The Infection

Crash

Tears began to flow down my face as his face went into shock. He looked around confused before falling onto the floor, unconscious. I laughed for a bit and pulled him back onto the couch and let him lay there. My stomach started to rumble at me and I realized that I hadn't had anything to eat in the past 16 hours, him even longer. Spyro whined at the deer laying on my kitchen floor. "I'm sorry, Spyro, but I just can't cut that up tonight." Even though the deer laying on the kitchen floor would go bad if I left it too long, I was just too tired from the day to cut the meat. I opened the door to the freezer room and dragged the deer's carcass into it. I didn't bother to hang it up because I was just hungry and tired. I walked out of the freezer and looked outside. The sun was beginning to set, meaning that my meal would have to wait a few more minutes. I went around the house shutting all the windows and doors. It always takes a while because I reinforced all the doors with a steel outer door and a few locks on every door. The infected only come out at night, and so far they haven't been able to get through. That wasn't about to change. I've had enough surprises today.

Once I was done locking up, I started to look through my pantry. I was running a little low on food, left with just ramen noodles, beans, and mac 'n' cheese. That's why I was going to go fishing today. I took out two boxes of macaroni and put a pot of water on the stove. While waiting for the water to boil I began to mix up some more milk.

"What are you doing?" I jumped as Ryan walked into the room.

"I didn't hear you get up." I said. He just stared at me, "I'm making milk for the macaroni and cheese I'm making for dinner." He looked at me with confusion on his face, "It's dry milk. It doesn't taste the best, but it's better than nothing." He didn't respond, but rather walked out to the living room and started searching through the movies.

I finished cooking and walked into the living room. Ryan was sitting on the couch watching SpaceJam. I went over and sat by him with two bowls of macaroni in my hands. I set down one of the bowls in front of him, he seemed to not notice. "You better eat, before it gets cold." He looked like he was in a trance, but nodded and picked up his bowl and began to eat.

We sat in silence for a long time, just eating and watching the movie. I'd seen this movie a hundred times. It was Jeremy's favorite when he was little. Ryan stood up and asked, "Where's the bathroom?"

I pointed at the stairs, "First door on the left." He nodded and went upstairs. I kept watching the movie for a few minutes until I heard a crash come from upstairs. I quickly grabbed my gun and ran up the steps. The hall was empty, but there was a light coming from Jeremy's room. For the second time tonight, I walked into the room, cautiously with my weapon drawn.