Within Hysteria.
Hands. Dripping with what I could only guess was blood, banging on the boarded up windows and doors. I could hear their screams, their demonic laughs. The smell of unwashed bodies and rotten flesh stained the hallways as I ran down them. I turned a corner, and they were there. One carried a large gun and another carried an axe, one used for breaking through the doors if there was ever an emergency. I heard the metal from the large pipes that stood on the side of the spaceship walls screeching as they fell. The heavy foot falls of the inflicted echoed in the halls as they were running towards me. I backed up on the wall, and prayed that they couldn't see me. I felt the floor beneath my feet start to shift. I knew what was happening. The inflicted, people infected with a disease that caused hysteria through breathing contaminated air, had found me and were cutting the floor from beneath my feet. I gasped as the floor collapsed beneath me and fell, landing with a thud on the cold metal floor.
"TheRe you aRe little biRdie" an inflicted with a yellow hazmat suit said.
"We'vE been looking ALL over for you," said another.
I backed up against the wall and shuddered as they looked at me with their deadpan eyes. Suddenly they froze. I heard a loud thump, and the two inflicted collapsed on the ground. I saw Алёна (aLEOna) kneeling behind their bodies with an axe. She was breathing heavily.
"What are you doing here?" she said with her strong Russian accent. "You should be at the Control Center with the rest of the group."
"I know I'm sorry," I stuttered. She stood up and started to jog down the hallway.
"The inflicted are always heavily populated around the Southern Ward." She scolded. Алёна had always been like a mother to me since mine was taken by the inflicted. I repositioned my helmet and followed Алёна down the hall. Two inflicted turned the corner, screaming and bolting towards us with their razor fingernails stretched out to rip at our suits. Алёна shot them both down easily. She was appointed the Captain of the Survivors for a reason.
My name is Mathias Antonellis. Or that is what my files say. I woke up on this spaceship filled with sick people heading out to dump all of them at the Highline Medical Center for treatment. The others who were untreatable were dumped into the void. The Survivors call me Prawn, like the animal, because I'm so small and always hunched over reading. The past souls from the inflicted left behind books so I usually have something to keep me occupied, but it comes with a catch. To get books, I have to go to the afflicted rooms. That means I have to go out onto the ship where the inflicted are roaming. That's what I was doing out, anyways. I think that the inflicted have found out where we were hiding; we will probably have to move again. I swung into the vent and Алёна came in after me. We crawled through the vent, a left turn, then two rights. Once we arrived at the decontamination room, where the air was filtered, we removed our helmets and the door to the base slid open. I stripped out of the rest of my hazmat suit and hung it up on my hook. I glanced around the room, unconsciously counting all of the members.
"4..5..6..-"
I was cut off short as there was a loud sound of metal against metal, and I gasped. Everyone was in panic, throwing on their hazmat suits and grabbing weapons. I tightened the screw that held the helmet onto the suit and flipped on the oxygen just as an axe broke through the wall. I heard a scream and saw blood rushing down the side of my suit. The world started becoming spotty. I looked around frantically as the inflicted filled the room, shooting my team members, my family. I looked at Алёна and saw fear etched across her features; the gunshots reflecting in her teary eyes. I blinked twice. I tried to stand up to help, but I fell back down. My helmet fell off, and I did my best not to inhale the putrid air. Red and black spotted my vision as a slowly faded out of existence, giving one last plea of help as I slipped into darkness.
(Continued)
I gasped and awoke with a start. I peered around me to find the bodies of my murdered team. I saw Алёна leaning against a wall, blinking in surprise. She looked at me with surprise and my jaw dropped when I saw her eyes. They were completely white, just like the inflicted. Her face went pale when she looked at me and she started backing up.
"Ал-Алёна.." I stuttered.
