Don't Say the 'Z' Word

Chapter Three:

*** Please note: Please excuse any grammatical errors or typos. This is the first draft. Any and all feedback is welcomed and encouraged. Thanks x.

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12 hours ago.

It's three thirty in the morning when I finally unlock the door to my apartment building. Slowing my movements in the hopes to make as little noise as possible as I walk through my dark and silent apartment. Although sweet when awake, Ruby was a total terror when woken up from her sleep. I take extra caution in choosing where to place my steps, so that I do not wake my housemate. I opt to use the flashlight on my phone, instead of turning on the lights, as I creep to my room, I notice that my battery is almost flat. It had now been almost 24 hours that I had been awake; I worked a morning shift at my other job at the café before I worked my shift at the bar my only motivation being the paychecks I would receive the following week.

I slip off my shoes and collapse on my bed, still fully dressed, and falling asleep almost instantaneously.

Present.

The next morning I am woken up by the sound of someone scratching at our apartment door.

"Ruby!" I moan loudly into my pillow, conveying the idea that she should be the one to answer the door. I hear no movement and the scratching continues.

"Ruby! Get the door!" I yell out, eyes still tightly shut, silently protesting my non-sleeping state. I wait about half a minute and get no reply from Ruby.

Accepting the inevitable I open my eyes, a deep frown on my face as I push myself out of bed and stomp over to Ruby's room. I swing the door open, not bothering to knock and find her room in its usual tornado strewn state, completely empty of human life. I stand at her doorway for a while my still half a sleep brain trying to figure out the strange absence of my friend. She hadn't told me that she made plans, and shame on her for not inviting me if she did, we were supposed to be best friends. The scratching continues at the door and I let out a big sigh before I head towards it.

"I'm coming!" I yell, muttering a curse word under my breath at the person's impatience and persistence. Standing on my tiptoes, since I was born a shortie, I close one eye and glimpse through our peephole. Standing at the door is a sickly looking lady; her skin seems to have sunken in at her cheeks and clings to her face. Heavily lined veins protrude on her skin and a clammy sheen covers her entirely, making her skin glisten, and giving her a dead appearance. Her brown straw like hair is knotted in a bird's nest on top of her head and her eyes have a milky glaze over them. I push away from the door my heartbeat quickening and my eyes widening.

She looks almost dead, but she clearly isn't as she continues to scratch at the front door relentlessly. Leaning back against the door and peering at her through the peephole the broadcast from last night flashes through my mind. She must be infected, and looking for help, I think to myself.

"Look," I start to tell her, she snaps her head up and starts to shift it around, trying to locate where my voice is coming from.

"I'm not gonna let you inside, but I can call you some help, okay?" I inform her.

She starts to claw at the door harder, her fingers making a horrible scraping noise against the door as she drags them up and down it. She lifts her head and snaps her teeth together menacingly, small growling noises escaping her lips. Shuddering I step away from the door, I rush to my room and grab my phone, only to realise that it is flat.

"Shit!" I mutter, swiftly plugging it in to charge, before heading back to the door. I pick up the metal baseball bat that we keep in the corner near the door, the feeling of the cool metal and its solid bulk in my hands calming me slightly.

Looking once again through the small circle in the door I see that she is still there, scratching and gnashing her teeth. I hear a clattering noise from the end of the hallway. Her head snaps sharply towards the noise, before she starts to scamper off in an animalistic manner towards the sound. She exits my field of view quickly and I can hear her footsteps thumping along the floor in the direction of the stairwell.

Soon I can't hear her at all, turning the lock slowly and gently, trying to make as little noise as possible I unlock all the bolts on the door. Gripping the bat tightly in my right hand I wrap my left around the door handle and twist it slightly. I go to open the door when a loud shrill scream punctures the silence throughout the building.

My heart stops beating for a second before kicking into over drive, pumping adrenaline through my body and making my limbs twitch. Flinging the door open I jump into the middle of the corridor my bat raised high and firmly in my grip ready to swing at whatever approached me. And although adrenaline pumps through my body, as I search down the corridor towards the stairwell, my blood turns to ice in my veins.

The lady who was scratching at my door mere seconds ago is on the ground, on hands and knees, at the end of the corridor. She's leaning over a body, which is motionless and dyed red in blood. I stand frozen an uneasy feeling settles into the pit of my stomach as she rips into the carcass.

Her hands grabbing and tearing flesh, blood pools to the floor as she pulls whole intestines and organs from the body. Her hands covered in bloody gore; she lifts them towards her and begins to shovel what she can into her mouth, feasting on the dead flesh.

I feel my stomach clench and my throat tighten as I dry reach. Turning back to my room I slam the door shut, my hands flying over all the bolts and locks before stepping slowly away from the door, the bat I dropped in my haste to lock myself in rolls on the ground slowly away from me.

I feel a scream start to build in the back of my throat and quickly slap my hands over my mouth to prevent it escaping. My hands shake as I keep them over my mouth, and my breathing starts to come out in short gasps, as my mind races to come up with an explanation.

"What is happening?" I whisper to myself, "Oh my god, what the hell is happening?" I shriek to myself, unable to contain my hysteria.

I blink a few times before pinching my thigh to see if this is all just some messed up nightmare, it's not.