Corrupted: The Pain We Feel (Book 1)

Chapter 7: Fallen Soldier

After we all catch our breath, we get back up on our feet and decide to keep going. We climb our way up to another door that's to our right and help each other through. The wall next to us, which is actually the ceiling, is missing and there's a long rope going from our side, to a building in front of us.

All of the sudden, we hear the loud bang of a door, followed by unmistakable screeches that belong to none other than the Corrupted. “Oh shit…” we all say in synchronization.

I immediately grab rope out of Tristen's backpack and use my knife to cut it into 3 short pieces and give one to each of us. “What are you doing?” Zoey asks, glancing at the door that the infected people are banging at furiously.

“Now would be a really bad time to be afraid of heights.” I comment, slightly tilting my head as I toss my short rope over the one leading to the other building.

“Ella, you are crazy if you think I'm doing that.” Zoey says, realizing that I plan on ziplining over to the other building.

“Zoey, it's either zipline to safety, or get eaten alive by crazy infected lunatics.” I reply before jumping off and landing carefully on the other side.

Tristen goes next, he grips onto his rope tightly as he glides across, me helping him as he lands to make sure he doesn't sprain anything.

The door on the other side that Zoey is still on flies open, “ZOEY HURRY!!!!” I scream, fear now the dominant emotion in my entire body.

She glanced at the pack running at her before she jumps off the side of the building, barley missing them as she holds her rope tightly. I sigh in relief, only to gasp when I see a Gasher slice the rope with it's long blade like nails, causing Zoey to scream and hold onto the rope that is connected to our side and land 5 floors below us.

“ZOEY, ARE YOU OK?!!” I scream, peering over the edge of the building while trying not to fall off since this building is tilted too. But not as much as the other one.

“Yeah, I'm ok!” we hear her voice, but it sounds strained. Which isn't surprising.

“Ok, just hold tight! We'll come to you!” I tell her, relief filling my voice knowing that my friend is safe and sound for the time being.

“OK!” she replies.

Tristen and I both get up and start walking towards the door best we can without slipping due to the odd angle.

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We've been walking for a while now, this place is like a maze. It's very confusing, there's so many doors and hallways that look the same. I just hope that Zoey is ok and didn't get hurt in that fall.

By now, Tristen and I are walking along the wall. When all of the sudden my foot lands on a door that wasn't all the way shut and I scream, expecting to fall through and hit something, when I feel a hand grip mine.

I open my eyes and see that right below me, is a wall of very unstable glass windows that look like they'll break below my weight if I were to fall, “Holy mother of-” I begin to reach my other hand up to grab Tristen's. Only to stop when I see that there is, not just one, but TWO Gashers starting to climb up to me, jabbing their long, green, infectious nails into the wooden floor. Trying to get to me.

I grab one of my 45’s out of its holster and try to shoot them down, only to hear a clicking noise. “The 1 time I forget to reload!!!!” I yell in annoyance as I put it back and reach my free hand up and grab Tristen's arm. Who I can tell is struggling to keep me up.

“You need to go on a diet!!!” he yells, trying harder to pull me up, but failing. By now, I can tell he's terrified, cause we both know that Tristen Platts is not exactly the strongest person.

“Says…” I stop and dodge one of the Gashers trying to cut me. “The human stick! I don't need to lose weight Tristen you need to gain some!!!” I shoot back, focusing on not getting touched by the Gashers nails. Cause I know if I do, then it's all over for me. I'll turn into one of those things, but I'll kill myself before I let that happen.

I swing myself around, doing the best I can to avoid the Corrupted. But when I do, I can feel myself start to drop lower. “Stop squirming!” Tristen shouts, mixed emotions in his voice. Fear. Panic. Frustration.

“You try dangling from 100 feet up in the air with 2 Corrupted on your ass!” I shout back.

I dodge yet another swipe, and yelp when I feel myself drop suddenly lower. “I'M SLIPPING!!!” I shout, tears starting to brim my eyes as I look up at Tristen with pleading eyes.

Tristen doesn't say anything, he just focuses on keeping me up, but my hands are starting to slip and it doesn't help that I have to move around to avoid the Gashers. One of my hands completely slips from his grasp, “TRISTEN!!!!!!!” I reach out to him, but I'm too late….

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I fall…