OUTBREAK (A collection of Zombie Stories) |#Wattys2016|

1000 MILES AWAY (#1)

"Mom! Dad!" Teresa shouted as the soldiers swarmed around her as crowds of people pushed and shoved frantically past her. She could hear the noise of shouting and gunfire blare in her ears, and the spine-curdling voices of the undead, as they slowly made their way into the community, via the now breached walls.

Teresa tried to fight against the soldiers as she desperately scanned the fleeing masses for her [parents, who were nowhere to be seen. She pushed a soldier aside with all her strength and plunged into the panicked crowd.

"Teresa!" she heard a faint voice call out and she immediately ran towards it, ploughing through hordes of people, until she finally saw her parents, who were being escorted away by a couple of heavily armed soldiers. The moment she saw them, she screamed, "Mom! Dad! I'm over here!" and her parent's face lit up. She ran towards them and tackled them in a hug as the soldiers ushered them away towards the military helicopters that were waiting to evacuate the survivors, but as soon as the happy moment came, it dissolved away.

"Wh-where's Adam?" Teresa asked her parents, and her mom replied, looking behind her, "He's right..." Her face dropped into an expression of worry, "Oh no! Where is he?"

Her mom started hyperventilating as Teresa and her dad shouted for her younger brother. All around them throngs of panicked people stormed towards the waiting choppers, stampeding and even trampling over those less fortunate, and the ones trampled to death would turn and become undead landmines to anyone running.

The big horde itself was scarily close to them now, and the soldiers were not taking any risks anymore. People were being shoved and packed into military helicopters as fast as humanely possible, and the soldiers ushering Teresa and her family were growing impatient.

"SIR, MA'AM WE NEED TO LEAVE RIGHT NOW!" The soldier bellowed, but as she was pushed towards one of the non-full choppers, she got a glimpse of her brother! All of eight years old, with a short crop of dirty-amber hair (The same color as hers), thin and short with a rounded face and blue eyes. He was clutching his favorite doll in one hand and crying profusely.
"ADAM!" Teresa shouted as she noticed him. She pushed past the soldiers who were ushering her, and as one of them tried to stop her, she punched him in the face! She began to run towards Adam, all the while hearing her parents and the soldiers shouting behind her.

"Adam! Adam it's me, big sis! Quick! Come here!" Teresa shouted, but her words were lost in the cacophony of anarchy that took place that day, and just as she came close, she heard a gunshot.

BANG!
Teresa screamed out in pain and collapsed to the ground, busting her lip. She felt the bullet lodged in her thigh, each movement causing another great wave of pain. Her eyes were tearing him and her vision blurred. She saw, helpless as Adam, finally noticing her, starting running over towards her, only to be swallowed by a giant horde of people, stampeding away towards the heart of the community.

She heard one soldier say, reasoning with someone, "I had to take the shot. If not, she would have run right into the horde. Don't worry. It's not a lethal shot. Take it as a perk of being in a high position at this community Sir, ma'am. If you hadn't been Community director, that bullet might've gone through her head."

A pair of strong hands grabbed Teresa by her shoulders and dragged her limp body away, and in her last moments of consciousness she whispered, "Adam..."

1000 MILES AWAY an outbreak story

"We're going down!" Teresa heard a robotic voice say as she came back into consciousness. She could feel her body tightly strapped to an emergency stretcher, the bullet wound on her thigh tightly wrapped in bandages. It still burnt a bit, but the worst of the pain was gone. She felt light-headed and her vision was one big blur, but she could faintly make out some shapes, like her mother, father and three other soldiers. She guessed they were all in a helicopter. She saw brilliant-white light streaming from the windows, but suddenly, the helicopter lurched downwards and Teresa was thrown to the ceiling! She felt strong hands bracing the stretcher, keeping her in pace as she felt more straps being tied around her torso and legs. Outside, she could see the light being broken up in haphazard shapes she could not comprehend, and just as she had gained consciousness, the helicopter began to tumble as alarms sounded. She could feel someone's hands on her face – either her mother or her father, she could not tell – and she heard a voice say in a hoarse voice, "Don't worry Teresa, you'll be absolutely fine."
In retrospect, it was the worst lie she had ever heard.