A Zombie's Heart

Chapter 48

Marcus walks over to us with his hands up, and I point my gun at him.

 "Marcus, unless you wanna die right now, I suggest you stop making this drug." 

"Do you have any idea how much work I put into making this? I'm not stopping, and youre not killing." He looks at Taehyung and his smile vanishes. "You're an idiot for showing your face back here. After what you've done." He takes a step toward Taehyung and I shoot above his head, making him stop in his tracks. He looks at me and reaches into his back pocket. "I see how it is." 

He throws a sharp blade at me and it clips the tip of my ear. I can feel the blood starting to drip. My aim lowers to his foot and I pull the trigger. He yells in pain and I turn to run, but he grabs my arm, digging his long, cold fingers into it. I fight to get out of his grip, but he starts trying to throw me to the floor. I continue struggling until he knocks my legs out from under me, making me fall onto my back, where the air is knocked out of me. I gasp for air and I see Taehyung fighting Marcus until he's kicked in the stomach. Tae holds onto his aching body and Marcus grabs a knife and looks down at me. 

"Kim Taehyung, we had a deal and you broke it, now here's your consequence." 

I look at Taehyung who stares back at me with worry in his eyes. He looks around the room anxiously. Marcus sets one foot on my heaving chest and he kneels, then smiles at his knife as he fingers the sharp blade. 

"Now, how should I do this?" He brushes the chilling blade against my cheek. "Should I make it fast, or take my time and watch as the blood slowly pools out from your neck." 

He presses the point beside my collar bone. His eyes suddenly widen as he pauses. We both look to see Taehyung injecting the syringe into Marcus's back. He falls backwards and backs away from us, his face still in shock. He screams painfully before starting to laugh as his appearance begins changing. He turns thinner and his skin turns into a pale white and begins peeling quickly, revealing raw wounds. He starts to twitch rapidly and his eyes become light and foggy. He gets to his feet and back me and Taehyung up against the wall. Looking around, I come across the blade he threw earlier and I pick it up and thrust it into his chest. Taehyung kicks him back and grabs my hand, leading me away. Marcus struggles to speak, only making out a few words. 

"You...start...end." 

He let's out a long groan as we manage to get out of the room. We reach the front door and turn the knob, then the door explodes making me scream. Outside looks like a war zone with smoke, gunshots and screaming. Taehyung leads me upstairs and into an empty room. He shuts the door and locks it. He runs his hands through his hair nervously and paces around the room. 

"Tae, are you alright?" He stops at the window and stares outide at the scene below. "Tae?" I walk slowly to him and also watch outside as I catch a glimpse of Karissa running around holding a bodiless head. My eyes go from Karissa to Taehyung, who still stares blankly. 

"I might've just screwed everything up by using the syrum on Marcus." he says slowly. 

I tilt my head. "What? How did that screw everything up?" 

Finally, he looks at me. "Don't you see, Celeste? I used the deadliest drug on the person who wants to end all of humanity. He spreads it, and it's all over and there's no way to stop it." I'm left wordless. He pulls me into a tight embrace. "Celeste, we have to retreat." I nod slowly and he kisses my forehead. "I'm going to get the others. Escape from this window and meet us back by the truck. Don't let anything happen to you." 

My eyes swell with tears. "Taehyung, no. Please..."

 "I promise I will meet you there." 

He kisses my lips before backing away and exiting the room. I open the window and step one foot out onto the roof before pausing. I look back at the door and my thoughts start racing, thinking of Marcus. Even if we leave, we're still trapped on this planet where we're the prey to the zombies. We aren't going to live much longer anyway. I step back inside and shut the window then creep out into the hall. There has to be somewhere that they store ammo and weapons. I start opening every door in the hall until I finally find the right one. I grab a gun and load it, and slip a dagger through my belt loop. I pull my hair into a high ponytail and sneak down the stairs. I can hear the groans of Marcus from inside the basement. He had locked the door. I shoot the doorknob and successfully enter just to find Marcus injecting more of the drug into his showing veins. He had no control now. He had torn off his own ears and gashed his arms with knives. One of his legs are bleeding where he tore at his own flesh. I point my gun at him and fire, blood splattering the wall in front of him. His head lifts and slowly turns to me. His face is smeared with blood, his nose is broken, and he's missing most of his teeth. He looks almost unreal. 

"Marcus." I say under my breath as I raise my gun again.