The Rise

Chapter 4

(Christian's POV)

I slowly opened my eyes, blinking away the bright sunlight that shone through the windows. My legs were cramped from having been up on the dashboard all night.  I pulled my arms over my head, hearing the slight "pop" of my muscles. I quietly unlocked the door, not wanting to wake Demetrius who was lightly snoring in the back seat. I grabbed my Freedom Arms model 83 single-action revolver, just to be on the safe side. I had picked it up of a dead hunter on the highway. He would have been an infect if not for his missing head.

Shutting the door as quietly as I could, I stretched my limbs once again. I didn't know what time it was; the clock in the truck didn't work. I guessed it was around 7:00, considering the sun wasn't completely up yet. 

CRACK! 

I spun around rapidly, pointing my revolver towards the dense brush. Nothing moved, not even from the wind. I swore I had heard a branch snapping, but then again it could have been my imagination. I sat down, leaning against the tire of the truck. 

I've been screwed up ever since the Rise. I'm not talking about the shock that comes from seeing a person being devoured. I'm talking about hallucinations. Seeing things that aren't really there, and never knowing if what you are seeing is actually happening. The first time it happened, I had been driving. Demetrius was in the back seat, and I don't even remember where we were going. A group of Risen ran out from behind a van onto the road, so I swerved, loosing control of the truck as the tire spun too quickly. I hit a lamppost, my head smashing into the steering wheel with such force that I blacked out. 

When I came to, I was outside of the truck on the ground. Something didn't feel right. I had tried to move but my limbs protested, so my movements were slow. I peered around, amazed at the sharpness of my vision. Every little detail stood out in my mind. Noises, even the quietest, echoed in my eardrums. I felt a sense of power. I wasn't afraid. A smell, both savory and inviting, reached my nose. My eyes darted side to side, searching for the source of the aroma. Looking back towards the truck, I had found it. A young boy was clutching the shoulders of an older one and shaking him wildly. His screams were piercing. "Wake up! Christian, WAKE UP!" A sense of recognition came over me then. I stalked towards them. The face of the younger boy I knew all too well. Demetrius. The other boy was harder to identify, being that his face was bloody and turning different shades of purple. As I got closer, I knew. It was me. "Stop, STOP!" I commanded myself, but my legs kept moving forward. 

My mind was trapped, unable to tell my body what to do. I started to run towards the truck. As I did, Demetrius's voice became more and more desperate. "Christian wake up, please!" He was sobbing now. "Christian! Please! Don't leave me! You can't leave me!" I was about to eat both of them and there was nothing I could do about it. It was as if there was a second mind in my head, telling me how fun it would be to rip them apart limb by limb. Not because of hunger, but for just plain enjoyment. The thought sickened me. Without success, I commanded myself to stop once more. My legs kept running forward, that little voice in the back of my head chanting: 

It'll be easy. Fun even. Rip the skin off piece by piece. Watch him suffer. Suffering is good. It peels easily, just like ripping paper. 

When I actually woke up, I was still in the truck. Demetrius was shaking me. "Are you ok? Christian they're coming, we have to go!" I grabbed him, pulling him into a bear hug. I was shaking so badly that I had troubles starting up the truck. Looking over his back I could see Risen stalking towards us. Had I imagined myself as an infect? Or had I somehow entered the mind of one? It had all felt too real.

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CRACK!  

I snapped awake, having dozed off against the tire. Something moved beside me and I jumped, searching frantically for my revolver beside me. A hand came down delicately onto mine. Demetrius. "When did you get up?" He ignored my question. "Did you hear that?" His eyes were scoping the area frantically. "Yea, I heard it." 

Crack, crack, snap! 

Our eyes darted towards the forest. The moans came next, echoing around the clearing. Shooting up, I spoke as calmly as I could. "Demetri, get in the truck." He just inched closer, his grip tightening on wrist. "Demetrius, now." He shuffled off into the truck, just as the first infect came into view. It was completely naked, skin hanging loosely from parts of its body. His eyes were caved in and his teeth were not in his mouth, but impaled into his lips. This one was slower because of a slight limp. I knew where to shoot him before he even came at me. A bullet to the upper or lower body would do nothing. The only way to kill a Risen would be in the back of the neck or upper spine. 

It limped towards me, its human-like screams sending chills up my spine. As it flung itself at me, I put him in a headlock. The infect thrashed and howled; opening and closing its jaws in attempt to take a chunk out of my arm. His nails were jagged and yellowing, but his swipe at my shoulder broke the skin. I felt blood flowing down my shoulder. This made the infect ravenous. I brought the gun up to the back of its neck and pulled the trigger. Blood splattered my face as the Risen fell to the ground in a heap. 

I turned towards the truck where Demetri had his faced pressed up against the window; tapping frantically against the glass. Before I could turn around, a sharp pain shot through my back. I fell to the ground, trying desperately to remove what ever was now embedded into my lower back. I didn't have time. The infect who had thrown something at me was now rushing over to wear I was lying on the ground. It grabbed hold of my hair, pulling me to my feet. I shouted in agony; reaching up to take hold of its wrists. It raised me high above the ground; my feet dangling in the air. It then threw me to the ground with such force that the air escaped rapidly from my lungs. As it knelt down, I got a good look at the gaping holes of its eye sockets. It slowly moved closer to my face and screamed, sending spit and blood flying in all directions. As it took a hold of my throat, I stretched my arm out as far as I could, trying to get my revolver that was a few feet away to my right. My vision blurred as my lungs screamed for air. 

C'mon, reach! 

 "Hey! Get off him!" All of the sudden, the weight was lifted from my throat as the infect let me go and turned to face the cause of the protest. Demetrius stood behind the Risen holding a long branch. The infect rushed towards him. Grabbing hold of Demetrius, it scored long claw marks down his right leg. He wailed in pain. Rolling over, I grabbed the revolver and lined up my shot. I pulled the trigger, the infect falling lifelessly onto Demetrius. They both toppled to the ground. I crawled towards him and grabbed the body by its bony shoulders, dragging it off Demetri. A pool of blood had already formed under his leg and he was shaking from the shock. 

"Hey, it's gonna be okay. We have to put pressure on that." Ignoring the searing pain in my back, I stood up and rushed over to the truck. Grabbing my extra t-shirt I ran back to Demetrius, wrapping the shirt around his leg tightly. "I  c-c-c-can't feel it." "I know buddy, I know. We will fix you up, I promise." He placed a hand on my shoulder. "W-w-what about your back?" Sighing, I did a mental run through of our stash. No medical supplies. "I guess we'll just have to take a little voyage into town then, won't we?"