Apocalypse

16:Out of the Rabbit Hole

I woke up the next morning to the sound of Ryan grunting.

I opened my eyes and saw him rubbing a liquid on his back. A long red scar ran down his spine. Next to it, a tattoo of a moon was drawn in grey ink.

"Are you ok?" I asked.

Then I remembered our escape yesterday. The zombie that grabbed the back of his shirt.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He grunted.

I got up and took a small canister of salve off of the ground and started rubbing some in on his muscular back. He twitched a few times.

"Is it infected?" I asked.

"I couldn't tell if it was a creeper or a dummy. I think it was a dummy but if it's a creeper....."

"No, you would be much worse today if it was a creeper."

All of the sudden, I heard a loud groaning.

"Creepers." Ryan said quietly.

"How do you know they aren't dummies?"

"Because dummies can't smell us from here."

He slipped his shirt back on.

"There is another way to get out, but we have to be really careful. I almost died getting out the first time."

I gathered the small duffel bag he had and grabbed a small handgun.

He led me through small tunnels and crawl spaces until I saw light from the top of the cavern, probably forty feet up.

"Now we have to climb."

I raised my eyebrows. The walls were slick and didn't look like we could get any traction.
Ryan threw a rope with a small hook at the end up the cave wall.

"Ladies first."

I got a firm hold on the coarse rope and started up the side of the wall. I grabbed onto a few rocks that jutted out from the wall. My hand slipped a few times but I never fell.

I hoisted myself out of the hole and scanned my surroundings. There was a large plain surrounding the hole that were lined with forests.

"All good!" I yelled down the hole.

I held down the rope and felt a few tugs. I watched as Ryan shimmied up the rope, grunting and groaning as he went.

"I'll pull you up." I started to heave the rope up.

"No, I can do it."

"Ryan, you are hurt. You are over exerting yourself. You're a docter you should know this."

"I'm fine. It's just a little scratch."

I really hope he wasn't infected. It would be all because of me.

"I'm fine."

He was so close, probably ten feet away. Sweat glistened on his forehead. I reached out my hand.

Then, I heard a loud moaning from the bottom of the tunnel.

Ryan looked down and started climbing up faster.

"Take your time."

"There are friggin creepers down there!" He yelled.

"Calm down." Just a few more feet.

That's when the tug on the rope got harder. I looked down and saw a creeper climbing up the wall.

The hook in the ground gave way and the rope slipped into the hole.