The day of my tenth birthday was the day that my life changed forever. And definitely not in a good way. It all started out normally; Kaito, Miku, and I were all going out to celebrate my birthday. It was clear and sunny weather, and the smells were amazing. This year, my birthday happened to fall upon the day of a festival my town holds every year. I can't even begin to describe how happy I was learning that the day of the festival fell on my birthday. Kaito and Miku promised me that they'd let me have fun and do whatever I wanted. I had it all planned out too: first I'd get myself some ice-cream, then I'd play as many games as I could and win lots of prizes, after that came lunch, and finally Miku and Kaito said they had a surprise for me. I was supposed to be my best birthday ever.
It turned out to be the worst.
I skipped along in front of Miku and Kaito, laughing happily, "Hmhm you sure are excited, aren't you Len?" Kaito said, stuffing his hands in his pockets. I turned around so I was walking backwards, "You bet I am! Today is gonna be awesome!" I said, giggling. Miku laughed a bit, "I bet it will be, but you better watch where you're going before you trip." She said, crossing her arms. I laughed and turned around, continuing to skip along. When I saw the bright flags hanging from roofs and street lamps, my eyes grew wide with wonder. There were games, people everywhere, and food stands with amazing smells coming from them. I got so excited that I started bouncing and grabbed Kaito and Miku's hands, dragging them along, "Come on come on! Let's go let's go let's go!" I said happily. The blue haired man laughed, "We're coming, we're coming. Slow down there kiddo." I dragged them all the way to one of the ice-cream stands, and I could hardly contain my excitement as I stood there bouncing on my toes. I got my ice-cream and the day went on pretty normally. Kaito helped me win a stuffed bear, Miku won me a pair of kitty ears, I got to make some new friends- everything was amazing. Until after lunch.
"Alright kiddo, time for your birthday surprise. You ready?" Kaito said, grinning. I nodded, bouncing up and down, "Yeah!" The blue-haired man laughed and ruffled my hair, "Then let's get going!" He said. He took my hand as Miku ran ahead to get the surprise ready. I walked along with him, humming happily. After a moment, I stopped dead in my tracks, staring down an alleyway next to us. There was something there, hobbling clumsily towards us. I stared at it for a while, trying to figure out what exactly it was, until Kaito's voice jarred me out of my thoughts, "Hey, you alright buddy?" I looked up at him and nodded, smiling, "Yeah I'm okay." I said. We continued walking to where a crowd was huddled around a large stage. I thought there was something odd about some of the spectators on the sidelines. I waited with Kaito at the front of the crowd, holding his hand tightly. I suddenly felt very very uneasy. I wanted to go home. Now. I clung to Kaito, and he held me close to him with one arm. He saw them too. Strange people coming out of the alley-ways, looking decayed and rotten. It didn't take long for others to notice to, and I flinched and grabbed Kaito's jacket as I heard the first scream. I don't know how, but I'd managed to get myself separated from the blue-haired man amidst the chaos. I was jostled and pushed around by the swarm of people, calling out, "Kaito! KAITO!" Trying desperately to find the man. Everywhere I turned, I saw at least one of those... Those... Things. They were after people. I froze in my tracks and watched, wide-eyed, as one of them sunk their teeth into the neck of Miku. She screamed, and I watched as the blood pouring from her neck turned from a bright crimson red to a sickening black color. The skin around the wound began to rot, and I trembled as more of them crowded around her. Her screams were too much for me, and I felt the tears roll down my cheeks.
I shouldn't have stopped. I should've been paying attention. It wasn't long before I felt a crusty, dried-out hand grip my arm. I screamed and tried to pull away, kicking at the thing. I couldn't stop it from biting down. It's teeth sunk into my skin, and almost immediately the wound felt like it was burning. The sensation spread throughout my arm, and soon throughout my entire body. I could barely hear my strangled screams of pain through the ringing in my ears. My vision blurred, and I convulsed in pain as the burning sensation grew worse and worse. I grew tired; too tired to move, struggle, or even scream The rest of what happened was all a blur. The thing's teeth separated from my arm, and I saw a bit of a blue blur fighting it off. Kaito. After a moment I felt his arms pick me up. I was exhausted. I could smell smoke and hear muffled screams as Kaito carried me through the streets, looking for a safe place. After a while, my eyes closed and I passed out.
