Still breathing | Original story

Chapter Ten: The 'hole' experience is deadly

Word count: 3223

I missed the shop right away but I tried not to think about it. I just had to keep going, otherwise, I would turn back and stay in that building forever. Surrounded by death (inside and out). I thought about the promise I had told Julie, I had said that she wouldn't die only for her to turn into one of those things. How I had not seen that coming I didn't know. Julie wasn't even my issue and neither was Adam, but a part of me couldn't help but think I could've saved them sooner if I hadn't wasted my time on that stupid fuse box idea. I had hoped that the infected would come to the shop and away from them and then I could've killed the small horde and everyone would be safe. Ha! Like that would happen. My fantasy life was fading quickly and the reality of the apocalypse was setting in.
My bag straps were weighing down on me, rubbing the skin off my shoulders. My muscles still ached from the previous attack but they were getting better with each stride. They were loosening up and the pain began to feel somewhat dull.
I searched the horizon and saw the flat outlining of my school, it was still a good ten-minute walk away, probably twenty with the way my leg was acting up. The pain was still alive there, it hadn't faded at all. Not only that but the muscle would randomly pull tightly and would make me need to rest for a short while. If it hadn't been for Julie I would've stayed in the shop for a little while longer. Then again, I hadn't had a good opportunity to escape like that in the two nearly three day's I had spent there.
I walked past a nursery and thought about the time I had taken Logan's little brother there, I wondered if he was alright and if Logan was looking after him. Although I knew they didn't get along.
I walked across the fields that led to the school and saw a few infected lining up. We were separated by a metal fencing with barbed wire wound at the top and about a mile or more of grass. Their teeth were bared at me, their fleshy hands gripping to the wire so hard that their bones were breaking through the skin.

As I walked across the grass, I noticed that only some of it had been mowed, a large chunk was left in the middle of it. The guy probably died before he could finish the job... or got out of town safely and left his work behind, I tried to remind myself that not everything had a bloody end to it.
I decided to be cautious about the overgrown grass in case an infected was hidden in it, I could never be too careful. I tried to walk around the edge of it but my foot snagged on something below me and I went tumbling into the grass. Except the grass separated and I kept falling. The ground was swept from underneath me and for one terrifying moment, I thought I would never stop falling.
I landed with a thud and gasped for air, only to be greeted by dirt. Dust from the ground made its way into my lungs and my mouth felt grainy. I spat onto the floor and coughed, trying to heave the dirt out of my body. After a few seconds, I managed to calm myself down. I titled my head up and saw that I was trapped in a dirt hole. The walls obviously set up so no human, or thing, could escape. I tried to jump up the sides but with my bad leg (that felt worse after the fall) and my sore upper muscles, there was no chance of me getting out of this hole.
After a while my ears perked up at a noise, it sounded like an engine but I didn't care exactly what it was. All I knew was that it was coming my way. I opened my mouth to yell to whoever it was but then clamped it back shut. Wondering if these were the people who set the trap and even worse, wondering what they were going to do to me when they found out I had fallen into it. I closed my eyes and hoped for the engine noise to pass by me. It didn't. I whimpered and put a hand over my mouth to stop any sound escaping.
I tried to work out how many people I was up against by the sounds of the car doors slamming shut. 1. 2. 3. Footsteps followed. I thought that three people wouldn't be too bad, but a part of me was screaming at me for being naive.

"Well, well, well. Look what we caught." I looked up to see a man with blonde spiked up hair.
"What should we do with her?" I turned my face to look at another guy. This one much older looking and probably in his late twenties. He had a light stubble and short brown hair, he didn't resemble the other guy at all. My eyes widened as I saw the second man had a massive axe slung across his shoulder.
"Bait I think." The man chuckled and I gulped.
"No, we should take her in man." Something about the pair made me feel unsafe and I hugged my chest protectively.
"Guys what's 'appenin?" A girl with a strong accent rushed over and looked down on me. I could tell she was British, I just couldn't tell where she was from exactly. "Are you kiddin' me? Don't tell me yous are playin' good cop, bad cop?" The two men gave each other mischievous glances.
"Noo," the younger lad said, extending his O's more than necessary. "'Course not."
"Good. 'Cus Em's not gonna like it." The girl skipped away and the two guys decided to join forces in an attempt to pull me out of the ditch. I ignored their hands and backed further into the corner of the ditch, dirt fell on top of me as I did so.
"Come on, how the hell else are you going to get out?" The younger guy asked and he was right. It took everything in me to swallow my fear. I took in a shaky breath and pushed myself off the wall. I reached up for their hands and felt myself being lifted up. I helped as best I could by pushing my feet against the walls of the ditch. Before I reached the top, the guys couldn't hold on to me anymore and I was forced back to the ground where a second wave of dirt filled my lungs.
"Bag," axe-man instructed and held his hand out for me to give it to him. Instead, I threw it to the side of the hole and grabbed his hand so he could attempt to pull me up again.
This time, I surfaced from the hole before I fell onto the grass and coughed up the dirt in my system. As an ill-looking woman appeared I was pulled up to my feet. I narrowed my eyes at the two and managed to release my arms from their grasps so I could wipe myself down. I reached for my bag and gripped it tightly so they knew not to try anything.