Bitten

Arriving back to where Shane's hummer ran out of gas, we noticed the inside windows were smeared with bloody hand prints. I jumped out of our hummer before Cliff could completely pull to a stop, I ran to the open back door and peered inside. There was the bodies of two children and a headless woman's corpse, the children had horrendous bite marks on there necks and arms. There was a small bullet hole in each of their foreheads. I exhaled in relief, the fact that they are fully dead meant Shane was still alive somewhere, but that was the question...where? "Shane!" Cliff was circling the vehicle, he searched the ground for any signs of which way Shane had gone. "Cliff, weren't there two other kids, and another woman in here?" I asked pulling my 9mm out of its holster and readying myself for an impending attack. Cliff shrugged, and crouched next to where it looked like Shane had jumped off the hood of the vehicle and run East. Cliff looked towards the mountainous area, searching for any signs of life. He squinted against the setting sun, looking West. I tapped on the back window, telling the other survivors to lock the doors and stay inside, and only open them for us. Grabbing my shotgun and Cliffs M-16, I headed East. I handed Cliff his gun as I passed him nodding towards a tree where I saw a piece of torn fabric stuck in one of the lower branches. Cliff stood, took his safety off and followed me into the trees. There were broken sticks, and torn fabric along a steep pathway marking where someone had run. Whether or not that someone was alive, or infected was still unknown to us. The pathway lead us to a small clearing, and there sitting on a rock head bent looking at his hands sat Shane.
We approached him cautiously, Cliff pointed his chambered gun at the ground in front of the still figure. Softly he called "Shane? Buddy are you okay?" Shane stirred, but did not turn around. He exhaled loudly and wiped his eyes. I put my gun on safety and hurried towards him, placing my hand on his shoulder I peered at what Shane was so intently looking at...a bite mark on his arm. It wasn't deep, in fact it wasn't even bleeding, but it was red with irritation around the edges. "Oh fuck, Shane..." Cliff exhaled and stepped away from him. Shane looked up at me with a tear stained face, he whispered "One of the kids did it, I didn't want to kill them, they were just kids...Oh what have I done?" He burst into tears at this and shoved his face into his dirty hands. I pulled his wounded arm away from his smudged face and studied the irritated skin. The area around the bite was red and a bruise was forming under the skin. None of the skin was actually broken though. Cliff slowly raised his gun pointing it at Shane's head. "It's up to you bro." He said tears forming in his cold green eyes. "Wait! I don't think he is infected!" I stepped between Shane and Cliff, Cliff lowered his gun eyes flashing with anger. "What if he is, can we risk it?" Cliff grabbed my arm and tried pulling me away, but I pushed him away saying "Just wait, he can take the second hummer, that way if he is, we will be safe, but give him a chance." I said turning to Shane, I held my hand out to help him up. He wiped his eyes sniffing, but nodded grateful for any break we could give him. He looked at Cliff, and handed him his gun belt, but kept his baseball bat. Cliff looked at his feet, but followed us back to the road.
Climbing down to where the hummers were parked, we noticed the red gas can on the hood of Shane's hummer, but our hummer was nowhere to be seen! "That fucking bitch!" Cliff breathed through clenched teeth. Shane sat against the front tire, while Cliff and I removed the dead bodies of the infected survivors, and filled the tank with the red gas can. I used a heavy green blanket to cover the blood splattered back seat, and used it to wipe away the dried blood from the windows. I know it sounds bad, but in desperate times, no one thinks to cover, or even bury the dead. we just pulled them off to the side and got in the vehicle and drove to the gas station. Fueling up the rest of the way I told Shane about the strange crying zombie in the bathroom. He just stared at me with blank sad eyes. I felt bad for him, I had never had to kill any children zombies, and Shane had told us about his three little girls, so it was especially hard on him. I ran back into the gas station to get some snacks and drinks, since all the food I had grabbed was in the back seat of our stolen hummer. After the tank was full we pulled away in Silence, it was dark outside now, since the sun had gone down. Shane sniffed occasionally from the back seat, but other than that all was silent. I drifted away in the silence dreaming of how life used to be, before all this shit happened.

