Amnesia

Revenge

Not again.

I look around, worried. I sit on the grass trying to get myself together. The adrenalin has slowed and the pain begins to become noticeable. My chest stings from the knife. I press the bottom of my shirt against my chest, helping to stop the bleeding. I'm covered in blood, both mine and others.

I look down in the puddle I sit next to and see my reflection. I'm a mess.

My hair is tangled and long. Blood is splattered across my face. Dark circles are under my eyes. The once bright blue flames in my eyes are now dull. Not dead dull, but exhausted dull. I'm staring at myself but it doesn't look like me.

I scoop water into my hands and start washing my face. The smell of copper is sharp and strong.

I need Naoto.

All I can see is his face change as he was shot. It repeats over and over in my head. And then the thought of his devastation when he saw Mia get killed. All of it swarms my mind and I can't escape.

I want to scream. I want to run and scream and never stop. But I can't.

I stand up and look around, trying to figure out where I am. All I see is trees. I look up and see the sun streaming through the patterns in the leaves. Some begin to fall off, landing around me.

The autumn breeze blows my light hair. I close my eyes and take a deep breath, allowing the breeze to calm me.

I open my eyes and start walking straight where I came from.

I have no weapons, no way to defend myself. But a piece of me is in that house. The album. And it's the only thing I have left of my family. I need it.

My memory has been coming back slowly. I remember occasional picnics with the family. Walks on the beach. Playing in the water with my brother and sister.

Every little thing is beginning to take me back. A smell, a noise, or a laugh. All of these things remind me of the life before the accident. The life before the world ended.

I hear a weird rasping sound and I turn. Two infected are roaming towards me. They're not too close, but close enough to make me uncomfortable.

I look around for weapons. All that I see is sticks. I pick one up and start hurrying forward. My eyes are constantly looking around, on guard. I don't know how far the house is from where I am now. And I have no clue where my group went.

Chris begins to run through my mind. I told him I'd be right behind him and I wasn't. He probably never looked back and just ran like I did, thinking I was right behind him.

What if he's hurt?

I take a deep breath, hoping he's okay. I continue forward. Nothing looks familiar. I have nothing to go off of but my footprints that are pressed into the dirt and grass.

My stomach rumbles with hunger. I don't remember when my last meal was. More like a snack, I think to myself.

I finally arrive close to the house. I peek behind a tree, looking for my group of theirs. I see a man and woman roaming the perimeter of the house and two men dragging Mia's body out to the back. I hide again as they come closer.

"Do you think it was worth it?" One man asks.

The other nods. "Well worth it. Look at this place. We just have to clear out the infected that heard the gunshots. Then we should be pretty good up here. Got all of their supplies."

Jane walks out of the door and wipes her bloody shoes off on the grass. "We'll set off some firecrackers down towards the pharmacy. It'll distract them."

Good idea. I hate to think it but she knows what she's doing. And she's good at it.

"Are we going to send guys out to track them down?" A man asks.

Jane shakes her head. "They'll come back for revenge. I know they will. So we'll set up watch all day and night. We won't let them back in this house alive."

A woman walks through the back door. She's tall and covered in blood. Her face reads exhaustion. "We got all the infected we could find."

"Send out a group of four to put firecrackers in the market parking lot. It'll keep the other ones distracted and staying away from us. We have other things to handle." Jane looks around at where our group ran out. I hide behind the tree trunk.

Jane looks in my direction. Her eyebrows come together, her face curious. She stares at what I think is me for what feels like the longest time. Then she turns away and gives more direction to her group.

I look around, trying to remember which direction they ran off to. I look on the ground for tracks. I see in the muddy footprints. After making sure it's clear, I hurry and follow the tracks, keeping myself low and out of view.

Suddenly a hand is being placed over my mouth, muffling my gasp. I get dragged over to a tree and pushed against it. I look in the eyes of the attacker just to see it's Jose.

I push him away and whisper angrily, "Was that necessary?"

He puts his hand over my mouth again and lowers me to the cold grass. He nods towards the right. I follow his gaze to see two men standing by a tree a little ways off. One holds a rabbit in his hands. Hunters.

Jose pulls me the other way and we start running through the trees and quietly as possible.

My body aches and my heart burns at the thought of Naoto's death. I should be thinking about what's happening now, but all I can feel is my feet hitting the soft ground. My mind is in another place, remember the blood.

And then my mind ran back to a memory from long ago. Running in the backyard with my little sister. She pulled me, trying to show me the newly blooming flowers that were being welcomed by beautiful butterflies. She looked back and smiled at me, her gorgeous face lighting up with excitement.

My memory is interrupted when I hear a group of voices. I look around, worried and alert.

"Alice!" Chris grabs me and holds me tight in his arms. I hug him back, feeling the love and warmth of his body. I look up to him and he kisses me. "I thought you were right behind me." His eyes are full of guilt. "I'm so sorry, I left you. I shouldn't have just run, I should have looked back."

"No it's not your fault," I say. "I was trying to help Naoto. . ."

"Where is he?" Anne asks.

I look up at her, my expression saying it all.

Jose slams his fist into a tree, furious. "Our only doc dies by those pieces of shit."

"Are we just going to let them take our supplies?" Johnny asks.

We all look to Anne. "No. We get revenge."