A voice from a distance cried out, “Don’t leave me…” That voice, it belonged to someone that I have been trying so hard, just so hard, to protect. I could not endanger her now, not after all this.
“For her,” I muttered to myself, trying to convince myself that the decision I made was right. I dragged myself away from her as fast as possible, feeling myself turn into one of those merciless monsters. I will not be the reason for her death, never. I wished all of this never happened. We were living so happily with one another before this disaster. Before losing my memories forever, I reminisced all those joyful times up until this point as a tear rolled down my cheeks in what felt like slow motion.
“Riley! Come over here for a second,” Ace called me over. I skipped over with a smile on my face. This day was just great. Ace and I had some fun watching Netflix and just lazing around the house. When I looked at what she was pointing outside of the window, I could not help but stare in not awe, but horror. I immediately looked away, into Aces’ eyes. My face had the ‘Is it just me or was that a person eating someone else’ look. I could feel myself wanting to vomit as I curled my upper lip. That was when I heard the news lady on the television say something about a virus outbreak that was causing people on the streets to turn into literal zombies and bite each other.
Was I living in a video game like Resident Evil? Suddenly, someone was banging on the door, I mean trying to tear it down. What were we supposed to do? Everything was happening so fast, too fast for me to process.
“The door isn’t going to hold up, quick, jump out the window!” Ace shouted at me before pulling me into her arms and jumping out the window. The street was crawling with those zombies. It was chaos! Just how fast did people turn, it seemed like they were multiplying every second.
I could hear the door of our house fall and moaning noises fill the house. Terror filled me as I heard crashes and glass breaking. I imagined what would have become of Ace and me if we had not escaped. That was a close call. We dashed into a nearby abandoned shop and supported the door with a table.
“Ace, what’s happening? It’s scaring me so much!” I cried silently. All of this was truly freaking me out. What was going to happen next, what if one of us got bitten? What if Ace got bitten? I could not live without her. She was the one that picked me up when I was at my lowest, I could not lose her now. All she did was give me a peck on my lips and then forehead.
“Everything is going to be okay. We have gone through so much; we will go through this too. Hang in there Riley. Now, we got to think of something, okay? Take a deep breath and calm down. We will figure it out,” she whispered in a reassuring tone. She could always make me feel better. I hugged her tightly, not wanting to let go until… Crash!
The door fell with a very loud thud. The poor table got crushed into bits and pieces of wood. Slurred voices filled the place. How were they so strong? That door was the only exit, we two were dead meat. Well, that was what I thought until Ace handed me a rod from who knew where and smirked, before saying,
“Aim for the head,” emphasizing each word. The very next second she slashed those zombies’ heads with swift but powerful hits and strikes. Not wanting to be utterly useless, I too aimed for their heads and ‘knocked them out’. Noticing that the exit has been cleared out, Ace ran out, signaling me to follow. When I attempted to run out, a zombie basically ‘arised from the dead’ and got hold of my leg, sinking its fangs into my skin. I covered my mouth to muffle my scream, kicking it in the face before limping outside. I could not feel any pain, did the bite contain numbing agents or what?
Noticing the blood patch on my jeans, Ace asked if I was alright. I shrugged it off, saying it was nothing to worry about. I then noticed all the cuts on Ace’s skin. I was worried, but the prevailing situation urgently called for us to get to a safe place. However, all I could think of was the wound I got. I was bitten by a zombie.
The sudden adrenaline rush got me going and allowed me to run at full speed with Ace. We had not one clue where we were running to. At that point it was just stay silent, get away. We ran into a HDB flat and went up the stairs as quick as possible. Reaching one of the upper stories, we locked ourselves into a vacant apartment. I guessed people just ran out of their houses without locking their doors. However, who in their right mind would bother doing so was the real question.
We both decided to get some rest. Ace found some clothes in a wardrobe, so we changed out of our blood-stained outfits. When changing, I could not help but notice my wound. It was… mutating? The marks of the teeth could be seen clearly and the skin around it just seemed dead. It was rotting away and gave off a faint foul smell. Oh god, I was going to turn into one of those blood-curdling monsters. The worst part was, I felt absolutely fine. No pain, nothing. That scared me. I might be turning that very second but since I did not feel anything, I could never know. I wanted to tell Ace that I was bitten but what if she got disgusted by me and abandoned me just like that, or worse, kill me. She would have to do what she had to do to survive. Once I turned, I would lose my mind for sure and ultimately attack her. I did not know if it was the fear of being abandoned or the fact that I was in denial, that I decided not to tell Ace. Just maybe if I kept that in the dark, I could forget all about it and just not turn. I clung to this hope, my only glimmer of light in this dark reality. Wincing slightly as the fabric rubbed the wound. I finished putting on my jeans and pulled over my shirt. “Riley, you done?” Ace called out while walking into the room. Her skin was pale as ever, in contrast to her rose red lips. That was one of the features that drew me to her. Her eyes had dark circles and looked droopy. I could only imagine how horrendous I looked. The lack of mirrors in this home unfortunately meant I could never know.
