VIRUS

August 5th 2014

I walk down a street in the middle of nowhere, looking for a house for me to stay in. Every house I've been staying in isn't secure, and I usually get to scared and end up leaving without sleeping. Last night I slept in a tree in someone's backyard, and I felt more safe than the last couple nights.

I watch my feet as I walk in the middle of the road. My duffle bag half empty, carrying only clothes. I am on my last round of bullets and I have no food. My stomach grumbles because the last time I ate was yesterday morning. And I had a stale musli bar. The food in the houses shouldn't even be off, but the musli bar I ate was. I look up at the houses and wonder which would be full of ammo and food that I can actually eat. Movement ahead makes me look forward, and I see a silhouette of a Walker, dragging itself towards me. I can hear the moans of desire, wanting my flesh in its mouth. I check my barrel and see I only have 2 bullets left. I start to walk sideways, I'm not wasting it on a Walker that I can easily get away from. I approach a fence and slide my hand in to unlock it, opening it and closing it behind me. I walk up to the front door and knock, waiting for the sound of movement telling me there's someone in there. I hear nothing so I open the door, my rifle aiming. I see nothing, although I can hardly see. I breathe in through my nose, trying to smell toxic fumes of rotting bodies, but smelt nothing. This house was clear.

I walk in and grab my pocket torch and turn it on, the light being dim. I seem to be in the lounge room. I skim the walls, looking at photographs and framings, but drop my torch and take a step back when I flash the light on a dark liquid, seeming to be splattered all over that half of the wall. I drop to the floor and feel around for the torch that had turned off when I dropped it. I enclose my hand around it and stand hitting it with my other hand. It flashed back on and I shined it at the wall. I took a deep breathe, there was a small hole in the wall in the centre of the blood, someone had been shot in the head. If it was a Walker it would've been way less blood. I shine the light at the ground and the couches.

"Where are the bodies?" I say looking back at the wall, it seemed pretty fresh, a couple days old maybe. "Where are the bodies?!" I say again but I was interrupted by a creak in the floorboards, coming from above me. I looked up, my mouth falling open. Someone - something is up there. I look back down and to the exit of the lounge room, which follows into the kitchen. I creep through the doorway and see the stairs upstairs are in the kitchen. I turn my torch off and put it in my pocket. I begin to climb the stairs, quietly, listening for noise and what room it was coming from. The utter silence meant the person knew I was here. They knew I heard them. When I get to the top I decide to start at the first door to the left. I grab the handle and turn, only opening the door a smidgen. I hear nothing so I stick my head in, it was a bedroom. I check under the bed and the closet but it's clear. The next door is the furtherest away, at the very end of the hallway.

I grab the handle and open it just a little, and hear no sound. I stick my head in to see it was a bathroom. I check the wardrobe, then look at the shower, that's shower curtain is closed. I take a breath and grab the material with my free hand, my other being on my rifle. I'm about to rip it to the side when I feel something thin and circular press into the back of my head. I freeze when I realise it's the barrel of a gun.

"Step away." A man says.

"I can't, your gun is stopping me." I say quietly. I drop my hand off the shower curtain, and am surprised when it opens by itself. There is two of them. From what I can see a girl stares at me, her long brown hair curled at the ends. She wears a olive t shirt and black pants, a tan coloured leather jacket covering her arms. She points a small hand gun at me.

"Move with the gun then." She says smiling. I step sideways, and the gun follows me from behind. The gun directs me in the direction towards the door.