Pit Stop

Shane followed us for the next 30 miles, until his vehicle rolled to a stop. We turned around to make sure everything was alright. "Bitch is out of gas." Shane said as he slammed his door shut and walked towards our vehicle. Up until this point I hadn't thought about gas, I glanced at the near empty gas gage. "Theres a station 10 miles from here, we can make it gas up and bring back enough to get you there." I pointed towards the green sign stating that the next town was 10 miles. Shane nodded, and pulled himself onto the hood of his Hummer, he he started tapping his bat against the black metal push bar. I watched as Shane's red hair faded off in the distance. I hope the gas station hadn't been blown up.

We rode in silence listening to the kids in the backseat snore softly. As we pulled off the exit, I reloaded Cliff's and my gun, so that we would be prepared.  Lucky for us, the gas station was still intact. We pulled up to the end pump, and shut the vehicle off. Cliff turned to the mothers in the backseat and said "Stay here, and don't unlock the vehicle for anyone but us." A dark haired mother nodded, and stroked her sleeping child's hair. Cliff looked at me, I nodded and we climbed out of the vehicle. Looking both ways, I pulled the fuel nozzle from its holster and inserted it into the vehicle. Strangely I didn't see any infected yet. I tapped on the back window, the dark haired mother cracked it slightly, "Do you want me to grab anything to eat, or anything like that?" She nodded and smiled and softly replied "Just grab what you can dear." I nodded and headed for gas station. Cliff was already peering through the locked door. He pulled my hatchet out of its holster and swiftly broke the glass on one of the doors. An alarm sounded from somewhere inside the building. I heard distant screaming of zombies from somewhere outside. "Fuck!" Cliff handed me back my hatchet and unlocked the door pushing it open. I followed him inside. I turned the fuel pump on outside with the press of a button on the register. I headed for the candy aisle, and grabbed a couple boxes of crackers and a few cases of candy bars. I noticed a basket containing some fresh fruit. I grabbed it and stocked up on a few other things like toilet paper,  I turned to see Cliff leaning over the counter and grabbing a case of Camel Reds, and a zippo lighter. He grabbed a red gas can labeled "DO NOT STEAL!!"  I headed towards the cooler, grabbing a gallon of water, and a couple sodas. I stopped dead in my tracks, I felt a chill go down my spin. "Wait! Ssshhhhh..." I listened closely. Just under the dull scream of the alarm, I could hear...crying. "Do you hear that?" I said turning to see Cliff set his smokes down and head towards the dark hallway marked "RESTROOMS" in big red letters. I set the basket down slowly and took the safety off my shotgun. Cliff turned to me and put his finger over his lips to show me to be quiet. He turned the knob, and shinned his light into the dark bathroom revealing a slumped figure of what looked like a woman. She was shaking with the power of her sobs, her clothes seemed to be torn off her skin was a grey color. "Is she...?" I started in a whisper, but before I could finish Cliff shone his light on the sobbing figure. She let out a scream of surprise and threw herself towards him. He stumbled backwards falling and slamming the door in her face. The door shook with the power of her blows as she tried desperately to claw her way through. "What the Fuck was that thing?" Cliff pulled himself off the floor and pulled his M-16 off his back and pointed to the bellowing monster behind the bathroom door. The wood began to splinter away as the creature's grey clawed hands ripped it's way through. I stepped away from the door in horror, the bellowing stopped for a moment as the angry creature peered through the door revealing red glowing eyes. Cliff fired a full clip at the creature, it screamed in anger and started to push through the door harder.  It pulled its upper body through the door and Cliff ripped his machetti out of its case and started to hack at the creatures neck. With one last screech the creatures head rolled to the side and soaked Cliff's shirt with blood. "Fucking Bitch!" He said as he spit on the bleeding corpse.We headed back towards the gas pump blowing away about three zombies on the way. Cliff pulled the nozzle out of the Hummer and shoved it into the red gas can filling it. He handed it to me, I set it down at my feet and he ripped his blood splattered shirt off and threw it out his window. He spun the tires out of the parking lot and headed back to Shane.

