The constant pain in my arm seemed to dominate most of my thoughts. It had felt a bit better when I first woke up, but I'm guessing whatever painkillers they had pumping in me were now wearing down. It was a burning pain, deep within the bones even. I hadn't looked at my arm yet, surprisingly. I honestly was terrified to look at it. It felt wrong, like it didn't belong on my body. I could tell that their was something terribly wrong with it and I just didn't want to except it yet. Ignorance is bliss, as they would say.
I followed Alice like an obedient puppy. Once outside, I immediately wanted to turn around and hide in the hospital. The area was trashed.
"Do you think we missed World War 3?" I asked humorously. Alice just gave me a drop-dead look. I guess it was too soon for those kind of jokes, especially considering that we already knew what had caused all this damage. After the Hive, we seemed to have become experts on all things Chaos related.
Alice walked over to an abandoned police car. I noticed that there was a bloody hand print smeared by the drivers handle. No question at all of what was behind this destruction. Alice reaches into the car, and of course she pulls out a gun. I bet Alice could find a gun in an elementary school if she tried. I felt safer now that we were better equipped to handle any hungry face-eaters.
I watched Alice continue to survey the area, watching her calculating gaze take in every little detail. Then those eyes land on me and narrow. My back goes straighter under her gaze. She's about to tell me something but her eyes jump behind me. Her eyes widen, and she raises her gun. A shotgun even. She jerks her head down in a nod, and I immediately crotch to the ground. BAM! I hear a thump behind me, and look back to see a lady laying on the ground. Well, I would assume she was a lady if she hadn't been missing her face now. Blood gushed thickly and slowly from the gap in her face, and formed a puddle around her now completely dead form.
"Thanks." I whispered, getting up from the ground.
Seem like I have a knack for saving your life." Alice said, a cute yet cocky smile gracing her face. I couldn't help but chuckle a bit as I walked over her to give her a light hit on her arm. Only thing is that it was with my right arm, the messed up one. I hit her a little harder and more awkwardly than I had meant. This caused Alice to stumble back from the force. I quickly grabbed her with the same arm before she could fall.
"My bad. Guess I'm stronger than I thought." I said righting Alice on her feet.
"Looks like you tore through the stitches some." Alice said, looking at my arm. I almost looked, but remembered in time to avert my gaze. This made Alice look at me with slight pity. Of course she would understand my dislike for my newly mutated limb. I was just happy it had stopped at my arm, or at least that's what I thought.
"Common. Let's find some bandages and clothes. I really appreciate shoes right now." She said, as she tip-toed around broken glass and shattered metal bits from crashed cars. I followed her with a little less grace. We made it to a small strip mall. "Can I borrow that for a bit?" Alice asked, gesturing towards the lab coat she had given to me in the hospital. I handed it over. She wrapped the fabric around her elbow before swinging it into the glass window, shattering it. She unwrapped it before handing it back.
"Ladies first." I said with a smirk. She rolled her eyes and climbed carefully over the broken glass. I followed shortly after, but snagged my foot on a piece of glass.
"Shit." I swore, hopping away from the glass before landing in a chair. I held my foot and examined the cut. It was deep, but not very long. The blood seemed strange, moving slower than usual. I wiped my finger through it, and it was thicker and darker than it should have been. I rubbed the coagulated blood between my fingers. It took me a moment before I noticed that, the blackish blood was actually a very dark green. My body instantly reacted as I quickly spewed whatever my stomach contained, most of it being the same green blood.
Alice rushed over, rubbing at my back like my mother used to when I was sick. Finally, my body had no more to throw-up. I quivered on the floor.
"I'm like them. I'm not even human anymore!" I screamed angrily. I slammed my hand into the ground, a fist denting into the linoleum. I continued to hit over and over, my own knuckles becoming covered with the dark green blood, only causing my anger to rise.
"MATT!" Alice screamed loudly. It seemed she had been screaming for a while but I hadn't noticed. She wrapped her arms as tightly as she could manage. "Shh, shh. It's ok. You're NOT like them. You're NOT one of them." She whispered breathlessly in my ear. I calmed slowly, still shaking with anger.
We sat there for a long time, before she broke away.
"I'll go find a first aid kit. Why don't you find some clothes while I go looking." She suggested as she began to stand.
I panicked. I didn't want her to go yet. I grabbed her arm, my eyes pleading for her to stay. "I'm fine. Please, just stay." I begged.
She gave me a soft smile, patting the hand, the same grotesque, one fondly. She leaned forward, her lips brushing softly against my forehead. "I'll be fine. Don't forget, I'm a big girl with a big gun." She said, her face inches from mine so that I could feel her warm breath on my face. She began to smile and stand again, but once again I pulled her close to me. My lips crashed urgently to hers. I was desperate to convey my feelings to her. It felt rushed, yet electrical. I pulled harder, and she landed on my lap, were I wrapped my arms possessively around her, gluing her to my chest. She was shocked by me aggressiveness and it frightened her at first. She tried to pull away from me, but I growled in response. She jumped in response, and I felt bad for it. I loosened my grasp and she began to melt into the kiss. She soon to charge, initiating the force I craved. Soon I let her go.
