fingers wrapping around candy bars to shove in my pockets. I watched as Zack pulled some energy drinks and water from the glass doors. "If they sniff us out, the light will attract them."
"I wouldn't want to stay here anyway. It's too small and there are no weapons. We just need to stuff to refuel when we find a place to rest."
"Think this town has a gun store?"
"Probably, but I doubt we'll be able to get close to it. I assume we're not too far from town. We can probably find a place to stay tonight. Maybe we'll come across a car lot."
A car lot. That's something I hadn't thought of. I assumed we'd find a car that someone left on the road and pray that it had enough gas in it to get us out of here. But then, where would we go? Where could we ever find a place to rest - Really rest?
"Whatever we do, we both need some sleep. At least a few hours so we can take turns driving."
Zack simply nodded his head and peeled back the wrapper to an energy bar. I cringed, knowing those things tasted terrible. I shook the phantom taste away from my mouth and opened an energy drink, downing as much of it as I could in one breath. We didn't have long here. We'd have to take in what we could and hide the rest in our clothes, which meant we couldn't take much.
When we'd both filled up our bellies on sugar and energy, Zack held the bell again as I snuck out into the night. The air outside was disgustingly still, the instant the door shut behind us we both knew that something was wrong. The area was completely dead, but not in the type of way that meant we could make a run for it. We were frozen, stuck in our spots, our chests rising and falling heavily as we waited for an attack. Something was waiting on us. Something knew we were inside.
And that's when it happened - A man in a black suit came at us from behind a dumpster. He had a gun raised to his face and he was swift on his feet.
Perhaps it was because he was another living, breathing human, or maybe it was just my natural instinct to go after his gun, but whatever it was, something caused my legs to move forward and my arms to raise above my head.
"Don't shoot!" I cried, ignoring Zack whispering my name from behind me. "Please, we're not infected and we need help!"
For a moment, I thought he was going to lower his gun.
That's when I felt myself get shot in the neck.
"Swing and run!"
My heart was pounding so hard I was certain I was going to faint. Cold, rough hands were grabbing at me, tugging on my hair and wrapping around my throat. A horrible smell filled the field as they opened their mouths, drool running down their chin as they snapped at us, their teeth nearly grazing our warm flesh.
The bus lights were fading fast. There was no chance we could ever catch up to them - Doubtfully any chance they would want us to. To them, we were dead, eaten alive or or turned. It would be cruel to prove otherwise. The guilt they would feel for leaving us in such a bloody mess..
"Riot, let's go!"
Skulls were cracking as Zack and I raised our guns to slam into their heads. Sometimes they would fall over on top of us, try to drag us to the ground, but somehow we found an exit. The edge of the woods. We could hear more coming, but we couldn't see them. The moon was blocked by the tall trees and the sound of branches breaking below our feet only caused us more panic.
"I've got nothing," Zack whispered, tugging at his clothes to find something, anything, to help us survive this night. "No bullets, no water, no food. We're completely fucked."
"We can get back to town. If we stay in the shadows and move fast we can find somewhere safe to stay tonight."
"Have you lost your fucking mind?" I couldn't see him, but I could hear him pacing. Honestly, I was more concerned about the growls growing closer to us. "Riot, those damned things are everywhere. We don't stand a chance against them."
"Do you have a better plan?"
"We could scale a tree. We stand a better chance above ground than on it."
"And do what Zack? Wait until they get bored of us? Or until they find someone else to eat for dinner? We'd be stuck up there for God only knows how long. We'd either lose our minds or starve."
"Fine, we'll do it your way, but don't expect me to die trying to save you again."
"I never asked for your help to begin with. Don't forget that."
"That's your problem, Riot, you never asked for any of our help, ever. And yet, half of my friends are dead because of you. They died trying to save you, they died to protect your sister and you're still playing the self-pity card. I get it, you killed your mom to save yourself. Congratulations, you've lost a whopping one person since this shit started."
"That's not fair-"
"Don't talk to me about fair! You were infected and you survived. Your sister is the only person on the face of this Earth that can survive the infection without the cure. You selfishly threw a fit because Rian and I wanted to go find our own loved ones to protect and now I'm here, stuck in the middle of nowhere fighting for my life with a girl who could give a shit less about my well-being."
