The Price of Humanity

Chapter Fifty-Three

Chapter Fifty-Three

"Come on Alex, you need to be stronger than this." I grunt again, sneering at the person I once called the closest person in my life. Now he was just the asshole who was torturing me.

"I'm trying my hardest." He hits me again with the wooden pole, whacking my leg. It was only a light hit but it still feels as if my entire leg is on fire.

I wince at the pain and glare at him once again. Trying to be strong, trying to stand up, I put pressure on my leg.

It won't let me however because the pain becomes too much and I fall to the floor again. I look up at my brother, pain in my eyes.

"Come on Kiddo." His voice is now as sweet as sugar as he tries to persuade me to stand up.

I try again, but my leg fails me as I fall to the ground in pain. Strong arms wrap around my waist as he pulls me up and sits me on a chair I never noticed before.

I look around, finally taking in my surroundings, and see my back garden. I glance over to the bottom where only one grave lies, my mother's.

"Stop being so harsh on her Gale." I look up to see my dad coming out of the house which I used to call home. I can't see in however due to a white tinge shielding the interior from me.

"She needs to learn, she needs to get up." Gale replies to our dad, still tightly gripping the wooden pole.

"She does, but give us a little time first." He moves over to me, kneeling down so he's level with me and sighing, looking into my eyes. I feel like he's looking into my soul.

"Daddy?" I whimper, I hate how my voice sounds so weak and trembling as I look upon the man I never thought I'd see again.

"It's me sweetheart." I go to stand up, to hug him to touch him to make sure he's real when the pain in my leg comes back to me, as if someone's stopping me from getting up.

"Daddy it hurts." I whimper looking down at my leg. I'm shocked when I see no wound on my bare legs however. I'm more shocked at the fact that I'm wearing. Demin shorts, a red flannel and a grey long sleeved top.

This outfit seems too familiar for my liking. And way too skimpy for an apocalypse with cannibalistic, infected humans.

"I know it does sweetheart. But you need to get up for me, you need to live." I look at him confused, he's fully gain my attention now. Live?

Then I remember the compound, the gunshots and the shot to my leg. I look down again, twisting my leg around and trying to find any sign of a gunshot, there's none.

"Am I dead?" I ask, tears brimming my eyes. My dad wipes them away as they start to fall. "No honey you're not. But you need to get up." I shake my head furiously, crying more.

"I can't Daddy, it hurts so much."

"Kiddo." The strong voice claims my attention and I look up at him, teary eyed. "Do you know why I used to call you Ninja?" I nod my head.

"Because I was always climbing things and doing tricks like a Ninja." He shakes his head, looking down at me with pride.

"No. Because you've always been a fighter. The best fighter I've known. You always fought for me before all this bullshit." Our father gives him a look at his use of language but he continues, ignore the glare. "You would try and try again to get me to go to rehab, stop messing my life up." He moves over to me, kneeling down on the other side to where my Dad is.

"You never stopped fighting for me. It only took the end of the world for me to finally listen to you, but you never gave up." He lifts my chin with his finger and wipes away the tears that are now heavily falling. "And that's what you need to do now my little Ninja. Fight. Fight this battle, for me and for Dad."

I shake my head furiously, still feeling the pain in my leg, only now I feel something digging around in it.

I scream out in pain as I feel the could touch of metal scraping around inside my leg. I clutch my leg, leaning forward and ungracefully falling off the chair.

I curl up into a ball on the ground while my father rubs my back and Gale holds my hand. I grip him tightly and feel something moving inside my leg.

I feel the thing lodged in my leg getting pulled out and scream in agony once more, I see the tears in my Dad's eyes as well as Gale's.

I look down to see my leg swelling and moving, hoping this God this isn't a scene from a horror movie I scream louder, if that's even possible.

The object breaks the skin and falls out of my leg, falling to the floor with a thud.

Blood trails out of my leg and I sit up, wincing at the pain before picking up the metal object that just fell out of my leg. A bullet?

The bullet that was in my leg.

"Where am I? What's happening?" I frantically ask, turning around to look at my family.

They sigh before pulling me into a tight hug. I pull back, and slowly but steadily get up on my feet. I kneel first, taking deep breaths as the incredible plain sears through my body.

I stand up however, the pain is unbearable but I do it. Gale and my Dad stand up too, looking at me with pride, I look at them with fear and confusion before they start to fade away before my very eyes.

The scene before me turns into blackness, and I frantically move about before opening my eyes and coming face to face with a very different scene.

I scream as Zane puts pressure on my leg, wiping a cloth over it and look up at Adam who's tightly holding my hand.

"Welcome back."