Infected

Opportunities

Ben

When I woke up, I didn't feel dizzy anymore, but I struggled to open my eyes. When I did, I could see I was in a tent, and there were people crowding the opening.

"Look, he's awake!" A little boy said.

"The other one is snoring." A girl said and laughed.

"Please back away from the tent." I heard a voice say, and someone entered the tent.

"Silver."

"Hey, bud." He said and sat on the bed. "How you feeling?"

"A lot better."

"Good."

"Settle down." The voice said outside.

"Give me a minute." Silver said. He went out of the tent and said, "Please, tend to your jobs. You'll see them when I tour them around the compound. Please, give them space."

I heard a few annoyed mutters and footsteps. Then, he came back in and sat down.

"There. Now, let's start from the beginning. Before the car and the gas station." He said. "How did it all start with you?"

"I'm an orphan." I said. "I ran away from my Foster home and lived at the docks in Florida. I stayed in an abandoned building for a couple of years. I looked for food every day and even found some knives to--"

I felt where my knife was supposed to be. It wasn't there. I felt my pockets. Empty.

"Where's my stuff?" I asked.

"Don't worry. It's all safe and put away. I have guards posted out around it to keep it from getting raided. Continue."

I took a deep breath.

"Well, I was walking the shore of the beach and found a bunch of bodies washed up."

"And that's where I come in." Mike said. He had woken up while we were talking.

"How's your back?" Silver asked him.

"I don't feel anything, now. Much better."

"Good. Now, how do you come in the picture?"

"I was one of the bodies washed up on the beach."

He raised his eyebrows.

"Ben was able to revive me, and we got out of there before the other bodies got to us."

"Did you know them?"

"They were my family. Our boat capsized after a storm blew us off course."

"And you were the only one alive?"

"Yeah. So me and Ben called 911 to tell them what happened, and they said it's happening everywhere. They told us to go to the city, but we didn't. We walked away from the city and found a gas station. We took as much as we could and found the car. We left just as we heard gunfire from the woods across from us. A bullet even hit the windshield."

"Wow." He said. "Where did you find the scope?"

"On a rifle in the car." I said. "We couldn't hold the rifle, but we used the scope to look out for Infected while Mike drove."

"After a few hours, the brakes just stopped working." Mike said. "I tried turning away, but it didn't move as much as it was supposed to, and we hit one."

"I know the rest." He said.

"Can we get up now?" I asked. "My legs are cramping."

"Mine too." Mike said.