A War On Her World | TWD: D. Dixon

Ch. 24

"AHHH!"
My eyes widened. It was like my tear ducts exploded under pressure as an excruciating pain ripped through my body, beginning with my left hand. The skin around my thumb and middle fingers ruptured in all directions, like a balloon put under stress- blood poured out of my torn flesh in rivers so dark that even my brain couldn't trick itself into believing it wasn't real. 
My index finger was gone- completely devoured by the rotting corpse. The bones of my outstretched limb became mutilated as jagged, bacteria-infested teeth plunged deeper into my flesh, tearing it from the bone, exposing shredded tendons without so much as a flinch to acknowledge my writhing form. 

I screamed... and I screamed.

There was no vocabulary in the world sophisticated enough to describe the way my tears felt as they streamed down my face. It was like the red hot pain shooting through my nervous system was being carved into my cheeks by a serrated knife, in the form of burning saltwater. There was no accurate way to describe just how narrow my vision drew as black dots swamped me from all angles. There was no way to describe the fear that tore through my heart. 

The unwanted feelings that invaded my systems seemed to override all actions I should have been taking to prevent any further harm. It made my mind go blank and I was unable to think properly -let alone act-, leaving the undead being to continuously bite and push down harder into my extremity. 

There was no way that any of this could be happening.

My ears hummed as blood was pumped faster in and out of my heart- it was soothing. The dots swarmed immediately tighter around my vision and the thought of letting go became all the more appealing. The muscles in my arm gave up against the pressing being in front of me to a minuscule degree and I began to let go of all resistance, letting my eyelids flutter.

"M... -ama! Mama, I'm scared!" The terrified cries of my young boy caused a spike of adrenaline to course through my heart. 

"Mama please!" I didn't look down at Benji in any way, even as his voice bled into my humming ears. There was no way that I was going to take my eyes off of the disgusting monster. 

Looking up through drooping eyelids, the rotting face of a walker had filled my vision from corner to corner. It was horrifying. I couldn't believe that I was that close to allowing myself to be eaten up by the creature.

I screamed through ground teeth, getting shakily onto one knee. My throat was raw from the loud vibrations of my strained cries, my entire body taut. I was too focused on myself and nothing at the same time that I hadn't noticed the thumping sound of Rick, Glenn, and Daryl sprinting up behind me. The agony seemed to draw out the moment, distorting my sense of time while prolonging my torture, but in reality, only a few minutes had passed and the men weren't within range to offer any help. It all felt so far away. It felt like everything was moving at a leisurely pace while things were crashing down around me in a matter of seconds. 

On one knee, I removed my arm from around Benji and grasped my dagger in trembling fingers. My little boy squealed in fright and clung onto my sweat matted shirt much tighter than he had been doing before. 
"Get. Away. From-" I struggled to kneel over the walker and gain the upper hand. "My son!"

My arm swung out almost mechanically, the dagger sideways in my grip, plunging straight into the temple of my assailant. Its jaw seemed to drop slack upon impact as if I had unscrewed a hinge. A diseased tongue rolled out of the walker's mouth and as its figure fell sideways- yellow, red and brown teeth were left protruding from the surface area of my bones.  

●

The gangly woman sent her right arm flying out, away from her body with her dagger's blade held out sideways towards the walker. The sharp weapon plunged up to the hilt in the creature's brain, killing it instantly and leaving it to fall to the side on the chilled cement. With the threat having been dealt with, what little energy Elizabeth found to survive slipped away in an instant. Taking its place was a wave of exhaustion and the occasional twitch brought on by the shock of her dismemberment.