Fighting for my Life

Chapter Fifteen

Desperate. So desperate for a chance to survive.

I have sunk low enough now that I'm practically crawling across the cement floor. My hands stay high, swaying back and forth against the wall. They are my only anchor to this earth, I already feel to dead to move. If it wasn't for the wind occasionally blowing between the crevices if my dry fingers I wouldn't be able to tell the difference between life and death. Well, that and the occasional groan of a trapped infected.

"Help, Delilah." I swivel my head to the right at the sound.

"Lynn?!" Although I had meant for the sound the be a shout, it came out as  just a hoarse whisper.

"Yeah, I fell down some stairs. If you just move your hand a little bit to the right, you'll find a door frame. You gotta get in here and close the door." I nod even though she can't see me. My fingers search for no more then a few seconds before curling around a metal strip. The door.

"I found it!"

"Good," says Lynn, "You got this. Just be careful with the stairs." I slide my fingers downward until they are against the ground.  I crawl until my fingers touch the top of the steps. Vaguely aware of the groans behind me, I touch my fingers to the first step.

"Don't worry, Delilah. It's not more then ten steps."  I close my eyes and take a deep breath. I don't know how long I sit there, but obviously it's to long.

A hand latches onto my ankle and I can feel it's gnarled fingernails through my boots. The hand pulls me backwards and I hit my head on the metal stairs. I scream out in pain and start kicking at the hand.

"Lynn! Help!" I  scream. She doesn't respond. I keep kicking until I finally get a solid, strong kick at the infecteds head. Blood spurts all over my jeans.

My fingers brush across the second step, so I drag my legs forward until I'm in a crawling position. I put my hands another step down and my knees on the first step. I just keep going and going until I reach the bottom. My head is pounding, but I stand up and call Lynn's name again.

"Over here." She calls. I follow her voice over the the back corner of the room, over by a dead walker.

"You kill this one?" I ask.

"No, it was already dead. Looks like it had a meal before it died, though." She tells me. I reach for hand and when she grasps it, I pull her up.

"We're going to get back." I say,  "You're going to see Brooke again." As soon as the words escape from my mouth, I immediately want to take them back.

Lynn gasps and her hand flies to her mouth, "She must be worried sick! We've got to get back." She turns to me and I see that her eyes are filled with desperation.

I say the only thing I can think of, "We will."