Infected

Chapter 3

“We should go that way,” Linda stated pointing at the highway that led towards the city. “Are you sure?” I asked, hesitant on going anywhere at all. Linda remained silent for a few seconds before answering, “Well, if we go to my family’s barn, we don’t know what we would see…”

I too thought of the possibilities of taking one route. If we too the barn, we would be isolated from people who escaped, we would have low food because the farm animals would die soon, but we would have protection for a while. If we went to the city, we would be surrounded with hundreds or thousands of infected people ready to kill us. Although there would be food there and places where many people could hide.

“Where would we go to?” I stared at Linda, whom was looking out the window at the city. “I don’t know…I-I just can’t go to the barn.” She said defeat in her voice. I wanted to know why she couldn’t go to the barn, but I didn’t want to pressure her about it.

“We could look in those cars for a weapon of some sort?” I suggested, keeping an eye on a yellow Volvo in front of me. I saw Linda shrug from the corner of my eye and I took that as a yes. I signaled for her to watch my back as I opened the door and made my way for the Volvo. I looked around to see if there was any infected and when I made sure there wasn’t, I ran to the car. I looked at the driver’s seat and found the keys still in the ignition. The passenger’s seat had nothing nor did the back seats. I pressed a button on the driver’s side that pops the trunk; I looked inside the trunk and didn’t find anything.

I looked to Linda and shook my head. I headed for the nearest car to the Volvo which was a grey SUV. Again, there wasn’t anything in the front or back seats but I did find a crowbar when I pumped the trunk.

I held the crowbar up making sure that it was visible to Linda and when I saw her smile a little, I took that as a chance to go back to the car. I started making my way to the car, making sure to check my left and right all the time. I held the crowbar up just in case anything decided to pop up at me when I wasn’t looking.

“AUSTIN!” I heard a feminine voice coming from the car. I looked at where the sound came from and saw Linda pointing behind me. I quickly made a 180° to find and infected walking towards me. From the look of it, this infected happened to be a child, about 10 or 12. She had grey skin and her eyes were red, filled with lust…lust for hunger.

My eyes widened as the girl came near, I didn’t want to kill her, I really didn’t because she was only a child, but I had no choice. When she was arm’s length, I swung the crowbar until I hit something. After that I just kept on swinging making sure that she was never able to get up again. I felt warm liquid hitting my face numerous times but I ignored it as I kept smashing what once was human.

I was breathing heavily by the time I finished, I looked at what I did and I barely recognized the little girl, her face was all mashed up and blood was filling every spot I made holes in her face. I dropped the crowbar and stared at my hands in disgust. This was the first time I killed, it doesn’t even matter if they weren’t humans anymore, and I killed something.

I killed the ghost of a young girl who must have been vibrant before all this, before she got infected. I heard footsteps coming toward me but I didn’t budge from my spot, I was too stunned at what I did. I felt a gentle hand land on my shoulder and an angelic voice trying to sooth me, “Austin, just think of it as self-defense. Even though she was a little girl, she would have hurt you.”

Upon hearing Linda’s voice and her words of wisdom I did feel a little better, better for me to snap out of it and focus on our predicament. I grabbed the crowbar and stood up, wiping the little girls’ blood on my pants. “We’re going to the city.” Was all I said before I started walking, leaving Linda where she was.