Infected

33: ☣Hunted☣

"UMM. . .Derek," Tamana called shakily, "I think we have bigger problems."

Derek had turned to bear witness to the terrifying image of the assistant director's inhuman body. What had once been a treacherous man in a black suit with oiled black hair was now an even terrible representation of the same.

Slowly getting up from the table he had been resting against, Hector Marconi, or what was left of him, was breathing like an animal-a beast. A kind of breathing that Derek was sure he had heard before. Marconi's body was jerking and spasming as if his bones were falling in and out of place simultaneously until he was standing erect and that was when both Tamana and Derek saw his worst features yet.

His hair had become shaggy and uneven. His mouth was gagging, saliva dripping out of it where his teeth could be seen. They were all inhumanly sharp like those of a feline, then there were his eyes-pitch black like obsidian-enough to make Tamana and Derek lose their wits.

For a brief moment, the creature that was Marconi just stood there, staring at them as if wondering what to make of them until the Pandora variant inside of him had finished taking over his central nervous system and there was only one other thing the variant could think of at that moment as it observed the two people before it through Marconi's eyes. . .kill!

Tamana screamed when Marconi suddenly lunged himself at her and Derek. He let out a raspy growl, like a corpse trying to harmonize.

Tamana and Derek jumped out of the way as Marconi crashed into the door with such force that it came free of its hinges, sending them both out into the hallway where the door broke apart.

"We need to go!" Derek called but Tamana had already ran for the now open exit.

She had just barely made it out when Marconi hissed, grabbing at her leg. Tamana yelped, hitting the floor. Marconi then came over her, ready to bite a chunk out of her face.

Derek yelled and threw himself on Marconi, sending them both rolling towards the wall. It had been a futile effort for Derek, given how incredibly strong Marconi was as he pinned him to the floor, sinking his claws into Derek's arms.

Derek yelled again, from pain this time, his mind telling him that he would surely die now that he was in contact with an infected for the second time. The infection from the scratch on his cheek was still growing exponentially and agonizingly and he was already feeling it start to affect his left eye. But he had a lot more to worry about at the moment.

Marconi growled in his face before bashing his head against the floor and Derek got the unpleasant feeling of his brain vibrating against his skull.

"Get off of him!" Tamana cried, picking up a piece of steak from the splintered door. She struck Marconi on the head and the steak shattered upon impact.

Marconi stopped growling and looked up at Tamana with his infected eyes, then, without warning, charged at her. He grabbed her by her arms, hoisting her up such that her feet were no longer on the floor. Tamana then found herself getting tossed like a ragdoll, feeling the intensive amount of pain after hitting the wall face first before falling to the floor.

"Tamana!" Derek called, frantically looking for something to use against this monster.

"Uurgh. . ." Tamana moaned, trying to get back up after her vision had become weird which she realized had to do with her glasses. The right lens had been cracked and there was more. She could feel something warm flowing down between her eyebrows and over her nose. Her forehead was bleeding.

Marconi growled, his black eyes gleaming at the sight of blood. He advanced towards Tamana who was on her knees, using her palms to crawl, trying every bit to get away from him.