The Last Plague

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Freedom

Henry walked up next to me and sat on my bed. He looked at me, solemnly. All I could think of was striking him and getting the gun. "Listen, I know you probably think we are the bad guys. We aren't though, you have to believe me. I know, I forced you to get bit by a zombie. But we are on the same side. We both have a common enemy: RADD. That means we are on the same side, doesn't it?" He paused and looked at me.

Everything Henry had just said felt familiar to me. It reminded me of the time I was taken to RADD. It felt possible that they were on my side; especially considering what the supposed PS was doing to me. The thought seemed to grip me, and nothing I thought of knocked it off. I started questioning if the PS was even my alliance anymore.

"I know I've pointed a gun at you. Threatened your life, risked killing you." Henry continued, sounding like he was making an apology. "We could go on for a long time talking about everything I did to you. But you're free now. We are done with the tests, and I think we found a cure. Your specific genes have some type of bacteria in them. The bacteria uses the zombies' slime to its advantage. Every time you get slime inside you, every time you are bit, every single time, you'll get stronger. You are only going to get more immune to becoming a zombie." Henry finished, looking at me sympathetically; he had a hint of excitement on his face.

The thought of me escaping started to deplete, but I still held on to it. Just in case, keep your guard up. I lay there, speechless, thinking about the new realization. I wondered if they were going to try to ask me one more favor. Henry remained silent. I sat there, staring at the roof. I was completely dumbfounded by what I learned from him. Every test is over, at least he says it is. I wondered what I should say, if anything, and what I would do. Would Henry allow me to leave, or would I be free? If I became free would I trust anyone here? Would I even stay on the hill, or would I venture out and risk my life hiding out from creatures and surviving?

With my mind spinning, I finally spoke. "Really," I asked him in disbelief. "Would I really believe you if you told me I was done?"

He seemed shocked by this, "You don't believe me." He muttered to himself. "Okay, I guess I can't blame you for not believing me. I have used you like a puppet. You don't have to trust me, yet. In the—"

"What do you mean yet?" I almost shouted at him. "How could I ever trust you? How could I ever know what's true and what's made up?" My blood began to boil. "You have been using me! You don't care what happens to me, all you know is that you want to survive. You are trying to find a cure with my blood to save yourself," I continued shouting at him. I started to become bloodlust. I wanted him dead; I wanted to see him die, even if by my own hand.

Before I knew what I was doing I jumped out and punched Henry. I had more strength than I thought I had ever had. I felt powerful. I punched at Henry's head again, he already seemed to have been knocked out though. I grabbed his gun and kicked it off the bed. I began pulling out the tubes in my arm, the pain from them being removed vanished in my anger. I practically tore them out of my arms, bloodlust all over me.

I jumped out of the bed quickly. I saw Henry laying on the floor, groaning. I hadn't knocked him out as I thought, but he wasn't moving. I stared down at him, pointing my gun straight toward his head. I was almost excited to see him die. My bloodlust was almost fulfilled. I stared him down, then started to lower my weapon. What was I doing?

A common mistake. A bloodlust will never be fulfilled. It will feel almost full, and you will sense some satisfaction, but then it will plummet. You will want to refill it. It never fills. I've had . . . personal experiences with it. Believe me, it isn't worth it. I'm just glad he didn't die—or make a kill.

~Trina

Henry was staring up into my eyes, visibly showing fear. He seemed terrified of me, his eyes started watering up; he was crying. Tears ran down his face in seconds. I knew his life was in my hands. I could shoot him, fill my bloodlust, and try to escape. I could leave him alive, and run away too. Me killing Henry seemed better though, I wanted him to die.

I ran out of the room. Henry's screams echoed through the hallway. I had shot him. My bloodlust was fulfilled. I was happy. My conscience was clear too; I kept him alive. I had only shot his leg to make sure he didn't come after me, and because I longed to. I ran as quick as I could, sure someone had heard the pain-filled screams. I held out the gun in front of me, not wanting to hide it from anyone.

I found the door and ran out as quickly as I could. I was almost to the border when several soldiers turned around and faced me. The moment they saw I had a gun they all pointed theirs at me. I could only stare at them. I looked over one of their shoulders and saw several creatures making their way over to the hill. They were silent, acting like they knew what was happening. They seemed like they were trying to be quiet.

"There's several of them! They're coming!" I shouted at them, pointing behind them.

"Do you think I'm going to fall for a cheap attempt at a trick?" he asked.

The idea of what to do popped into my head. "Just have one of you turn around if you don't believe me!" I was practically begging them. The creatures were completely silent.

The soldier who was talking began to look at me closer. "Wait a second, you're that guy that tried to kill us all!" he shouted at me angrily.

As I looked close to him I realized it was Mark. The one who charged me with attempted homicide. He was the man that tried, and succeeded, in putting me in prison; before Henry wanted to do the testing though.

"Stephen," Mark shouted. "Look behind you real quick, I'm curious to see what he's going to try to do."

Stephen looked behind him and realized I wasn't lying. "Sir, they're there! He wasn't lying, the zombies are really close. He started shooting at the creatures rapidly. Every other soldier turned around and started shooting, except Mark. He stared at me, intense hatred radiated into me from his eyes.

"Y'all take care of them," he shouted at the other men. "I'm going to take this man back to prison."

I raised up my hands. I realized that if I shot Mark the noise would be drowned out by the other bullets.

"Drop your weapon," Mark told me. When I didn't he started to catch on. "You think you can shoot me? You think the shot will be drowned out by the other boys' shots?" He tauntingly asked me.

I was done with Mark. I shot his leg and dove to the left. I knew I should've shot his arm, it would have caused more difficulty with controlling the gun, but he couldn't run after me with a bullet in his leg. Henry and Mark, two people with bullets in their legs in only one day. My mind told me. I realized that this was the second person I shot that day. I didn't have time to think about it though, Mark was already trying to kill me.

I ran as quickly as I could across the hill. I had never sprinted so hard in my life. I was near the end of the hill when the gunshots stopped. I could see Mark in the distance, still pointing his gun at me. He had shot at me three times while I was running away. The first shot didn't come close to me, so I became relaxed. The second shot was much closer, I started worrying. I looked around for cover but decided to keep running. The third shot he fired almost hit my foot. Dust shot up from the ground into my shoe, but I was unharmed.

I looked back one more time. He was pointing his gun at me, but all of the others were pointing their guns at me. Mark had been trying to shoot me with a pistol, but the others had long-range rifles. I could see them pointing their guns my way. I was almost certain they would hit me dead. I heard a series of gunshots. Then I felt a bullet enter my back.

The bullet had gone through me, I fell to the ground in pain. I was running so fast I had tripped over myself and scraped my face. Pain shot through my back and face; I couldn't feel anything else. My vision became blurry, I became tired. Everything started to fade away. I blacked out unconscious.