It's dark outside,
too dark.
The street lights that once let of a dim orange glow no longer lit the way home, once upon a time I would have considered them useless, now I realize what comfort and ease they leaked into me.
My footsteps echo in the dead of the town, it has been four weeks since the outbreak of what I could only assume was the beginning of a zombie apocalypse, but then mother always told me I played to many video games.
I choked down a cough, scared of being heard, for in the darkness it was me against them. The infected. They had already taken my family and my friends, the whole town was pretty much a wreck, cars overturned and shop windows shattered and smashed certain areas of the streets whistled eerily as the wind rushed through almost as though it couldn't bare the tense atmosphere and what lurked here.
I was looking for Tim, my partner in crime, my husband. We had come across few stragglers in town still alive, they told us what we already knew; people were changing, personalities were warped and twisted if you weren't bitten by a zombie and changed you had to make sure the air within a few feet of you was free from an infected persons bacteria, if they cough around you then you can grantee you will become like them.
Night is the best time to travel, it offers shadows and darkness to assist in hiding, A gun strapped to my thigh loaded with seven bullets gives me the comfort that the darkness does not. A head shot should kill a zombie but if the person isn't quite there, a shot to the brain gives them adrenaline to attack.
A shuffle from behind me in the shadows, the autumn leaves scatter with the breeze and I wait, watching with my hand on my gun ready to defend myself.
Someone chokes out a loud unhealthy sounding cough before spitting. In the shadows I cannot see them.
'Tim' I say, not moving. 'Is that you?'
An animalistic growl has me backing away, eyes fixed on where the noise was coming from.
I was never very good and judging if someone was infected or completely changed. Where was Tim when I needed him.
A clicking noise from the persons jaws send a shudder down my spine and suddenly a female stepped into the light, her lower jaw had been partially torn off and the festering wound was crusted in blood. Her head tilted lopsided as she looked upon me with her soulless eyes. I pulled my gun free and held it up, controlling the shaking in my hands as I set target at her head.
'Help me.' She reached forward to me with her hand.
She speaks. She must be infected, I had no defense against her, I backed off slowly trying to calculate how bad her infection was, when from behind me someone hissed like a feral cat. Startled I whipped around and aimed my gun at the intruder.
'Tim?' I said lowering my gun slightly. 'Is that you?'
The darkness encased us and I turned my back on my husband when I heard the woman's feet shuffling from behind me, without thinking I let off a shot to high to have struck her in the head but it showed my intent.
The sound alerted nearby infected, the familiar beast-like sounds started around me. I turned back to Tim who stood looking at me.
'Tim we are fucked!.' I said.
He gargled up a laugh, his eyes widening unnaturally in his skull. I noticed for the first time that the veins in his face were bulging and his skin had scabs from what looked like scratch wounds. I looked down at his nails, I didn't need verification that his wounds were self inflicted. Tim, my dearest had been infected.
'Four hours.' He managed to choke out, as I looked over my shoulder at the ever watching woman.
'Sweetie, we can fix you.' I pleaded, 'don't give up.' I stepped closer.
His eyes watched me, hungry.
'Take off....your clothes.' He grunted.
I stopped. Stared at him in shock at his request. He couldn't be serious.
The woman from behind me had made her way silently closer and stroked down my long brown hair with her gnarly fingers. I pulled away, letting out a yelp of disgust. I hadn't meant to pull away with such force, but I fell into Tim with an undignified thud.
He stood his ground, his body firm and familiar against mine as his arms encased my small frame with too much force. He bit my neck too hard for it to be pleasurable and I let out a wretched scream. My eyes set on the woman who had touched me and behind her now were three other infected. Finding their way to us through the amount of noise I had made.
'I have a cure.' I tried to plea to them. 'Please, if you let me go I can help you.'
The four unknowns stalked closer, their eyes all set on me, they moved with stiffness and staggered weakly closer, but I already knew this was a farce, they could move, they could move very, very fast.
I lifted my gun and shot twice at one of the males that looked mostly changed and hoped he was gone enough to kill.
The shot rattled through his skull and out the back and he stopped in his walk to stare at me.
'Not....changed.' He roared.
I struggled in Tim's arms as he held me still while the three males and female charged me.
They collided into me, my nose was stung with the acrid scent of decay. I struggled as the female began to shred off my clothing with ease and only when she had a firm hold of my head did Tim let me go, backing off to watch the attack.
I felt the touch of someone's cold sharp nailed fingers as they caressed me in ways that only ever Tim had done. I let out a cry for help. Looking to Tim who stood like a brainless statue, watching.
The woman forced her tongue inside my mouth, and even biting down on its warm salivated slug-like texture never deterred her from trying to explore my mouth, the putrid taste of rotten meat made me gag and I allowed the sick to fill my mouth in hope she would pull away, only to discover the crazy woman became much more eager to try it again.
The cold hard press of one of the male's manhood forced against me and I reached down to get it away from me, I sunk my nails down into the skin and applied enough pressure that would have ensured he pulled away if he had been human. But he wasn't human, not anymore. He let out a growl and pulled the woman from my face before shoving me hard to the ground.
'Stop!' Tim bellowed. 'Enough.'
I breathed a sigh of relief, perhaps he had found some sense in his infected state. I pulled myself up to sit and watch them face each other down.
'Girl....toy.' One of them grumbled.
'Take turns.' Tim demanded. He threw a stick I didn't notice had been holding down at me. 'Defend.'
He smirked a sickening grin, and the woman that had ravished my vomit slithered to his side and clung to him with an equally sickening grin for completely different reasons.
I didn't have time to say anything, the three heavy set men crowded me and I grabbed the stick and swung for them, stabbing at their privates when they were left vulnerable. I was glimpsing hope of fighting free when the harsh snap of the stick left me standing with nothing more than a three inch piece of wood.
I dropped the remains of the stick and backed off, into the wall of a house. They had fought me into a corner of no escape.
I stood firm, I set my eyes past the three men and kept eye contact with Tim, preparing myself for what was about to happen.
He smirked at me. 'Good show Lucey Luu, see you on the other side.' He turned his back on me and with the woman clinging to his body like a leech he left me to the guys, wondering if he had been infected or if he had staged this whole thing.
The firm grip of one of the infected men's hands grabbed around my neck and slammed me against the wall a few times, my head connected with a crack and as he allowed me to sink to the floor with my vision darkening to them unzipping the flies on their trousers.
I made a promise to myself, I would survive this, and when I waken infected or changed. I will kill. And I will not be stopped.
