The Flares

Lost With One Good Leg

Sorry to all my readers about the long hiatus with this book, but I'm finally back into the groove of things and will be updating as frequently as possible! Enjoy ~

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Fairly confident that we were in a hopeless situation, they didn't bother to lock the door, and left under the assumption that we had already given up. Dumb fucks. If there was one thing that I was sure of, it was that I was not about to give up, even if my leg felt as weak as a cheap biscuit ready to fall apart.

I took ahold of the rope that bound my wrists together, completely ignoring the bruises it caused on my skin in my attempt to get it off and I walked towards the door. Well, hobbled to the door might be a better way to phrase it. Hopping even. I was doing my absolute best to not apply a single ounce of pressure to my foot and relied solely on my left leg to move about. I rested my back against the wall just beside the door's hinges and grimaced in pain.

"I want you to make a noise --- as much as you can. Any attention at all to bring them here," I said.

Steph didn't question my intentions and went right ahead with lifting the wooden chair and slamming it against the wall, shattering it's weak legs and screaming as loudly as her throat would permit. It took a few seconds before someone came barging in with a gun raised at her.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" He demanded of her, and stepped towards her as I lunged out at him, throwing the rope over his head and around his neck, pulling back as hard as I could and pushing against his back as he fell to the ground, gurgling out obscenities and trying desperately to grab at me as I cut off the last bit of air that would ever fill his lungs.

I was facing a moral dilemma here, because with this one action I'd become the thing I hated the most --- a monster. There were no ifs and buts this time around, because I knew that if we were to get out of here, someone had to get blood on their hands, and it had to be me. Even though his situation was hopeless and his desperate gasps grew slower and slower, I tightened the rope even further around his neck before he gave one last choke and went limp in my hold.

Stephanie had already picked up the gun that he dropped when I attacked and found a switchblade in his pocket. "Good job," she said, and I found myself uncertain as to whether it was a job worthy of any praise at all, but nodded nonetheless to her as I used my hands to prop myself back up onto one leg. "Let's get moving. Gwen I want you behind Jasper every second of the way. I'll lead. You see anyone get near me, don't hesitate to pull the trigger." Her fiery attitude was forcing through as she barked out orders and handed me the pistol, which I grabbed with slightly trembling fingers.

I watched as she swung her hand forward, throwing the blade and heard a loud gasp behind me, turning back on my heel to find another guy at the doorway, grasping at his blood soaked neck and pulling the blade out before he dropped to his knees, gurgling blood where he tried to breathe. She ran forward and caused his neck to snap as she kicked his head forcefully, effectively killing him. After grabbing the handgun he had been holding and wiping her blade off on his shirt, she was good to go and left me a little concerned for my own wellbeing. The girl was clearly demented or possessed by a vicious spirit.

"Alright, let's move out," she said, exiting the room as I limped awkwardly behind her as fast as I could with Gwen moving right behind me. The hall around us was vacated and Steph stopped at a stairway, peering down to see if anybody was going to intercept us before leading the way down. "Forget all our stuff. We're out of here as soon as we see the way out."

Hopping down the stairs on one leg was a lot harder than it should be, and she eventually stopped her racing to give me a hand until we reached the very bottom.

So far, we had done our best to remain quiet in our attempts to leave, so I didn't expect anybody to be rushing towards us in a fit, but I had expected to have at least bumped into somebody by mistake. The building had about as much life as a graveyard, which worried me a lot more than having to actually fight someone.

"You feel it too, huh?" Steph's voice was no more than a hush as she stood at the end of the stairwell and peered in both directions for any sign of life. "Yeah, it's too quiet." I answered, wincing as I put my leg flat down on the ground. "Something's up."

"Let's not stick around to find out what." She moved off down the hall with Gwen and I following close behind until we saw our white light at the end of the tunnel --- daylight from an open door.

I wasn't sure if I'd count this as a victory since we had everything taken away from us and my body was a few bruises away from becoming body art with my blood as paint, but we were out, and I was gleeful at the fact until an arm wrapped around my neck and I was hoisted off my feet.

"Stop right there!" I could feel his anger as he tried his best not to wring every last bit of oxygen from my neck and just held me off the ground, which came somewhat as a bit of relief from the strain of balancing with one leg barely on the ground. Stephanie turned around and already had her pistol aimed but paused, thankfully, when she saw me. I was afraid she might just try and take a lucky shot anyways and hope that I wasn't used as a shield.

"Drop your fucking weapon or I blow his fucking brains out." Not only was this behemoth holding me off the ground with one arm, he was now holding the tip of a pistol against my head as he stared Steph down.

"Don't do it!" I raised my hand to the gun and held it firmly in place. "He won't shoot you. So get out!"

"We're not leaving without you!" Her hands were slightly shaken, and I held my breath because I knew she'd shoot. My eyes were shut as he dropped me and barrelled out of her range. I heard her shout, and when I looked back up she and Gwen were being lifted up and dragged out of the building. I stumbled back onto my feet and, despite the pain, ran after them with whatever energy I had left, but the guy that had been holding me down hit the side of my head with the gun and I fell to the ground.

"That stupid bitch should have listened to you when she had the chance. Now you're never gonna see her again." He punched me again, mostly to emphasise that I was completely fucked and not because I could resist any longer. If my mouth wasn't a bloodied mess before, it probably rivaled a girl's vagina on her first period now.

He grabbed at my collar and dragged me outside the building into the harsh gaze of the sun and I blocked it out with my hand as he left me on the floor. "You won't be needed where we're going, but don't worry --- we're not going to kill you." I wasn't sure that relieved me at all because I wanted to make sure Stephanie and Gwen were away from these assholes.

"We're gonna leave you out here for the infected." I could hear the cockiness in his voice, then I heard the cocking of his gun as he shot me in almost the exact same spot I was stabbed. 'Damn fucker' I thought, screaming in agony as I tried to cutch around it and saw him walk off.

The hum of an engine caught my attention and between my own deep laboured breaths, I could hear Stephanie screaming as the engines grew louder and then vanished into the distance, taking them with.

I laid on the ground and groaned out as blood seeped from the wound, wondering how I could get back on my feet and find Gwen and Stephanie until my body completely froze.

An Infected was running towards me...