Infected

A Long Road

"Hey, um, I wanted to apologize." Mike said. We were walking down the road that we found. We had chosen the right direction and the buildings had disappeared to pine trees and open road.

"About what?"

"I didn't know you were an orphan. I didn't know you had felt any pain like I did. I'm really sorry."

"It's okay. I know how it feels. It's terrible. It's something no one should have to go through."

"Okay. If you say so." He said and went silent. We walked on the left side of the road to face the opposite direction of traffic. I hadn't seen any vehicles, though, not even an abandoned one. I didn't like the silence, so I started conversation.

"So, where are you from?" I asked him.

"Florida. Orlando, Florida. We had a nice neighborhood there, too."

"Oh. That's cool."

"Ben, I'm worried about something."

"What?"

"I've been thinking a lot about what that lady said. If this all started about three days ago, then that would explain the boat situation, too."

"What do you mean?"

"About three days ago, my dad got a call on the radio. I couldn't hear it, but his expression wasn't good. When I asked him later what it was about, he said that there was a storm coming, and we would have to turn around. But I watched the compass, and we never changed direction."

"Wait. Do you think..?"

"That we weren't going back? I do. I think he knew what was going on. He probably told my mom, too, but not me."

"It must've been a tough call to make a decision like that. You should be proud of him. He might've saved your life."

"Only mine."

"He probably thought he could outride the storm, but was caught off-guard. You can't blame him. It was just the wrong place at the wrong time."

"I guess. I wish he would've told me, though." He said.

"He wasn't trying to hurt you; he was trying to protect you. He probably thought everything would be under control soon, so he decided to wait it out."

"Makes sense, but I don't think this is going to end soon."

"Me neither. This is much bigger than he thought it would be."

"We need to be careful, then. I don't want to die to one of those things."

"I don't want to die at all, to be honest." I said.

"Same here." He replied, then went quiet. We stopped, and I heard some rustling behind some shrubs on our left. I extended my blade and motioned to Mike the direction of the sound and made a stabbing motion. He nodded, and we walked up to the shrubs. I peered over to see what was on the other side.

An Infected was eating... a rabbit?

Its mouth was bloody as it munched on the rabbit. Bones protruded from its bloody, white fur. The girl's clothes were all tattered, and its mouth was misshapen. The smell was horrible. I wanted to throw up, but there was nothing to come up. The Infected girl looked up and dropped the rabbit. It stood up and reached out for me.

"Ah!" I shouted as stabbed at it. I hit its hand and pulled back. I thrusted again, this time into its head. I cleanly pulled it out, and the body crumpled to the ground. My heart pounded, and my breathing was erratic. My hand was covered in blood. I dropped my knife and dropped to the ground. I frantically wiped my hands in the grass, trying to get the blood off.