Hello, here I am again. Did you miss me? Well, I thought a bit about this story in the last few days, because I wanted to do another one of The Walking Dead. However, those slow and dumb zombies were already boring and lame.
So, I decided to make things a little more difficult. It won't be a long story, but hey, it will be good (I hope) and a lot of people will die.
Enjoy!
See you later!
Through the dark and dank alleys of the place, a man was running as fast as he could with no apparent destination. Desperation was evident on his face and this feeling made his irregular steps echo loudly along with the screams, grunts and growls that followed him.
Behind him, several people were running towards him, people with angry, red eyes, veins bulging in their pale skins and blood dripping from their mouths.
The man was already tired, he was panting heavily from fatigue. He would say that he was in good shape. Despite his work as a teacher, he visited the gym frequently. But despite this, it was as if those people simply did not get tired, and he could swear that some of them ran at the same speed as a professional athlete.
Grunting loudly as he heard the footsteps getting closer and closer, the man leaped over a trash can at the end of the alley and jumped over a chain-link fence, falling awkwardly to the ground, but completely ignoring the pain and running back as fast as his tired body would allow.
The people behind him screamed and threw themselves violently against the fence, which surely wouldn't take long to give way. Until then, the man hoped he would be far away from there.
He ran and ran, until he finally stopped at the corner of a street, no longer able to keep running. He rests one arm on the wall of the building next to him, and the other on his knee as he bends forward and catches his breath. Sweat dripped down his face, mixing with the already dried blood on the side of his forehead and cheek, dripping onto the floor. He had no idea how far he had run, but he knew it was longer than he had run in a long time.
Tiredness caused him to ignore the noise at first, but as soon as he recovered enough to stand upright without his legs threatening to collapse, he heard the chaos taking place in front of him.
The man raised his head, and his disbelieving eyes stared at the scene. Cars were crashing into each other on the street, even into the walls of surrounding buildings. People ran and screamed in fear and desperation as they were chased by people similar to those who chased him minutes ago. Fire was coming out of some overturned cars and he could very well hear what sounded like gunshots not far away.
His mind was confused, and he had no idea what was going on.
He had barely arrived in the city.
That week had been the worst week of his life. He had come home from a stressful day at work. He knew that his marriage was not a flawless marriage, he had come home expecting a cold or disinterested look from his wife, but not even in his dreams would he have imagined that he would instead find a look of pleasure on her face as he fucked that senator.
On top of the bed he bought... where they had their first time together years ago.
He would admit that he lost his mind. Seeing that, he was blind with rage. He had been accumulating negative feelings inside his chest for too long. Feelings that had been building up not only in his love life, but in his office, in a conversation with his boss, in his classes where most of the students didn't care.
That was the trigger, and he only realized what he had done when he saw, clear as day, the blood of both his wife and the senator on his hands.
In one afternoon he had become a murderer and the number one topic of the news channels. And in one afternoon, he had lost everything.
But, as it turned out, he was not the only one who had lost.
On the way to the prison, in a conversation with that somewhat friendly and experienced cop, they had an accident. He fainted when he hit his head, and woke up at least a day later, because the morning sun was still rising on the horizon.
When he awoke, his head was throbbing. He got out of the car, shocked to see the cop's body lying on the ground not many steps from where he was standing. Apparently, the man had been pulled and dragged out of the vehicle.
He tried very hard not to vomit when he saw part of the officer's skull and chest with literally exposed bones. And what was worse, was the hole right in the middle of the officer's forehead.
It was as if someone had ripped the flesh from his body and then put a bullet in his head. What kind of psychopath would do something like that?
... Maybe he couldn't even judge a barbaric action like that... he had no right.
From then on, he began to run towards the city. Trying to ignore that strange feeling in his chest when he saw that there was not a single car going to or leaving Atlanta. Not one way to get help.
And soon after he arrived in the city, it didn't take long before he was faced with some crazy people and destroyed places. It was chaos, everywhere he ran.
A scream much closer than the others caught his attention, and the man turned just in time to react as he saw a woman running towards him and literally throwing herself at him.
The man's eyes widened and he raised his arms, holding the woman by both shoulders as he grunted as he felt himself being pressed against the wall. That woman was strong, too strong for a woman of that stature, she being only half his height.
"Lady! Calm down! Damn it, get off of me!" The man grunted as he tried to keep the woman off of him, without much success.