“Ouch! Arghhhh!” I moaned and winced as a sudden pain shot up my leg. Realising what I had done, I clamped my traitorous mouth shut, but the damage was done. Ace immediately looked alarmed, rushing over to look at what was wrong. Instinctively, I slapped her hand away and brought my leg closer to me. She must not see the wound. She almost looked…hurt? I could not make out her expression as my vision got blurry and my eyelids started to feel heavy.
I woke up to Ace sleeping with her head on my arm. She looked exhausted. I lifted her head gently off my shoulder and got up. In plain horror, looked at my leg, it was bandaged up. That meant… Ace saw my wound. Ace saw my wound. This was not good. What did she think? Should I have just told her? Did she feel betrayed? Did I make the wrong decision? Questions whirred through my mind while I was practically trembling. Fear devoured me, much like a zombie, except way worse feeling. How long had it been? How much longer did I even have? Should I just run away and never be seen again? Should I kill myself before I turned? Maybe that was the best option. Maybe that was the right choice. Maybe-
“Riley… you’re awake? Wait… You’re awake!” Ace sprang up suddenly and hugged me. A whirlwind of black hair surrounded me, along with the faint scent unique to Ace, not yet buried under the dirt and grime.
“Do you know how scared I was? Why did you hide that from me? I promised that we would figure it out. If you thought I would abandon you, I certainly wouldn’t. I would stay by your side until you turned and stay even after that. If I died in the process, so be it. I wouldn’t be able to live without you anyway,” she blurted out. Somehow what she said reassured me. My relief was like a soft cloud, a comforting hug, much like Ace herself. I was so relieved that she did not feel disgusted by me, that she was still there for me, even after I not only was attacked by a monster but also did not trust her enough to tell her. At that moment, I could feel my whole leg go numb. The numbness slowly spread to other parts of my body, crawling upwards. Suddenly alarmed, I pulled away from her hug and jerked backwards. I stood up and walked backwards, away from Ace.
Was I turning? I could not tell. Cough! Cough, cough, cough! I put my hand at my mouth as I felt myself coughing out some liquid. When I looked at my hands, my eyes widened. Was that bl-blo-blood? I had to get away from Ace. I was turning and doing so fast. I started to run towards the door and rushed out. I coughed out more blood as I saw bruises form on my skin. My vision started to deteriorate, I depended on my now enhanced hearing. I could hear my slurring voice echo off the walls and somehow made out how my surroundings looked like.
That choice was a hard one. I wished I could stay by her side, but not when I was danger to her. My heart ached, not from turning into a lifeless soul, but from the sudden absence of Ace. I needed her, I wanted her, but I could not have her. I wanted her to comfort me and say that everything was going to be okay, but that could only happen with her life as the cost. I tried to rationalize my decision. Ace was going to be okay! You are not going to drag her down with you! However, I could not help but regret that choice. I felt so empty now.
A voice from a distance cried out, “Don’t leave me…” …That voice, it belonged to someone that I had been trying so hard, just so hard, to protect. I could not endanger her now, not after all this.
“For her,” I muttered to myself, trying to convince myself that the decision I made was right. I dragged myself away from her fast as possible, feeling myself turn into one of those merciless monsters. I will not be the reason for her death, never. I wished all of this never happened. Why me?
My eyes dripped with tears. My walls, the walls that held me up, made me strong just... collapsed. Moment by moment, they fell. Salty drops fell from my chin, drenching my ruined shirt. Perhaps these tears would help wash the blood out. I trembled. I couldn’t- couldn‘t stop. It's raw, everything, raw tears, raw emotions. I couldn’t stop... I couldn‘t stop. Why could I not stop crying? To protect her, whatever was left of my consciousness replied. Yes. Protect her.
Protect...protect...
Protect who?
Why was I crying? There was this nagging feeling of loss, of something I had forgotten, something....
‘Kill, must kill. Eat. Kill.’ That was it.
I heard something. Someone. A human. I rushed towards the sound, even though I did not need to. The sound was coming closer on its own.
“Rgvsy? Rcjky, us daht hyu?” What was that nonsense? All I knew was that I had to kill. I slowly walked towards the human, that in my terrible vision, seemed scared. Easy kill. I launched myself at the human, that did not seem to fight back. Bared my fangs and sunk them into the humans’ throat. Suddenly, I felt an electric shock jolt me. A bunch of visions with some human. Confused, I let the human go. It seemed to be in a trance before raising its weapon. Alarm bells rang in my head as I tried to dodge, but to no avail. A massive blow to the head and I fell.
“Soervy, Rnljy. I tid not kuep mai pwomis,” was all the human said before it too fell, blood pouring from its neck, but not from my wound. Blood flowed from another cut. A knife laced with blood lay on the floor beside the human. Without reason, a tear rolled down my cheek as I felt sudden emptiness and sadness. I just suddenly had the thought- did I make the wrong choice? Why did I think that? That question was never answered -never could be, for when I closed my eyes, they forever were glued shut.
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Hope u enjoyed! That's my first story so it's still quite meh ;-;
I'll be surprised if even one person reads this
