Amnesia

Hostage

None of us slept. The death of Todd is still too frequently reminded in our minds. The sound of the gunshot that ended his life. The sight of the teeth marks that were marked into his flesh.

I was there when he got bit. But I didn't want to believe it, so I used his excuse of getting cut by something to believe it wasn't true. But it was, and now he's dead.

I lay on the cot beside Chris, watching him sleep. I can't imagine what he'd do if he came out and saw Jose close to me when he was drunk. He'd tackle him just as Todd did. But he doesn't know about Todd yet. He was still in a deep sleep when the gunshot went off, not waking up at all. He's still breathing an his eyes twitch occasionally, so I think he'll be fine.

But I still worry about him a lot. I can't stand laying here watching him twitch in fear and pain, nightmares interrupting his sleep. He looks so peaceful until he lets out grunts and starts to toss as turn. He lets out a quite noise of panic and then he stops moving all together.

I stare at him, waiting for him to move again. He doesn't. I get up and scoot closer, checking to see if he's breathing. I sigh in relief as I hear his light breathing. His chest rises and falls, letting me know that he is for sure breathing. I gather that his nightmare must has just ended.

Suddenly his eyes open and I jump back in surprise. He turns to me but doesn't say anything. He doesn't even smile at me like he usually does. And when he looks at me, it looks like he's looking past me.

"Chris?" I ask.

"Alice?" He responds in the same manner. "It's so dark, I can barely see anything."

"Oh," I say as I let out a small laugh. "You scared me."

"How are you feeling?" he asks.

"More like how are you feeling?" I laugh at his politeness. "You're the one who got hit in the head and passed out."

"Oh yeah," he laughs. "Pretty bad headache, I'll admit that." He gazes at me and tilts his head to the side. "You look like you just saw someone die. Are you okay?"

I stare back at him, not knowing if I should tell him what he missed out on. I look over at Kim, who sits on the cot next to us. She nods her head, already listening in on our conversation.

"What is it?" Chris sits up slowly, looking around. "Something happened, huh?"

"When we went into the building, Todd and I were on the third floor while you three were on the fourth. Infected starting falling like rain, and . . ."

"And what?" Chris grabs my arm and pulls me closer. "You weren't bit, were you? Alice please tell me you weren't bit!"

"No," I say as I shake my head. "I'm fine. But Todd started acting out and starting punching Jose. Well, Jose deserved it but still. Todd has never done that. I thought it was because he was just trying to protect me like he would his daughter but I was wrong."

"Alice, just get to the point." But Chris knows he already knows it.

"Jose was able to stop Todd. We found bite marks in his lower leg." I turn away, unable to see the pain in his pale face.

"Todd was bit?" He lays back down, putting his hands over his face. After as few minutes he asks, "Where is he?"

I don't look at him when I say, "With his family."

"You mean he's already dead? How long have I been asleep?"

"All of this happened like two hours ago. You were just in such a deep sleep you didn't hear the gunshot," I reply.