The Last Of Us

Chapter sixteen : Haunted

The scintillating ball of flame up above us spreading it's ray of scorching, unbearable heat like the breath of hell, burning our lungs with every breath we take as we walk through the annihilated city of Atlanta. Streaks of sweat dripping down our neck and back, drenching us making our clothes stick to our body. As I look around, it's all seems so surreal. It's weird how this street would have been filled with cars, people walking by the sidewalk and shopping in the shops but in reality, now there's nothing but crashed cars, broken shops,blood and gore of the carnage that has been caused. No matter how hard I try, i can't put the pieces together and form a perfect explanation of the mysterious cause that started this mess. I guess it will forever remain a big question.

Now, the biggest question to me isn't how the world ended like this. The biggest question for me is how did I not turn into one of them by now? Carl had been dead within 2 hours after being bitten, and it's been more than 2 hours that I had been scratched. Maybe because the scratches weren't that deep, or maybe I'm immune or maybe there's some other reason that I don't know.

Despite the heat, we have to walk. At this moment, we cannot afford to waste patrol and for that reason we decided to scavenge on feet rather than taking the car. We will need patrol to travel to the sanctuary and there's no guarantee that we'll find more natural resources like patrol for long, so it's better to save it. We walked a not so long distance from our shelter to gather some supplies from the nearby markets like we decided before we leave.

"Let's split up." Judis says, sapping me out of my thoughts as she stops all of a sudden in front of a store. "I know about medicines so I'll go to the drug store with my men, you four can look for other supplies." She says and starts walking towards the drug store before we could even say anything.

"Let's go." I say as I turn around to face them and they nood.

Even though Judis is a stranger, there's no other way. We can't survive out here with such low amount of resources for long and soon end up dying. With all the confusion I push the rusty door with force but making sure it doesn't make a lot noise along with all the trust issues and quietly make my way inside. A strong, moldy, putrid smell flooted towards my nose,indicating that something dead is in here rotting in some corner. As I take a step forward, small scattered pieces of glass items break more beneath the pressure of my feet with light noises followed by more light noises of breaking glass behind me, the light from the glass windows lightly illuminating my way to the front of the messy aisles. Packets of food and other random things scattered across the floor along with splattered, dried, dark blood. Probably from the first day it all happened. Images of what this store might have been flashes in my mind. People with smiles plastered across their faces coming in and out, buying things they need and then all of sudden, something happened catching them off guard. Screams started echoing throughout the entire store, people bewildered, frightened and slowly panicking of the bizarre situation that now ceased the happy, quiet, regular environment and started rushing towards the exit,bumping into shelves dropping items from them,then bumping into others, tripping to their death. Some making it out of the place and some not.

Just the thought of what might have happened makes a shiver run down spine. I wonder how many men, women and children had been here when it all went down. And, if they didn't make it out, it obvious that they are still in here but not alive. Though i wish someone lived, it's quite impossible to last here in a store. The fact that a lot people might haven't made it out, there's a high chance that a lot of infected are in here. I glance around as far as my eyes can see for a slightest sign of movement or anything but they see nothing.  Perhaps they all are on the other side, lurking in the darkness waiting for their prey to come and fall into their trap to be eaten. Just with the thought, the horrendous scene of Carl attacking and preying on his own mother flashes in front of my eyes and I flinch. Soon, a hand rests on my shoulder and I slightly jump, turning around to right away to attack whoever it it. When I fully turn and adjust my eyes, i see Jake looking at me with soft,worried eyes. He must have noticed me flinch.