A/N First ever upload. Enjoy.
Sitting in against the door of the toilet cubicle, I began to cry. He was dead, never coming back. Only, he would come back. But it wouldn't be him anymore. He'll turn into a monster, like everyone else. I've lost him, the real him anyway.
My brother had come in here for a mere operation, and was on the road to recovery, but then they attacked. I'd had no other choice but to run. There weren't many of them that had gotten into his room, but there were enough that he had no chance of surviving. And it was my fault.
They'd surely be dead by now. I mean really dead. Not the living dead that all of them were turning into, but dead in that they are no longer alive at all. There were loads of armed military people around, but maybe they're all dead too. They had massive guns, so I doubt they would be. I'd like to hope they shot all the...monsters down.
There aren't many around at the moment, it's only the beginning. But it will get worse, it won't just stop. They don't even know what this illness is yet. The police in an attempt to keep the disaster on a down-low haven't put a name to these things yet. That would make it all too real for them to cope, but I know what they are, they're zombies. The living dead.
Upon hearing someone enter the bathroom, I stand up and unlock the cubicle, it's the only one and I presume they'll want to use it. That's when I realise my mistake. I hear the low grown that they make, those monsters that everyone's become.
Frantically, I try to lock the door again, but it's too late, the thing shoved its arm in the way of my closing the door. I could clearly see the bite mark on their arm, black blood oozing out of it. Their skin was a grey-green colour and it looked like it was rotting from the inside out. The stench alone was enough to make me want to be sick; it was like fish, sewage and vomit, all mixed into one. It was overpowering.
I'd never been so scared in my life. I knew I was going to die. No, you won't die. That's right, I won't die. I'll turn into one of them, things.
It's true what they say, your whole life does flash before your eyes, but I had no time to think about it, I didn't want it to end like this. I didn't want to be one of those things.
Even pushing all of my weight on the door I was still too weak to keep it closed, I could feel it being forced open. Desperately, I looked around the small cubicle for something, anything that I could use as a weapon. Nothing. It was empty. I let out a small growl of frustration.
There wasn't even a toilet scrubber in here. Just the toilet and toilet roll. Then I saw it, the air freshener spray.
Leaping forwards I grabbed it, knowing full well that the thing pushing against the door would be able to come in. I quickly turned and sprayed it in the face. Hoping to distract it enough to make a run for it.
It didn't work. It just made it angry, and now I was trapped in the cramped cubicle with a monster. I shook the can, empty. I don't know why but I threw the can at it. I knew it would piss it off more, but I was panicking. The monster locked its eyes on me; it's cold, dead eyes. They looked like two black holes sucking in all light and life from anything or anyone that looked into them for too long. The eyes alone frightened me, but I knew if I looked away I'd become one of them, but I hope to prolong the time before it comes, I put my feet up to my attackers chest, pushing them away from me in an attempt to get their teeth as far away from me as possible.
One bite is all it takes.
I take this time, before my inevitable death, to really take in the attackers face, I'd seen it, but not really looked at all the details. The brown hair still looked clean, having not been a zombie for very long, they had a little bit of stubble and their skin was only just turning the green grey colour that they all had taken on. He'd changed recently.
I let out a small gasp as I added it all together, I knew who this was. It was him. The facial features were the same, but the dead giveaway was the necklace he was around his neck. It was the crucifix. He'd never warn it because he believed in God; he'd warn it because it had the name of a woman who used to be very dear to him engraved on it. The name of our mother.
This was my brother.
It had to be him, really, didn't it? Only it isn't him. The monster has taken over now. He's gone. I feel a silent tear roll down my cheek as I stare at him in horror. He still had the hospital gown on, that barely covered his knees, his teeth biting thin air, trying to get a taste of my skin. It had only been an hour since I'd seen him alive, but his teeth were already yellowing and blood mixed with spit dripped out of his mouth.
Our mum was lucky, really. She's already dead. Gone long before this all broke out. Before this infection got loose.
Knowing full well I looked really pathetic, I lashed out, kicking with all my might, but he wouldn't budge. I knew he wouldn't. He was a lot older than me, and a lot taller as well as stronger. I was sobbing now, for both the loss of my brother and the fear for my life. There was no way that I was going to beat him. I knew it, and I could see deep down in those hollow eyes that maybe he knew it as well.
Suddenly, his body went limp; there was no sign of anything happening to him, until he fell to the floor. A tall, muscular man stood behind him, holding some kind of pole that looks like it came from the stand that they hook the IV fluid to.
"Are you going to just sit there?" He said in a thick redneck accent.
"N-no." I stammered quickly getting up to leave. "Wait." I said remembering the necklace my brother wore around his neck; I yanked it off of his lifeless body, and shoved it in my jeans pocket.
