Still breathing | Original story

Chapter Three: Hero

Word count: 3755

"Miss. Bailey," I started slowly. "Are you okay?"
At the sound of my voice, she lurched forward. Her chubby legs straining against her body weight as she hobbled over. The movement finally made my fight or flight response kick in, I felt the adrenaline running through my veins. My heart was trying to crawl up my throat and escape but I nervously swallowed it, not giving it the chance to abandon me.
I moved as far away from Ella as I could get. Miss. Bailey, whatever she was, followed me. Her eyes glued to my every movement and she reminded me of those creepy paintings you get where it feels as though their eyes follow you around the room, except they were actually following me and it wasn't just some well-placed penmanship. She was nearly passed the sofa where Ella lay when she stopped, she was no longer looking at me. She lifted her head up and I could see the scabs under her neck crumbling away, blacks and reds cascading down onto the floor, and then she sniffed the air. I could hear the heavy intake from where I stood. All I could think about getting her away from Ella.
"It's um, it's very rude to come into someone's house unannounced," I stuttered and her head snapped towards me, she was no longer bothered about whatever she could smell before. Her stumpy legs gained speed as she ran towards me, arms open wide; although I was sure she was not going to give me a hug if she caught me. I stumbled on the carpet and landed on the kitchen floor, I groaned as the pain hit me, the cold floor making it seem that much more intense. I slid my feet across the floor and managed to get up just before my neighbour reached the kitchen too.

I backed into the counter and felt around for something I could use to defend myself with, never once losing eye contact. I knew where we kept the knives, the hard part was finding the knife block without taking my eyes off the woman. Time seemed to slow down, my senses heightened, but it just seemed to make it even harder to concentrate. From where I was I could truly smell her, the pungent smell went straight into my nostrils and my eyes water. It smelled the same as the countryside, only ten times worse. The smell of faeces was evident but also something else; rotting flesh, blood. It smelt like a countryside full of dead pigs.
I felt my hand bump into the wooden block behind me. I moved up the block until I found the handle of a knife and managed to get a good grip on it.
"Don't make me hurt you," I shakily spoke, giving her the option to back down. Trying to find her underneath all the virus. Making sure she was no longer a human being anymore, well at least not a conscious one. At the sound of my voice, she lunged forward and, without thinking, I stuck the knife in the air. Aiming for whatever body part I could get at. I stabbed her once in the chest with as much force as I could muster, she stumbled back, taking my knife with her. Blood trickled out of the wound but she just snarled at me, madder than ever and hardly affected by the hole I had just created in her chest.
I reached for the block again and I heard a clatter behind me as the knives spilled out over the counter top. I had no time to pick them up so I just held onto the wood block. She came closer to me and I swung the block at her, her head turned sideways and blood mixed in with saliva as it splattered onto the floor. I dropped the block and turned to grab the closest knife I could get. I turned again and aimed higher. The knife lodged in her eye, pus and blood sprayed on me but I just pushed the blade further. The gentle trickle of red smothered me, making my hair stickily wet. Feeling my neighbour squirm under my grasp made me want to drop the knife and try running instead but it was too late to do something else. Her teeth began gnashing far too close to my arm, I yelped and tried to twist myself away but moving only made my neighbour try harder to get at me. Through all of it, my blade would not go any further into the socket so I had to put more pressure on it. I gritted my teeth, beads of sweat trickled down my forehead. I just kept pushing it in until a black goo like substance was dribbling down her face. Her hands became lifeless and dropped to her side, I felt her full weight go into the blade and kicked her into the cupboard opposite. She slid down the wall, a thin trickle of blood following, and lay lifeless. I was breathing heavily, I hadn't realised how much effort it had taken or that I had been holding my breath.