He didn't want to hurt her. Maybe she was just sick. But whatever it was, it was spreading fast.
He didn't have to think much.
Pushing the woman to the side, the man landed a punch right on her chin, knocking her down, and quickly tried to run from there as fewer and fewer "normal" people were around, and more of the infected appeared.
As he ran, however, he soon realized that continuing on his way down the street had been a bad idea. Ahead of him, many people were running towards him, coming out of the street not far from there. Most of those people had blood around their mouths and seemed to be chasing some other people.
The man saw the exact moment when a fat man fell to the ground and was swallowed by these things. He could also see, in disbelief, people running even with parts of their bodies in critical states.
One man was running with parts of his leg missing flesh. Another ran with his stomach practically ripped open.
No way those people were okay... in that state, maybe they were even dead.
But this was not something he thought of at the moment.
Turning, he runs in the opposite direction, but it was as if those things were everywhere. The street was beginning to become infested with those people.
Not only that, but the man could tell that some of these people were people he had seen attacked moments before. It hadn't even been five minutes and they had already changed.
What the...
Running his eyes around quickly and feeling his heart racing in despair, he focuses his gaze on the external fire escape stairs in the next building. Before he could even move, he heard a very close growl just behind him.
Adrenaline kicked in, and without turning around, he ran full speed toward the fire escape stairs. The base of the stairs was in an alley, and unfortunately for him, there were infected people in the alley as well.
Gasping as he feels his legs burn from running, the man climbs on top of nearby cars, jumping from ceiling to ceiling until he reaches the top of a van.
An idea that initially seemed good, but proved to be a bit ineffective, because just like him, those people started jumping on the roofs of the cars until they jumped towards the van.
The good thing was that the alley was now empty, as those people ran towards him.
The bad thing was that he was gradually getting surrounded and he was already tired of having run for so long.
The man on top of the van looked at his surroundings with increasing desperation in his eyes. More and more of those people were approaching, and some were even holding onto the edge of the roof of the van, their red eyes locked on him. It was as if they were looking at him as a target.
An animal to be slaughtered.
And somehow, although these looks were somewhat frightening, the man couldn't really say that they affected him as much as they should.
He saw similar looks after what he did, both from his family and from the families of the two people he killed.
Honestly, deep down he even thought that it was like a punishment. That those people were after him precisely because of what he had done.
The man shook his head, running his trembling hand through his hair, feeling naked in the presence of so many stares. He felt as if he had returned to court, and in the background, mixed in with all the chaos, he could even hear the voices of those people calling him a murderer.
Calling him a monster.
Cursing him and wishing to heaven and hell that he would pay.
It stuck in his mind, and as he went through it again, he did what he wanted to do while on trial.
He ran.
The man jumped over the people trying to climb into the van and ran towards the alley, again feeling the adrenaline kick in, and momentarily forgetting his tiredness.
Of course, people soon ran after him, closing the gap between them at great speed.
The man made it to the stairs and began to climb, gasping heavily as he heard the footsteps literally behind him.
Many people followed him, however, and soon after he climbed a little further, the weight on the old and poorly maintained ladder caused it to tremble, and soon, the man felt the ground beneath his feet give way.
The ladder fell, bringing all those people to the ground. In reflex, the man managed to hang on to the undestroyed part of the ladder.
He pulled himself up, and just in case, climbed a little further before looking down. People were throwing themselves against the wall and shouting in his direction, scrambling like irrational animals with only the capture of their prey in mind.
The man stood for a while just watching those people. Catching his breath a little now that he was out of danger.
Many questions surrounded his head.
What the fuck was going on? Why were people going crazy?
In the background he could hear sirens, either ambulance or police sirens, along with gunshots and more screams. The gunshots soon attracted the attention of the people literally below him, and the man watched as those people began to run out of the alley.
He took this as a sign for him to get out of there too. It was no use wondering what this was or what was happening.
Taking calmer but still imprecise steps, he went up to the third floor after seeing that the windows were locked on the floors below. He could try to break them, but he didn't want to run the risk of being mistaken for one of those people.
Not to mention that, from the blood he saw in one of the rooms, he certainly wouldn't risk it.
After reaching the third floor, he slowly opens the door and looks inside the place. The hallway looked clean, a little dimly lit, but nothing that was a problem.
Slowly, he entered the building, placing a large potted plant in front of the door so that it wouldn't close. If there were any of those infected in there, he would have to be very quick.
