The Time Traveller

Chapter Six

"Do you hear that?" James asked.
They had found a tree the size of a house that had fallen over, the leaves a flat pile on the ground. The three of them sat down at the uprooted base for a little bit of a break before they started walking again. Apparently, James heard a rustling amongst the branches.
"Hear what?" Anna asked.
"Listen," James told her, hushing both her and Rome.
Everything was quiet. You could barely hear anyone breathe. Then, the sound of moving leaves came from the other side of the trunk. No sooner did they get up, they were attacked. In the moonlight, Rome saw that there were 5 people, all with red and purple veins on their necks.
In the dark, he couldn't make out any faces, just black figures. Anna got thrown a distance and hit the ground with a thud. She was a few yards away, but Rome could still hear her gasping for breath. He dodged one of the infected people that came at him land went to grab a weapon. No sooner did he get to the base of the tree, he was thrown into the trunk. He heard himself hit the dead bark of the tree with his back before he hit the ground. He blindly threw one of the machetes and it hit one of them in the temple, causing it to fall to the ground. Rome's body refused to get off the ground.
His vision blurry, he saw Anna running over to them.
"Anna!" Rome yelled, throwing her the other machete laying next to him. She caught it by the handle, just in time. Another one of the infected had run up, taken the weapon out of the dead one's skull, and aimed for her head.
She ducked out of the way, burying her machete in its leg. She came back up seconds later.
Out of the corner of Rome's eye, he saw James was outnumbered. He was surrounded by 3 of the infected, and he was weaponless. The one that he thought was the leader of this particular group, the one in full leather, was fighting tooth and nail against James. Anna was too busy fighting one to notice, but that didn't matter. James wouldn't go down easily, Rome knew that.
"James!" Rome called. No sound came out, just air. His vision got dark.
He fought trying to stay conscious, his head only held up because he was leaning against the tree trunk.
The infected that Anna was fighting elbowed her in the face. She fell to the ground, her nose bleeding, but still breathing.
"James!" He yelled again. His voice was raspy. He coughed into his hand and blood dripped out. "James." It was useless. Even if he could hear him, it's not like it would do much good. He could hear himself wheezing. Rome closed his eyes in pain.
"TAKE ME!" James yelled. Rome's eyes snapped open. There was an infected a few inches from his face. He stopped, turned around, and walked back to James on the ground.
The infected shined a flashlight in his face. He was almost unrecognizable. His face barely had any flesh to it, it was all covered in blood.
"No," Rome tried to yell. All that came out was a whisper, "James."
The infected sat the flashlight, still turned on, on the ground facing James. He leaned down and picked up James by his neck.
Rome tried to stand, tried to move, but he couldn't. He felt his heartbeat in his head, and his whole body was on fire. Anna was still on the ground.
James' feet no longer touched the ground. Even through the infected had his back turned to Rome, he knew he was smiling, triumphant. James clawed at its long fingers, trying to pull them away from his neck.
The infected lowered him to his feet. James gasped for air as the infected turned its head toward Rome, with his grin from ear to ear. He let go of James, and he fell to the ground once again. It crouched to the ground and crawled toward him. Rome took a final breath before the world around him became blurry, closing in, leaving him in the darkness.