Infected

Chapter 8

This is how we did for weeks, training non-stop. Parker pushed us all to our limits and he made sure that we were fit for what was to come. It was exhausting, but worthwhile. We knew how to defend ourselves, how to fight back, what way to stand, how to hold a weapon, but most importantly, where to strike the killing blow when in dire situations.

                Today would be the day we would go out; we would go to the farm. Everyday more and more infected came but little by little. Parker feared that when the moment came, we would just freeze up like a Popsicle stick. We reassured him many times that we would stick to the plan, we would fight back.

                “Okay, everybody grab your weapons. We’re heading out soon.” Parker announced, grabbing a machete he had kept since the beginning of all us this. He never told us where he got it; he just said that he never left without it. We also grabbed our weapons, ones we found scattered about in the office and then some we had to make by hand.

                It total we had two axes, a board with a nail stuck through it, and 2 butcher knives. I had one axe and Linda had the other one.  Both girls had the butcher knife and Jace had the board with a nail through the top. We were all gathered around Parker waiting for further instructions while he paced up and down by the window looking outside.

                “There’s a few of them outside. What we’re going to need to do is be sneaky without alerting them of our presence.” Parker stated looking out the window now, his face expressionless as always. “Do you think we’ll be able to get pat them?” Jace asked, fidgeting with the weapon in his hand.

                Parker was silent for a while but then answered, “If we’re quite enough and alert, we might be able to get on the highway without a fight.” Nobody said anything after that, we were all too nervous to respond. I watched Parker pace back and forth in silence while the rest of the gang spoke quietly to themselves. I really didn’t have anything to say because I was too nervous.

                That dream I had weeks ago was still lingering in my mind, I would never forget how everybody turned. How Parker was going to kill me, how I failed to protect Linda even though I swore with my last dying breath. I would never forget the faces of those I was supposed to work with. Lifeless. Bored. Empty.

                I shuddered at the thought of it and I tried everything I could to get those images out of my mind. “Okay,” Parker started to say but then cut himself off. “When I say go, we’re getting out of here.” Nobody said anything but everyone agreed silently.

                We waited patiently while Parker gazed out the window. Every movement he did, we all jumped a little. We were anxious to leave this god forsaken place, all of us. I started to doze off but something caught my attention. An infected was looking straight at us, well not straight at us because the window is only one sided but I could feel the infecteds gaze land on us as if he were looking into our souls.

                I stepped forward so I was directly in the sight of the infected. I could see its blood shot eyes, its greying skin—and decaying as well.  What was different about this infected was not that it was looking at us, but it was acting human. It wasn’t snarling, growling or moaning. It just stood there perfectly fixed staring at itself.

                Unless…

                Unless they adapted so they could see through materials and is in fact looking directly at us which in this may be the case, I backed away slowly. I raised one hand and placed the palm of it on the window, the infected didn’t do anything. I slid my hand sideways along the window pane to see if it follows; nothing.