After reaching the end of the hallway, he runs his eyes down the doors of the rooms that follow. Most of the doors were open, but with no sign that anyone was still in there.
The noise outside was muffled, but loud enough that it was a little harder to hear if anyone was in there.
Slowly, he walked to the nearest door and leaned his body forward, checking the inside.
The place looked clean, tidy even, if you take away the fact that the table in front of the sofa was rather dirty with potato chips and a few bottles of soda.
But no sign of the resident.
Continuing on his way, he goes to the next door, where it was inevitable to stare. There was a large pool of blood near the entrance to the kitchen, also staining the wall just below a broken window.
Whatever had happened there, whoever lived there had been attacked and had ended up throwing themselves or falling out of the window. Maybe in a fight with the attacker?
The man swallowed dryly at the sight of the blood, and he wondered what he would do from then on.
He would rather seek help from the police. He would rather go to jail than be chased again.
But there was no chance he would ever get back on the street. At least, not at that moment. He would have to wait until things calmed down.
Continuing to walk around the place, he arched an eyebrow when he saw that the floor was in a mess. Beds were lying around in some of the hallways, closets in random places.
Just a mess.
He soon reaches the elevator, which, to his dismay, was broken. What were the chances?
He was forced to take the stairs. But with luck, maybe he would find someone else there.
As soon as he opened the door to the second floor, his body locked up and he held his breath, without even realizing it.
While the third floor was somewhat empty, the second floor was infested. He could not react to seeing people literally ripping the flesh from a man's torso with their bare hands and literally eating it.
He saw them take the intestines, the guts, and pull out large chunks with their own teeth, chewing and enjoying themselves as if it were a huge feast.
A scream brought him back to reality. An almost inhuman scream, as if the throat of the man who had spotted him was ripping open.
The scream alerted the others, and soon, a sea of infected began running towards the man.
The man grunted loudly and turned around, closing the door and starting to run up the stairs. The countless Infected threw themselves against the door, which opened violently, and they began to chase him.
The difference was obvious. The man was already tired, and those people, from what he could see, did not seem to feel the fatigue. It didn't take long for them to catch up with him.
The man felt his shoulder being grabbed and quickly turned around. He grunted as he felt himself being pressed hard against the wall, stunning him slightly. Despite this, he managed to put his forearm over the neck of the man attacking him, preventing him from being hurt.
That infected man was strong, it was as if his physical strength had doubled because of the virus or whatever, and the man knew he couldn't stay in that situation any longer, especially with other infected people approaching.
Glancing over, he saw a red dot beside him, and quickly grabbed the fire extinguisher attached to the wall, hitting the object right on the side of the infected's head.
The man gasped for air and quickly threw himself against the infected, pushing him backwards and causing him to fall down the stairs, slowing those climbing up and buying him a little time to run to the door on the third floor.
Once he arrived, he closed the door and ran his eyes around knowing that it would not be enough to be safe. His gaze then fell on a cabinet beside him.
He quickly pushes the cabinet in front of the door as fast as he can, as well as a wooden table dropped in the hallway. It wouldn't be enough to stop a sea of infected like those, but it would be enough to buy a little time.
As soon as he blocked the door, he quickly ran down the empty corridors toward the fire exit.
Perhaps it was naïve of him to think that the alley or the streets would be clear. Or at least empty enough for him to get out of there.
However, it seemed that the number of infected had doubled. The alley, the streets, and even the visible interior of some establishments were crowded with infected.
The man grumbled loudly. He was surrounded. No chance to get out, and staying there was just as dangerous.
The sound of the infected screaming got his attention, along with the noise of the table and cabinet being pushed. He didn't have much time.
Running into the building again, the man goes to one of the rooms. The first one he had checked, and quickly closes the door, just as the table and the cabinet fall to the ground and the sea of infected enters the third floor.
He threw himself against the door, his hand firmly on the knob as he listened to the footsteps and cries of the infected, hoping that they hadn't found him.
Well, now he was trapped in a building with who knows how many infected. At least he was alive. Even though he could die at any minute.
The image of those people devouring that body would not leave his mind. He never thought that a virus would make people become cannibals.
Taking a deep breath, he slowly let himself fall to the floor, his back braced against the door. What a crazy day.
He had no idea how long he had been in there, but he knew that, although there were still infected on the third floor, the footsteps and grunts were far less.
The bad thing was that they were spread out now... well, maybe not so bad.
