Days are Gone

Chapter 13 - Horde in the woods

"What in the nine circles..." were the words that came out of my mouth after waking up.

I looked around and found myself strapped to a bed.

Wow... am I in a Fifty Shades of Grey film?

I tried to move but immediately regretted it as the bite wound on my arm brought me pain. It's been patched up nicely. Despite the fact that I can still see blood seeping from it.

"H-hello?" I called with a low tone.

The breezy wind blew the curtains as I glanced at the window beside me.

It's already morning. Where am I?

The door to the room creaked open, and a guy with an axe came in.

"Oh, you're... awake. Well, that's good news," he said, waving the tool around.

"W-what do you mean?"

"Nothing. I was just planning to chop your head off if you turned into one of those mindless creatures. Luckily, you're fine, and there's no need for me to use this."

He then placed the axe on top of a table and leaned against the wall.

I just stared at him, processing every word he said.

"You good?" he asked.

I shook my head. "Yeah, just... could you please remove these straps?"

He raised an eyebrow and didn't move from his position.

"Look, I will not turn if that's-"

"I know," he interrupted. "I heard about people like you. You're one of those who got abducted and mysteriously disappeared a year ago. People who don't turn even after getting bit. Instead, your body reacts to the infection in an unusual manner."

So he heard about rejected subjects. I wonder if he knows anything other than that.

He walked toward me and removed the straps.

"Thanks..."

"My name's Dean," he said, offering a handshake.

I just gave him a blank stare and remained silent.

"Not a fan of exchanging names, huh?"

"There's no point in giving mine."

"Fine. How's your arm?"

"It hurts... a lot." I hissed.

"Well, a bite tore a part of your skin off. I'm estimating an entire month for it to heal. But that's not the problem right now. You need to take antibiotics to prevent infection. Sadly, I don't have any."

"It's fine. I won't be needing any antibiotics."

I overheard from those who performed experiments on us that the blood cells of a rejected subject are way more different from those of a normal person. It is all because of the bone marrow transplant that they did to us, and as a result, it made our blood cells mutate in such a way that even wound infections don't really matter to us.

"What do you mean you don't need antibiotics? That wound must be treated immediately. You don't want that infection to spread to other parts of your body."

I knew it. He only heard about us, yet knew nothing about how our bodies work. Guess I'll just agree to whatever he's saying...

"Yeah, I heard you. Forget what I just said."

He sighed and scratched his head afterwards.

Can I trust this man?

I moved to the side of the bed to gain some distance and then closed my eyes. "Thanks for patching me up."