Infection (1)

Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine

The car door was cold against Axel's hand as he used it to balance his crouching position. It almost felt like ice, even though the air around him was cool. The brisk breeze blowing through his short curly hair was a relief to feel instead of the still mood given off by the hill hideout. Axel had a bad feeling though; he felt that his journey would soon end due to the stillness of the world. He felt he wouldn't get out of the Wal-Mart alive and if he did, he wouldn't last long after that. Axel often had negative thoughts, though he wasn't sure why. It had been going one for as long as this was going on. He often wondered if the surviving aspect was worth it, and if it would just be better to give up on life.

Aaron was right behind him, against the side of the red car. They were stationed inside the parking lot of the Wal-Mart, hiding from a few Xombies that had chased them when they tried to cross the highway. Aaron peeked over the side through a door window and saw four of them wandering toward the car. One of them caught a glimpse of his bright white face, growled, and started running.

"Shit," Axel yelled and tripped trying to run. He got up immediately and kept running. "Shit, shit, shit!" He was yelling and Aaron was running close behind, also screaming.

"What do we do," Aaron shouted, panicking more than he had in a while. The shouting and yelling had attracted other Xombies that ran out from behind the store and towards them. "Damn it! We have nowhere to go! There has to be over two dozen of them." Aaron was panicking and having somewhat of a meltdown. His bright blue eyes watered up as he faced what was going to be his end.

"Get the bat ready, I have an idea," Axel commanded.

"What idea? What makes you think we're getting out of this?" Aaron was appalled.

"Follow my lead."

Axel sprinted towards the Wal-Mart entrance doors, with Aaron following quickly behind, beating the heads of the Xombies in at the same time. Blood splattered everywhere, sprinkling Aaron's short sleeved plaid shirt and decorating Axel's neck with dots of scarlet. As they reached the door, Axel yanked on the handle. Locked.

"Perfect," He smiled and looked at Aaron. "C'mon, we need to head to the back of the store." He raced just as a Xombie hurled itself at the two, causing it to smash its head and splatter on the big window. As they hurried to the back entrance, Axel looked around on the ground for anything he could use.

"I don't see us getting out of this alive," Aaron said, wanting to give up on everything.

"Ah, perfect," Axel exclaimed as he bent down and picked up a paper clip. He instantly unfolded it into a straight wire and tried to pick the lock. Xombies were running at them from both sides, tripping over each other and smashing the heads of the ones that fell. Axel heard a click without thinking he slammed down and pulled the door open, grabbed Aaron by the collar and shoved him in. He followed, but not before a Xombie grabbed ahold of his hand, sank it's teeth into the skin of his lower arm, and pulled back, tearing a chunk of skin from him and leaving a huge hole in his shirt. Axel shrieked in pain and Aaron slammed the bat down onto the Xombie's hand knocking it back. Axel fell to the floor as the door shut behind him. Aaron locked the door and slid down onto the ground, trying not to cry.

"You stupid idiot... why would you do that? Why didn't you get yourself inside first..."

Axel was shivering uncontrollably. "I w-want... want... want...ed... to make sure y-you were s-s-safe..."

"You're going to turn now..." Aaron looked around with blurred vision from tears. He saw the door of a janitor closet ajar and got an idea. He stood up, breathing heavily and walked over to the closet. He scavenged and looked around and came upon a bottle of bleach. Wasn't quite what he was looking for, but he figured it'd work. He ran back to Axel with the bleach in his possession and got down to work. Axel was sweating to an extreme and was soaked. Aaron rolled him over to see the bite mark and almost threw up on what he saw. The bite was big and Aaron could see more of Axel's bone than he would like to admit. He ripped off his shirt, now only wearing his tank top. He gagged Axel with the shirt and poured bleach onto the wound. Axel started yelling, but was muffled by Aaron's flannel shirt.