Dr. Phibes

We headed towards what looked like the main medical tent. It was a white tent with a red cross spray painted on it. So far we hadn't seen anyone who looked like they had been bitten. Inside the tent there was a few beds. In one of the beds lay an ashen white woman. She looked dead, except that she was gasping for air, and giggling  Shane lifted his bat as if to get ready. "There is no need, she is heavily sedated." came a cool calm voice from behind us. Shane spun around looking at the young blonde man in a blood covered lab coat. He smiled like a crocodile looking past us at the giggling dying woman. His eyes light up when the woman inhaled one last time before choking out her last breath. "Oh good and now the fun begins." He said grabbing some rubber gloves and  strapped the dead womans hands to the bed rail. Shane was looking at this man with growing distaste, as the woman snarled back to life. "Oh that's a new record! How exciting." the doctor exclaimed as he injected the zombie with a yellowish liquid. The zombie sputtered for a moment, then blinked it's blank eyes at the doctor. "I'm Dr. Phibes by the way, I am doing research on these fascinating creatures. Did you know someone can die of a bite within an hour and 15 minutes?" The doctor was now knocking on the womans knees to test her reflexes. I turned away from him at this moment, he made me sick to my stomach. Cliff shook his head and followed me out of the tent. I headed for a group of men dressed in green camo. "Hey! I'm looking for my father, and little sister, who would I talk to to see if they are in this compound?" A young soldier with black hair laughed and said "The only people here are soldiers and dying people." I felt a lump build up in my throat, what if Dr. Phibes had experimented on my father? Cliff put his hand on my shoulder giving it a light squeeze, "You okay?" He asked looking concerned. I whispered under my breath "I will fucking kill him if he touched my dad or my little sister." Cliff nodded and tapped his Desert Eagle. The soldier turned and laughed with his soldier buddies. "Well then, have you heard if there is a Mike Dalton here?" I asked looking from face to face, hoping someone knew who I was talking about. The dark haired kid shrugged and pulled a cigarette out and light it, a red headed soldier next to him stepped forward, "Isn't his daughters name Tay?" He nudged his dark haired buddy "Remember that cute little blonde with the sweet little ass?" I ripped my 9mm from it's holster and shoved it under the soldiers chin. "That's my baby sister you are talking about, so I suggest you watch what you say." The kids eyes widened with fear. Cliff laughed an insane laugh, and stated "Don't worry about her, she will shoot you in the head, I on the other hand will shoot you in the heart so that you will come back as a zombie then shoot you in the head." His eyes flashed dangerously as he fondled the gold Desert Eagle strapped to his side. The kid looked from me then to Cliff, tears welled up in his eyes as he bawled out "I'm sorry please don't kill me twice!" I pulled my gun away from his face and put the safety back on, "So tell me about where my sister is." I holstered my gun, and stepped back. The kid rubbed his neck where the barrel of my gun was, he looked at me smugly and wiped his eyes. Sniffing he said "She was here two days ago, looking for your father. She said she was going to his house in Enoch." I turned on my heel thanking the unfortunate soldier as I did. I headed back towards the medical tent to find Shane. Cliff stood for a moment watching the soldiers carefully. Then turned to follow me. As I walked into the tent Dr. Phibes was removing the front part of the zombie ladies brain. Interestingly enough the zombie did not die when he did this. She gnashed her teeth against the leather strap in her mouth. He placed the brain in a metal bowl. "Excuse me Doctor, where did the guy we came with go?" Dr. Phibes chuckled and mumbled to himself, I asked again this time placing myself in the doctors line of view. "He is on his way to becoming my next test subject." He shrugged as he removed the next part of the zombies brain. Again it gnashed its teeth trying to get to its oppressor. Cliff jumped forward in a low menacing voice he said "What the fuck did you just say?" The doctor chuckled again, and started to remove