BETTER SAFE THAN ZOMBIE

OZTS 15| Telephone Booth

Kailey stood up, grinning, her teeth coated with blood.

My blood.

I stared at the place where she had bit me, feeling my world narrow to the curving teeth marks that was now imprinted into my skin.

An infected bit me.

My vision was swirling now, like I was riding a ferris wheel that was spinning too fast. Dots of light became stretched lines of light, and colors became a painted blur.

"You can't kick me out," said Kailey, standing over me. She was still grinning. "Otherwise you have to kick sweet Kathryn out too. We're both infected now. I made sure of that."

Then Christian was suddenly beside me, inspecting my wound. He turned to Mr. Williams, his voice urgent. "Do you have anything antiseptic there, Mr. Williams?"

And then Mr. Williams was there, a bottle of alcohol in his hand. Christian took it and looked at me, gray eyes dark.

"This is going to hurt. Take a deep breath."

And then cold liquid poured over my arm, and I couldn't even feel the pain. I knew that I was still in shock, still unable to comprehend what Kailey had done.

An infected bit me.

Kailey laid a hand on Christian's shoulder, her mouth still upturned into a wide smile. "Chris, its okay, Kay will still be with you. You don't need that selfish, spoiled--"

Christian turned around so fast, Kailey took a step back in surprise. Although I couldn't see his face, I could hear the anger in his voice.

"What did you do to her?"

Kailey blinked, her eyes going wide. The smile became a tremulous one, her lips trembling. She knotted her hands together. "K-Kay didn't do anything bad. Its just that Chris was being tricked, and Kay didn't want Chris to be hurt--"

"What the fuck do you know about my hurt? What the fuck do you even know about me?"

Even I flinched, hearing the mix of pain and anger in the undercurrent of his voice. It was a good thing he wasn't facing me--the voice was hard enough, but looking straight at his gray eyes--

Kailey flushed, her eyes welling up with fresh tears.

"But Kay has always been with Chris!" she cried out. "Kay knows a lot about Chris, although Chris didn't tell her anything. She was with Chris when he was human, she was with Chris when he turned into a monster, and Kay was a good girl because she didn't eat Chris. And Kay was there when he was cured, and Kay was there when Chris ran away, and Kay was there in the apartment waiting for him--" Thick, fat droplets of tears trickled down her cheeks, her blue-green eyes the most emotional I've ever seen them.

"Kay was always with Chris! Always, always, always. Kay knows more about Chris than anyone." Then she pointed a finger at me, her eyes pleading. "So why is Chris in love with that hateful girl?"

Her whole body was shaking, her hands holding her stomach in like she was afraid she would just start falling apart and confess to everything.

"What did you just say?"

I turned around. Hazel had come back, and her piercing blue eyes narrowed at Kailey.

"You were with Christian when he turned into a monster and you were a good girl because you didn't eat him?" Hazel crossed her arms, her smirk not her usual 'Hazel the Great' smirk, but a more calculating one. "You know, I usually don't use my inherited intelligence, but this one's personal. You hurt my bestfriend, and that one's something I can't just shrug off."