Still breathing | Original story

Chapter Six: Survival

Word count: 3514

"ELLA!" I screamed and ran to her, she was out of view. All I could see were her legs hanging out the car, the rest of her body lay flat on the seats. Her legs were kicking as she screamed wildly at us. I could hear words but they were too frantic and high pitched to understand. As I got to the car I finally realised what was so bad. An infected was in the car, crawling under the passenger seat, it had grabbed Ella's arm and held a firm grasp. No matter how much she squirmed it wouldn't let go. One of its arms looked jammed under the chair so the infected was just snapping its jaws haphazardly. I felt the air leave my lungs.
"Help her," I managed to get out, all in a rush as panic took over. Jack didn't speak, he just nodded and began to pull Ella, trying to get her free. I, on the other hand, rushed round to the passenger side door. Out of breath, my heart pounding so loudly it rattled around my skull. I held my shovel so securely that my knuckles were white. A sick feeling was rising in my gut as I thought of how scared Ella must be, how I had to save her! Her life rested in the hands of two people with lousy weapons, I wasn't used to that kind of pressure. I usually avoided any stresses that life threw at me but I had found myself at the core of the most stressful situation of my life.
I flung the car door open. Ella screams filled the street as the infected's head moved to her arm. The sudden fresh air soon hit the infected who turned it's head towards me. From the new angle I could see its spinal cord sticking out of its neck, I shuddered. It was a sickening sight. I held my breath, head pounding more. I stuck the edge of the shovel into its head without a second thought. The entire event kept playing in my head, over and over again.
Jack pulled Ella out the car, but all I could do was stand there, gripping my shovel. Blood dripped from it, I could hear it. The drip, drip, drip, as it coated the seats with red. I could hear Jack shouting for me to help. I could hear the sound of my breathing, fast and deep, unlike Ella's. The thought of her made my feet move.

"Ella," I croaked as I dropped to her side. She was resting against Jacks' knee. "Are you okay?" A scream was her answer.
"It. Burns!" She cried. "Help!" Tears streamed from her cheeks and her body was jerking. I looked at her arm and gasped. My hands flung to my now open mouth.
"No, no, no!" I was saying it, it didn't feel like me. It didn't sound like my voice. I didn't want it to be me, I didn't want it to be my life. I turned away from Ella's arm. The picture of it wouldn't fade, my eyes watered as it was the only thing my mind would allow me to see. The red stood out so much against her pale skin. White teeth marks, surrounded by a layer of deep reds and purples. Blood too. A lot of blood. I looked back to her to see her coughing up blood, her face pale. She looked like a ghost.
Jack lost his grip as she thrashed on the floor. She fell onto her knees as she coughed bile and blood up. She knelt against the car whilst Jack turned away, hands gripping his hair roughly as he thought. Out of nowhere a car alarm went off, I looked up the street and saw an infected had banged into the car and was fast approaching. I looked around, there were more infected making their way over, a whole gang. It looked like a real horde and not just a few  like before - they were probably brought there by Ella's screams.
"Come on." I tried to pick her up but her body was too heavy and she too weak. The moans were getting louder, I felt panic spread throughout my body because I knew I couldn't leave her behind. Out of desperation, I called out to Jack to help but he wasn't listening. I saw him walk past us completely, he was walking towards the infected gripping his weapon tightly. His jaw was clenched, he screamed in anger and fury as he swung at the first one.
"Remi, get Ella out of here!" I heard him bark down the street, I didn't hesitate.
"Okay." I took a deep breath. "Try and stand in one, two, three."
On three I lifted upwards with all my strength, Ella slowly came to her feet. She leant against my shoulder as we walked away from the infected that were getting closer despite Jack's efforts. Since she was up it was much easier to manoeuvre her. She didn't feel so heavy but, instead, her body was floppy and her limbs seemed to melt into my side. I breathed in another deep cold breath and kept going. Focusing on putting one foot in front of the other.
Thankfully, when we had only made it half-way down the road I felt the pressure being taken off me and looked up to see Jack had joined me. He put one of Ella's arms around his own neck and we were moving much quicker. I could still hear the moans behind us but they were fading.
We were going the opposite way to where we wanted to be but, at the time, I didn't notice. I was more worried about Ella and getting us all somewhere safe - yes that included Jack.