another piece of the zombies brain. Cliff pulled his Desert Eagle out of its holster and shot the zombie in the face killing it, and spraying the doctor with congealing blood. A look of anger came over the doctors face at this, "Now what did you go and do that for?" He grabbed a rag and began toweling his face off. "Where the fuck is Shane?" Cliffs eyes had turned a stony grey, he now pointed the gun at Dr Phibes face. Cliff wasn't fucking around anymore, I heard men yelling outside. The gunshot must have alerted them. I grabbed Cliffs arm and pulled him out of the tent. Outside soldiers were scrambling to find weapons. A mother and a small child were caught in the middle of the rush, a soldier knocked the child out of the mothers arms in his haste. The woman cried out reaching for her lost child. The child was screaming for it's mother, I jumped in front of another soldier who was not paying enough attention, and was in a strait pathway for the screaming child. I stepped in front of him and scooped the child up. I heard the crack of Shane's wooden bat, he was yelling "Here piggy, piggy, piggy!" He came around the corner clothes lining one of the scrambling soldiers. He spotted us waved his bat at us and helped the child's mother up. "Anyone who doesn't want to be an experiment, come with us!" Three other mothers grabbed up their children and hurried towards our vehicle. Shane loaded the children up in the hummer next to us, "I will follow you." He nodded towards Cliff, Cliff helped a few other survivors into the backseat of our hummer. I was confused as to why, none of the soldiers were trying to stop us. I looked around to see if anyone else was trying to escape. Thats when I noticed the army of the dead. They were limping towards us. The soldiers were loading up in vehicles and crashing through the fences. Cliff stopped to see what I was looking at, and slapped his forehead exclaiming  "Shane" I started to laugh, of course Shane would do something like this. I jumped up in the passengers seat and sat out of the window yelling for any other survivors. We found a brother and sister huddled together under a bed. The mothers said they didn't think anyone else was left in the compound so we followed the fleeing soldiers.I watched the area carefully to make sure, we didn't miss anyone. I saw the doctor cackling as he was devoured by the monsters he had experimented on.

Leeds

We decided to take the Hummer, because it was the most durable vehicle that could fit everyone. I sat in the passenger seat, and Cliff drove. Sterling and James had decided to stay, since everyone with proper fighting skills had gone to Leeds with us. We decided the easiest and fastest way to get there would be to take I15. We went slow, since there were wrecked vehicles everywhere, and the occasion zombie limping along the road. Shane, one of the other kids who had decided to go with us made it a point to dispose of every zombie he came upon. Every time he killed one he would cut a notch in a wooden baseball bat he carried with him. At one point we had to get out and move an SUV that was blocking the road. Lucky for us, in a zombie apocalypse, no one thinks to take their keys with them.
It took us 2 hours to get through Cedar City. During that time, I attempted to make conversation with Cliff, but he was shy, so it was mostly me talking. That was okay, but I felt like maybe I had misjudged the electric pulse I felt everytime we touched. After telling him about how I had met James, and with no reply as to how he had come to be in my father's basement I fell silent. I started to study my shoes, I didn't want him to see the disappointment in my eyes. We rode in silence for about 15 minutes, then he broke the silence with a long exhale, and said "I miss when zombies were only in video games." I looked up at him, our eyes met for a moment, but he looked away quickly. Shane started to laugh in the backseat, "Zombies are the best thing to ever happen to this country, did you know before all this I was on parole? The best thing is killing cop zombies!" I was studying Cliff's face I watched how his eyebrows raised slightly as Shane said this, then he started to laugh and said "You are right, I did enjoy going piggy hunting with you." I looked between both Shane and Cliff, then started to laugh at the look of complete contentment on Shane's face.
