Nowhere is Safe

Awakened

I sprinted as fast as I could away from the burial site, the rubble sack filled with wooden smacking against my side in panic.

However, I refused to let this slow me down. I had just woken the Diseased.

The Diseased hadn't been woken for ages. I hadn’t seen them at all, not since we were chased out of the city by them.

No one knew where they had come from or what they were infected with. They came out of the blue one night, storming the empty streets like locusts to bread, preying on the odd awake human.

Their bulging yellow eyes. Their haunting calls. Their jerky movements. Their claw-like hands, that pierced your skin almost instantly, infecting you with their Disease.

I shuddered as I recalled the first time I had seen one but refused to break my stride.

It had been evening, and I was coming back from visiting my sister’s bookshop when I heard a groaning from around the corner of the street.

Concerned, I had peered round the corner and was given the fright of my life when I nearly stumbled into the Diseased.

I ground my teeth and couldn't resist glancing over my shoulder. Through the unclear, moonlit gloom, I could make out their latern-like yellow eyes bobbed hastily in the moonlight. I could feel all colour disperse from my cheeks. They were onto me.

This forced me to run a little faster, my feet beating viciously against the dry plateau, desperate to put as much distance between me and the undead as humanly possible.

My breath started to falter, and my legs began to tire as the faint outline of the camp became visible to me.

Panting, I whispered words of encouragement to myself before glancing over my shoulder to double-check the amount of distance between me and the Diseased.

I let out a faint gasp of disbelief, seeing that they were gaining ground, coming closer and closer to me.

Puahing forward with the last of my momentum, I started to yell, hoping that the guards on watch would hear my urgent call and open the gate for me to slip in before I was caught in the clutches of the zombies.

But as I neared the fortified walls of the camp, there seemed to be no signs of life up on the walls.

I refused to let this be true. There had to be some life-saving soul up on that wall. They wouldn't let me go out here and not have people waiting for my return.

"OPEN UP!!" I cried at the top of my lungs, nearly face planting the gate as I tripped over my own feet. I fell against the wood and pounded it with my fists, "SOMEONE?!!"

I could hear the faint thumping of thundering feet coming from behind me. My ground my teeth, secretly afraid. It would be long until I would be in their clutches.

"SOMEONE?! OPEN THIS DAMN GATE!!" I yelled, pounding again, ignoring the splinters that were forming in the edges of my hand.

My lungs already ached from running to get here so fast. My throat was soar. They were coming for me.

"Somebody?!" I whimpered, turning to face the oncoming Diseased, pressing my back as much as I could against the gate.

Curse Jamie and his need for resources. Why did I volunteer? I could’ve stayed in camp, wrapped in Jess's arms-

"Nathalie?"

I almost wept when I heard Jess's voice, "JESS! GET SOMEONE TO OPEN THIS BLOODY GATE!"

I was aware that the Diseased were now only a few hundred metres away from me and the camp. The gate was still shut.

I looked desperately from the shut gate to the oncoming zombies. The Diseased often lacked intelect, so maybe I could loop them, using the camp, but how long would I be able to hold up.

"OPEN THE GATE YOU TWAT! WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR!" I heard Jess lose her temper, her voice high and panicked.

The haunting groan once again filled my ears. My heart was ready to leap out of my chest.

The cog grinded together painfully slowly.

"Comeoncomeoncomeon!!" I hissed, watching as the gate creaked open.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Jamie had now arrived at the scene behind the camp wall, "THERE ARE DISEASED OUT THERE!! CLOSE THE-"

"If you close that gate, I will have both of your heads on sticks by the end of tonight!!" Jess countered.

The gap was down big enough to slip through.

I breathed in and flattened myself as much as I could. The Diseased were closing me down.

I slipped through the gap in the gate just as I felt something catch on my arm.

With a hiss of pain, I stumbled into the heavenly safety of the camp, straight into Jess's arms.

She enveloped me in a tight hug while she watched the Diseased's hands reach through the gap I had just squeezed in. Their demonic grunting and snarling and banging filled the air.

Jamie stood shaking with rage, but fear danced in his eyes. Jess's heart - I could hear - was galloping in her chest. She felt my face with her right hand while she supported me with her left.

I shook, burying myself into the welcoming comfort of Jess's arms and reaching down to take a look at my throbbing arm.

"Nathalie?" Jess whispered.

My eyes widened as my gaze fell onto my arm. The arm of my desert kahkis was torn straight down in a jagged claw-shaped way, leaving my bare skin exposed.

"Nat?"

A dark mould-coloured turquoise mark slid down the length of my arm.

Fear immediately engulfed my vision. I was touched. I was touched. I was touched.

"Nathalie?"

I pushed away from Jess's arms and staggered as far away from her as my legs could take me before a searing pain enfulged my head, bringing me to my knees.

"She was touched!" Jamie exclaimed.

I hissed, pawing at my temples, trying to fight the ravenous pain.

"She was touched!" Jamie repeated, "Evacute the camp! Hehdgfjfh hehdgdh hishrhskls-"

He faded into gibberish. My mind went blank. My eyes went wide.

I became Diseased.