Infection (1)

Chapter Five

"Come on, Kid! Get up and get over here," the voice yelled at me. I jerked my head around to see what was going on, but my vision was blocked by a stampede of Xombies running towards the red flare that was soaring through the bright blue sky. I stood up but was shoved to the ground by a Xombie that was in a rush to see the flare. The second attempt went a little more smoothly. I watched as a bunch of them raced towards me, completely ignoring me as I stood defenseless. "What the hell are you doing," the voice came to me again. "Get up here!" Up? Up! I turned and looked up at the hill to see two faint figures standing on the very top of the hill, jumping up and down to get my attention. I looked around to see that all the Xombies had retreated back to the forest. I whipped around and heard "Run for the hill". The hill was steep, and it was hard to handle. All of a sudden the cramp sparked shooting pain through my hip. And forget about my foot; it was too sore for me to put weight on it, causing me to collapse. I held onto the grass hoping I wouldn't fall. Looking back I saw Xombies coming back from the forest. I looked back up and climbed, my legs dragging against the soil. But my hip cramp was still a problem.

But I did hear a noise of inspiration. The roars of the Xombies behind me told me that they were headed for the hill to get me. With one palm on my hockey stick, I slammed down my hands, pushed myself up, and continued to haul myself up the hill. My determination was short lived, because I ended up falling down again. I slammed my fist down on the ground. "Damn it!" I shouted. "C'mon Walker, get up! Get up or you're going to die," I kept trying to motivate myself. Wasn't working in the slightest. I heard footsteps fall right in front of me, and when I looked up, I saw a heavier set guy with brown hair looking down at me. He bent over with his arms outstretched, lifted me up, and carried me all the way to the top.

"Dominic, hurry up," the other one yelled. "They're half way up the hill!"

"Go down and open the door for us. We'll be there shortly," the guy carrying me, who apparently was Dominic, brought me all the way to the top of the hill and darted down the other side, me still in his arms. Half way down, we met up with the other boy, also with brown hair but skinnier, and he lifted up some grass which actually was an entire door that opened vertically. Behind it was a dug out dirt corridor that led inside the hill. Dominic walked into it and the other guy moved slowly behind, closing it. We waited for a few seconds, and then we heard the Xombies roaring and scrambling down the hill.

"Don't worry, kid" the skinny brown hair boy said. "We have wood supporting the door from this side, and they won't know the difference from the door aside from the rest of the hill." He nudged past and walked down the corridor. Dominic kept carrying me closely behind him. After not much walking, we reached a huge opening. A room that put my hideout to shame. There was yet another boy over by a fire, making what looked like, and smelled like, bacon.

"Did you guys get him?" he asked.

"Yeah, we got him," Dominic replied.

"Little wimp could barely walk up the hill. If it weren't for us he would have been fresh meat for those things," the other one said with a tone.

"Hmm," the one by the fire spoke. "Aaron, go pull out a spare bedroll so Dominic won't have to keep holding Walker, will ya?"

I jerked my head toward his direction and spoke with what I tried to make an intimidating tone, but came out a whimper. "How do you know my name...," I managed to force the whole question out. He turned and smiled and got to see his whole face, and was shocked to see that it was Axel.

"C'mon, like I wouldn't recognize a hockey stick wielding guy like you," he said with a smile. "I was on look out when I saw a guy with a hockey stick staring down three of those things, until a horde of them ran out. Then I raced back to get Dominic, who grabbed a flare gun, and badda bing badda boom here we are." Axel had a knack for making me feel dumb and weak even though the actions had good intentions. It's something that stuck around ever since I met him when we were children.

Aaron set down a sleeping bag on the far right corner of the room and Dominic set me down on my back and pulled the covers over me. Axel brought over some bacon on a plate.

"Get some rest and eat up," Axel said and went back to his bedroll. He pulled out an Alternative Press magazine to read. I looked down at my plate of bacon. It felt good to have cooked food for once, and after I took my first bite, I ravenously ate the rest. The taste of warm, not too crunchy but not too chewy bacon in my mouth was amazing. I felt like I was in heaven, and I knew I was a lot safer here than in the hide out that I was hiding in before. This place was a sanctuary. Again, this place was Heaven.

As she walked back to her camp made by her mom, dad, and some neighbors, Riana pondered why the "Crazy", as she called them, didn't lunge itself at her. She remembered it and imagined every option. She went to explore and found a Crazy kneeling over a stream, and when it looked up at her it just stared. Was it not hungry? Maybe it was full from its last meal. Or maybe it was sick? Maybe... what if... what if it just wanted to chase me... to work up an appetite...? Her brain ran wild, but her thought process stopped as she reached her camp and saw it completely taken over by Crazies. Even her parents. And they all had their attention focused on her.

"So Axel," I began but between sips of water, "What exactly is this place?"

I got an answer from Aaron instead, "...It's a room inside a dirty hill. Not much more than that."

Axel rolled his eyes. "Aaron, knock it off, and it's a bunker of some sort I guess. We found out about two weeks ago and it had a few of those things in it. Whoever had this before let someone who was infected in and they got everyone. The three of us came in and cleared it out. Took it for ourselves while we could."

"How'd the three of you meet?" I asked. I figured that would make for some good conversation.

"Aaron and Dominic were already together. I met them in the Wal-Mart parking lot when I was looking for supplies, the one not too far from here. We decided to get stuff like cookware and food. We rushed in and out not disturbing any potential Things that could be using that place as a Hotel For The Dead."

"You mean you three didn't run into a single Xombie? How's that possible?" I was astonished by the skill of plundering they were talking about.

"Xombies," Dominic said with a chuckle. "Got a nice ring to it. I like it."

"Yeah well, no. We didn't see a single... uhm... 'Xombie' when we were in there." He looked at me with a sincere look. "Now let me ask you a question. What happened with your family?"

That question hit me hard. The memory of me slamming my hockey stick into the skull of my dad. And also not knowing what kind of situation my mom was in. I looked him right in the eye and just generalized everything. "Dead. Yours?"

He scoffed. "Both my parents were outside seeing what the commotion was. Didn't last long, since they were both eaten. Not a single piece of flesh was left on their bones. I didn't stop to think, I just booked it, grabbing what I thought would be a helpful gun but turned out to be a flare gun."

I nodded my head slowly. I drifted back towards my pillow and pulled up the covers, and Axel went over to his. I lay there, just staring at the ceiling. For the first time since this all started... I felt safe.

Sam stood on the branch of her perch, staring at the hill through the night world when her friend came up behind her.

"Have they left the hill?" he asked her.

"Not since they saved the kid we saved," she said. She then turned to face him. "Did you find the lab?"

"No."

I couldn't sleep. My mind was going hectic. I heard the faint snoring of Dominic and Aaron, but Axel was still getting stuff ready. After some time, he finally snuggled himself into his sleeping bag. After everything, there was still one question I was pondering.

"Hey Axel," I began, "You said that the Xombies ate the flesh off of your parents until there was only skeleton. Did that stop them from coming back as Xombies themselves?"

He looked up at me and smiled a very dark smile.

"No," and then he put out the fire.