Caught In The Crossfire//A 10k Story

Chapter 31

Murphy scowled at Doc before he suddenly straightened up. "I can feel something, I think it's a Z," Murphy whispered. As if it had heard Murphy mention it's presence, a Z came sprinting out from behind a shelf. I didn't have time to reach for my weapon, no one did, so I sprinted forward and slammed it against the wall, holding it back by it's neck with my arm.

I grunted as I turned my face away from it's snapping, bloody teeth. I moved one of my hands to hold both of it's hands down and shoved my other arm harder against its neck.

Before I had the chance to shout out for help, a blade was pressed into the side of it's skull. I looked to my side and 10k was stood there, "Thank you," I smiled lighting and dropped the body to the ground. He nodded simply and squeezed my shoulder as he walked past.

We stood around, discussing what to do. A beeping noise echoed from my left. "Can anyone else hear that?" I questioned, scared I was slowly loosing my mind. Doc strolled over into the start of the corridor that led deeper into this building.

"It's a phone! There's still messages coming through!" Doc shouted excitedly. We all rushed over and crowded around him. 10k pressed his chest against my back and wrapped his arms around me, hugging me from behind. "Well, what is it saying?" Murphy asked impatiently and pushed his head foreword to try get a glimpse of the screen.

Doc cleared his throat before reading out the messages. "It looks like messages to this guys wife. ' I can't wait for our family day!'. 'Sorry hunny, I think I have to stay late tonight.'. 'They aren't letting anyone leave, I'm trying to ask why.'. 'They aren't telling anyone anything,'. 'Oh god, there's been a breach. A few hours of decontamination and I'll be home.'. 'They keep saying that we are all infected and we can't leave.'. Melissa tell the kids I love them! I love you my sweet wife,".......".

Nobody talked after Doc finished reading the sorrowful messages between a husband and his wife. I looked straight at the floor, that poor family...

"There's another message, it's from Citizen Z!" Doc announced, lifting the mood a little. I blocked out as he continued to talk. My mind wandered to how much the apocalypse sucked.

I began to think about how this man didn't even get to see his family before they all died. I wonder how they found out about the world going ot shit....

I tapped my foot in time to the music blaring through my speaker. "And on the drive back to my house I told you that, I told you that I loved ya," I sang along loudly. I crunched loudly as I chewed my Dorito's, crumbs falling onto my bed. I could faintly hear raised voices from downstairs. I picked my laptop up off of my lap and slid it onto my side table. "Even after all this time I'm still into you," I sang as I stood up to pause my music, not being able to help myself. I could clearly hear shouting now. I stepped quickly over piles of clothes, books and empty water bottles. I slipped on a hoodie and trudged downstairs

"Hey mum, dad is everything oka-" I stopped mid sentence and my hands flew up too my mouth to stop the scream that rattled in my throat. My mum and dad were stood at either side of the kitchen table, but on the table laid Joanne. Parker's mum was led on my table, covered in blood.

Large wounds covered her lower right arm, blood pouring onto the dining room floor. "Oh god, mum, what happened?" I cried out and race forward, grabbing a cloth and pressing it onto her wounds.

My dad was already pressing numerous cloths onto her arm. Reality kicked in and I felt tears sting my eyes. "What happened?" I shouted over Joanne's loud cries of pain. My mum ripped open the bottle of disinfectant and handed it over to my dad. "We were talking to Joanne outside, by the mail box, when a man started to stagger past us...He-he didn't look to good so Joanne asked if he was okay and he-he at-attacked her. He started biting her, over and over and over again. Your father and I ran to pull him off her. He wouldn't unlatch he just kept.....chewing, a woman started to scream from across the street and the man stopped and staggered away from us and after the woman who screamed," My mum answered in a fluster of stuttered words and sobs.

I sprinted out of the front door and over to my next door neighbours house. Without knocking, I burst through the front door and into the house. "Parker! Parker, where are you?" I screamed and ran up the stairs and into his room.

I jumped over to his closet and ripped open the door. He screeched in surprise and hid his face in his hands. "Hey, hey, hey Parker, it's fine. It's just me. It's just me, Jaime," I soothed as I reached out for him.

"Jaime!" He shouted and leaped into my arms. I sat on the floor and wrapped my arms around his trembling body. He cried into my shoulder. I kept repeating 'It's gonna be okay, I'm here everything is okay' over and over again into his ear. The only thing I could think about was the bite marks on Joanne's arms.

10k nudged me several times before I focused back on the situation at hand. I felt the tears on my face but I couldn't remember letting them fall. The next thing I knew I was being pulled into a hug. No words came from his mouth, he just held me and kissed my head repeatedly.

"Parker," I sobbed into his chest. Doc started whispering to Warren and Murphy about who Parker was. 10k already knew because I had talked about him. I pulled away and wiped at the hot tears, feeling ashamed for letting myself become so weak and vulnerable.

After I had calmed down,
we made our way through to the decontamination room. "We have to strip down, naked, and put all our clothes down that shoot to be cleaned," Doc said awkwardly, repeating the instructions from Citizen Z.

"Well? What are you waiting for?" Murphy smiled as he tugged off his shirt. I scoffed. "For you to turn around. And NO peeping!" Warren ordered sternly.