Life After Death (#1)

Chapter Twenty-Six

"Who are you?" Max demanded, not trusting their apparent saviour.

"I'm Mona. Look, just ask me your questions as we move, it won't be long before they come looking for me!" she urged.

Lizzie hightailed it over to where her and Max's bags lay on the floor across the room. All their weapons were still stashed inside and she had a feeling they would be needing them.

Lizzie plucked up a few other items from the floor and stuffed them in her half full backpack. Some chocolate bars and a couple of spare bottles of water were within reach and were soon packed tightly in her bag as well. She jogged over to the dead body, lying in the ever growing pool of blood by his guard post.

She had noticed something sticking out from his pocket earlier, and carefully tiptoeing around the blood, she withdrew a slingshot and a bag of marbles from his trousers.

"Lizzie, what are you dicking about with? Hurry up!" Max breathed quietly but harshly.

Lizzie stuffed the marbles in her jeans and tucked the slingshot in her back pocket. Max peered behind her to see what she had picked up, flashing her a look that said 'are you serious?'

"C'mon then, fucking Dennis the Menace," Max mumbled, breaking into a jog behind Mona.

"This way should get you safely to the car park out front," Mona murmured over her shoulder. "Try to keep up!" she added, picking up the speed.

Max did as he was told, sprinting to get side by side with their new comrade.

"Why are you helping us?" Max asked, suspicious as ever.

"You have a kid man! I've seen what they do to people down in the pit; it's no place for a young girl," Mona answered with a disturbed look across her face.

"You're not like the others," Max stated. "You seem like us...you seem normal,"

Mona scoffed, "You mean I'm not bat-shit crazy?"

Max nodded; he wasn't in the mood for jokes. He wanted answers, and he wanted Lizzie safe, far from here.

"If you get bitten, or the vaccination accelerated the disease inside you, then sure, you turn into the undead quicker than you can say zombie. But there are other ways to get infected, my friend," Mona explained between breaths as she led them through the shopping centre towards a way out.

"I've never seen anyone like those guys back there" Lizzie chimed in. "It's like their brains are changing, but their bodies still look half-human. What happened to them?" she asked.

"It's just what happens. If you get a small trace of the disease in your body, maybe a tiny cut or a mosquito bite then your body kind of tries to fight it off for a while," Mona clarified. "Don't get me wrong, you're still fucked if you come into contact with the disease; it just takes longer to manifest. It takes a while to...change you."

"Why are you with those bastards if you're not infected then?" Max demanded, full of accusation.

"Who said I'm not infected?" Mona snapped. "None of us lot here took the vaccination, we're all just waiting for the disease to slowly eat away at our brains until we become one of those...things."

"How do you know you're infected then? I've heard some people are immune?" Max asked half-heartedly, hoping for some proof to his theory.

Lizzie glanced across at him. She had clearly twigged that he was fishing for some kind of confirmation that he was safe from turning into a clicker.

"Immune? I don't know about that. Sure as hell no immunes here. But yeah, I'm definitely infected, my friend. I might not twitch and bite everything that moves like those lot, but I can feel the change. I hear the voices, I get the...hunger. It takes everything I have to suppress it, but it won't be long before I'm one of them," Mona admitted sombrely.

Max mulled this over in his head. Was he immune? Was Lizzie immune? Was anyone even immune? He needed answers, but first he needed to get far away from here.

"I'm so sorry," Lizzie said softly, putting a hand on Mona's shoulder as she ran.

Mona nodded at the young girl, wiping one solitary tear running down her face.

"One last act of humanity ay, let's get you guys out of here," she laughed.

Mona took a left, slowing down to an eventual halt in front of a fire exit door.

"Take this door, follow the building round to the left until you hit the car park, then get the fuck out of here," she ordered to Max.

"Can't you come with us?" Lizzie suggested warmly.

Max shot her a look; he still didn't entirely trust anyone in this world, especially not a woman who was slowly turning into the enemy.

"Unless you want to wake up one morning to me chewing on your arm, no," Mona chuckled. "Just get out of here and don't look back," she said to Lizzie, pulling her into an embrace.

Max had already pushed open the fire door, waiting impatiently for Lizzie to follow him. After a few seconds, Lizzie pulled away from Mona, thanked her, hoicked up her backpack and walked through the door Max had held open.

"Thank you, really," Max said sincerely; there was nothing more to say really. She had saved their lives, and he meant it wholeheartedly.

"Don't mention it; just keep that little lady alive," Mona replied, nodding towards Lizzie.

Max nodded subtly, exiting through the door which slowly began to close behind him. Just as it was swinging to a close, Max threw his hand in the gap, pulling it back open.

"One last thing...what is the pit?" he asked.

Mona's head dropped and she looked down at her feet.

"I pray you never find out," she sighed, before turning on her heels and running off into the shadows.