"I'll be back soon." She said breathlessly, landing a quick kiss to my now swollen lips. I let her go. Once she left, a goofy grin peeled at the corners of my lips.
I went digging and finally managed to scrap up a pair of jeans, a green tank top, and a jean jacket long enough to fit my infected arm into. The shoes were the hardest to find, and it took me a while to find a close enough fitting pair. It was looser than I would like, but when the world was ending, you didn't have the time to be picky.
While Alice was gone, I allowed my self to finally examine the damage to my arm. The muscles were bulging under the skin, stretching the skin tight with stretch marks all over, especially in the shoulder and bicep. The skin had a dead looking gray color to it. At parts, the skin was stretched too far, and split open and caked in dry blood, both green and red. It was sore, like when I had growth spurts when I was younger but far more intense. My left arm hung at mid-thigh, while the right mutated one hung past my knee, leaving me unbalanced if I moved to quickly. The hand had longer and thicker fingers. It was easily larger than a dinner plate.
As I waited, I decided to test the arm. It was by far stronger. I curled the fingers into a fist and punched the brick wall. I easily made a hole in the wall without using all my strength. The tendons bulged under the skin. Using it helped with the pain, lessening the anxious energy that flowed in the limb. I continued lifting and breaking the materials around me until I felt childish and stopped. Down deep, I had to admit that it was kinda cool that strength I had.
I heard footsteps. Pulling on the coat to hide the arm, I went towards the front of the store to see Alice climbing through the broken window. A girl with mocha skin and black hair followed suit. The girl seemed young, only in high school. Her hair stripes of purple in it.
I raised my eyebrow questioningly at Alice. "Matt, meet Alice. I met her on the way dealing with some... issues." Alice said. My eyes widened. I knew what issues meant. I rushed to her. "Are you alright?" I asked, examining her. "Yeah, I'm fine. I told you I was a big girl." She smiled, before pecking my lips with hers.
"Well, welcome to the club Raven. Are only rules are to watch each other and to not try to eat anyone." I said with dry humor. Raven actually thought this was funny as she laughed into her hands.
"Your funny. I like you." She said, letting me notice her southern accent for the first time.
I gave a quick nod before turning towards Alice. "Shouldn't you get some clothes on. That doesn't seem like the most comfortable pair of scrubs." I said, noting to her scrubs. She nodded her head a bit, giving a quick kiss to my cheek before she headed of to dig for clothes.
"So you guys together even with all the shit goin round?" Raven said blutently. I looked at her for a while, letting her words register. Then I gave a shrug. "Honestly, we meet right before this happened."
"Well kudos for you boy." Raven said, flopping to the ground to dig into her bag, checking to see that she had all the necessary materials. I picked up Alices bag to see what she had gathered. Some bagged food, mostly just chips, candy, nuts, and beef jerky. Water bottles and Gatorade, as well as pain killers. I took that bottle out and popped a few pills into my mouth and swallowed them dry.
"Druggie." Raven teased, and I just grinned. "It's been a hard few days. Can you blame me?" I asked. "True that." Raven said with a nod.
Alice came back, dressed in a red tank, leather pants and jacket with boots. She walks up to me and digs into the bag, pulling out a first aid kit.
"Let me see that arm." She said, opening the kit and pulling supplies out. I shrug out of the coat and hear Raven gasp in response.
"Holy Shit. What the fuck happened to your arm? Oh my God." She said, standing up to come closer and gock at it.
"I told you that I had a bad few days." I smiled guiltily.
"Are you safe?" Raven asked me but Alice answered. "He's perfect, just fine. He's not diving to take a bite out of you now is he. It's been a long time since this happened. The virus should of affected him by now." Alice said in a clipped tone. She wiped disinfectant on to the gaps in the wound and letting it dry before pulling out a some butterfly stitches and super glue. She carefully put on the glue like a second skin before securing the skin with butterfly stitches.
You take such good care of me." I smiled at her when she was done. She then surprised me by laying a sweet kiss to the shoulder. My blood rushed as she looked at me, her blue eyes darkening. I leaned in closer before hearing Raven cough obviously.
"We should get moving. Find a safer place to sleep. Some where high, but easily escapable." Alice said, shoving all the gear into the bag. Me and Raven followed suit. I took the bag from her, shrugging it on before she could protest.
"You handle the guns, I got this part." I said. Alice then prompted to hand me a gun. I smiled, before checking the basic pistol.
"K, let's head out." Alice said, now in military mode.
