A Zombie's Heart

Chapter 49

Inside the room was a game of hit and run. I would occasionally shoot at Marcus, then dodge any objects he'd throw at me.

 "Why isn't he dying?" I mutter to myself. I shoot at him three times before I run out of ammo. I feel around my pockets for any bullets, but without any luck, I grab the handle of my dagger and point it toward him. "Marcus," I say slowly. "You have to stop this. Fight the drug." He stops spazzing and stares at me with dead eyes. I take a step forward. "Please Marcus. I know you're still in there." 

He cocks his head to one side as if he's trying to listen. So all I have to do is talk to him? Easy enough. At this point, all I can think of is the movies I watched as a kid. The ones where the good guy talks the bad out of doing something dangerous and in the end, everyone is saved and the bad guy realizes his mistakes. Then reality strikes me. The door swings open and Taehyung appears in the entryway. 

"Tae! What are you doing here!? Go!" 

Suddenly the knife is ripped from my hands and thrusted into my shoulder. I fall to the ground, tightly grabbing my bleeding wound. He falls onto me and I try pushing him. I feel his rotting teeth sink into the previously injured shoulder. It all happened too fast.

 "NO!!!" screams Taehyung. He shoves Marcus off of me and picks me up in his arms, carrying me out of the room and back upstairs. He sits on the floor, still holding on tightly to me. "Celeste..." He looks at my wound which has already begun rotting. It starts getting hard to breathe and I shakily look into his crying eyes. "Tae..." He shakes his head. "Don't say anything. Please, Celeste. Stay with me," He says through sobs. "You can't leave me. You can't turn into one of them." My body feels weak and painful. It feels like I'm being burned and my vision is fogging.

 "Tae...m-marry me...right here...right now...." He grabs my cold hand. I lift it to his cheek. "I... Do this want to... Go... Without having the... Chance... To be your... Wife.... Taehyung... I love you. I-" 

He cuts me off. "Celeste, I gave you the ring and promised that we would get married when we were ready... I'm not ready. Im not ready to lose my wife so quickly. If you want to marry me, we can. We'll get married the second we're out of this. But you have to live Celeste! Don't let it overcome you! Please Celeste! You have to fight it! For me!" 

His entire body shakes as he speaks. My sight completely vanishes and my pain starts going away. I'm turning and I can't control it. Every part of me is screaming that I need to survive, but I don't have the strength or energy to even try. My mind turns to a fog and I can barely recognise the man holding me. Faint memories appear. When he first looked at me, us on the Ferris wheel, watching the waves of the ocean, but soon even those vanish. Part of me doesn't want to leave me. I want to stay with this man. I pull his chest closer to me and rest my ear against it. I hear his heartbeat loud and clear before that too, fades.

*Taehyungs POV*

She leans her head against my chest, tightly gripping the front of my shirt. Her grasp loosens and she screams in pain.

 "CELESTE! COME ON! DON'T GO!" I yell, although I know she probably can't understand me. 

She begins rapidly twitching and her eyes are completely fogged. Tears don't stop rolling down the sides of my face as I look at her off tone face. She begins to groan and I stand up, backing away as she gets to her feet. She slowly looks in my direction and and raise a gun to her. I know that I have to do it, but I can't bring myself to. She starts yelling loudly again and pulls at her long, dark hair, then turns away from me. My hands shake with the gun still pointed at her.

 "What are you doing?" I ask under my breath. 

She starts smashing her head against the wall, then breaks the window with a hard kick. It's looks like she's about jump but stops herself. She still screams painfully then I realize what's happening. She faces the wall again and starts hitting it, then suddenly stops. 

"C-Celeste?" 

She slowly turns to me and begins stumbling in my direction. I hesitantly put the gun down when she reaches me. Her hands go to my shoulders with a tight grip. I expect this to be the end for me, and am shocked when she leans her head against my chest again, to listen to my heartbeat. She stops breathing. 

"Celeste..." I whisper. 

Her head lifts and she looks up at me. The color in her eyes starts coming back. She blinks a few times before focusing on me. She smiles weakly and drops to her knees. I follow and wrap her in my arms. We both cry. 

"I knew you could do it." I say.

 I lay her down gently as she gasps for air and the door opens. I quickly aim my gun and the figure standing there. 

"Whoa, Tae. Easy, it's just me." 

My mouth gapes open when I realize that its Jimin. "Jimin Hyung! You're alive!" He hurries over and hugs me. 

"Is she alright?" he asks, looking at the weak Celeste. 

I shake my head. "She's in a lot of pain. I'll explain more later. Is Hoseok with you?" 

"He's with the others."

 I nod and look at Celestes blood soaked shoulder. "Jimin, give me your jacket." He takes his jacket off and I wrap it around Celestes shoulder to help stop the bleeding. I look back up at Jimin. "We have to kill Marcus."

 He grins and tosses me a loaded gun. "Let's go."