Rise of the Dead

Chapter 8: The Teddy Bear

"I am afraid of death, scared by it. I already don't know if I exist or not. So dying really terrifies me." ~ Stephen Rea

- - -

No. This can't be happening. I faced this once already and I can't do it again. Not now, not ever.

A little girl stands in front of me, about four or five years old if I had to guess. She's dressed in a white nightgown that's splattered with dried blood and she holds a teddy bear in one hand which is just as matted as her dirty blonde hair. I take an audible gulp and look at the others who all wear the same expression, slowly I look the girl in the eye and gasp breathlessly.

She's not a zombie, the whites of her eyes still visible. But she could be infected. I don't lower my knife. Her panic-stricken eyes pierce through mine and a frown creases her forehead, I take a deep breath before crouching down to her level. 

"Have you seen mummy and daddy?" she asks and I flinch at her troubled voice.

"N-no," I stutter out, concern evident in my tone as I scan her bruised and bloodied body. She frowns and I speak to her gently, tucking away my knife.

"When did you last see them?" I ask and she considers this for a while, her mind trying to locate the memory. She waits a while before speaking in a spine-chilling manner, her tone light and optimistic.

"A few minutes ago in the field outside, they were lying down. I woke them up because it's not bedtime yet, is it?" she asks and I shake my head slowly, tears blurring my vision.

"What happened next?" I whisper and she continues, almost happily.

"I think they were poorly, I said I'd kiss it better but when I went to kiss mummy she bit my neck," she says and her eyes drop. Tears start to well up uncontrollably and slide silently down my ashen cheeks.

"It hurt. Daddy always said never to bite so I ran away, I ran in here to hide but then you came in. At least I still have my teddy bear that mummy and daddy bought me, it makes me think of them," she finishes and I gasp, two thoughts consuming me. Her parents were in the same field we were in a minute ago- watching us, and secondly, the little girl in front of me has been bitten. Suddenly the child gasps and she falls to the floor with an echoing thud, I run over to her and grab her hand tightly. Praying for dear life that the mutated virus isn't contagious by touch and only by blood. 

"Listen to me, I need to give you an injection. You won't feel much, just a tiny pinch, but it will make you feel better," I say hurriedly and she just nods weakly.

I rummage around in my bag and pull out a metal box containing a needle filled with the yellowish cure, I inject it into her arm slowly and she goes still. To still. I raise my ear to her chest and listen to her heartbeat, instead, I hear silence. I stand up in a trance of shock and walk back to the others, my hands shaking uncontrollably. 

"The cure didn't work. The zombies are evolving and so is the venom, it's useless," I whisper and watch as the colour drains from their concerned faces. I throw the empty needle across the room and it smashes into a concrete wall, skidding across the floor in a waterfall of tiny fragments.

I hear a groan from behind me and notice the girl has got to her feet, her eyes dilating to a swirling black and her teeth snapping in an uncanny manner. I gulp and back away, I'm not brave enough to let the knife fly that kills her. I hear someone take a shaky breath before exhaling deeply, I turn and see Maria flick the knife silently. I close my eyes tightly before I see the knife lodge itself in the tiny child but it doesn't stop the gurgle and thud as she hits the floor, I open my eyes slowly and stare at the girl by my feet. A lone tear falls from my blurred eyes and lands on her cheek as I look down at her hand and what's grasped tightly in it, even through death, she still squeezes her teddy bear.