Monster You've Become (BOYxBOY)

Chapter 3

Mike’s POV

That girl really feels like trouble. She’s hanging around Jonathan like that without even remembering who he is. Damn this! Why am I getting so jealous? They’re relatives, I should be happy for them, not feeling like I want them to be separated.

I look at them, and Rena looks back at me. Her gaze looks inhuman and I feel like I’ve been frozen to ice. Something about her definitely isn’t right. I keep my distance, since I don’t want to get hurt. Jonathan doesn’t look like he’s realized anything yet, and she seems so fond of him that I don’t really worry about him getting hurt. And as long as he’s safe, I don’t really care. Even though I become awfully jealous.

”Hey Jonathan, what do you think we’ll run into when we get to town?” I ask to get his attention. He turns around and looks at me with a sincere look on his face. ”Hopefully nothing too dangerous. But no place’s safe anymore.” he answers, and I can see how worried he actually is. Probably he just doesn’t want Rena to get hurt. I doubt he’s thinking about me and how I might end up. ”That fucking kid means more to you than i do? Tch..”

Once again, she gives me one of those inhuman stares. She couldn’t’ve heard that, right? That’s not possible. It’s like 10 meters between us. And I whispered it. Something definitely is wrong with that girl. She can’t be human anymore. I wanna tell that to Jonathan, but he’ll probably just think that I’m jealous of her or something, which of course I am. But still, it feels like she’s dangerous.

Jonathan’s POV

I stop when we reach the town. It reeks of oil and death. I look down at Rena for a second and then look back up again. We have to find someplace safe. And that’s quick. The situation we’re in are getting more and more dangerous. I bet more deceases have gotten here, and we’re in the middle of the danger zone. I hate this.

”Why are we stopping?” Mike asks. I turn around and look at him. ”What the hell are you thinking!? Don’t be so far away from me!” I scream, and without thinking, I let go of Rena and walk fast towards Mike. I give him a hard slap on his cheek and then go back. What the hell does he think he’s doing? Messing with me like that! It’s far too dangerous to be away from each other!

I try to calm down. Why am I getting so upset anyway? He’s free to do whatever he feel like. It’s not my problem if he dies. Suddenly, after that thought, I felt like something grabbed and squeezed my heart, and I regret what I was thinking. How could I even think something like that? He’s my best friend, and I definitely don’t want him to die! He’s the only one I’ve got left. Everyone else’s gone.

I stare into the ruined town we once called home, and I suddenly feel something grab my shirt. I look down and spot Rena. What? How come I forgot her all of a sudden? Mike’s not the only one, I’ve got her too. And I’ll protect both of them with my life on the line. No matter what, I’ll make sure both of them are safe. And if they get sick, I’ll kill them with my own hands so that they won’t get eaten alive by some kind of sick animal or human.

”Mike, are you coming?” I say and turn around. He’s gone. ”Mike!? MIKE!” I begin to panic. What if I never find him again? What if he’s dead? And I said i’d protect him.. How could I let this happen!? I’m such an idiot!

”Hey relax.” Mike says and puts his hand on my shoulder. I look at him and almost begin to cry. He really scared me to death there.I’m so afraid of losing my only friend that I’m losing my mind when I lose sight of him. God, what’s happening to me?

Mike’s POV

I give Rena a death glare and then walk into town. I hear a lot of noises, but I don’t care. They’re far away, so I don’t feel like I need to bother thinking about them. Right now, I just want to get going and get Rena away from Jonathan. She’ll only make things worse. She’ll probably get in our way to if we have to run away from something, or slow us down. Both things are bad. We have to be able to move fast and quietly. We have no idea what’s ahead of us anymore. It’s not just crawlers running ‘round the streets. It’s probably all kinds of mutations and sick people wandering around, looking for a way to survive or overcome these new viruses. But there’s no known cure for some of these sicknesses, and apparently more and more people get infected by those.

I hear glass shatter from across the street and I freeze. I try to locate where it came from. I see a shard of glass fall down from one of the store fronts and then I start to slowly sneak  up closer to the building it came from, gesturing to Jonathan that he should stop and stay still. Since I can’t hear any footsteps behind me, I assume that he listened to me, and that makes me relieved.

I’m smaller and more flexible than Jonathan, so if something goes wrong I’d be able to escape much easier than him. Also, I’d like to play the decoy if it meant I could save his life. I’ll take every opportunity I can to save him from dying.

When I reach the building, I press myself against the wall and listen carefully. I can’t hear anything at all. So I slowly look into the store through it’s broken window, not knowing what might be there. I’m not even scared anymore. If I want to be able to survive and to protect Jonathan, I can’t afford to be scared of whatever might be here. I take a step into the shop and the glass shards crunches under my worn out boot. Then I suddenly hear something rustle behind one of the shelves. I take a deep breath, breathe out and step inside with my other foot. 

”Anyone there?” I ask as I grab an umbrella I spotted while stepping inside. Whatever it is in here, I hope that I don’t have to use this useless thing to defend myself. I slowly walk closer to the shelf I think I heard the noise from and I try to look between the ledges, but they’re still stocked with broken toys and boardgames, so I can’t see anything besides that.

When I almost round the corner, I hear something sprint away from there. I then get an idea of what it was, and it was no human. ”Jonathan, watch out!” I scream, hoping he’ll climb up somewhere safe. That creature didn’t sound like a crawler, it’s claws didn’t click. But it sounded bigger. I run out of the store and look towards the place I left Jonathan, and he’s not there. Did he get away?

”If you hear me, whistle!” I scream and look around to see if the creature might still lurk around here. I then hear a whistle and I try to locate where it came from. ”We’re on the rooftop of the house where you left us! But watch out, I saw something big rushing out from that store you’re outside!” Jonathan screams. I look at the building and I see him waving at me. I feel relieved, now I at least know he’s safe.

I begin to run towards the building Jonathan’s at, but then I spot something really weird and I squat beside a car to take a better look. Is it a... Human? I concentrate as much as I can, since I don’t want to risk anything by getting closer, and I can distinguish a human being. But it somehow looks inhumane, and I also see something that indicates it’s eating on something. Definitely not human anymore.

I take a quick look behind me to see if I’m still relatively safe, and since I don’t see anything, I continue running towards Jonathan’s location. But before I can even consider myself close to him, that inhumane being I just saw stands right in front of me. It looks down on me, smiling wide without showing any kinds of emotions in the other parts of his face. Either he’s happy or he’s up to something. I see some flesh hanging from his teeth and I feel like throwing up. Just the fact that he ate raw, infected meat gives me the creeps. He must’ve been quite desperate. And somehow I can understand why.

”What do you want from me?” I step back and bump into something. I angle my head upwards and I see another one of these infected human beings right behind me. It’s over.