Infected

Chapter 5

I'm strapped down to a bed on my wrists and ankles. bloody teeth fall out if my mouth and I want to eat. No, I need to eat. Not just anything, flesh. I need human flesh. I loose control of all thought process. My hair is all gone. I feel pain as my new teeth force their way through my gums, causing them to bleed a lot. Erica walks in the room and stands at the foot of the bed. She's crying as she watches me. I thrash and thrash trying to break the restraints. I need to eat her. I have to kill her. The restraints break pretty easily. I lunge at Erica and she is frozen with fear. My new teeth sink right into her neck.

Someone smacks me in the face. I jump up, startled. Te'Aysha stands over me. "Will you shut the hell up? I'm tryin' to sleep!" She says and stumbles back to the bed and flops down on it. It was a dream. Just a dream. I sigh with relief. I'm sweaty and short of breath. My cheek still stings from being slapped but I'm glad she did it. That was a horrible dream. I fear having another nightmare so I don't go back to sleep. I get up and walk across the hall to the bathroom. I realize that my arm is bleeding from me scratching it in my sleep. I get a paper towel and soak it in the cool water from the faucet and start cleaning my arm off.

"Don't! You didn't use that water yet did you?!" A voice from behind me says frantically. I turn around and I see a familiar woman. She's short and brunette, her brown eyes wide.

She grabs my shoulders and shakes me, "did you use the water on your wound?!"

"Yes! Yes, I did. Why?" I said, getting worried.

'Oh no,' she mouthed.

"Why?" I yell, now getting panicked.

She backs away from me ,"everyone that has used the water in here since last night has got infected!"

I stood in shock, "what? where are they now? Why is it happening? Please, tell me what's going on!" I was in full blown panic now.

"Well, a lot of people, all women that use this bathroom, are becoming infected. Most of them are dead. Already have been shot and disposed of. The rest are in the labs being tested, until they turn, that is. Then they get shot too." All I was hearing is that I'm going to die, one way or another.

"How long? How long does it take to change into one of them?" I choke out.

"In this case, around an hour. Hour and a half." My knees give out and I crumble to the ground.

"I'm going to have to take you to the labs, unless you go willingly." She tells me slowly getting closer to me.

"I'm not going to be their lab rat!" I yell backing up.

"You're dying anyway! What's it matter to you?" She says grabbing a hold of my arm not in a sling.

"Let go of me." I say in a low but threatening tone. She gives my arm a tug toward the door and I body slam her into the wall. She lets go of my arm and falls to the ground. I noticed that her head hit the wall when she slumps to the ground, blood streaking the wall. I felt bad, but I wasn't going to those labs. I didn't know what they would do to me. I needed help, but I don't know who was willing to help someone infected. I run back to mine and Te'Aysha's room and grab my picture and put it in my pocket. Te'Aysha sits up in bed, "why you rushin' for?" She says groggily.

"Everyone that has used the girls bathroom across the hall since last night gets infected. I just used it. I gotta get out of here. I'm not going to be a lab rat." I explain quickly. I can hear my heartbeat in my ears.

Te'Aysha suddenly is wide awake and hops out of the bed. "Alright, I'm in."

"What do you mean, you're in?" I ask.