While he was in there, he checked the place out. There was plenty of food in the refrigerator and in the cupboards of that apartment. Not very healthy food, but better than nothing. This place belonged to a man, from the clothes and the utensils in the bathroom.
He was already screwed anyway... he took a shower and changed his clothes, feeling much better than before and even a little more calm.
While rummaging around, he even found a gun. A pistol. He didn't really know how it worked, and to be honest with himself, he didn't even want one. He already had too much blood on his hands.
But he left the pistol nearby... he wasn't stupid. Maybe, he would have to use it.
He looked at himself in the mirror, after he finished getting ready. He was wearing a black shirt with dark jeans, he was barefoot, he wouldn't risk having his footsteps heard by some infected. His head was no longer throbbing so much, but still, it became a bit of a challenge to bandage his wound.
He looked in the mirror for a long time, thinking about how fucked up his life was. Even before people went crazy.
The best thing to do was to go to the police, something he would try to do the next day.
Leaving the bathroom and walking to the living room, he sits down on the couch and stares at the turned off television.
His mind was an even bigger mess, but something that had been bothering him since he woke up were his parents.
He remembers seeing his mother in tears... remembers the stern look and stern words of his father. He remembers his brother's look of shame and defeat.
He remembered well the disappointment present in the eyes of each of them. And he knew that at that moment he was just a stranger to them.
He knew that he had screwed up their lives. People would attack them, just because they were close to him.
His parents would probably have to close the pharmacy... he knew.
But he also couldn't help but worry. If what was happening in Atlanta was also happening in Macon... he hoped that this was not the case and that they were okay.
The weight of everything that was happening was finally catching up with him, and after he spent a while crying softly, he blacked out on the couch from exhaustion.
The next day came, and just as planned, he tried to leave that place in search of help. But he couldn't. After being chased through the corridors by one or two infected people, he again found the alley infested.
He really thought he was going to die, but somehow he managed to get to the room.
He couldn't stay there any longer, if he stayed, he would die. He had to do something.
With that in mind, he grabbed a frying pan from the kitchen and moved down the hall.
The first infected ran up to him. And although he had already killed, he did it through the influence of his feelings, not being sane like that.
The feeling of hitting that frying pan extremely hard on the infected's head permeated through his hand. The sensation of the blood splashing on his arms and clothes made him nauseous. But he stood his ground, and did the same to another infected.
He knelt down in front of the two bodies lying on the ground. They didn't fall with a single blow, and he was forced to literally crumple their heads until they were immobile. He felt as if he was going to throw up.
His hand trembled and memories of that night came flooding back. Guilt filling his chest just as that blood trickled down the floor.
Jesus...
Shaking his head, he forced himself to stand up and walk down the hall toward the next room. He had to get out of there, that was his goal. He didn't want to have his flesh devoured by those people, and if he had to sink someone's skull in to get out of there...
Again, his hands were already stained, what difference would it make if he spilled more blood? That's what he was trying to tell himself.
He searched a few rooms in that corridor, while fending off the infected who simply seemed to have no end.
In the end, he got a bag full of food and a few other useful items, as well as a baseball bat.
This took much longer than he had thought. Maybe a little more than a week. And in all this time he could not find even a living soul around.
However, in this time he could observe the infected as he left some safe areas. And something curious caught his attention.
As time passed, some of the infected seemed slower, their skin darker, and their eyes duller, almost as if they were dying. But still moving. Meanwhile, other infected, although changing slowly, were still fast, still active.
It was as if, if they went too long without eating, they would die, becoming in a form similar to those monsters in the movies.
What was the name again? Zombies?
At first he thought about it, but soon discarded the idea. Those infected were not zombies, because they were still alive. Just like a normal person, they needed food and water. He knew this because he had seen one of them drinking from the toilet inside one of the apartments.
In other words, unlike in the movies, these things would be around for a while, because they didn't necessarily need to eat human flesh.
Things were looking better and better, for fuck's sake.
At the moment, he stared at the gun in his hand, in an internal conflict with himself about whether to carry that gun or not.
He didn't need it so far... and the police could see with different eyes a murderer carrying a gun. They would certainly be on edge with those things on the streets, and maybe, it wouldn't be hard to get shot on the spot.
But in the end, he decided to take it. If he got more than one infected, or if he ended up in some trouble, the gun would come in handy. Even though he had never shot in his life.
