Meanwhile (a short Crawler story)

Chapter 2

My eyes were forced to look away as another body was tossed from the roof. This time, it was Daniel, but he was able to stand up and aim his shotgun at the monsters above, despite smashing hard into the pavement. I ran from the open door of the building, doing my best to ignore the corpse. I ran towards Daniel, "Are you okay?!"

I felt stupid for asking, his right arm had been skinned against the pavement so badly he was oozing blood already, and I knew he was in pain from being chucked off a roof. He didn't look at me, opting to continue following the frantic Crawlers with both his eyes and gun, "I'm alive."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Amber and Mika booking it down the road, they were trying to leave us to do the dirty work while they saved themselves! I would have been pissed if not for the knowledge it wouldn't work out for them. Even if they had been close enough to hear me, I doubt there would have been any time for them to evade the Crawler that had abandoned the group to go after them. I looked to the rooftop, trying to ignore the screaming behind me as flesh was torn.

Five left...

I looked around frantically for something to use as a weapon, anything to help us get out of this alive. There was only one option, a pile of rubble from one of the broken skyscrapers. I ran to it at full speed, trying to listen and make sure there was nothing following me. My stomach turned at the sounds of Travis screaming. No no no...

I reached the pile and searched through for anything I could use. A large chunk of concrete would have to suffice, as it was the only thing I could carry that would serve any function, everything else was either way too heavy, immovable, or harmless stones.

I wrenched it free from the mass of stone, spinning around at the sudden enraged growling and several pairs of heavy footsteps that pierced the air from behind me. I barely had a second to see the Crawler's outstretched claws before I was shoved to the ground, and felt something warm against my forearm as I hit the hard ground. I hid my face under my arms at the sounds of a struggle from just beside me, one that was clearly of Crawler and human.

The bang of a gunshot and a massive thud forced me to shakily uncover my face. I was ridiculously relieved to see a dead Crawler on the ground, and Travis currently lifting that chunk of concrete to smash its head in. I averted my gaze when he dropped it, and the wet crunch made me retch.

It was all silent.

Hesitantly, I scanned the parking lot and surrounding roads. There were several incapacitated Crawlers, either shot to the point of not functioning, or with their heads bludgeoned with one thing or another. The massive pool of blood growing from the Crawler nearby was of little concern to Travis, for some odd reason he didn't care about the infectious blood on his clothes.

Thankfully, I could see everyone else still alive. Jasmine was hunched over, throwing up against the corner of the building we had been in, I couldn't tell if it was from the fear, the bodies, or a combination of the two. David had a hand on her back, as he too looked around uneasily at the gorey sight around us. I couldn't help but notice his jacket and shirt were torn, leaving the skin around his ribcage exposed.

Daniel was walking over, a heavy limp from when he was tossed off the roof, and along with the skinned arm, he was unharmed otherwise, despite the blood spattered onto his clothes. I exhaled a breath I hadn't realized I was holding in, sitting on my knees and staring at the blood smeared pavement. I saw my arm again, remembering what I had felt against it when the Crawler ran over.

There was a splatter of deep red blood sprayed onto my skin, which looked black in the dim light. I began to panic, worrying I had gotten it on my face when I covered my eyes. Daniel grabbed my other hand carefully as he pulled me up to my feet, my legs beginning to shake and threaten to give out from under me.

My panic subsided and morphed into outright fear at the look on his face. We knew that look. He only had it when something very bad had happened, even before the apocalypse. I could hear my heartbeat in my ears. Jumping backwards and staring at my arm, I pulled my hand away from him. My voice was quiet, and shakier than I anticipated, "I'm infected...aren't I?"

His voice was equally as quiet, "No..."

This made me look up, confused more than anything, but he still had that look. What had happened then? He turned toward David, who was helping Jasmine walk over as she grew paler by the second, as if she was nearing the point of passing out. I didn't want to acknowledge the three bodies laying on the asphalt, but even still, someone was missing.

My eyes widened and I whipped my head around, searching for Travis. He was nowhere to be seen, though I hoped that was simply because the sun had just barely started to lighten the sky, and the lot was still shrouded in darkness. The scream, the way he shoved me out of the way to fight in close combat with a Crawler, even the fact he was so unconcerned about its blood getting on him, that had to have meant...

"Where did he go?!"

David glanced at one of the roads that joined to the parking lot, with a wide gate which used to be for keepung vehicles out, but now barely stayed on its hinges and hanging ajar, "I think I saw him run that way, but...Meg, he's infected, if we go after him..."

I glared in fury, causing him to shrink down suddenly, "Did you already forget what he did to Riley when she was infected? Do you doubt he will do the same now?!"

Their eyes all widened, somehow not realizing what he was obviously going to do. Daniel lifted his hands to the back of his neck, I couldn't help but notice that they were shaking as he did so, "Maybe he ran out of ammo?"

Jasmine shook her head, her voice cracking and shaking, seemingly unable to look up, "We saw him reload on the roof..."

We had no time to discuss this, it was already clear what was happening, and I wasn't going to let it happen again. I bolted down the road. Now seeing a small trail of blood passing the gate, my stomach turned as I followed it. I didn't care if he was infected, those who are infected have at the most a week before they turn, and when the time came we would lock him in a building or something. I was not going to let a second of my friends get shot in the face!

I stared at the ground as I ran, following the deep red, spotty trail that Travis had left.