No Longer Living

Chapter 4

She’d wandered back out into the street before she’d realized it, it was still dark and she was headed back to the restaurant where she’d left Seth.  As she was passing a car, something jumped out from behind it and tackled her to the ground, when she opened her eyes she found that it was Seth.  He snapped at something in the alley, and a Ripper stumbled out toward them.  When it got close enough he grabbed the back of its head and guided its teeth down to her neck, the teeth painfully tearing into her skin, and exposing her muscle which was quickly covered by the blood flowing from her body.

She sat straight up finding that it was dawn, there was sweat running down her face, and in realizing that it’d all been a dream she crossed her legs and rested her elbows on her knees, and her head in her hands.  She hadn’t had dreams since the nightmare had become her reality, she took a deep breath and stayed there until sunlight started to shine brightly overhead.  She packed up her bag like she always had, unlocked the door, and stepped outside.  

The roads looked clear, and by what she could tell she was close to the edge of the city.  She just wanted to be away from all of the twists and turns, and hiding places that are located in the city.  She traveled along the main road, watching he step and walking slowly enough to not make any prominent noise.  The roads were littered with garbage from overturned trash cans, abandoned cars some with their doors still wide open, and worst of all there was an occasional body from when the Rippers just fed and didn’t infect.

She’d walked for awhile and didn’t see anything; no Rippers, no people, no animals, nothing.  She grew cautious and thought about what Seth had said last night about it being worse when you can’t see your enemy and she began to understand what he meant.  The paranoia was settling in and she was searching every alley with her eyes hoping for at least a little something to help her relax.  

She gazed down one of the alleys and saw sunlight resting on something bright, it looked orange in color and it was glittering against the rays.  Looking farther into the shadow she saw that is was hair she’d been looking at, a teenage girl with red hair stumbling slowly through the alley toward her.  As she got closer Luci noticed behind the Ripper girl was a group that she couldn’t see the end of, and she didn’t want to stay around long enough to.  

She looked up and down the street but still didn’t see much of anything in either direction other than the normal rubble.  She took off down the street heading toward the edge of the city, maybe she would make it out before they had a chance to corner her in a building.  Now that her mind was drawn away from Seth and onto survival, she realized that she hadn’t had anything to eat since lunch yesterday.  Her body wasn’t in any shape for this kind of running, she was hungry and her legs were weaker than normal.  

Pushing forward she ignored the strange feeling in her legs, she was also concentrating on being as silent as possible.  Turning back she watched the Rippers start fanning out into the street, most turned to stumble in the direction opposite of her, and others continued forward into the alley opposite of theirs.  Luckily that left her in the clear, still moving backwards she stepped on broken glass from a shattered car window, turning back around she gasped at the sudden sound.  Whipping her head back around she watched as about 20 Rippers crouched down into their offensive stance and started running in her direction.  

Screw weakness, screw being careful she had to book it, they were coming and there was no stopping them now.  She’d never made a mistake like this before, and she couldn’t foresee it happening again because she probably wasn’t going to get out of this one alive.  She ran quickly down the street, leaping and vaulting over everything in her way.  Everything seemed to be working against her the wind pushing back on her, the sun glaring down making it harder to function.  

After vaulting an overturned motorcycle Luci’s foot landed on a glass bottle she hadn’t seen.  The bottle shattered and Luci fell to the ground, first hitting her right knee hard against the street, then smashing her right hip down onto the ground, finally scraping to a stop with her arms being ground against the asphalt.  She winced and didn’t dare look back toward the Rippers, or look down at her mangled body.   She struggled to get to her feet, and as she rose she turned around, and as she did she came face to face with a Ripper.  It knocked her backward and started lashing at her neck, she held it back as far as she could, but it was using all of it’s strength to reach her flesh.  

Luci shut her eyes tight and just when she was about to give in and accept her fate, the pressure released with the familiar ting of a metal baseball bat.  Luci opened her eyes in shock, and saw Seth staring down at her.

“Aw man! What happened to you?” Seth said then looked back over his shoulder “Nevermind, tell me later.”  He bent down to her and cradled her in his arms, but she was still in too much shock to respond. Seth ran strong even though he had Luci in his arms, he didn’t falter around any objects.  Once he’d gotten far enough ahead of them he sat her down on the side of the road propped up against the side of a car.  Once he was sure nothing was close to her he doubled back, and picked up a metal trashcan that was on its side in a street.  He got as close to the as he dared, then he chucked the trash can down an alley, which echoed as loudly as he’d hoped.  The Rippers got even more excited and rushed down the alley,  Seth then silently crept back to where he’d left Luci.  

Once he’d made it back to her she was slumped back against the car with her face contorted in pain.  “I’m gonna get you outta here, then I’m gonna fix you up okay?  You just gotta relax” Seth whispered as he scooped her back up off the ground.  

Inside her head Luci was conflicted, she should be scared of this guy she shouldn’t let him touch her with the hands that he used to kill people.  Yet she hadn’t the strength to protest, and he did just save her life.  She didn’t understand why he’d done it, but she was grateful.  With that final thought she slowly slipped from reality.