Run // Michael Clifford.

"Who are you?"

Anuhya

I'm running. Literally, running. Just running. I have no idea where I'm going. Or when I'm going to stop running. I just have to get to a place where they are not around. But I don't think there is even a place like that. I have a small bag around me, I don't know why I do. It's not like I'll find a place which won't be infected. I don't know when or how it started. Just, one day, my best friend Brandon came to my dorm room and said we have to run. Eversince then, we have just been trying to get away from them. I don't know where the fuck Brandon is. He just...disappeared. And now I'm lost. I kept looking for him but he was nowhere to be found. It was horrible.

But now, I only have myself. I dare to look behind and I stare with horror. It's terrible. Fucking crazy. What happened to them? They all stink. Literally. It's disgusting. They eat humans. Which is even more disturbing. And then they turn us into them. I can't stop. My breath is heavy. I really do want to stop, but I can't. Not if I want to live. My legs are hurting.

I'm thinking. What if. What if Brandon turns into one of them, what if....Oh god. Oh god. No. I can't do this. He is alive and well. We just lost our way. He will come back. I keep thinking. And running. I don't know where I'm going. But, I don't think I can even go anywhere as I see another mob appearing towards me. Fuck. I'm going to die today.

I take a turn and run left. There are thousands of sick people behind me. I'm so scared. Oh god. Please. Please. I don't want to die. At least not like this.

"Help me!" I scream. It's stupid. I know it. It's not going to work. Nobody is here. But just, what if.

I am shaking. I'm so fucking scared. I hate this. I felt like crying, fuck it. I'm actually crying, "I don't want to die!" I scream again, "Please help me,"

I can't even run anymore. I'm so frustrated. This sucks. I don't even know this place! I came here two weeks back with my best friend Brandon. I was a student, living in a university. I didn't know shit about this place. I don't know where to go. Without him.

"Somebody help me!" I yell again. It was a mixture of sobbing and frustration. They're getting closer to me. All ugly. They...... don't even look like they were humans once. I know I'm going to die. They're going to eat my brain and intestines like they did to the others. It's horrible. This disease is horrible. This is it. The world is really ending. Everyone is going to die and today is my day.

Suddenly I see a figure hiding in the trees. Oh god, I'm seriously going crazy. But I still stop for a second. There are many trees around me and nothing else. What is this place? I feel I'm in a jingle. There is not one house around here. Not one place to rest. Or be safe. I feel like walking towards the tree, but what if it's just another sick person? Then, I'm surely going to die. I turn back in horror, just to see how close they've arrived. Thank god I can run fast. So I start running again. My bag, which hardly has anything, is feeling like a heavy weight. I'm thirsty. Fuck, I'm so thirty. I'm crying at my situation again. There's nobody here. Fuck this. I'm going to be one of them.

Soon enough, I see another figure running behind me. I don't know from where he joined me, but I'm glad he did. Probably the trees, I wonder.

"Turn left," he screams, "I'll distract them,"

With that I hear a few gunshots. He is killing them. Fuck, all my muscles seem to relax for a while as I stop to turn left. He is here, I keep telling myself. Somebody is here.

I stop running. I couldn't run anymore. "I can't," I say, my breath is heavy.

"Don't give up," he says, stopping himself as well, "We're almost there,"

"Where?" I ask, still trying to catch my breath.

"My house," he mutters.

I sigh in relief. God. Yes. He has a house. Some water. A bathroom, probably. I'm... safe. I guess.

Swiftly he grabs my arm and pulls me under a tree.

"What?" I yell.

"Shhh!" he says, trying to shut me up.

I peep from my right side. Fuck. An army. Of just sick people.

"We're gonna die!" I scream in horror.

"Shut up!" he whispers, placing his finger on my mouth, "they can hear you. They will know we're here,"

"Who are you?" I ask him.

"Your guardian angel," he smirks. I can't believe he would joke around when we're almost getting killed by a mob.

I rolled my eyes at him, "How are we gonna get past them?" I whisper-yell.

"It's easy," he shakes his head, "We just have to distract them. I'll do that. I'll distract them and you keep running left. There's a house, just a little farther. You just have to jump in," he explains.

"What about you?"

"Oh, I do this everyday. I can -"

Before he can complete, an old sick man falls from the tree and grabs my leg. If he wasn't so old he would probably eat me. I scream. So loud. Probably the whole world knows that I screamed.

"PLEASE PLEASE," I scream to the boy, "HE HAS MY LEG," I hug him, being really scared. As I kept feeling the old man's hand on my leg. I kept trying to brush it off, but he held it so tightly.

The boy held my waist and looked down, really not scared about this whole thing at all. He just shook his head and shot him from his free hand. But I kept hugging him. My heart was in my hand. I couldn't - that sick person... his touch. I could still feel it. I was disgusted.

"We don't have time," he says, his voice alarmed.

"What do we do?" I ask him, still not letting go of the hug.

"We run," he says, "together."