A New Virus

Three

I sat in that tree for I don't know how long but I knew one thing...I was cold...my clothes were completely soaked thanks to the rain. The monster down below had left long ago. At first, it wanted to try to get up to me...but I was too high up in the tree. Sure it could grab the first branch but the next...? I had to stand up on the first branch and slightly jump to catch the next one.... So there was no way that it could get to me. Luckily...something else had gotten it's attention and it swiftly ran off...as if in search of better prey. I shivered as I tried to pull the light coat I had on closer to my body...nearly unable to contain my shivers. It didn't help that my head was starting to ache as well.... I had closed my eyes as I sat there. I nearly dozed off before I could hear the pounding of horse prints along the forest floor...instantly noticeable with my pounding headache. I instantly opened my eyes as I saw two figures on horseback through the darkness. As they approached...I could tell that one of them had Heartfire and the other didn't as the one with Heartfire had a slight blue glow to their eyes as it allowed them to see better at night than I could ever hope to achieve. Although...I couldn't really tell who they were until they got closer. One was riding atop Bailey while the other had their own horse.

"What are you doing up in a tree...?" One of them had asked me, I immediately recognized that voice...it was Sarah.

My eyes traced over to the other figure who was slightly closer and better able to see than Sarah...this figure was our teacher, Miss Briella. She seemed concerned while she looked up at me. "Anya...?" She quietly called out to me, gaining my attention. She looked at the scared look upon my face, illuminated by the moonlight. "W-what's wrong...?"

"I...." My voice faded off as I cautiously looked around the clearing where Emma and the monster with glowing red eyes had been. "T-there...!" My eyes seemed to widen as I heard a slight movement within the nearby brushes, not unnoticed by Sarah but she must've assumed it to be a rabbit or some other animal considering she didn't even try to look around the area. I knew better. My eyes instantly scanned the area, although the darkness meant that I couldn't see much...luckily the darkness neither helped it nor helped me in locating it...it's glowing red eyes did most of the work for me. "S-Sarah! Behind you!" I tried to yell out but my voice wasn't that loud...barely above a whisper. Luckily...I knew Sarah could hear me clearly, even over the pouring rain but it was too late. She didn't react fast enough.

The figure attacked from behind, reaching out for Sarah. Sarah was fast to turn but not fast enough as the creature had grabbed a fist full of her hair. Sarah let off a startled cry as the force the creature had on her was enough to pull her down. She backed her elbow against the creature, startling it just enough for it to release her hair.

Sarah, still not really knowing what she was facing quickly turned around to engage her attacker only to freeze as she looked into it's bright red eyes. Miss Briella seemed to recover from the encounter faster than Sarah...after all she did teach us about these creatures...Zombies.... Even if everyone thought she was crazy for believing in such myths...even the other teachers believed her to be.

I looked at this creature...this Zombie. I instantly knew. She wasn't crazy. This was the third one I had seen today. I looked at the Zombie which lunged towards Sarah. I knew them...they were in our class. They went missing a week ago...I guess we now know what had happened to them.

"Anya...! We have to go!" Miss Briella quickly told me, snapping me from my daze. "Now!" At her tone, I instantly climbed down from the tree, trying not to think about how exhausted I currently felt at the moment.

Luckily I didn't haft to climb all the way down...not with how Miss Briella had her horse so close to the tree. I got onto a lower branch and carefully dropped down behind her on the back of her horse.