Ok, Who Got Bitten?

As Luck Would Have It

I jerked as a loud crack from behind boomed and something whizzed within centimeters of my head. It flew through the air and landed in the middle of Rachael’s face just as I popped my eyes open in surprise.

Her head exploded in a spray of chunks and rained down around me, covering me in blood. Her body fell back and rolled over, her flesh sagging. I screamed and sat upright, mud sloshing around me, squelching under my fingers as I clawed to sit up. I tried to scramble away but slipped in the slickness, able to turn and see what had happened.

 A large man with a smoking gun and a thick beard stepped from the forest just in time as the rest of the zombies arrived, and began systematically squeezing the trigger, dropping zombie after zombie.

I screamed again in confusion and held my hands tightly to my ears, but the loudness of the rifle still pounded into my head, drowning out my own voice. One by one he calmly and cleanly disposed of them, stopping only to quickly reload. This went on until the last zombie— Madison, in fact, her body completely torn to pieces, only her thick blonde hair differentiating her from the others— was obliterated.

He turned to me, his shirt soaked through in the pouring rain. His face went from focused and stern instantly to concern.

“You’re lucky, miss,” he said. “I was about to shoot you too.”

Trembling, I managed to stand. I looked down at the remains of Rachael and gagged, averting my gaze away and clenching my eyes shut to prevent another wave of fresh tears.

“Someone you knew,” he said, more a statement than a question. There was a hint of understanding in his voice, of hurt. I nodded silently.

“Girl, you look like you’ve been through hell,” he gestured at my clothes and sores running up and down my body. “And I can help you. But first, you gotta be upfront with me: are any of them wounds infected?”

I met his eyes and frowned. “N-n-n—”  I couldn’t even complete the word, I was shaking so terribly. My nerves were shot to hell and I felt like I was going to faint, just keel over right there. All I could think about was that if we’d have had a little bit more time, an ounce more luck, we’d all be rescued by this man.

“Don’t worry, I got you. Come on, I can take you to safety. We’ll dress your wounds. You look like you’ve lived a nightmare,” he reached over and laid a reassuring hand on my shoulder. I flinched away and wobbled unsteadily. He pulled his hand away quickly, holding his palms up defensively. “Okay, no touching. You think you can make it?”

I opened my mouth to say yes, but the next instant I was falling. He caught me just as my eyesight blurred. My head flopped back and he laid a hand underneath it. Bringing it up, his face drawn with worry, he said, “Alright, you’re gonna make it. Just calm down…”

And I knew no more.