Apocalypse

20

Kate

Things very quickly got out of hand.

I mean, I'm used to it by now. But would it kill anyone to just let us have some peace and quiet?

It probably would.

I feel pain lance through me as one of the infected from the pack shoved me roughly up against a broken branch on a tree. It wasn't sharp enough to pierce my skin, but it hurt. A lot. What a wake-up call.

I'm not entirely sure how long we've been doing this. There were at least five infected in the pack that had all but ambushed us.

Screaming.

There is so much screaming.

High pitched noise that just kept pouring out of their throats like they had an endless supply of air. They're dead. They shouldn't be screaming. But they are. Endless, insanity inducing screams echo all around me. At some point it becomes white noise and I can think again.
I yell as I shove the infected woman back. Her face was torn away, revealing her crushed eye socket. Which, much to my stomachs displeasure, no longer had an actual eye in it, and I could see inside her skull. I'm not describing what I see there. She didn't have either eyes, while we're on the subject. Her entire face had been torn away somewhere, and sticks, dirt, and grass had all gotten stuck to the blood that was still clinging to the skull.
She stumbles back and then comes right back at me. I use my knife and drive it as hard as I could into one of the empty eye sockets. Her wailing stops abruptly and she falls to the ground. I yank my blade free of her and look around. Liz has herself backed into a corner, but she isn't fighting anything at the moment. Just staring at the man at her feet. I can only assume she shot him, given that there's a gun in her trembling hands. I watch a moment longer as she drops it.

I can smell it, the rot of the infected bodies. It makes my stomach turn over but I haven't eaten anything. So I don't really have anything to lose. It has a dark sort of humour to it.

Jason is busy kicking another infected's skull in. I hear the wet, sickening crunch as the heel of his boot finally crushes the bone and it stops it's snarling and falls still as well.
Aztec lets out a panicked whinny, and I turn in time to see him struggling to get free of his tie. An infected is trying to get at him.
I race over and tackle it, but I underestimated it's size. I think it had, at one point, been a full grown man. A strong one. He's massive. He doesn't scream as he gains the upper hand on me and bites at my neck. I feel very light headed all of a sudden and I think for a moment that I'm going to be killed.
A surge of strength flows through me though and I push up just enough to get it away from my neck. Probably saving my own life. Spit flies everywhere as it snaps wildly to try and get at me again. It's bony hands dig into my shoulders and I can feel a sharp rock digging into my hip where I'm laying. I feel everything.

My heart pounds in my chest and I can hear it. It's the only thing I can hear.

The steady speed of it's rhythm galloping in my chest.

Tha-thum. Tha-thum.

Tha-thum. Tha-thum.

Tha-thum. Tha-thum.

The cold air saps my seemingly endless body heat. I feel hot and cold at the same time. It's such an odd feeling. The frigid air burns my lungs as I gasp, fighting for air underneath the massive, writhing weight that is the infected man right on top of me. I can't remember him getting me onto my back, but he had.

I see the world around me in perfect clarity. The left over leaves on the branches, the snow that clings to the bark in little white clumps.
The grass poking up next to me through the snow. The snow that is so cold it burns my exposed skin. My shirt must have ridden up. It's such an odd thing to be thinking about right now.