When I woke up I was laying on a makeshift bed, staring at the ceiling of a building of some sort. I was sweating, but the burning I'd felt before passing out was gone. Now I just felt hot. I turned my head slightly and saw Kaito fiddling with a radio. We seemed to be in a small shed. The windows were boarded up and the door was secure, which made me wonder about how long I've been out, "Kaito..." I mumbled. My voice sounded tiny and strained. It was loud enough for Kaito to hear though, and as soon as the sound landed on his ears his head snapped up to look at me. Relief washed over his face and he quickly set the radio down and went to my bedside, "Len... You're okay... Thank God..." He said, smiling a little at me and taking my hand. I squeezed it weakly and murmured, "What happened..?" The man's smile faded and he sighed a little, "You were bitten by one of those... Well I guess it's appropriate to call them zombies. You've been unconscious with a high fever for three days." He said softly. He placed a hand on my forehead. It felt cool against my skin, "You've still got one, but at least it's gone down a bit..." He smiled at me, "I'm so glad you're okay..." I managed a weak smile, which faded quickly as a thought came over me, "Miku...?" The blue-haired man's smile faded and he went silent. He took a deep breath and shook his head. I felt my heart drop. Miku had been like a sister to me. It was too much to bear. I was only ten, this was way too much for me to take in. The tears began to roll down my cheeks. I winced and hiccuped as Kaito carefully picked me up, sat on the bed, and held me while I cried.
I flinched as I heard the radio make noises, sounding like broken sentences of a news reporter. Kaito quickly set me down and picked up the radio, toying with it a bit until we finally got a good signal, "-virus spreading throughout the country. We are unknowing of how it began, but the results of it are catastrophic as many of you may have seen. The virus is transferred from the bite of one of the infected, more commonly known as zombies due to their dead-like state, and it takes the victim over in less than three hours. The blood of the victim turns jet-black and the skin slowly rots. If you are with anyone that has been bitten, we warn you to get away from them immediately as there does not seem to be a way to reverse the effects." I frowned at this. If the virus was supposed to be passed by a bite, then why did I seem to be okay? Granted I had a nasty fever, but it's been three days since I was bitten and I wasn't turning into a zombie. Kaito noticed too, and he looked at me with confusion on his face. Why was I unaffected? The blue-haired man turned back to the radio as the reporter went on, "If there are any survivors out there who are listening to this, please remain calm and stay indoors. Make whatever food and water you have left, and await official instructions. We are trying to clear out whatever large buildings we can to create safe compounds for survivors. We will keep you filled in on whatever information we have." I looked at Kaito as he sighed and placed the radio on the ground, "Well that doesn't do us much good..." "Kaito... If the virus spreads from those things biting people... How come I'm fine..?" The blue-haired man looked at me as I asked this, and he was silent for a while before saying, "My guess is that you're immune to it. Which makes you one very important person, Len. You're blood is able to fight off that infection somehow, and that could help us find a way to stop all of this or at least delay it and get it under control. I know it's a lot to put on your shoulders, but there's a lot riding on you. Once those compounds are set up we're going to need to get to one so they can get some sorta antidote or vaccine together." I went silent at this. I was immune. Probably the only one in the area that was. A lot of lives depended on my survival and my getting to one of the compounds. This was way too much for a ten year old boy. I almost started crying with the pressure of it all.
When Kaito saw this he quickly change the subject to something else, "I've got good news and bad news kiddo. The good news is, this shed is secure enough to keep 'em out. The bad news is that we only have enough food and water to last us a week, and it's gonna take a lot longer for them to clear out those compounds." I blinked as I just noticed the pile of food and jug of water in the corner of the shed. Kaito must have grabbed them from somewhere while I was unconscious, "So what you're saying is..?" I mumbled, fearing the answer. He took a deep breath and exhaled through his nose before saying, "We're gonna have to go out there." I clenched my fists around my shirt and shook my head, "I don't want to go out there Kaito..." Kaito smiled and came over to me, sitting next to me on the bed, "It's alright kiddo. There's a shop not far from us with plenty of food and water. I'll go out alone if you don't want to go." I shook y head again and let go of my shirt, wrapping my arms around the man, "Don't leave me here alone..." He wrapped his arms round me and brought me into a tight hug. I snuggled up to him, attempting to bury myself in it, "It's okay bud... It'll be okay..." He murmured gently as he stroked my hair. I clung to him, wishing all of this were just a bad dream.
But it wasn't. Two years ago on the day of my birthday, I got the worst birthday present I've ever gotten. The undead were living among us, and I have something in my blood that could potentially stop the virus, or at least prevent any more victims from being taken by it. Kaito and I waited two years for the nearest compound to be finished. Now it was a race.
A race to compound 37.
/So I'm writing my first zombie fic :3 I'll try to make it interesting and write it as well as I can. I hope you guys like it!