Her eyes were two beautiful pools of crystal blue sinking his heart right into his stomach. Her soft red hair lay gently on her petite shoulders and then swayed as the wind softly blew. She looked up at him, those clear sapphires piercing his very soul. She was so small and fragile, easy to break, but he couldn't understand why anyone would ever want to. She was like an angel, so pure and sweet, and she was everything to him.
He walked closer to her and reached a rough, calloused hand towards her snow white cheek, but then he noticed her eyes began to change. They became a wet blur as she continued to look at him. She had begun to cry, and he went into panic mode not knowing why she felt this way.
He tried cupping her cheek, but he couldn't. Some type of force was holding him back. He tried and tried again, and then his body began moving away from hers. He tried stretching his arms towards his angel, but the harder he struggled the further away he got from her.
Then all of a sudden, a loud noise blasted his ear drum, a constant tone slowly but abruptly making its way into his head and throwing him out of his dream. Shooting up in his bunk he realized the base alarms were ringing.
"Shit!" He exclaimed and hurried to put on his uniform, grab his gear, and make his way downstairs.
The other occupants of the barracks were doing the same and no one said a word. They had been on high alert for the past few days not knowing exactly what for. Most suspected a terrorist attack, and others, like Allen, had suspected it was this new disease rearing its ugly head in Georgia.
Allen was extremely tense, and his heart was pounding furiously deep inside his chest. All he could see was the images of her in his head, trying to reach her and hold her tight, keep her safe from whatever was happening. He couldn't stand being apart from her, especially during a time like this. He knew he was protecting her by what he was doing now, but he wanted to be right there where she was, protecting her directly and not letting any crazy person touch her.
Yes, crazy is what these people on the news had been. Totally bat-shit insane, tearing others apart fiber by fiber like they were cheap, bloody cloths. What was wrong with them? It was completely inhumane! And they didn't die until they were shot it the head? What the hell? This was some out-of-this-world disease, and he sure didn't wanna be around anyone who had it.
Allen looked at the scrambling soldiers around him as the alarm still screamed its deafening tone. He opened one of the pockets on his uniform and snuck a glance at his angel, a picture of her smiling just for him with those beautiful blue eyes and long, fiery red hair.
I love you forever & always - Kate was written on the back of the wallet-sized photograph that had been a little wrinkled and worn throughout the time he had had it since she had given it to him at the start of his joining the army.
It had been a tough decision, one of the toughest in his life, being away from her. He was lucky though to have gotten stationed within the same state in which she lived and they had both grown up in. He hadn't known exactly how long he'd get to stay at Fort Benning, being absolutely sure he would get deployed soon enough, but ever since this madness had been going on within the country, it was all hands on deck for the military. The higher authorities knew something they didn't and had ordered all military personnel to stay exactly where they were in case the situation got out of control, and that's exactly what was happening.
"Hey!" Somebody yelled from the other side of the room. "Hey! Somebody help! He's not waking up!"
Allen stuffed the photo back into his pocket, and his eyes darted across the room to see one of his comrades shaking another man who was lifeless, pale, and clammy looking.
What the… he thought, but before he could make any move to either help or continue following the orders to head downstairs he saw the lifeless soldier lying on the hard cot suddenly reach up his arms, forcefully grab the man standing over him trying to help, and sink his teeth deep into his neck before pulling away flesh, bone, and blood that was strewn all over the sleek floor.
The soldier who had had one half of his neck ripped out let out a bloodcurdling, anguishing cry, and the others around him yelled in horror attempting to pull him away from the monster that continued to grip and claw at the man's flesh.
From out of nowhere, others that had still been lying in their bunks suddenly reanimated and began attacking everyone in the massive room. Their hands and teeth dug into skin pulling out the blood, bones, veins, and organs of the men. The monsters chomped down upon fresh intestines, stomachs, and hearts. The room became a bloody mess and gunfire rang out as some of the monsters were killed by headshots and others remained animated sustaining blows to other parts of their bodies.
Allen attempted to escape the horrifying chaos but not before taking down several of these insane creatures that lunged for more than a taste of his flesh. He was horrified though in having to shoot them because these were his comrades, not just some random people who had become sick…not that it would have made it any easier. He knew the faces he shot, and with each bullet he felt a twinge of regret and guilt, but he knew it had to be done. There was no stopping them after they had gotten sick.
Their blood splattered all over him and he grimaced. He saw his battle buddies struggling and shooting the ones they had known as well. He couldn't leave them behind. They weren't gone, and you never left a man behind.
He turned back grabbing a writhing monster off of a soldier who had fallen to the cold floor and been bitten on his forearm.
"Ahh!" The soldier cried in agony. The skin of his arm had been ripped clean off and his blood spilled everywhere. Allen shot the face of the infected man that he knew and bent down to pick up his comrade.
"Oh my god.." The soldier in his arms managed to get out before he passed out from the blood loss.
Allen tensed up. "Hang in there!" He looked at his name on his uniform. "Hang in there, Peters! You're gonna be all right!" He knew now that he had to get out of there if he wanted to make it out alive and save Peters as well.
He took one last look at the madness surrounding him, men torn limb from limb strewn all over the room in a gory scene, and then made a dash for the stairs with Peters heavy and limp in his arms.
Peters' blood was oozing out all over Allen, but he didn't care. All he cared about at the moment was getting himself and this man to safety. He charged down the cold stairwell as fast as he could without dropping Peters.
"Hey! Man!" Allen attempted to wake Peters up again. "Peters, you gotta stay with me, man. We're gettin' outta here!"
Peters made a grunt but still didn't budge. Allen had to make it to the infirmary and fast before he bled out. Once downstairs he found himself surrounded by mayhem once more…more healthy people being attacked by more diseased people, and oh God! The smell was unbearable… The halls filled with the stench of rotting flesh. The diseased were feasting on fallen soldiers while the ones still alive attempted to kill off the insane, but there were just far too many! Where the hell had they all come from?
Allen could see from here that the infirmary was blocked by all of the chaos, but that wasn't going to stop him from trying. He still had his gun, but he couldn't shoot it while carrying Peters. He did the only thing he could do. He ran straight into the warzone with all his might almost falling over from the weight of Peters, the gunshots ringing loudly in his ears that echoed within the building, and from the amount of gore that had been produced by these creatures. He hadn't been overseas or seen combat, but now he felt he had an inkling of what it just might be like, and he didn't like it at all.
"Gaghhh!" One of the diseased people moaned out at Allen as he charged by. Its hand swiped at him and grabbed ahold of his ACUs pulling with hungry force. This caused Allen to lose his balance and drop Peters to the ground.
"No!" He yelled, but it was too late. The diseased had come for Peters seeing that he was easy prey, and they began devouring his flesh.
Allen grabbed his gun and unloaded on the one that had grabbed him. It gave out one last grunt before slumping to the floor in the bloodied mess. He then aimed at ones tearing at Peters, but someone else's shots got to them before his.
"Come on, Private!" It was a sergeant who had fired the shots and was motioning erratically for Allen to make a run for it.
Allen hesitated, looking back at Peters on the cold, hard floor, but then he realized the man he had tried to save was gone. There was nothing that he could do, and that ate him straight to the core. He blinked hard as tears formed in his eyes, but he wasn't going to let himself cry, not here, not now.
He looked to the sergeant and followed him hurriedly out of the building into the cold night air and away from the destruction of the barracks.