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Part 4: Rose

A twig snapped nearby, and I sharply pulled back the arrow that was loaded into my bow, pointing it in the direction of the noise. Heart hammering, I lowered my bow, letting out a shaky, quiet sigh of relief.

It had just been a squirrel.

"A little twitchy, huh, Rose?" Daniel teased in a quiet voice.

"I'm not twitchy," I shot back in a harsh whisper. "I'm just.. alert."

Daniel snorted in disbelief and I ignored him. I glanced up at the sky through the trees and anxiety twisted my stomach. The sun was beginning to set. I didn't know about the others, but I didn't enjoy the idea of trying to hunt down a Crank in the dark. It was bad enough having to do it at all.

God, I hated these things.

Why did they have to cause problems? Why did they have to exist at all? Why did any of this have to happen?

'Questions you've been asking for months now, Rose,' I thought, irritated. 'And still haven't gotten answers for.'

Suddenly, O'Donnely halted, holding up his hand for us to stop. We all came to a stop, listening. Distant gurgling and choking noises could be heard, and my heart stuttered.

There was no doubt it was a Crank. O'Donnely slowly crept forward, motioning for us to stay where we were. He slowly, as quietly as possible, cocked his gun.

The choking noises stopped abruptly.

O'Donnely froze.

I felt a shiver go up my spine, and I pulled back my arrow. And all of a sudden the underbrush behind us exploded as a Crank burst through it, making unearthly sounds. I bit down a scream and jumped away, shooting an arrow at it, which narrowly missed the stupid thing.

O'Donnely fired his gun at it, but it somehow managed to dodge the bullets. Before Layla or Daniel could do anything, the Crank jumped at me, knocking me down.

I hit the ground hard, the force of it rushing the breath of my lungs. The Crank snarled in my face, lashing it's hands at me, which I barely dodged as I struggled to breathe and hold it back at the same time.

I felt something sharp nick my upper right arm, and my vision went red. Distantly, I heard somebody screaming, followed by the sound of a gun shot echoing.

The Crank jerked and rolled off me, going limp.

"Rose!" Layla exclaimed, running up to me. I grabbed her outstretched hand and she helped me up. "Oh, my gosh, are you okay?"

I wiped the blood from my eyes. "I-I think so." My heart was pounding in my chest and there was a cut on my arm.

O'Donnely came up to us, looking grave, Daniel just behind him. "You have a cut on your arm."

I looked at him. "Yeah," I replied, annoyed. "So?"

"So," O'Donnely snapped. "You'll be infected within the hour."

The realization hit me hard, taking my breath away. The Crank had hit me. No matter how small the wound was, it would still get infected. And I would become a Crank.

Layla went pale and Daniel swallowed hard.

O'Donnely's voice softened. "And you know there's nothing we can do about it," he said. "I'm sorry, Rose." My eyes widened when he pointed his gun at me. "There's no other way," he added.

"Watch it!" Daniel barked, lunging for the gun.

Layla screamed and I closed my eyes and O'Donnely fired the gun. But nothing hit me. Terrified, I opened my eyes, expecting to find Daniel on the ground, bleeding and dying. But he wasn't.