AM13 Outbreak Shorts

One Year On - Forty Two (Oliver)

Oliver

"Katie!" I should be quiet, the undead are all around us and I have seen firsthand the damage they can do, but my fear for Katie is too much, my need to find her overwhelming. "Katie, where are you? Katie, are you here?"

The last time I saw her, she was leaving to secure herself inside, away from the chaos. At that moment, it was just the humans battling one another, a fight that we maybe could have gotten under control given half the chance, but then the walls broke and the infected got inside...

Now all I can see is death around me. Everything that we built here is gone.

Everyone inside of this camp has fought hard to get somewhere safe to live, we have all destroyed demons to survive and this is the closest thing to a home that I'm sure any of us have found. To see it all gone tears me apart from the inside out, I can't stand it. I hate see people I considered friends and family gone. Some of them dead, utterly destroyed, and others now working for the enemy, a slave to their need for human flesh.

But I can't imagine Katie is one of them, I can't stand that idea. It's too much.

"Katie, where the hell are you? I need to find you right now."

But there is too much noise around me, too many people panicking, fighting, looking for their own loved ones. My battle to find Katie, the woman I love more than anything in the world, is my own, and I won't rest until I find her. I know that she loves me too, so she wouldn't leave without me either. Even if she had to get away to keep herself alive, she will be back for me, I just know it. I just need to be patient, to wait until she returns, to be confident in our love.

"Looking for someone?"

Oh God, that voice is too smug, I already hate the owner of it before I even spin around. Of all the people who have died, this vermin continues to remain and that makes me sick.

"Ryan." I can hardly meet his eyes; I don't have time for this. "Leave me alone. I'm looking for Katie."

"What a surprise, everything goes wrong and you've lost her again. I keep trying to tell Katie that you aren't good enough for her, that you can't be trusted...hopefully now, she's finally listened and gone. Saved herself."

I'm so angry, so emotional, I do the only thing I can and shove him away. I don't want to ham him, not really, I just want him gone so I can focus on my mission. Katie is the only person I care about at all. Right now, this is just unnecessary background noise.

"You are going to regret that," Ryan growls angrily, not as willing to back down as me. "Just you wait and see."

It doesn't take me long to find out what he means because in seconds, everything goes black...