Leaving the room, he walks briskly towards the outside fire exit. A thick cloth tied around his shoes allowed him to walk faster without making too much noise, and it wasn't long before he reached the stairs.
The alley was not empty, but compared to days ago, there were far fewer infected.
Descending the steps, he looked at the broken part of the stairs, crouching down right at the edge. It wasn't a high drop, but if he fell badly, he wouldn't run fast enough to escape the infected, should he be spotted again.
Straightening his backpack on his back, he takes a few deep breaths, and jumps. Good, he wouldn't have to worry about a bruised knee or a sprained ankle.
Getting up, he takes the baseball bat and walks towards the infected man who was running towards him. As he approached, he hit the infected on the side of the head, knocking it violently to the side.
Behind him, another infected was approaching.
Hitting the infected in the ground a few more times, he soon turned and hit the next one, doing the same until both were motionless on the ground.
Although he had dealt with them for a while now, it never got easy. That blood dripping on the ground gave him chills.
Ducking down, he walks as fast as he can toward an abandoned car in the street ahead and observes the situation.
There were indeed a large number of infected on the streets, simply wandering around or eating what they saw on the ground. However, there were also a large number of abandoned cars that served as cover.
This was madness, and he knew it. To pass through so many infected like that, a single mistake and he was gone. But despite this, he forced himself to walk silently through the cars.
He always checked underneath the vehicles as he approached, he didn't want to have his heel grabbed by some bloody hand he didn't see.
As he approached the corner of the street, he leaned on the car he was using for cover and muttered softly. The intersection, despite having abandoned cars, was wide open. In other words, the chances of being seen were high.
Especially when there was a small group of infected not far from there.
Sighing softly, he runs his eyes around looking for some other passage, until he focuses his gaze on a fallen brick not far from where he was, probably the result of a car hitting the wall of the building next to him.
The man made his way silently to the brick, picked it up, and walked back to the car he was in before.
Those things were attracted by sound, all he had to do was to attract them in the opposite direction from where he was going. Lifting his body slightly upward, he focused his eyes on the street ahead, looking for some targets. He could try to hit a car window, that would certainly make a loud noise.
In the worst case scenario, he would hit the tin and it wouldn't make that much noise, or he would simply miss the target.
Moving his arm backwards, he throws the brick, which bounces off the roof of a car next to the group of infected until it hits the window of another car. Luck or script, to be damned, this attracted the attention of the nearby infected.
The man quickly crawled under the car he was in when he heard footsteps approaching behind him, and he watched as two more infected ran toward the noise.
After seeing that he was clean, he climbed out from under the car and ran across the intersection until he reached the next street.
Before he could continue, however, he heard the roar of an Infected in front of him, and was forced to throw himself to the ground and crawl under an abandoned car.
The infected's roar was different, more frightening and causing the same discomfort as a chalkboard being scratched.
The man couldn't help but be surprised and incredulous when the car literally sank a little as the infected jumped on top of the vehicle. What kind of person was heavy enough to make a car almost touch the ground? Maybe a bodybuilder?
Whatever it was, it soon ran toward the noise, and the man could breathe a sigh of relief.
Checking the surroundings once more, he gets out from under the car and, without turning around, continues on his way towards the nearest police station. Perhaps the cops have barricaded the place to wait until the army arrives.
With luck, maybe the army has already arrived... although the man, deep down, didn't believe that thought. If that were the case, things would not be this way.
And he tried not to think about the abandoned tanks and military vehicles on the streets he passed... he tried...
He continued to follow the infested streets using the cars to his advantage, either crawling under them or getting into a vehicle to wait for a group of infected to pass.
A few hours passed, and he finally arrived at the police station. He was still intact, which was great.
However, to his misfortune, the police station was destroyed. Cars were abandoned in front of the place, and it seemed that the cops had really tried to build a barricade there, but from the bodies lying on the ground, and the infected cops wandering the street, it was obvious that it had not worked.
The man felt his hopes quickly fading and being replaced by despair. If the police had been defeated, what would he do now? What the fuck would happen to that city? Fuck, he didn't even know the state of the rest of the country, and since there were no helicopters around Atlanta, it was somewhat obvious that the government wasn't trying to exile the city.
Closing his eyes and taking a few deep breaths, the man tries to calm himself down... maybe they were forced to leave the police station... maybe... maybe they went somewhere else.
Maybe there was something to indicate this at the police station.