We didn't know where to go after the moans had faded to nothingness. We continued to walk for a number of minutes. I looked worriedly at Ella, she coughed and blood sprayed across the pavement making me squeeze my eyes shut. I couldn't bare to look at her when she was like that. If I closed my eyes I could pretend she was alright. But even that wasn't enough, soon Ella fell to the floor and she couldn't be willed back up. She was shivering all over, her body retching and more blood spat out of her mouth.
"Remi," she rasped.
I knelt down to her level. I gripped her hand and looked her in the eyes. I didn't know what she wanted from me, but I supposed she just wanted me to talk.
"I'm here," I whispered. "It... it's going to be alright." I gulped as I fed her lies. "We'll fix this yeah? Sisters forever, not even an apocalypse can stop us... we're invincible yeah?" I nodded, I didn't know if I was trying to convince her or myself . Tears began streaming down my eyes, I had kept them inside me for so long but they inevitably came out and I couldn't stop them. Her body jerked again. She seized upwards as, what I could only assume to be, the virus coursed through her. She calmed a minute, her eyes glazed over. She blinked, her eyes then fixed onto me. There was little life in them but she still managed a half smile.
"You. remember the. time. you wanted. go. that. zombie thing?" She questioned. Taking a deep breath after each word. It was a zombie survival real life event, four hours to survive. Running from actors that were made to look like zombies.
"Yeah," I smiled, a tear dropping down my face. "I said we should go together, survive a fake apocalypse. 'it'll be fun'," I mocked myself - much like I had mocked Ella's similar words at the party.
"It. would've. been." She smiled. "I. probs. wouldn't. be. here now. if we'd. gone." Her chest rose violently and she laughed. It was a sad laugh. Then she coughed, her back arched as she sat up. Her blood went over me but I didn't move. I couldn't seem to move. "IT HURTS!" She screamed. Tears flowed into her mouth as she did so, but she coughed them back up... along with more blood.
"Remi! Do something," Jack shrieked. I'd forgotten he was there. I looked over to see him: eyes closed tight, hands over ears. He should be trying to comfort her too! He wasn't helping. I didn't know what to do! 
Put her out of her misery, my mind spoke to me. I knew it was right. I had to let her go.
"Please. End it," she spoke, reading my mind.
"No!" I said, shaking my head. I couldn't. I knew I should but I couldn't. She was in so much pain but I couldn't kill her. "Maybe we can get help?"
"Remi..." She looked at me, her eyes watered over. I knew I had to. The hospitals were gone, there was no help.
I put my shovel down and wondered how to make it painless. I remembered the knife I had, I rushed to get it out of my belt hole. The bobble snapped in two and lay on the blood-soaked floor.
She saw the knife and nodded. A tear escaped her eye.
"It... it's just a scratch. That's all you're going to feel," I lied again, tears pouring from my eyes.
"Please," she spoke, her voice broke.
My heart hurt, my lungs hurt, every organ was in pain. I didn't want to do it. 
Why do I have to do this? Why can't Jack? Why did she have to get bit? Why did this happen to her? So many thoughts whizzed through my head. I didn't want to.
"I.. I love you, Els, you're the greatest sister in the world," I whispered softly.
"I. love. you, Remi..." She closed her eyes. "Thanks. for. everything." Her breathing was erratic, her face white. With one hand gripped onto Ella's, I raised my knife that was in the other. I tried not to think about what I was doing.
I stopped in mid air, I couldn't do it. The knife was shaking, I tried to move it again but it didn't get far. I couldn't do it, I just couldn't. Ella didn't open her eyes, she knew I couldn't do it too. I started to move the weapon away from her, that wasn't how it was going to end. Before I could move it away completely I felt a hard object hit my side and then gravel dug into my arm.
"REMI NO!" Screamed Jack. "What are you thinking?"
"I wasn't-" I started but Ella's whooping cough cut me off. We both looked at her.
"Please," was all she got out, her throat was sore and dry. Jack walked back over to me, he knelt down so he was level to where I sat. He reached over to my hand, without saying a word, and took the knife away from me. He was looking into my eyes, searching for something, but I made no attempt to approve or criticise what he was planning on doing.
He walked away. I shut my eyes, I could hear mummers, a body dropped. Wetness enveloped me from where I was on the ground, not my blood, though. Ella's. My eyes shot open. Ella's blood was leaving her body and trying to seep it's way into mine. I felt sick. My mind was woozy and all I saw was Ella dead, both in reality and also in my mind.
Whenever I closed my eyes I could see the knife being pushed into her, deeper and deeper. It looked like a bad movie; like the blood was fake. Clumpy and red. Clotting at the top of her head, sticking to her hair, making it redder than her usual dyed shade.
I didn't want to look at Jack. He spoke to me to try and make me look at him but he had just killed her, just like that. She had wanted it, though, hadn't she? If she hadn't asked us to she would've been there... was it her fault? Should I blame her even if he was the one to end it?