The Infected

The damage is done

It's been two years now right? Two years since the bomb dropped and murdered my whole family. I remember that fateful night clearly.

"Mum!" I cried, desperately reaching for her dead body. "Mum! Please no!" I crawled through the rubble and over to her. "Mum! Mum, don't leave me! Don't go!" I wailed, shaking her lifeless body. "Please..." I whispered, more quietly this time. I hugged her close and planned to never let go. That is, until I felt a cold, bony hand land on my shoulder. I craned my neck, only to see my father... But not as I'd seen him before.
He was a cold, dead mass of flesh. A zombie.
I screamed and ran away, my mothers body in my arms. She didn't seem to be a zombie... She was just dead. Lifeless.
I carried her to the top of what used to be a grassy hill where we spent our summers gazing at clouds and having picnics. I laid her down gently and placed my black coat over her. I shed tears for her as I knelt at her side.
"I'm sorry... So, so sorry..."
"You have nothing to be sorry for, Levi."
My eyes widened as I looked at her.
"Mum...? Was that you?"
"Yes, dear. You need to run... Go find your friends... Survive this merciless world."
"I-I will mum... But not without you."
"Yes. Yes you will. I'm going to turn any moment now... Can you kill me before that happens?"
My eyes widened once more as I stared at her. "What?! No! "
"Y-You have to, Levi... I'll kill you otherwise..."
"B-But..." I turned away, biting my knuckles, tears pooling at my eyes.
"Levi! Levi is that you?" Another voice shouted from the distance.
I looked up to see some of my best friends, Ivy, Dan and Oscar.
"Guys!" I exclaimed, waving them over.
They rushed to my side and knelt down next to me.
"Is that...?" Ivy questioned.
"Yeah..." I responded, sadness dripping from my tone.
"Goodbye... Levi... I love yo-" My mother whispered before her head lolled to the side.
I couldn't believe it. I refused to believe it. The woman that I had grown up with, grown to love, grown to cherish, gone. Just like that.
Ha. It's strange how quickly a human life can be taken just like it's a meaningless piece of trash floating in the wind, just waiting to be picked up and thrown away. It's the sorrow of life that we all have to live with. You're born, you live, you die. It's that simple.
Very heartbreaking if you put it in to context. If you think about how you and your loved ones will one day be gone, it's scary. You don't want it to happen, yet there's nothing you can do to prevent it. The world is one messed up place. No, in fact, the world isn't messed up, it's the people living in it that are. We're all here just to ride the same boat until the inevitability of death.
"I love you too, Mum." I chocked back a sob and stood up.
I started to walk down the hill, my friends in tow.
"Levi?" Ivy asked.
"What?" I spat.
"Where's Oliver?"
I stopped dead in my tracks. "Shit!" I slid down the hill quickly and towards his house.
"Come on, come on!" I called to my friends.
I came to a halt at the bottom of the hill, dusting myself off before jumping over a stray barrel. The fire surrounding me hurt like hell, but I was not going to let that stop me.
I stared at his burning house before coming to my senses. "OLIVER!" I shouted, racing to the burnt house. I repeatedly called his name, digging through the rubble.
"Levi! Levi, I'm over here!" The shrill of a voice cut through me like a knife.
"I'm coming, Oliver! Don't you worry!" I ran to where I had heard the voice and furiously dug around. "Where are you damn it?!" As I kept digging, a hand emerged from the wood. "Oliver!" I exclaimed, grabbing his had and hauling him out. "Guys!" I shouted to the others, alerting them that I'd found him. I dragged Oliver away from the house and to safety. He coughed and spluttered as my friends came and knelt by his side. His face was coated in ash and soot and his clothes were nothing but mere rags now. Smoke was still polluting the air as the fires around us burned on.
"Are you ok?" Dan questioned.
"Does he look ok?!" Oscar argued back.
"Does he fuck!" Ivy shouted at the two.
Oliver groaned and coughed. I stared at him and growled at the others.
"Make yourselves useful and find some kind of first aid kit! He's dying for fucks sake!" I shouted at the trio. They always seemed to fucking argue when we needed to work together the most.
"But Levi, I-"
"I don't give a shit, Oscar. Find a first aid kit and get it back here. ASAP."
"Yes sir!" He shouted and scurried off, hopefully to find a first aid kit.
"Oliver. You're gonna be fine, trust me."
"I know, Levi... I know..."