Shaking his head, the man walks into the place, trying to ignore the several bodies lying on the floor, along with guns without ammunition and with several shells lying around.
Bodies with several holes all over... what the fuck had happened there?
The man walked to the destroyed doors and cautiously made his way inside. There was blood on the floor, the whole place was a mess.
Tables and lockers were down, beds and stretchers were overturned. A few steps away from where he was standing, he could see some medicine bottles.
At some point, that place had become a base... a safe zone. But something went wrong.
He started to search the place as fast as he could. He certainly didn't want to stay there overnight. It didn't look safe enough, especially with those broken doors and windows.
He found some medicine, and even a little more food, along with some flashlights and a few knives that he promptly picked up and put away.
What caught his attention, however, were the military rifles in a ransacked office. Again, he had never shot in his life, and he knew that the infected were attracted by noise, which made a weapon like a rifle, although very strong and destructive, more of a danger than exactly a help.
He could only think of one situation in which he would use a rifle, and that would be to get rid of a large group of infected.
And because of this, he decided not to take up the guns.
While he was searching the place, however, a noise at the entrance to the police station caught his attention, and he immediately stood on guard, already with his bat in hand.
Walking silently to the office door, he slightly tilts his body to the side and observes the situation.
And what he saw frightened him as much as the time he saw the body of that dead policeman when he was being taken to prison.
An infected had entered the place. Not like the others he had seen so far, this one was bigger. His hair had fallen out, his skull was deformed, his lower lips no longer existent. The infected man had no shirt, showing the deformed bones of his torso. It was as if his ribs were changing places still inside his body.
The bones in its back were visible, and blood stained the thing's body almost completely.
The muscles were elongated, not too bulging, but certainly very strong. Also deformed.
A long tongue protruded from its mouth while its grayish eyes stared into nothingness. The man could clearly hear the infected sniffing around, searching for him.
That thing was literally trying to smell him. What the fuck was that? How could something like that exist?
The man held his breath without even realizing it, and slowly began to walk to the back of the police station. The cloth around his shoes made his steps even quieter, allowing him to walk at a greater speed.
His eyes did not leave the creature in front of him, which sniffed constantly and came closer and closer in his direction.
A noise next to the office caught both the man's and the creature's attention.
The man simply froze, as the creature growled loudly. An even more terrifying growl, and extremely similar to the growl he had heard earlier while hiding underneath that car.
A bloodied man crawled out from under a fallen cabinet. He couldn't tell if this person was infected or not.
And he would never have the chance to know, because the big creature jumped from the entrance of the police station to where the bloody man was standing and, with a simple movement with its pale hand, grabbed and crushed the man's head, starting to devour his neck in great speed and brutality.
The man watched in shock, and he felt his heart beat even harder when the creature stopped devouring that body and turned in his direction.
The infected hadn't found him yet, but it could feel his scent, probably stronger than before, and soon it dropped the body and started walking towards him.
The back door was open, but the thing would simply follow him, even if he got out of there. And he certainly couldn't outrun that creature, not after seeing that jump.
With no choices, he slowly picked up the pistol as he moved toward the door. That would certainly alert other infected, but desperate situations required even more desperate actions.
Once he reached the door, he could see, for a few seconds, his surroundings. And lucky for him, there was a huge hole in the fence not far from there. Unfortunately for him, there were infected people in the street, so as soon as he got out of that hole, he would have to run.
The creature growled after coming even closer, now probably already knowing the location he was in.
His time was up.
He raised his pistol, pointing it toward the creature's head.
If the movies were correct, all he had to do was aim and shoot... right? It couldn't be that hard.
And that is exactly what he did... however, there was one small but big detail that he forgot. The safety lock.
The gun did not fire, and the creature attacked him.
The man threw himself aside and started running in desperation towards the hole in the fence, hearing the creature growl again and start chasing him.
The footsteps ceased, the man turned around, the creature jumped. Too fast, and he went to the ground with the creature right on top of him.
The monster raised its bloody arm to attack him, at the same time the man raised his arm that was holding the gun, now with the safety lock off.
The creature moved, the man pulled the trigger. The kick of the gun made his hand go numb, but a fair price to pay to get that creature off of him.
The monster screamed in pain and put one of its huge hands over its face, struggling violently from side to side.
Seizing the opportunity, the man got up and ran towards the fence, passing through the hole and continuing to run as he saw the infected approaching quickly.
