"Please don't go..." Alaina begged, tears sliding silently down her beautiful face. Brian shook his head as he
rolled his wheelchair to the front door. "I can't stay, Lainey. You know that. With this sickness going around,
and my downed immune system, I won't stand a chance against it." Brian was recovering from cancer, his
radiation treatment taking a terrible toll on his immune system. "B-but…couldn't you at least wait until my
graduation so I can come with you?" Alaina asked. Brian closed his eyes, tears falling down his own cheeks
now. "Lainey…you know I love you. And I wouldn't do this to you if it weren't for my own fear…" he paused,
taking a deep breath to steady himself. "I'm a coward, Lainey. You need to be with someone strong. Someone
who isn't afraid of anything. Someone who can protect you. …I can't do any of those things…no matter how
much I want to…" the last seven words came out as choking sobs. Brian's shoulders started to shake. Alaina
rushed over to him and wrapped her arms around him, crying into the dark blue sleeve of his hoodie. He
stroked her medium length, pale blonde hair. "I don't need to be protected…I don't need a superhero. I want
you, Brian. You're all I've ever wanted and more." She whispered. Before he could reply, a car horn beeped
twice rapidly outside. They both jumped. "That'll be my mom, to take me to Arizona." He said, eyes cast down.
Her beautiful, crystal blue eyes reflected her sadness. "Promise me you'll come back. Promise me." She
whispered, helping him inside his mom's Honda civic with his bag. "I'd travel the whole world for you, baby. I'll
come back. I promise." He said, kissing her goodbye. She watched he and his mom drive away down the road.
The gray, cloudy sky began to rain. She felt a lump in her throat, and couldn't hold it in any longer. She dropped
to her knees, face in her hands. "He's gone!" she cried into her hands. "He's gone…he's gone…" she repeated
helplessly. The rain began to soak her white cami and white cotton shorts. She didn't care. She couldn't get up.
Her hair was plastered to her face as the rain got worse, and the hours wore on. She heard a mumbled growl
from behind her, but she didn't turn around. Then, she heard crazed, out of order footsteps clamoring towards
her from behind. Only then did she turn to look up and see her neighbor, Mrs. Clemmons running at her with
crazed yellow eyes and chalky white skin. "Mrs…Clemmons? Are you oka- AHHHH!" Alaina screamed as Mrs.
Clemmons bit down, hard, into her left shoulder, drawing blood, then running away, in an absolute craze. Alaina
dared not look at the bite. She knew it was bleeding; she could see the blood running down her arm and onto
the driveway below her. She had a flashback of the summer before, when Brian was still able to walk. She'd
fallen and cut her leg on the corner of a coffee table. She remembered how he'd run to her and tore his own
shirt to staunch the bleeding, and then he'd carried her to the car and taken her to the Emergency Room, all
the while he was supposed to be at his best friend's wedding. "Can this get any worse?"she sobbed, and
broke down again, salt water mixing with the rain falling down her face.
The infection has spread far and wide all over America. Brian was finally able to walk again after a few months
of his mom's care and physical therapy. And that was when the infection struck. He learned to run again, faster
than his doctor or his mom would have liked. But considering that they were both zombified lunatics now, he
didn't really care what either of them thought. "I have to get back to Lainey. I have to keep her safe!" he told
himself over and over as he drove to Savanna. He was almost there. He turned the familiar routes to her
house, and wasn't surprised to see everything was just as bad as Phoenix. Zombies flooded the streets,
shuffling around, fighting amongst themselves, and puking all over the place. Some houses had burned down,
and some of them were still burning. After what seemed like an eternity, he arrived at Alaina's house. It was
still in good condition, he noticed. It seemed like the apocalypse hadn't even occurred here. "Maybe she's safe,
then!" he whispered to himself in excitement as he grabbed his M-16. He walked into the yard, and was
shocked to see the door blown off it's hinges. Scratch marks were everywhere. "These can't be made from a
Hunter." He mused, looking at the claw marks. They were long, ragged, and deep. He continued through the
house, and then he stopped in the middle of the hallway. He heard something. Not the moan and groan of the
zombies outside, but of something that sounded almost….human. He continued down the hall, and up the
stairs. Then, he heard the sound more clearly. It sounded like…crying. He instantly knew who was crying. He'd
only heard that sound twice in his life, and the familiarity of it nearly knocked him off his feet. He ran down the
hallway, into the master bedroom, and opened the door. The racking sobs continued until he opened the door.
He saw a young girl on the floor of the bedroom, in a dirt and blood-smeared white cami, and dirty white cotton
shorts. She looked up at him with red eyes that seemed to glow. A growl emitted from her throat. "Lainey…oh
God…what….what ARE you!" he asked. She continued to growl as he stepped closer and closer. He pointed his
flashlight at her to see her better, and instantly realized that THAT was a mistake. An earsplitting scream
erupted from the small girl on the floor, and she raised her hands to reveal long, red, daggerlike claws on each
hand where her small gentle fingers used to be. She rushed at him, screaming bloody murder. He, instinctively,
raised his gun and shot, but she seemed to take little to no damage. He ran down the hallway, she chasing hot
on his heels. He felt the cold stone of fear in his stomach, and she tackled him. She ripped his abdomen open,
sending blood spurting, slashing at the human who dared to startle her with his bright light. Brian looked at his
wound, his vision leaving him, his lifeblood spilling onto the floor. I shouldn't have left her… he thought with
extreme regret. Tears filled his dying eyes. He looked up at his one and only love, who had been infected by the
disease that he'd been running from. "Oh, Lainey…I'm so sorry…" he whispered with his last breath. Alaina
looked down at him. Somewhere, beneath the monstrous instinct that the infection had brought out, she felt
something. Pain? But not from the gunshot wound. She felt her old personality rising to the surface. She looked
down, her crystal blue eyes shocked at what she'd done. Guilt and grief overwhelmed her. Suddenly, she began
to cry again. "Oh, Brian! …I'm so sorry…what have I done? WHAT HAVE I DONE?" she brought her knees to her
chest as she rocked back and forth, weeping. "I'm so sorry…I'm sorry…I'm sorry!" She looked at her fearsome
red claws, stained with his blood. "I'm nothing but a monster…I'm nothing but a witch…a witch! Someone kill
me…Someone kill me, please…" she whimpered. Then, the infection claimed her mind again, leaving her to her
racking wails that plunge the hearts of every human survivor into fear.