Fate Decides

Chapter Fifteen

The bare branches of trees whip my body as I run away from the moaning infected behind me. Grace is screaming at the top of her lungs and Olive is trying to look out from my jacket and see what is going on. I try to push the branches out of the way, but this distraction is only slowing me down.

We have been running for days, and I am cold and exhausted. Only taking an hour break at the most, I have not been getting much sleep lately. Knowing I cannot stay in the same place for too long, I keep on the move.

"Shhh, Grace," I try to soothe while running. "It's okay. Li-li is here." Her cries do not subside and only seem to be attracting more of the infected. There are too many of them to face at once and I know that I will not make it if I stop and fight.

I look over my shoulder to see about ten infected chasing after us. Huffing, I try to speed up my tired legs. I glance in front of me but am too late to notice the rotting log laying in my path. Tripping over the decaying tree, I catch myself with my hands, scraping them up in the process. The infected must smell the blood because they only seem to be closing in on us faster than before. I heave my tired and aching body from the cold forest floor and try to run away from the riled up infected.

Grace's crying is getting even louder, but Olive seems to be staring at something up in the trees. Making sure I will not run into anything again, I glance up in the direction she is looking.

There, in a tree about fifty feet from us, is a tree house. It seems to be in pretty good shape, but there is no access ladder visible. It must be up in the tree house. That is not good. Someone must be in there if the ladder is not hanging down.

Making it into that treehouse is the only option I have, considering what is behind me, so I run in the direction of the lofted home.

I see the curtains in the window move and know the person in there saw me running towards them. Hopefully, they will have some sympathy and let us up. If they do not throw down that latter, my sisters and I are screwed.

"Please! Let me up! I can't face all of them by myself!" I shout up at the treehouse while sprinting towards the large pine tree where the tree house resides. The curtains move again, and I can see a figure looking down at me.

Grace is crying so hard by now that she is having trouble taking in enough air. Her face is red and tears are flowing freely down her face. I know I need to calm her down, but there is nothing I can do at the moment.

The moaning is growing louder from behind me. I squeeze my eyes shut before taking a deep breath and spinning around to face the infected. Opening my eyes, I see one of the infected humans is closer than the others and is about to grab me. Grabbing the sword from the makeshift holster on my waist, I prepare for the attack.

The infected swings its arms at me, trying to grab ahold of any part of my body it can reach. I spin out of the way and kick it into the large tree in front of me. Stumbling on its decaying legs, the infected crashes into the tree. Knowing this is my only chance, I hold the sword with both hands as I stab the infected through the head, pinning it to the tree.

"Please, please! Put the ladder down!" I shout while trying to pry my sword out of the tree.

It is embedded pretty deep into the hard wood, and I am defenseless without my weapon. Turning, I see more infected stumbling towards me and know they will be upon us in mere seconds. Thank God there are not any of the infected werewolves coming towards us, but these decaying humans are just as dangerous when they are in hordes.

A whooshing sound comes from behind me. Finally, the sword comes free from the tree, and I turn to face the decrepit creatures coming towards me and my sisters. Instead of an infected, though, I see a ladder. Letting out a watery laugh, I grab onto the rungs and pull myself up as fast as I can. The ladder sways as the infected grab onto the bottom rungs, trying to reach me as I climb farther and farther out of their grasp.