midst of death

Chapter Fourteen

~Chance~

After the twister, I had saw Alex slide down the hill, dust spitting out  from under her boots. I knew she could handle herself, so I helped Phyllicia, Tony, and Carrie make sure that they hadn't gotten hurt. I looked around. The bridge was totally dead. The sky still looked an angry grey. Trees were uprooted and tossed like cheap toys. Zombies were splattered on the ground, blood and brains scattered around the bodies. Such a lovely scene, I thought sarcastically. What beauty!

Everyone passed my inspection, and when Carrie checked me over her eyes grazed my arm, and her eyes grew as large as saucers. "What happened?"

She was referring to the long, angry looking scar on my left arm. It started at my shoulder, and jaggedly crawled down to my wrist. It was the only serious injury I had sustained since the beginning of the end of the world. I sighed, and gazed into the horizon as I recounted my story. Tony glanced at me knowingly, somberly.

"It was the only time Tony and I split up, and the last time we would. We were in a small town, about the size of Camden. This town had seen the 'nicest' side of the apocalypse, if that is even possible. The houses were mostly still intact, some with collapsing stairs, blood painting overall very few walls in each house. Sure, we saw a few dismembered limbs, but the carnage wasn't as bad as you would see in Miami or Little Rock. We decided to split up and find supplies, thinking that we could cover twice as much ground. I stalked into an old apartment building, rummaging through pantries and cabinets, trying to find anything we could salvage and use. Little did I know what, or who, was waiting there.

"I heard a door slam, and I whipped around to find two marauders, both with ginger mountain man beards and wild, tangled long hair. One held a small hunting knife, and the other held a .22 caliber shotgun. One, who I noticed had a scar running across his left eye, and it contorted his lips into a permanent vicious scowl. Scowl-face said to his buddy in a husky voice, 'Hey look, fresh meat!' I shuddered at the sound of his voice. It literally chilled me to the bone. I was more afraid what they would do to me if I remained alive than if they'd kill me. At this point I welcomed death.

"They both took a step closer to me, and my fight or flight instinct kicked in. I knew I wasn't a match to them physically, being slightly smaller than they were. But I tried.

"I took a step closer, hoping it would throw them off. It worked for a second, but then they exploded into action. I couldn't figure out where the second guy went, but I had no time to worry, because Scowl-face tackled me and pinned my arms and legs to the ground. Struggling, I tried to shake him off of me, but he held his ground. Then his buddy pulled the hunting knife out, and slowly, deliberately, began to cut my shoulder open.

"I screamed and lashed out, but my arm protested painfully. I felt the blood run down the side of my arm and felt it puddling up beside me, soaking into my shirt. He continued down my arm, carelessly pulling the blade along. Afterward, they didn't stay and finish me off: they up and left.

"Shock had to be the dominant emotion on my face, and a close second, pain. Slowly I got up, and I couldn't figure out how to stop the bleeding. I stumbled out of the building, bleeding all over myself, and yelled as loud as I could. 'Tony!' I remember shouting." I glanced over at Tony. "If it weren't for Tony, I probably would've bled to death." He was looking at me, and he sauntered over and patted me on the back.

"Yea, bro," he said brotherly-like. "And I wouldn't have survived this long without him."

I rolled my eyes. "No, without a doubt you wouldn't of."

I turned my gaze to Carrie and Phyllicia. Carrie had heard every word, but I wasn't so sure about Phyllicia. Carrie looked faintly sick, as if she couldn't believe that there were people out here who could, and would, kill us any chance they got. Phyllicia looked ill herself, but she wasn't looking at me. Her expression looked like she was trying to convince herself that what she was seeing wasn't true. I followed her eyes and discovered what was wrong.