When August Ends

Blood On The Bathroom Floor

     I don't know what to do. Do I shoot? Do I not shoot? Is there any way to save him? I wish Troy was here because honestly I don't know what I'm doing in these situations and he does. As much as I hate to admit it. All the while infected Jon is inching closer and closer, eyeing us. "Maya, I can't shoot him." Rachel says panickedly.

"Me either," I say unhappily.

"Let's just run," she suggests.

"Let's go now!" I shout and we book it. I hear Jon hissing behind us and I realize there's no saving him. He's not Jon anymore. Rachel and I run out and slam the door.  It clicks and does not open. Apparently the infection renders the unable to use their hands for anything other than grabbing people. We rush back into the lobby and halt. After scanning the area and seeing nothing we breathe more easily.

"Last I saw Adam was on the stairs. He was closer to the mid section, but there were more infected below him thana bove so I'd guess he's hiding upstairs somewhere." Rachel whispers.

"Let's find out," I say and then we slowly walk up the stairs. We walk throught the hallway to the second set of doors. I look at Rachel and she nods holding her gun at the ready. I slowly push the doors open, gun in hand. It reveals an empty hallway. All the room doors are closed though. We'll have to go room to room. I appraoch the first room and look at Rachel again. We hold our breath as I open the door and we see nothing. I walk in and look in the bathroom area. Empty. I make my way into the room area followed by Rachel. Nothing. We go out and close the door and proceed to the next room. I take a deep breath, open the door and am met by the sight of Strawberry. Her curly brown hair is flowing over her shoulders, her freckles standing out on her quaint little face. But her eyes aren't blue anymore. Their red. She's infected. I can't suppress a shriek as she lunges towards us. I push Rachel out of the room and slam the door. Strawberry is pounding the door from the other side, screeching her head off. I wipe away my tears, take a deep breath and walk to the next door.

"Maya," Rachel whispers. I look at her. "Let me," she says putting her hand on the handle. She opens it and I follow closely behind. We see nothing near the bathroom or in the room. We exit it and close the door. We check the next room with similar findings. When we exit that room I notice a patch of rug near one of the doors that is stained deep red, stopping infront of a door in the middle of a hallway. It's as if someone were dragged into the room.

"Rachel, was Adam bleeding or was the break just inside his leg?" I inquire shakily.

"His bone was spiking out of his leg," she replies with distaste.

"He might be in here." I say appraoching the door. I sigh, and attempt to turn the handle. It's locked. I nock. No response. I nock again. Nothing. "Adam?" I whisper s loudly as I dare. "Adam?" I call. No reply. I shake the handle gently, in attempt to open it. Then I go at it and break the lock. The door opens, revealing nothing in sight. I slowly follow the trail of blood in the rug to the room area to see nothing. I check under the beds and behid the curtains with no luck. Rachel goes outside the room and I am about to follow when I notice the bathroom door has blood on the handle and its closed. I open it slowly to see darkness. I flick the light switch on and immediately regret it. There is blood everywhere. On the sink, mirror, floor, toilet, and the closed shower curtain. Morbid curiosity is screaming for me to open the curtain, but logic screams for me to run. In spite of myself, I find I am reaching for the blood covered curtain. I grab hold of it and in a quick jerk pull it open to find myself facing the barrel of a rifle. "Adam!" I shout pushing the barrel upwards as he pulls the trigger. A loud shot fires and I scream in fright at the sound. There's a gaping hole in the ceiling.

"Maya," he winces in surprise and pain. Rachel comes running in and looks at the scene frantically.

"Close the door quick!" I say to her and she shuts the room door, blocking it with a dresser. I look Adam over and try to keep whatever's in my stomach where it is. Blood is just everywhere. His leg is mangled but he's obviously been attempting to place the bone in the correct angle, but it's just opened the wound further and made him bleed more. He's obviously lost a lot of blood and looks feint.

"Where's the rest? Where's Jon..?" he says exhaustedly.

"Shh, just relax Adam. Me and Rachel are here and we're gonna get you back to everyone." I say quickly. "But Adam right now you've gotta let me help you fix your leg." I finish and kneel beside the bath tub.

"The others aren't with you?" he asks slowly, furrowing his brow.

"Adam you've lost a lot of blood, it's bad." I say avoiding his questions. I'm no doctor but I know we've got to get his leg wrapped up and stop the bleeding. "Rachel," I say standing. "Help me get sheets off the beds in the room." I say walking out with her. We pull sheets off of the bed and drag them into the bathroom. Rachel and i tear them apart and I begin to bind his leg and but it's going to do nothing but hopefully staunch the bloodflow. His leg is beyond fractured and it's horribly gruesome. He winces as I bind the wound and I feel weak in my knees. I don't do well with the sight of other people's blood. After I wrap his leg tightly, I tell Rachel to get a rag. She does and i do my best to wipe the blood off of hid hands, face, and arms. 

"Why didn't the others come...?" he winces as he attempts to sit up. I ignore his question. "Troy wouldn't have sent you two alone. You guys came on your own didn't you." he says unhappily.

"Troy wanted to wait, we didn't." I say coldly.

"You should have listened to him." he replies shaking his head.

"You wouldn't be saying that tomorrow after you'd bled to death." I retort.

"Jon would have gotten me back. He went to get weapons. I told him where the-" he starts and i interrupt.

"Where the guns are behind the ice machine by the SDR. Adam, we found Jon there too." i say attempting to be strong but my voice cracks when I say Jons name. Adam looks at me expectantly. "He's been infected." I reply and I can't prevent the tears in my eyes from spilling. Adam runs a hand down his face and sighs deeply. 

"Is it finished?" he asks.

"Is what?" I ask furrowing my brow in confusion. 

"Jon." he says coldly. I look at Rachel and she shakes her head ever so lightly. I know he will want to leave no loose ends, but even though Jon is infected I can't let anyone kill him.

"He's gone." I say shakily.  Adam looks at me skeptically. "But we need to go now Adam. Troy thinks we should stay here, but it's not safe right now. Where do you want us to go?" I ask. He closes his eyes and sighs again. 

"YC.' he replies. I nod.

"Alright Rachel help me lift him up." I say. Adam puts one arm around my shoulders and the other around Rachel's. He leans heavily on us even though he's trying not too. We walk out of the bathroom. Back into a battle field, leaving nothing behind us but blood on the bathroom floor.