The alley surrounding the buildings next to the police station was empty, lucky for him, but he knew that that shot had alerted all the Infected on that street, and it was only a matter of time before he was cornered.
That was if he didn't get caught by that creature first.
Two Infected appeared ahead, and the man shot at them. His aim was horrible, to say the least. But, although he wasted at least four bullets unnecessarily, he hit the two infected, both in the chest, stomach and neck, not killing them immediately, but disabling them.
He reached the street, and could hear the roar of the blind creature. Grunting, he ran down the street, jumping over cars and changing direction whenever an infected appeared in front of him, until he entered another alley.
As soon as he did, he looked around. A dead end. He could jump over the wall, but he knew and could hear Infected on the other side.
Gasping for breath, he goes to the back door of the building, and to his surprise and relief, the door was open. He enters the building and quickly closes the door, pushing a table in front of the entrance and keeping silent.
The infected were shouting and growling on the other side of the door. They had not seen him enter the building.
Thank God.
He just hoped that creature didn't follow his scent in there, otherwise he would be screwed.
After a while of making sure that no infected would enter, he breathed a sigh of relief and turned around, only now noticing his surroundings.
There were several empty shelves and racks scattered about. A kind of warehouse, perhaps. With old beds scattered about, it was hard to know exactly what it was.
Shaking his head, he walks to the next door and opens it.
The moment he does, however, he didn't know whether to be happy, or to curse his luck.
People... after so long, he finally found other people.
It was a shame that at least three of those people were pointing guns in his direction.
He slowly raised his arms up as he ran his eyes over those people. It was a large group.
Three women. One tall with long straight hair, rigid features, pale skin and a stern look, pointing a pistol in his direction. She was wearing a black tank top, regular jeans, and dark shoes. Blood stained part of her clothes.
Another one with short dark hair, also pointing a pistol in his direction. She wore light jeans stained with blood on the side, a purple blouse, and light regular shoes. Her features were more delicate, pale skinned, and short in stature.
The last one had blond hair, and was older than the other two, maybe in her early forties. She was a little chubby, with a few wrinkles on her frightened face, short stature. She wore a light long-sleeved blouse, regular jeans, and gray shoes. Unlike the others she was not pointing a gun at him.
Five more people. Three men and two children... no, two almost teenagers.
An old man who looked more like a muscle wall. He also pointed a pistol in his direction.
Another one in his forties, with a large mustache on his face, a brown cap with large white details. He had a machete in his hand.
And the last one was a silly-looking young man. Straw blond hair, thin, in his twenties maybe. This one had a piece of wood for a weapon and looked as frightened as the blond woman.
He even reminded the man of one of his students.
A little boy and a little girl in a cap, at last. Both quite young, maybe 12, 14 years old at most.
The man was a little disoriented at first, almost as if he had forgotten how to communicate with another human being.
"I...I'm not one of them. I don't want any trouble." He said, his voice causing surprise in himself. Only now did he realize that he hadn't said a single word in many days.
"Shut up and put your guns down." The taller woman said somewhat rudely, causing the man some confusion. "Do you have any idea how much shit you've done, shooting around?! We almost got killed you son of a bitch!"
Slowly, the man put the baseball bat down, still looking at the woman.
"Ahm... I'm sorry about that, miss. But how the hell was I supposed to know you guys were around? If I hadn't shot, I would have been dead." The man said, now placing the pistol on the ground, as well as the two knives he had picked up.
"Maybe it would have been better that way, for both of us." The woman said, and he grimaced.
"Well, lady, fuck you too." He said, returning the woman's rigid stare.
This was something he would never do in his old job. Especially with a child around. But honestly, those last few weeks had pushed him over the edge.
"Don't try to be a smart-ass, asshole, or I'll shoot you right here. I advise you to leave your backpack here, turn around, and leave." The woman said.
"Lilly. Come on." The woman next to this Lilly, the one with short hair, said softly. However, Lilly just ignored her.
"What? You're joking. You want me to go outside with nothing?" The man said, somewhat indignantly. What was her problem?
"You lasted until today, I think you can do it." She replied.
"Its... is it really a good idea... to let him go?" The blond-haired young man asked, somewhat frightened, alternating his gaze between the woman and him.
"I don't think he will come after us, Ben. He's alone, and he'll be left with nothing." The man with the mustache replied.
"No... it's not that... I know this guy... he's dangerous." The boy named Ben said, and the man internally grumbled with regret.