Cliff was able to speed up as soon as we got away from what was left of Cedar City, there were less vehicles on the side of the road. Shane was curled up in the back seat snoring softly. I leaned my head against the window, drifting slowly into a troubled slumber. I was dreaming about what I still consider the worst day of my life. I didn't feel the tears rolling down my face until Cliff gently wiped them off my cheek. My eyes fluttered open in surprise. He was looking deep into my eyes with his piercing green eyes. His eyebrows were pushed together with concern. He glanced back at the road for a moment, but our eyes locked again and for a moment I felt like I knew him from somewhere. I pushed the thought out of my head and quickly rubbed my eyes embarrassed he had seen me cry, even if it was in my sleep.
"You were saying something, all I caught was the name Roy." He said gently as he pushed my tangled hair behind my ear. I exhaled looking down, and shrugged "He's nobody anymore." He cupped my face in his palm, eyes softening for a moment as he said "If he was nobody, why were you crying?" I looked down again, tears welling up in my eyes again, as I said "He's an ex boyfriend that didn't end well." Cliff nodded and said "Yea I have heard his side of the story a million times, what's yours?" I looked up at him in surprise, "You knew Roy?" He nodded and shrugged "He is one of my brothers best friends, personally I thought he was an asshole." He was gazing out the windshield, I could tell he had a great distaste for the man I once called love. I studied my shoe as I said "He hates me, and I should be over it but sometimes it still hurts." I looked up at him in time to see him staring at me out the corner of his eye. I blushed slightly, "He's probably a mindless zombie now anyway, so it really doesn't matter what happened, I need to move on." He smiled sideways at me, reached over and brushed a rogue tear off my cheek. "So your brother is Gus?" I asked looked up at him, I was trying so hard not to enjoy the warmth of his hand against my cheek. He nodded, then shrugged "I didn't really know Gus, I lived with them for a while, but I wasn't raised around them, so I didn't fit in." He ran his hands through his mohawk as he said this. I turned in my seat so I could face him "How did you survive?" He looked surprised and laughed "Amy? I just gave her, her way."  I laughed at this as well recalling how crazy Gus's wife could be. "No I mean this." I gazed out at the dying world around us, we were near a small town. There were wrecked cars littering the highway, and offramp. A few limping zombies turned their blank eyes on our vehicle as we passed. "Well, I didn't know anything was happening until I found your video on youtube." He shrugged slightly, swerving around a limping zombie with outstretched arms. I must have looked surprised, because he started to laugh. "I worked for a website, and didn't get out much. I heard the screaming from the apartment above me, but I thought it was his crazy girlfriend. I looked for the most recently viewed videos and yours popped up. I thought it was a joke, so I went outside to prove it to myself, and decided to go to you, since everyone else was dead." He laughed again "I was playing Left 4 Dead the during the real zombie apocalypse." I started to laugh, half wishing this were all a dream, and we were playing video games. We talked video games for the last 20 miles before we reached the offramp for Leeds.
There was a blockade at the offramp, with armed soldiers standing guard. We pulled up slowly, ready for anything. The soldier tapped the barrel of his gun against my window, I rolled it down to talk to him. "How many?" He asked looking around through my open window. "Three of us, but there are more in Enoch." I replied looking past him at the other guards, who were watching us suspiciously. The soldier squinted at me for a moment, then asked "Are you Amber? The chick with the safe house?" I smiled and nodded. He yelled some orders at the other guards, they opened the barricade for us and we edged our way through. We followed the cement barriers built around a makeshift compound. "This is the refugee center?" Shane had woke up, and was looking around us. The blocks opened up into an area filled with tents, and military vehicles. There were a few survivors, but they were mostly wounded. "I'm not so sure about this." Cliff was frowning at a group of bandaged children playing with charred toys. We found a place to park our vehicle, Cliff nudged me and showed me he put the keys in his pocket. I nodded and pulled my Shotgun off the floor. Shane popped his neck, and grabbed his baseball bat up off the floor. "Ready?" He asked tapping it against his window. We both nodded and stepped out into the refugee camp.