Chapter 8: Living A Nightmare

"I love you, not for what you are, but for what I am when I am with you."

-- Roy Croft

Holding his hand in the moonlight would have been romantic if it wasn't for the fact that we were running away from humans because we were zombies. We entwined our fingers together and we squeezed eachother slightly. I could hear the gunshots firing behind us and other unholy sounds. We were heading into the small forest to try and elude them but they seemed to be following us quite well. It must have been the military considering the fact that they were on our tails quite well and they were chasing us. What right-minded human would chase a special infected? They were supposed to be terrified of us and runaway. Here we were, running for our undead lives. I was too drawn into my thoughts and forgot to watch my step. I tripped on my own to feet and let out a little yelp. Before I hit the ground, Cornelius caught me with his tongue and held me up by my waist. I turned my head to his direction and he glared at me. I nodded a thank you to him and he let go of me and said

"Watch your step, I don't want you to be the downfall of us."

"God Cornelius, what crawled up your ass?" Alex shot at him.

"Do you want the honest truth?" He responded just as angry

"Damn straight I do. I'm so sick and tired of your constant attitude!" He growled in response.

"You've been acting so different every time you're in Lucretias presence!"

"Oh, I'm acting different?" Alex said and turned around to face him. "You're a fucking dick!"

"Whoa guys, calm down." Dustin tried to reason but only to be yelled at as well but by both. I let go of Alexs hand and stood beside Dustin and simply stared at the two. We stood by a rather large tree but the moon glistened its milky rays onto them. Alex was shorter than Cornelius by a lot but just as deadly. I feared for our safety because we hadn't exactly gotten away yet and if this escalated, it would be bad. I prayed with my all that it wouldn't as I watched and listened.

"You're always putting on a big show for her." Cornelius responded

"Oh, atleast I try to be nice to her unlike you." He spat back and they both got into each others faces.

"You always get what you want Alex. You always have and always will." He growled out

"So that's what this is about?" Alex responded "You're just jealous because Lucretia talks to me more than you. Just so you know Cornelius, I wouldn't want to talk to you either if you were a dick to me."

"And you wonder why Lizzie talked to me more than you." Cornelius stated back and then it went silent. Alex tensed and glared at him and Cornelius just stared at him. I could sense that there was a line that was just crossed. It was confirmed when Alex spoke

"You take that back."

"She was unhappy with you Alex. You were so spoiled and hung up on yourself and forgot to spend time with her." He urged on and Alex seemed to be getting angrier but he continued anyway.

"You let her die Alex. You were there but you let her die." He hissed. It happened all too fast for me to take it all in. I heard Alex growl and saw him crouch. The next thing I knew, he had knocked Cornelius over and began to claw away at him. He was blind with rage and just continued to attack Cornelius who squirmed to get away. Dustin knocked over Alex to help Cornelius and I bent over to pick Cornelius up. I tried to keep him away from Alex but he ensnared him with his tongue and began to strangle him. I gasped and tried to pull Cornelius away but he seemed to have his mind set on choking Alex. I tried will all of my might but Cornelius just pushed me to the ground. Then something grabbed all of our intentions. The piercing sound of the gunshot cut through all of the growling and noises, it even pierced through his tongue and set Alex free. Something was shooting at us.

We turned our heads to see the light coming from the military men. We stared at them and they began to shoot at us more. We all scattered and ran different places to try and hide. We heard them scream in their human language to split up and find each of us. I ran as fast as I could but something stopped me in my tracks. The ground began to shake and I heard a deep, wailing sound come from somewhere. The military men turned around and began to fire at something large and unwelcoming. In one sweep, it knocked all of them out of the way and to their feet. i fell to my knees and found myself staring at the large creature from yesterday. I recognized the scars on it's face from my long fingers and it growled at me. The next thing I knew, it picked me up by the waist with it's giant hand and began to take me away deep into the forest. I listened to gunshots come from all different directions and heard Alexs screams and wails. Not only that, I also heard Dustins and Cornelius's too. More screams and gunshots penetrated the cold, midnight air a few minutes later as this thing took me somewhere. then it went deathly silent as It slowly sunk in that they had been shot and I was alone now. My dead heart had been crushed once more and I could feel the tears growing and consuming my eyes. I took in a deep breath and wailed and squirmed, trying my hardest to make this thing let go of me. My deafening screams now echoed and pierced the night, just as the gunshots did just moments before. But it didn't matter, not one bit. I was alone now, I once again lost what mattered. But this time, no one will be able to save me. I fell dead in the Tanks grasp and let it take me away. I closed looked up into the night sky and found myself staring at the moon. i prayed with all of my broken heart that they were somewhere better now. They deserved it.