Chapter two: The Bite

"I hear a Hunter." Said one of the survivors I had found on my way out of the

city. There were three of us. Jane, a young girl that looked about sixteen years old, that wore her hair short and in her face all the time, who also had a wicked shot with the sniper rifle. She was also the one who heard the Hunter. There was David, a man in his early twenties, wore a baseball cap, and a dark red tank top, with a black hoodless sweatshirt over it. He was the enthusiastic one, always celebrating when we finally take down a Tank, or when he cr0wnes a Witch. Then there was Nero. He was usually, or what we thought was, calm, unless you piss him off. Then he'll threaten to cut your head off with his katana. He, like Jane, wore his hair short, or in a man's case, long, with his hair covering his left eye. He wore a black skin-tight tee-shirt, with the logo of some band I didn't recognize. Lastly, there was me. Pretty much average looking, medium height, short brown hair, with the exception of a scar slashed diagonally over my mouth. I usually wore this black hooded sweater and a pair of running pants. They considered me their leader. I had survived longer than they had. The infection started up north at first, and throughout that week I tried to make it south. But it was the same down here, if not worse. Nobody knew what was going on, it must have just struck recently when I arrived.

BEEP BEEP BEEP. Oh no..

"Shit!" Yelled Nero. "Who shot the car?"

"S-Sorry! A common hit me from side on!" Said David, holding his arms up in surrender.

"Quick, come closer to me, the hoard will be here any second!" I shouted, as I felt a slippery rope wrap around my torso.

"Damn it! A Smoker's got me!"

"Jacob!" Jane came running towards me, about to shoot the Smokers tongue and make him drop me, when we heard a loud scream.

"Oh shit! WITCH!" Screamed David. "Jane, run! She's after you!" Jane turned around with a look of terror on her face. The Witch ran at her with her claws exposed, and slashed her right across the chest.

"Jane, NO!" I managed to shout, with the smoker still choking me. Nero ran over to me and chopped the Smoker's tongue in half, while David rushed to Jane's side to shoot the Witch. Finally, with he Witch dead and me free from the Smoker's grasp, we ran over to examine to damage. Damn.. She's dead.

"Oh God I'm so sorry Jane.. This was all my fault.." Sobbed David, turning his back and wiping his eyes.

"Come on. We have to get going.. The safe house is only a little further." I whisper as I started walking away. The two other men followed me. Whatever happened to that hunter?

"We're almost there. I can see the door from here." It was a good thing too. I

ran out of bullets and dropped my pistols when that Smoker grabbed me.

"There!" I said as the other two ran ahead. I looked around, making sure I didn't see any infected coming at us. I didn't hear anything so I continued on. Then I felt a large pain on my lower leg.

"OUCH! WHAT THE?" I turned around to see a Hunter smile malevolently at me and jump away. What the.. Why did he just leave like that? I limped the rest of the way to the safe room. I opened the red metal door and slumped down in the corner, readying my health kit.

"Woah, what happened to you?" Nero came over and knelt beside me.

"A Hunter bit me and then ran off.." I sighed and cringed as I poured peroxide over the open wound.

"That looks bad.. Here, let me help you." Nero took the bandages from my hand, and started to get to work. I looked over at David who was looking out the window, crying while reloading his weapon. I watched and felt sorry for him. I wanted to comfort him somehow, but I knew I would probably make things worse. I was caught up in my thoughts and didn't notice that Nero was still talking to me.

"Hey, did you hear me?" He looked at me with concern on his face.

"Oh.. No. Sorry. I was just thinking.." I looked down at my leg, where Nero had bandaged it up.

"I said, why do you think that Hunter just ran off like that? Do you think he knew you weren't alone or something? Maybe he sensed you were just stronger than him? Jacob?"

"I-I don't know.. All I know is that he could have finished me off if he wanted to. I would be dead before you even got close." I cringed as I felt the bite sting even more. David began to walk over.

"Here. Take these pain pills." He handed me some pills and looked away.

"We should.. Get some sleep. We need the strength for tomorrow." He was right. I had a feeling that we would get out of here soon, so I limped over to a small mattress and slept. The next morning I heard helicopters and screams from outside.

"Jacob! We have to go, NOW!" Nero was reloading my shotgun, and checking our health kits. David came over to me and put one of my arms around his shoulders.

"Can you move?" He looked at me, and then my leg. Which was now swollen and bleeding more than before.

"I think.." My voice was more raspy than usual. I tried to stand up but a shot of pain went right through my body. "AHH!" David quickly put me down and handed me some more pain pills, then walked over to Nero.

"He can't move. His leg is swollen and I think he's.." David and Nero looked back at me. They began whispering, but I could still hear them.. Everything was louder. "..Changing. His nails have grown out and his teeth look like they were sharpened." They exchanged a sad look, then walked over to me.

"Come on, get him on my back. CEDA is down the street rescuing survivors, we have to get there as quickly as possible. Nero picked me up and put me on David's back. I felt so useless. If anything were to happen to them because of me.. Everything started to go black, and I slipped into unconsciousness.