Pandemic *CANCELLED*

A Slave to the beast

One. More. Step. Just. One. More.

It's always one more step for me, it never ends and I never reach my goal. That last step I'm looking for everyday, everytime I'm exhausted. I hadn't even counted how long I was in the woods; a day maybe? Or even a month, two... six? It felt like an eternity, the constant running the frantic panicks. Running, where to? It's not like I had anything left anyway. The burn on my leg had worstened drastically, becoming infected and crusting over in some places. The pain ceased to affect me any further, not getting worse, but not getting any better, it was just there for me a part of me I had to live with for now.

I thought of William. Why? Why was it when the world goes to shit, it's the sane people that never survive. I'd seen enough zombie flicks to know that it was the crazy people who always managed to survive in the depths of hell, even when all the odds are against them they somehow make it through and for the rest of us who are relatively sane, people like William are not exactly the best kind of people for us. I could tell you that. He'd seemed so inviting and warm, even if at first he was cold and slightly bitter. I'd only been with him a few days but I felt secure, he was a strong person in my eyes and someone who knew exactly what they were doing. How naive I was. His twisted goal was to kill me, so I applaud you William for the charade you played me for and what a show it was indeed. It hadn't even been a week since the virus hit the UK... Damn.

The night was when it got bad… Darkness surrounds you, the blanket of black is where all those parasites crawl. There seems to be more at night… of the infected I mean. They favour the gloom that comes after the setting of the sun over the bright daylight. With no light and blood pumping through your ears you’re the easiest target for them. For anyone really. The creatures of the night come to life in a split second. If you don’t find somewhere semi-safe for the night, you’re as good as dead. 

I’ve had a few close encounters for my stupid mistake and with everything stripped from me, it was a miracle I survived. 

My existence right now is to survive. This constant living in fear is not for me. It’s funny how I was living in the comfort of my one-bedroom flat in Manchester one minute, single and alone and now look at me. I’m covered in dirt, I’ve has alkali solution chucked over me and I’m the one being hunted. It was over a month ago when the virus broke out… It was last week when we weren’t top predators. 

Our planet was sent to shit. We had constant warnings about health and caution about the planet and how it’s going to die. Shit… I even saw someone saying there was “something in the air”. He wasn’t wrong. At the time I thought he was one of those stupid preachers that supposedly foretold the end of the world but looking back now he wasn’t wrong. The opposite actually, he was spot on. There’s something in the air. 

I had taken everything for granted before this stupid virus hit. My mum and I always argued. I never appreciated her enough and I never told her how much I loved her. I never gave her a goodbye kiss or a hug or even a goodbye. Now she’s dead… gone completely, not even infected anymore. I guess you really don’t know what you’ve got, until it’s gone. We never really got on. It started when I was in secondary school, when I’d lock myself in my room all of the time. I never spent time with her, then when she got ill I only got frustrated and angry at her. I knew it wasn’t fair and part of me realised I should have been taking care of her but the stubbornness always took over and I carried on being a cow. Stupid stupid stupid. I was so stupid. I moved out at sixteen and went to live with a guy, John his name was. He was considerably older but I didn’t care, until… It doesn’t matter… I shouldn’t dwell on the past, I’ve been given yet another chance to start over so I’d better take it.

A new life in a shitty world, I couldn’t ask for better. It’s been tough, I’ll admit that. The hardest thing though isn’t the fact that there are infected everywhere and that the world has literally become a desolate ball of dirt. It’s the starting point of each day. What do I do when I wake up? With the majority of the population infected there are no businesses running, no work places or fast food restaurants to eat with your friends in, so what do I do? Being so used to routine has proved to be our Achilles heel. I used to wake up, get dressed, have breakfast and go to work every single day that would be how my day panned out. So now I don’t have any other clothes, and now that I have to hunt for my food I’m lost. Lost in a world that thrives on routine…

I crawled into a hollowed out tree trunk for the night. My leg itched, burned and stung all at the same time. It hurt to move it even a millimetre so once I was in a comfortable enough position I sat and fell asleep. 

I woke to the sound of gunfire. It was some distance away, but too close for comfort. I jerked up, and stepped out of the gap I was in, only to be reminded of my injury. Tumbling to the ground, I laid there just staring above me at the leaves on the tree. I finally summoned the courage to get up and hobble away. Every step the pain seemed to worsen. So deep in my thoughts and concentrating on getting away, I missed the next gunshot. It was much closer, but I heard it as background noise until I stopped to rest. My realisation hit me right in the heart. My heart rose into my throat and the blood pumped harder through my veins as I came to the conclusion that someone was chasing me. I didn’t know if it was William or if I was just being paranoid but there was someone coming in my direction nonetheless. 

I got up and attempted to move as fast as I could. I was not prepared to die and certainly not stupidly. I climbed over fallen tree trunks and over mounds all the while the gunshots were getting closer. Eventually I could hear shouting. I still pressed on until finally I reached a road. Now of course that wasn’t going to do me any good, but at least now I could get somewhere. One side of the road was completely blocked off my infected so I assumed that, that was where the gunshots were coming from. I turned and limped down the road, still focusing on the sounds behind me. They had gotten slightly fainter but that was no reason to stop now. 

I pressed on until I found a car. It had swerved off but it hadn’t crashed so if only I knew how to hot-wire it. I approached it cautiously as I heard grunting coming from behind the car. The bumper at the front was half falling off, and next to it lay a wrench. It seemed someone had tried to fix it but obviously a wrench wasn’t exactly the right tool to use. I picked it up and hobbled to the back, to find an infected tucking into a fresh corpse. I drove the wrench downwards into the infected’s head to hear it squeal a hoarse cry. I kept beating until it’s head had cracked open and it lay there staring. 

The car door was unlocked and the key was in the ignition. A wolf-like imitation came from the other end of the street. Two men were clambering up onto the road. Panic surged through me; they hadn’t spotted me yet but they will do soon enough. Unless they’re stupid they won’t dare go near the wall of infected. I slid into the car, grinding my leg on the fabric chair. It peeled a lot of the skin back, but I bit down on the scream. I didn’t want to draw much more attention. I turned the key in the ignition, but one thing was that I didn’t know how to drive a car. I’d seem William do it, and my mum do it so if I copied them it would work out right?

I pushed down on the clutch and put the gear stick into first gear. I then pressed the acceleration and stalled the car. Great. The two men were slowly gaining on me. They still hadn’t spotted me but their random gun firing was attracting the attention of the infected behind them. I tried again, and turned the key. This time, I slowly pressed the acceleration and started moving. Now I needed to turn and so I put the car in reverse and attempted one of those three-point turns which ended up being a six or seven-point turn.

 A bullet hit the rear bumped and bounced off with a ping. They had spotted me. I drove off as fast as I could, trying to change gears as I did.The bullets kept coming, and the rear window was shattered. I sped up and up until I couldn’t see them in the rearview mirror. I continued down the stretch of road, looking for a new place to get away from my memory.