"You ready now, Thumbelina?" Nodding, I followed him out of the toilets. He walked almost silently, checking everywhere before he took another step. Not having enough time to question the name Thumbelina, or enough time to mourn my brother's death, I stick close to him. He seems to be more experienced in this world than I ever could imagine being.
There were dead bodies littering the hall, I had to clamp my hand over my mouth to stop myself from making any sound, shakily following in this mysterious guys footsteps. It looked like there had been a massive shoot out, between the zombies, and the military, like it had gotten a lot worse since before I'd gone into the toilets. I didn't think I'd been in there very long, certainly not more than an hour. How could all of this happen in that short amount of time.
Finally, we reached the fire escape stairs. "These head straight out into an ally, there might be some walkers out there. Be prepared to fight." He whispered so quietly I had to strain to hear what he was saying. He threw me a machine gun that a dead soldier was holding. I caught it with ease. "Don't shoot, use it to hit them." He whispered sternly. I nodded; attempting to hide the sheer terror that I knew was painted across my face.
Creeping down the stairs I could hear the moans and groans of the undead coming from within the hospital, however, the staircase was clear. Most of the doors to the floors of the hospital had been barricaded by gurneys and poles to prevent anything getting in or out.
We reached the third floor and yet another door was barricaded off, but this time there was scrapes and scratches on the door, and it had blood covering the window. I quickened my pace; not wanting to know what is behind it. Not ever wanting to find out. I just wanted to be free from here.
I could only think about how lucky we were to have been on that floor, how lucky we were to have found that door, the only one, it seems, that has not been barricaded, but then I heard it open, and slam shut. Shuffling feet began walking down the stairs and the groans became louder the farther down the stairs they got.
The man stopped walking and listened, before he turned to me and smiled, like he was enjoying watching me shake with sheer terror. "Run." He whispered, almost excited that this had happened, then he bolted down the last few floors of the stairs and I struggled to keep up, still clutching the gun in my hands.
I was following a mad man.
We got to the bottom of the stairs and piled out of the door, but he continued running, knocking out a few of the infected population of the human race on the way. My lungs were on fire, and I felt like my legs were going to give up any second, but this man, still seemed like he had mountains of energy, that he could continue running for the rest of the day.
I could hear the beeping of a car horn at the end of the alley, he may have mumbled something like idiot, but I wasn't sure.
There was only a few hundred metres until the end and I felt a new sense of hope that I was going to make it, but then I tripped.
A zombie had grabbed my ankle and I fell flat on my face. I cried out and used my gun to beat it back, that's when I saw that it was only half a torso; that its intestines were trailing on the floor behind it as it crawled its way closer to me, trying to take a bite of my flesh.
I pulled the gun up above my head and smashed it into the skull of the zombie in front of me, again and again. Blood splattered down my face. I felt sick.
I'd just killed a person.
Before I could let that last thought sink in I was being hauled off of the floor and was slung over the shoulder of which I presumed was the mystery man, only I was wrong. This man was slightly taller and bald rather than having thick brown hair like the other guy did. I looked up, and saw that there were at least three zombies stood around the other zombie that I'd just killed. My eyes widened. They were eating it. That thing was a zombie too, and they were eating it.
I was thrown into a car and the guy carrying me climbed in too before we drove off at dizzying speeds down road after road.
After about ten minutes, someone finally spoke up. "You don't look to good." A female voice said, with the same redneck accent as the other guy had had.
"You throw up in my car you're on your own, Thumbelina."
"You might want to stop the car then." I said holding my mouth, gagging. He did stop the car, only after he had checked it was clear, of course.
I practically fell out of the car and threw up all over the road. "Cough it all up, love, first experience with the walkers?"
Before I could nod in response I threw up again.
Standing up straight, I took in a deep breath and the strange girl handed me a tissue. "Thanks."
"My, you do look a lot better now." She said smiling widely. "Step back in the car. We've got quite the ride before we get back home."
"All better now?" A gruff voice said from beside me, I turned and saw they were handing me a stick of gum, I accepted and nodded.
"How rude of me, I don't believe I even introduced myself, I'm Rebecca, this here is Merle, and that's Daryl."
"I'm Emilia. Nice to meet you all." I smiled. "Oh, and thanks, all of you, for saving me. I thought I was a goner back there; on more than one occasion."
"No problem Thumbelina." The man, who had just been introduced to me as Daryl said with a straight face.
"Stop calling her that." Rebecca lightly slapped his arm, and Merle chuckled at the entire scene from the seat in the car next to me. "She's not that short."
Music began playing quietly from the tape player in the front of the car, only to be interrupted by a crackly radio broad cast.
"All survivors, all survivors. This chaos is not going to get any better, everyone is dying. The government has set up a military run safe area at Atlanta city, make your way there and you'll be fed and watered and assigned a house to stay in." Then it repeated, over and over until the strange guy shut off the radio.
"Guess we're going to Atlanta." Daryl said as we turned out of the city and onto the highway.