Infected

VI

"How can you love me. I don't love myself."

Word count : 1670

Anya

The rain is worsening. The aroma of dead bodies and the outdoors makess me gag hard enough to where the bile burns the back of my throat. Dread is washing over me in waves, paralyzing me in my seat. I know I have to get up, I understand that. But the fear of going out there and maybe getting caught keeps me seated. Scanning my surroundings I see nothing but trees, but that's only from the illumination of the train lights.

Maybe if the train had wires I could-the train lights. They're bright. They could give a signal of my location.

Quickly scrambling to the control system, I frantically search for something, anything remotely correlating to the light system. Somehow it's found after what feels like 50 minutes. The lights shut off, but now the outside is pitch black. Looking back, I see the flickering train lights are going out one by one.

Guess I have to go. It's now or never. I'll be shrouded in darkness sooner or later, and that's when the infection spreads. My fingers hover over the lever that opens the train doors. I pull, and shimmy the lever back and forth but nothing happens. The doors won't open. The sound of the lights powering off is getting louder and closer. The doors aren't opening. Why aren't they opening? I look around. My eyes hysterically scan the doors, windows, and hinges with whatever light I have left.

Well the hinges look rusted, and the goddamn doors might as well be glued shut. It looks like nobody's tended to these things at all since it was built. "For fucks sake! The one time I need something to work it doesn't!" Somehow my voice is loud but hollow. It echoes throughout the train car, and shakes my brain in the worst ways.

I turn my head to face to the windows. It just dawned on me that they're open. Like wide open. I have a chance to get out of here. Only downside is that there's bloody bodies scattered everywhere and even on the windows. I'd have to climb over them, and even then, who's to tell they're not infected. My hands roam my mask covering my face. I can't become infected. I still have things to do. A life to live.

A booming noise snaps me out of my trance. Sounds like an explosion happened not to far away. Looks like someone got to the other train. Won't be long before they catch up to this hunk of junk. "I need to get the fuck out of here." I speed walk towards the least bloody window and climb a train booth table. The window pushes out further but not far enough for me to fit through. What do I do? Without thinking, I smash the glass. Shards fly everywhere as I brush it out of the car. I feel some pieces enter the thin layers of my skin, but I keep moving. Looking down I try to judge the height but it's too dark. With only the moon illuminating the drop, my stomach sinks to my ass. This train is high as shit. Losing an ankle might be better than being dead right? I take a deep breath when I hear a loud groan and an eerie crack. Bones snapping back into place, the quiet metallic smell of blood entering my nose.

Turning around I see a man, his face half eaten off, cracking his neck back into place. He's dead, but not dead. Since when was this a damn zombie movie? The thing let out a loud screech, which shakes the train. It turns to me, and I stay still, fearing that it might run towards me.

My fear was correct because after two minutes of intense staring, it came running. I scrambled to my feet, and jumped out of the window. I hear the screams of the zombie like creature on my way down to the ground. I keep my eyes on it, remembering key details.

I hit the ground with a bang. My back taking most of the damage. I feel the arch in my back as my body bounced on the ground, hitting the ground again with a thud. Strings of curses leaving my mouth as I struggled to my feet. I heard the shrieks of the infected and took off in what felt like a limpy jog.

It was meant to be a run, but I'll take it.

I dash through the trees, breath uneven, and body on fire. "Don't stop Anya, you'll make it. Just keep running." Chants keep leaving my mouth. The pounding of their footsteps following me got louder, and lightning soon started cracking across the barren starless sky. The moon is the only light I have from keeping me from running onto anything. I run into the forest, which isn't a good idea for someone with no shoes. Rocks are tearing my feet apart, sticks rip at the seams of my hideous blood stained dress, but I keep running as fast as I can.

Funny how only a couple hours ago this was a wedding dress. It was a bow on a prized pageant cow.

Shallow breaths ripped my burning lungs apart, and the dry chalkiness of my throat was enough to make me choke, but I kept going. Running was all I could do right now. I didn't want to kill them. They're human, what if there is a cure? I don't want any blood on my conscience for nothing.

Then again they'll most likely be taken out by the people who are after me. I don't want to waste any bullets though, so running will have to do for now. God I would kill for a dagger right now. Rain is clouding my vision. The thumps of my footsteps start to slow without my permission. I look back, and I don't see any infected, though the darkness can't be trusted.

I wonder where my pursuers are. Would they find me out here? Do they even know where I am? I hope not. If they find me, it'll be hell on earth. I take a sharp left, running straight into a field of grass. It might've been a crop field, but it's burnt now. The grass is crunchy under my feet, and the rain makes the mud slippery. I slow my steps. Long, heavy breaths are sucked into my lungs as I walk further into the field.

The lightning is getting more frequent, and I hear thunder rolling in waves. The starry dark sky gives me no indication that daylight is coming, but it's better than the tree covered darkness. Funny how you can see the stars in a blank empty field, but not in the city.

Shaking my head I heave a sigh and keep moving. I must get out of sight, I need a building, but nothing is around here. I'll catch something if I stay out here any longer. Maybe a death from hypothermia isn't that bad. There's a decrepit barn in the distance. The roof is completely burned off, and the doors are cracked at the hinges. Who tended to this farm? Where are they now? Are they dead? Whatever happened here is a mystery. There's no sign of life here.

Quickly steeling my nerves, I haul ass to the barn. I'll wait out the storm in there, and hopefully get some rest. My mind begins to wander backwards. Back to before the wedding, before the lies, before the hatred and arguments. I was happy then. I quickly snap back to reality when my arm skimmed the damp broken barn door and the door let out a creak.

I take a look around, like I thought, no life has been here for a while. I don't hear any infected, so I'll be safe until daybreak. Spotting a mountain of hay bales, I stop my looking. "Guess I'll be sleeping there tonight." My voice is raspy, and my chest heaves with the need for water. I didn't see a well. And even if I did, it would most likely be contaminated. The water plant became contaminated as soon as the infection spread, and the pipes couldn't be trusted. The groundwater was probably the most sanitary water when heavily filtered, but there was no river or lake, not even a damn pond in sight.

"For heavens sake. I need to sit down." My voice barely above a whisper as I glanced back and forth. Besides hay bales, and gardening tools, there wasn't a place to sit my ass but the ground. "Guess I'm sleeping on hay tonight." A sigh releases from my chest as I heave my body across the tall stacks. I finally reach the top of the bales and sit against the wall of the barn. I wonder how long it's been here. The rings in the wood have mulled, and the paint is long worn. Just how long has this been here? Sitting, rotting away. Will that be my life? Never knowing when I'll be eating, and probably never getting a sip of water for days?

A snap crackles, and snaps me out of my dreary thoughts. I shrink back into the shadow of the wall, praying for invisibility. Footsteps march in an orderly fashion. "The footsteps led us here. Check every inch. If she isn't here, burn it down when you're finished. There should be no infected in this area." A voice sounded out of the silence. I knew that voice. It was the voice of a man. A man of whom is actively hunting me down. The same man I've been running from.

A man who was the bane of my existence, my soon to be husband.

A/N

I apologize for the EXTREMELY LATE update. I'll be on schedule soon, I promise. Love yall to the moon and back! Xoxo