Oh come on you cannot be serious thought Matthew Knight as six more infectees rounded the corner, attracted by the sound of gunfire.
Opening fire upon the new arrivals he cursed his luck before turning and making a dash for the end of the road, turning into an office block and subsequently sprinting up the stairs away from the moaning monstrosities. Pushing a office desk in front of the door Matthew sank to a sitting position and allowed himself to breathe. Putting the pistol back into his pocket he reached out and grabbed the cold hard wood of the desk and let out a sigh, pulling himself up he began searching for any helpful items.
The air is warmer up here he mused to himself when suddenly a sharp pain exploded from his thigh. Yelling in pain, Matt staggered back from the gurgling creature and felt another searing pain from his mouth, fresh warm blood coursed from the incisor shaped holes in his lower lip. He shouted again the anger filled cry giving him strength to whip out the pistol, trying to keep the creature in the sights was a challenge, his vision started blurring.
Dropping the gun and falling heavily to his knees, he began to claw at the ground something hit him from behind and everything went quiet.
._.
"Matthew" a voice called, "Matthew" the authoritive voice insisted this time.
Letting out a barely audible groan Matt brought his vibrant blue eyes to meet the lifeless grey eyes of his English teacher Mr. Smith.
"Yes sir"? the seventeen year old answered, grinning not giving away his previous state of slumber.
The teacher replied in monotone "this occurrence will be present in your report" before he continued "Now remember class a test on Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet tomorrow…." As Mr Smith walked back up to the top of the class Matthew's greatest friend and companion, Henry 'Indiana' Jones elbowed him in the side and whispered, " Man what happened to you, you were out cold".
Whispering back Matt laughed " I was imagining I was in the Zombie Apocalypse ", "hell, that's not going to happen 'till twenty twelve, so no worries" Henry muttered.
"Eh, lets talk later, Smitty there is about to have a fit"
"agreed"
._.
After the bell rang and Matthew grabbed his books from his locker and rendezvoused with Henry.
"So Indy what's the damage"? inquired Matt
"well nothing much considering it's our second week back, just maths and science, and you"?
"well that bitchy art teacher wants an essay about daVinci and then a fill in the answer sheet for physics, you'd swear he thinks we're retarded but it means less work for me, you get where I'm going"
._.
The journey home wasn't a long one thirty minutes at the most, with Matthew and Henry stopping in the local shop nearly every day. The trip made shorter with the addition of company, both friends knew that without the other thirty minutes seemed a lot longer.
…."And here I go again on my own, going down the only road I've ever known, like a drifter…Henry's singing stopped by a light slap to the back of his head.
"Can you please be quiet, that racket is enough to wake the dead" snapped Matthew, the school day being less then kind, he just wanted to get home and have some peace, something his over active friend found hard to produce.
His friend looked at him and motioned to the lucozade he just bought "who pissed in your water"?
"Uh, sorry I just don't feel so good" said Matt as he rubbed his forehead. Looking at Henry he noticed that his lips where moving, but no sound was forthcoming, "Wha…"?
And everything went black.
._.
Guns, he could hear guns, and screaming. Jumping off the couch and turning around he beheld a television, his television. He was at home? Attached to the TV was an Xbox 360 and by extent his friend Henry, playing Grand Theft Auto Four and by the look of things getting too much fun out of setting fire to people.
Somehow hearing movement behind himself Henry turn to look at Matthew
"well hello there sleeping beauty", his reply composed of 'shut up' was followed by "what happened"?. "I had to lug your fat ass all the way here that's what happened" laughed Henry "but seriously you just fainted, lucky for me we were just down the road from your house, are you ok"?
Matt's eyes gained a far off look as he reassured his companion he was fine.
"Here Henry, stay a bit longer, I got Halo: Reach" Matt teased
"Aha, you got me there, lets whoop some covie ass" came the reply.
._.
At around half six Henry left for home, Matt had the house to himself, he cracked open a coke and flicked on the TV. Until the crunch of gravel informed him of the arrival of his mother, Sarah Knight.
Greeting his mother she began the motherly ritual of quizzing him on his day, leaving out his blackout he informed her of all he thought necessary. Over a quick bite to eat he asked "don't you have to pick up dad soon"?
Sarah checked her watch "yeah I 'spose I should, his plane'll be landing soon". Standing up she made her way to the coat rack in the hallway, shrugging her coat on she asked "I trust you can look after yourself"? her only response was a traditional teenage grunt followed by a muttered 'as if I haven't been doing that for years'.
Walking out the door his mother gave a shout of goodbye and closed the door.
Stretching Matt made his way to his 'lair' as his parents jokingly called it, and turned on his computer, surfing , his favourite pastime, he noticed one of his subscriptions had been updated, a story based around a continuation of the game Mass Effect Two, and the coming of the genocidal machine race called the Reapers.
A lazy smile made its way to his face as he imagined having powers like biotics and being able to fly around the galaxy and save the day and the universe acquire the team and tech he would need, the stuff of dreams, well his anyway. Realizing it was after eight pm, Matt gazed out the window and spotted something trailing in the star dotted sky, a shooting star. Shrugging he imagined himself as a hero again and gave it a try, nothing.
._.
After waiting a while longer his parents still not home Matthew flopped himself on his bed and donned his earphones as he slipped into unconsciousness yet again.
Flashing images with frightening clarity and realism plagued his minds eyes, people being torn apart, more dying from asphyxiation, a change, people cheering, burning corpses a figure standing on a building amid a ruined city and falling, his minds eye looked down on his own hands and they were covered in blood, it was his own blood.
A voice then rang out not dissimilar to the gravemind in the game Halo three.
You will know pain.
And the dark claimed him once more.