AM13 Outbreak Shorts

Outbreak - Seventeen

"I'm...oh erm I..." I can't form a sentence. This is potentially the only time in my life where saying real words will actually save my life, and I can't seem to manage it. Something seems to have a firm grip on my tongue and won't let it go.

Then it hits me.

The smell gets to me first, it wafts up my nose like a trickle, then an explosion right in my face. This man is full of the most pungent scent I've ever had the horror of experiencing. He's like a barbeque that's been left of for far too long, with meat and fat dripping onto the coals. He's metallic and bloody, almost as I imagine certain parts of a far smell like. He's death, pure and simple. It radiates off of him in waves.

I gag, without even thinking about it I start to wretch. Then my eyes move upwards and I see a sight that matches the smell. The man has a bite wound that puts my dad's to shame. The puss pouring from it is blackened, and tainted with brownish blood. His shoulder is almost all torn away from it, whatever beast grabbed hold of him and destroyed him in that way must've been one of the worst.

Although it wasn't an animal, was it? It was another human who did this; a concept that seems impossible.

The man steps slowly closer to me, shaking on what's left of his legs, his left ankle broken and crushing further with each step. This isn't what I imagined victims of the virus would look like after a time, even if it is exactly as described, because this man should definitely be dead. There's no way someone should be able to survive this long, looking like this.

Dad... I don't want to think of him becoming this, but the image fills my mind all the same. This could be in his future, and I am out here, hiding from him like a coward.

Bang!

There it is again, a sign that I really need to leave.

I run until I can't breathe anymore, I move until my legs ache a red hot pain, I don't stop despite the fact that my face is flaming, even though I think I'm going to pass out.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The gunshots start coming from everywhere, forcing me to continue when it's impossible, keeping me moving regardless of how loudly my body screams at me.

As I collapse back into Emma's garage, my haven, the tears stream down my face as the reality of life hits me. I knew this was bad from the second my dad told me to go, but I don't think I knew just how dramatic it truly would be. Now it all makes sense; everyone's fears, the quarantine, the panic. It's absolutely petrifying to admit, but this actually could be the end, this virus really could be the one thing that it's been claimed to be.

The AM13 virus could actually be the end for all of us.