Fair. That word didn't really have a meaning anymore. I wouldn't necessarily call crying over the loss of more friends a selfish fit, but Zack's mind was set on it. And to say I don't care about his well-being - Why did he think I got so upset in the first placce? It kills me not knowing what happened to Jack and Alex. Living in this new life, knowing I've got people out there that I can't save if they need me.. It seemed impossible to let them go, to let them do that to all of us.
Maybe I was selfish, but I had a reason to be.
In mourning the fact that I was about to lose two more of my friends, this new family I'd created, I'd lost the only blood I knew for a fact I had left. Zack had lost his best friend and now they were stuck with the fate that I couldn't handle.
I could have given up, right then and there, scaled that tree with Zack and waited until the time came for me to die, but Tori needed me. I would not go down without a fight.
"We're wasting time. Let's move."
My heart sank with the bitterness of his tone. Did he really have any right to blame me for the fact that he was here right now? He could have stayed on that bus, could have left me to die.. But he didn't...
"I'm sorry," I whispered, moving close behind him to watch his back. "I know you risked your life for me."
"Correction: I'm risking my life for you. Now shut up, I don't want them to follow us."
His words hurt, but I knew he wasn't trying to be vicious, at least not right now. I stayed close on his heel as we found the edge of the road. From here, we could see the field through the moonlight. It was crawling with infected, some of them injured from our blows and even more pissed off than the rest. We could hear them stalking through the trees after us, but the road looked clear. We could move faster on pavement and if we kept our pace, we could find a building or a store to hide away in for the night. Tomorrow we'd start our search for a vehicle, because there's no way we'd survive on foot.
Zack seemed to be thinking the exact same thing I was. He inhaled a deep breath and took off. I was fast, but I could barely keep up with him. His feet were so heavy that I was sure the undead could hear us, sure they were coming for us. Panic made my heart beat faster and in a short moment, I was right beside him, pushing myself to move faster.
We rounded a corner, taking a different street. At first, I didn't understand why Zack would want to go this way, but I quickly realized it's because the infected were roaming the field. It wasn't likely they'd look for us here, and if they did, they'd be too slow.
Our pace calmed down as we came upon a small gas station. There was protective glass around the doors and the freezer lights were dimly lit. Zack made the first move, sticking his face to the glass to see if it was clear inside. When he gave a nod, I pushed the door open as he held the bell in place.
"We can't stay here tonight," I whispered, my fingers wrapping around candy bars to shove in my pockets. I watched as Zack pulled some energy drinks and water from the glass doors. "If they sniff us out, the light will attract them."
"I wouldn't want to stay here anyway. It's too small and there are no weapons. We just need to stuff to refuel when we find a place to rest."
"Think this town has a gun store?"
"Probably, but I doubt we'll be able to get close to it. I assume we're not too far from town. We can probably find a place to stay tonight. Maybe we'll come across a car lot."
A car lot. That's something I hadn't thought of. I assumed we'd find a car that someone left on the road and pray that it had enough gas in it to get us out of here. But then, where would we go? Where could we ever find a place to rest - Really rest?
"Whatever we do, we both need some sleep. At least a few hours so we can take turns driving."
Zack simply nodded his head and peeled back the wrapper to an energy bar. I cringed, knowing those things tasted terrible. I shook the phantom taste away from my mouth and opened an energy drink, downing as much of it as I could in one breath. We didn't have long here. We'd have to take in what we could and hide the rest in our clothes, which meant we couldn't take much.
When we'd both filled up our bellies on sugar and energy, Zack held the bell again as I snuck out into the night. The air outside was disgustingly still, the instant the door shut behind us we both knew that something was wrong. The area was completely dead, but not in the type of way that meant we could make a run for it. We were frozen, stuck in our spots, our chests rising and falling heavily as we waited for an attack. Something was waiting on us. Something knew we were inside.
And that's when it happened - A man in a black suit came at us from behind a dumpster. He had a gun raised to his face and he was swift on his feet.
Perhaps it was because he was another living, breathing human, or maybe it was just my natural instinct to go after his gun, but whatever it was, something caused my legs to move forward and my arms to raise above my head.
"Don't shoot!" I cried, ignoring Zack whispering my name from behind me. "Please, we're not infected and we need help!"
For a moment, I thought he was going to lower his gun.
That's when I felt myself get shot in the neck.
Notes
This whole chapter is italicized because it's telling the story of how Zack and Riot escaped the infected that night.
But now that Riot's been shot, what's going to happen? Comment and vote to find out! <3.
Update! I absolutely love this! :)
7/29/14