The Dead and the Restless (Completed with undergoing editing)

Chapter Nineteen (Edited.)

I took one last look back at the car. My instinct still screamed at me to go back into the car and drive far away, leaving them behind and to save myself.

Good thing I gave up on listening to my instincts a long time ago.

I ran forward, the sound of my shoes hitting the pavement rattling in my eardrums as I was hurtling myself toward the entrance. I gripped my fingers on the handle of my machete, preparing myself as I neared the first set of Snappers that were just outside the entrance. I was nearly there. My heart beat reverberated in my ears over the sound of my feet, speeding up with every step.

Soon, one by one, they started to notice me coming. The first one that came towards me was slightly taller than I was, and had one eye falling out of its socket. Its forehead had skin hanging off, making it look as though it was about to fall to pieces. Which, frankly, it was.

I picked up my machete and slashed it into its neck, decapitating its head. I swerved past the next one, ducking under its grasping hands. I shoved my hunting knife into the back of its head and pulled it out quickly as another one stumbled next to me. I didn't have time to think, I just had to act on instinct and kill. Without so much as I blink, I swung my machete full force, cleanly cutting the middle of its face in half. I took a second to look around. I would have to kill four more until I could get into the building.

I moved closer, holding my machete back, preparing to go into the belly of the beast. I inhaled, and exhaled, my arms strained from hacking at the snappers. I couldn't waste more time though, I had to move now.

I rushed forward and slammed my machete onto more of snappers that separated me from getting inside. This was crazy, and I knew it, but it was the only way. I stopped thinking now, separating all the thoughts of everything that had happened within not just the last fifteen minutes, but in the past months. I didn't think about those I had lost, I just thought about those that were still breathing, and how I could save them, and that was all that it would take.

My heart still sounded in my ears, and I could no longer hear the moans and nightmarish sounds that came from them. I didn't flinch when their coagulated blood splattered onto me, and I didn't even feel the fear that I should have felt in this moment. I just slaughtered every single one I saw, unfazed and numb. I realized that these monsters weren't people a long time ago, but even when Liam and I would go out and kill them, I had felt something, no matter how small. Now, there was nothing.

But as I said, I couldn't afford time to care about that.

Once I was a few steps into the building, I still pushed on. Most were crowding down the hall to the cafeteria, so I only had a few to deal with. I could feel my muscles beginning to strain, though, and I noticed that some of these snappers were moving faster and stronger. I could feel sweat seeping into my clothes and dripping from my forehead. This was weird, though. I'd never broken a sweat like this in a long time, not since I started killing them often and training myself.

I felt something grab onto my ankle, and I instantly smacked onto the ground with a thud, the air horn digging into my hip. I cursed myself for not clearing the floor, making sure they were fully dead. You'd think after all this time, I'd have learned that lesson in particular. I kicked at the snapped that seized me, and I twisted my body up with my machete in hand, and brought it down on its face, the blade cutting halfway through its forehead. I yanked the machete out and scrambled to my feet, but as soon as I did, there was a snapper in front of me.

I held up my left forearm in defense, and the snapper bit down hard. My stomach lurched, but then I remembered that I had duct taped my arm. But nonetheless, there was still a snapper biting into my arm and another one behind it. I was beginning to be swarmed. Earlier, I didn't feel afraid, and even now, I didn't let it consume me. No, I let it add the fuel to the fire to keep me going.