He had spent so much time alone that he had forgotten that his face went out all over the country. Maybe even in some other parts of the world, who knows.
"Ah, yes, I was wondering where I knew him from. That's Lee Everett." The old man said, his expression becoming even more somber, and taking a step forward.
"Who?" The man with the mustache asked.
"Haven't you heard? That animal out front killed his wife and a senator after catching them in his bed. It went out all over the country." The old man replied, and Lee cringed inside in shame and guilt.
"The fuck?! And what do you guys want to do?" The mustached man asked, evidently frightened, and standing in front of the blonde woman, the boy and the girl as a form of protection.
"What I said. He's going to drop his stuff and leave. Even if he decides to follow us afterwards, should he somehow survive, we'll already be long gone." The woman said, approaching at a steady pace while still pointing the pistol toward him, who despite the intimidation, did not move.
After all that, he wasn't going to risk being shot for moving and them thinking he would attack someone.
"...Wait, wait, Lilly." The old man called out to her, and the woman stopped walking. "That military base in Virginia we heard about, who actually had it built?"
"What? Does it matter? The sons of bitches won't let civilians in." Lilly said with an annoyed expression.
"I don't care. Who ordered them to build that shit?" The old man insisted and the woman sighed.
"Colette. Why?" The woman replied.
Lee swallowed dryly. He had heard that name before.
"If I'm not mistaken... she's Abriam's sister, right? The senator he killed. "The old man said, approaching the woman.
"If we turn in her brother's killer, maybe they'll let us in." The old man said, making everyone there, even Lee, look at him.
"What? You want to take this guy with us all the way to Virginia?!" The man with the mustache asked, somewhat incredulously.
"Oh man."
"I agree with Kenny. Why would we do that? Just let him go his way and we'll go ours." The short-haired woman spoke up.
"Oh please, you idiots want to spend some more time out here, along with those things outside?! This could be our chance, think of the children." The old man replied.
"Exactly. Taking a person like him with us when we have children? Have you gone crazy, old man?!" The man with the mustache said.
"Not to mention we don't even know if it can work. We agreed to go to Wellington." The short-haired woman said.
"Oh yeah, sure, you guys want to cross the whole country to get to a place that may as well not exist when we can take this asshole to Virginia and guarantee our seats. How many people have we lost in just this one and a half weeks? Huh? How many do you think we'll lose if we go to Wellington?" The old man retorted.
"I don't know, man. I wouldn't feel comfortable sleeping next to him." The boy, Ben, said.
"You're not even comfortable sleeping alone, princess. Man up first and shut your mouth." The old man said, and the young man scratched the back of his head awkwardly.
"Come on, old man, you are not serious." Lee said, speaking up for the first time since they started that argument. "Look, I might as well leave and everyone go their own way."
"Shut the fuck up! I'm not letting my key to that fucking community go away like that." The old man said. "I heard that woman was against your arrest, she wanted you dead. I bet if we show up with you there, we'll be able to get in. Hell, maybe she'll even congratulate us."
"Dad-"
"Things are getting worse and worse out here. You all saw those monsters attacking the police station. There were thirty of us, we dropped to twenty, and now there are eight of us, counting the kids. Do you really think we'll survive until we get to Wellington?" he said, interrupting Lilly.
"And what are our chances if we take an assassin with us?" The man with the mustache said.
"Ah, quit being a doll, Kennedy. What do you think he'll do with his hands and feet tied?" The old man said.
"Whoa, wait a minute there, old man. What the fuck do you think this is?" Lee asked, indignant, but the old man just snorted in disregard.
"And what are you going to do about it, huh? Take that gun, shoot one of us, and run away? Good luck getting past that herd out there. You fired a gun, that stirred up the infected. It'll take a while for them to leave." The old man said, fearlessly approaching Lee.
"Meanwhile, you are stuck here with us, and we outnumber you. I advise you to stay put, asshole." The old man said, and Lee stared him deep in the eyes.
He could scream. He could knock over a shelf and make a lot of noise. He could run and open that door. But he wouldn't do any of those things. Not only because it would put him in danger, but because it would also put those two children in danger.
The boy looked at all this with some hesitation, but there was a certain level of curiosity along with fear.
The girl was the same way, but her golden eyes were not afraid to meet his brown ones.
He looked away, uneasy.
The odds were against him in that case.
Well, just when he thought things couldn't get any worse.