Claustrophobic | Skephalo

A Fresh Encounter

Vincent

Having taken a different route than Zak and Darryl, Vincent encountered a bunch of things they completely missed. One of those things being a small suburban town around a day's walk from Zak's house.

Another town? Perfect, I need some more supplies. It really sucks not having things delivered to my feet, but hopefully that'll be fixed soon.

Ducking into an alleyway, Vincent pulls out a medium-sized silver knife, just in case anything were to sneak up on him. He slips into a building connected to the alley, fumbling around in the darkness to see if he can find any covered windows.

Ah, there's one.

Pulling a plank off a window, light flooded the room, revealing a lady and a small girl huddled in a corner. Vincent is taken aback at first, but slowly approaches the two females. It's been a long time since he randomly found civilians.

"Hello?" He calls out, not wanting to startle them. "Why are you sitting here in the dark?"

"Stay away," The older lady replies with her head down, holding up her hand. "I don't want to have to hurt you."

Vincent snickers. "Relax, I'm just here looking for some food. Do you have any spare?"

The lady looks up at Vincent. Her eyes were bloodshot from what appears to be crying. Vincent's gaze shifts down to the little girl, who hasn't moved since he arrived.

"What's wrong with her?" He asks.

"Nothing. Go away."

"I might be able to help."

"You have the cure for the infection?" She retorts sarcastically, looking back down at her daughter in her lap.

"She's bitten?"

The lady holds out her other arm, revealing a mark that could only be from a zombie. "We both are."

Vincent's feet begin to walk backwards before his brain tells them to.

I need to leave. Now.

The little girl sat up to look at the newcomer. Her skin was a pale shade of green, her eyes almost completely glazed over in a deep black color. She was turning into a zombie, no doubt about it. Vincent gasped, reaching for the door handle.

His hand is met with the shoulder of another infected person, who grabs his wrist so quickly Vincent doesn't even have time to react.

"I told you to leave," The woman said, speaking in a condescending tone.

"Hey—! Let go!" Vincent cried out.

"I heard once you turn into a zombie you get really hungry. I hate being hungry." The new infected man says, squeezing Vincent's wrist tighter. He was visibly more far gone than the woman and her daughter, the rotting skin on his bones beginning to peel and melt off from exposure to the sun.

"Me too," The woman agrees, setting her daughter on the ground and walking towards Vincent.

Vincent doesn't bother saying anything else, he just takes his silver knife with his free hand and stabs the two infected adults a few times, until they fell to the ground. He makes eye contact with the little girl in the corner, who was trying to lift herself on her feet.

No, please, not her too. She's just a kid.

She runs towards him once she's up, her tiny legs moving faster than Vincent can blink. Her mouth was dripping with foam, and her hands were outstretched, trying to claw their way into Vincent's skull to obtain his brain. Vincent's hand grasped the doorknob once again, and he managed to slip outside, closing the door as the girl reached it.