Keep Your Eyes Open

The sound of heavy breathing.

The sound of a fast heartbeat.

I tried to calm myself down, but who could in the situation I was in?

My back pressed against a wall, my body hidden behind a desk. I tilted my head up and rested it on the wall behind me, breathing in and out, in and out. I closed my eyes, trying to find peace.

A hand touched my arm, I snapped my eyes open and looked towards the owner of the hand. My other half, Harri, stood there, finger pressed against lips. I nodded. He helped me up, took hold of my hand and lead me towards the door. He opened it slightly and nodded his head, motioning for me to follow him. I did. We walked at a brisk pace. Whilst walking, he turned to me and said;

'The others are running towards the woods. We need to follow them.' I nodded, my mouth too dry to speak and the lump in my throat so huge that if I did speak, I might've broken down in tears. He lead me towards the exit, his head twisting in all directions. When we got to the exit, his mouth came close to my ear. 'When I say run, run. And when I say run, I mean sprint like your life depends upon it, because it does. If I fall, leave me.' I opened my mouth to protest, but he just quickly whispered, 'run.' He opened the door and I sprinted towards the woods, his footsteps just behind mine. I focused purely on the trees in front of me. I looked closer and saw a few more human bodies running off into the woods. My friends. 'Tabitha, run faster.' Harri said, running up next to me.

My legs began to complain as I ran faster. My adrenaline levels accelerating, acting as morphine for my legs, giving me that extra boost I so desperately needed. I was so close. So close now. I could almost feel the serenity of the forest. Harri grabbed my hand and pulled me along.

'I can't Harri.' I said with defeat. I'm going to die, I can't make it.

'Yes, you can.' He grabbed my waist and lifted me up and held me in his arms. I peeked behind his shoulder. The creatures were everywhere. Some were following us. Five of them, all with madness in their eyes.

'Harri...'

'Don't say anything, we're not safe yet. PRASAN!' He yelled. 'HELP!' The fear in his voice frightened me. 'RHYS! LENNON! TOM! They're following us!' Lennon, Prasan, and Tom all turned backwards. Lennon, for some insane reason, had a handful of javelins in his hand. What the actual fu*k is going on right now? Lennon handed Prasan and Tom a javelin each. Harri held me close and jumped out of the way, landing on his back and me on top of him. 'You alright?'

'Yes, you?'

'Yeah.' I turned round, three of the creatures were lying on the floor with javelins through their skulls, the other two were just behind the three. Lennon handed Prasan, who was closet to him, another javelin, and together they threw them. Both of the javelins hit their mark, thank god.

'Are there anymore?' Harri asked. Lennon shook his head.

'Nope.' I got up and off of Harri. I offered him a weak hand and he took it. I tried to help him up, but my arm shook.

'It's fine, babe.' He said, lifting himself off the ground. My body shook. I looked down at the corpses. Those creatures, zombies even, were going to kill us. 'Where are we going?'

'Away from here, obviously.' Tom said.

'We can't survive in the woods! We need to go somewhere, like someone's house.' I said.

'But our houses are so far from here,' Tom said.

'It'll be a long-term thing. I'm sure if we head to the motorway through the woods we'll be able to find an abandoned car, we get in the abandoned car, which hopefully will have keys in, and we attempt to drive to someone's house,' I said, using hand motions in an attempt to add more clarity.