Infection

Casanova

She can still hear the screams, mainly because they haven't stopped in the week since the Infection took over her small peaceful town. People are stupid, and will fall for any Infected trap, which is the reason why the screams are so numerous.

The screams that frighten her the most are the ones in the dead of night, when everything seems to have settled down and you can't see your hand in front of your face. They are louder, longer, and higher then the screams in the daytime, and they echo for hours long after they're over. These kind of screams are filled with pure terror before they cut off abruptly in the middle of a crescendo.
When Casanova hears one of these, her entire body tenses and she is filled with the urge to run. Her hands shake with fear and she clutches her raggedy blanket to her chest, her breath coming in quick gasps and tears spilling down her cheeks.

The screams like that make her want to find the source and help them, because so much grief and pain in encapsulated in those final seconds. Maybe they would like someone to hold their hand, even if it is by a scared girl with a boy's name.

One time Casanova did try to help after hearing such a scream. She was in the grip of one of her fevers, the ones that came on suddenly and didn't leave for days. It was a cold new moon that night, and in her delirious state Casanova had decided to use a flashlight. Her mind had forgotten the fact that light draws Infected, like moths to a flame.

That night, Casanova was the moth and the scream was the flame. Moths are also stupid, and that's why she nearly got killed that night.

To set the scene, imagine the blackest black in the world, so black it absorbs all light. The void. It's cold, the temperature of ice, but you're so deep in delirium that you leave everything behind and stay in your ripped t-shirt and muddy jeans. You can't feel the cold when your body temperature is so high.
The scream is at midnight, and close enough that you think you can help. This one is different, you think. It didn't cut off like the others. Maybe there's a chance.

Casanova crept through the darkness, clutching a flashlight that was way too bright for a night crawling with Infected. For some reasons, no Infected attacked her while she moved through the wood, heading for the abandoned house, where she was sure the scream had come from.

To her, the trees were people she knew, reaching out their arms for her. Join us, Casanova! They cried. We need you!
She ignored them, tuning them out. But there was one call she couldn't ignore, and that was her mother. Marilyn.

It's the dead of night in a day colder than Casanova can remember. The next day will be colder, and the day after that, on and on until they escape the middle of winter. It feels like spring will never come.

It's so cold Casanova's head is filled with fuzz, and every time she moves a crackling noise can be heard.