Dead End

Unwanted Company

Sydneys POV:

I heaved my limp body backwards, cowering into the wallpaper torn corner, thrusting my trembling hands in front of me. The only semi-possible way out was to go straight through them. The thought quickly dissolved, I was completely unarmed, it was hopeless to even try.

I watched through squinted eyes as they slowly swarmed towards me, and I swore I caught a glimpse of a smirk edge along their gnawed lips. Thick, tar resembling, blood slugged across their sickly green skin, dripping from their gaping wounds. Even though they were braindead, they knew that they had captured fresh meat, and that thought was enough to send them crazy.

The realisation hit me. I was going to become one of them. A ruthless, soulless monster. Every sudden inhalation brought sharp pains to my chest, and the unsettling sound of my shattered ribcage rattling managed to drown out all of the tormenting groans. Death. It was the sound of death. My fear caught up to me, clawing eagerly at my shredded clothes. I began choking on thin air, tears streaming from my burning eyes. I was dead. I was dead. I was-

Awake.

I shuffled uncomfortably onto my bruised side, pulling the purple knitted blanket off of my legs, that were now painted with small prickly goosebumps.

Damp brown stains from yesterday's hunt wrapped their way around my calf, reminding me of the person I had become.

Sena had warned me that all of the killing would get into my head one of these days, Asher had warned me to ignore it.

I squeezed my burning eyes shut, emptying my cluttered mind. As I focused on calming my breathing, I caught myself drifting slowly back into an uneasy slumber. I would have let myself sleep for another hour if it wasn't for the the radiant midday sun blistering my dehydrated skin.

Wait- it was already midday?

I forced my sore body off of the splintered floorboards, letting out a loud, exaggerated groan. My legs were in agonising pain from all of the running we had done yesterday. Well, Sena had hardly ran; she had persuaded Asher to give her a piggy-back ride for most of the journey.

Where were the others?

With my swaying vision blurred, I managed to let my eyes dart around the abandoned room, panic quickly pulsating through my veins.

"Guys? Where are.."

The unfinished sentence scratched against my throat, dragging sickly green bile closely behind it. Cold air flooded my nostrils, sending a shiver over my skin. I flung my heavy head over my shoulder to see which window the breeze had come in from. To my surprise, every window was locked, but the door... the door to the house was left wide open. That wasn't right. I was the last person to go to bed and I know that I locked that door.

I managed to stand up, sort of. My knees willingly shook every time I attempted to lift my foot up and pain pumped through my body as I moved limply towards the enticing outdoors.

A handful of flies had taken advantage of the leftover deer that was scattered on top of blood drenched paper plates beside the boarded up window. Part of me was tempted to just cook a slab of it, not letting myself think about the diseases I could catch. The other part of me was more concerned about my friends. My stomach grumbled, protesting against my responsible decision. But I ignored it.

"If this is a joke... it's.. it's not funny"

I called out to them, silently praying that they would jump out and burst into a fit of laughter. Much to my dismay, nobody revealed themselves. I was alone.

"Asher? Sena? Phoebe?"

As I took another forced step towards the door, a wave of anxiety punched me in the gut. There was a faint creaking noise on the floorboards upstairs. Footsteps. Someone else was in the house, and they definitely didn't want to be heard.