Disconnected

She couldn't remember how long it had been, maybe two days?, she was thirsty and hungry but that didn't trouble her because anxiety didn't let her feel any hunger, she wanted to get out of the cupboard, it was crammed and she was exhausted, but her anxiety prevailed over her discomfort.

She did not remember how exactly she got there, but she knew something was wrong when she heard people screaming and running towards the office, some were covered in blood and some of them were behaving weirdly.

In their dull desert town she had never seen such a commotion, her instincts immediately warned her that something was seriously wrong but before she could dial the emergency services, she heard a loud sharp noise and everything went dark.

She saw Mary running towards the meeting room and decided to follow her, they shut the door behind them but that wasn't enough to keep some people from banging it loudly, it seemed to her that they were desperate to be let in, she felt sorry for them but was nervous to allow them in because they were covered in blood and looked violent.

Mary told her that their boss started behaving weird and was covered in blood, he was unusually aggressive and when Linda approached him, he bit her and she fell to the ground in agony.

She was horrified to learn what had happened, her mind began to recall all the zombie movies she had seen, but that was fiction not reality right?

As if Mary had read her mind she told her she thought the same too until she saw Linda become a zombie, all she knew was to run as far away as she could and avoid getting bitten.

"Show me your arms and legs Ashley, I don't think you got bitten but we can't be sure."

Those words surprised her and she was reluctant at first but when Mary showed her arms and legs which were covered in small scratches but no bite marks were present, she showed her's in turn, fortunately for her she too was free of any bite marks.

There was no network on their phones, the only use their phones had currently was to be a flashlight, so they decided to conserve whatever battery was left. The banging grew louder and at one moment she was sure the door would break down, she started to sweat from the anxiety and prepared for the worst but after a few minutes the banging stopped and it seemed like all the zombies had gone somewhere.

She remembered there was a emergency phone in the file room, but Mary was against the idea of leaving their place of safety, what if the file room was filled with zombies?

She knew it was a really big risk but they couldn't just wait around to be rescued, what if they starved to death before that?, what if no one was coming to rescue them?, Mary looked around hesitantly and she knew too that there was nothing to eat or drink in the meeting room, she decided to take the risk.

The more she recalled her decision to venture out the more she regretted it, she had foolishly put both of them in danger and was responsible for Mary's gruesome fate.

Upon reaching the file room they found it empty to their surprise, there seemed to be no zombies anywhere around, so she quietly tip toed to the emergency phone but before she could dial, a zombie rushed in, he was halfway between the door and Mary tried to close the door with all her strength but the zombie was not to be dissuaded easily.

She rushed to aid Mary but even their combined strengths weren't enough, to their horror another zombie joined in and they were pushed back, before she could react, Mary was bitten and her left leg torn in half.

She wanted to scream but her horrified mind froze her, she didn't know what to do, all she could do was watch in horror as the zombie mauled Mary, another zombie dashed towards her, without thinking she grabbed the emergency phone and hurled it at him.

The zombie grabbed her ankle, she tried to kick it but it won't let go, her whole body seemed to gain a life of it's own, she threw whatever she could find at the zombie and it was enough to let go and halt him.

She knew she had to act quickly and locked herself in the cupboard, all the zombie could do was bang loudly for an hour but when nothing happened it went away, she had grown tired of being there, she was sick of waiting for someone to come and rescue them, it made her feel helpless, maybe she should surrender to the zombies, was being a zombie that bad?

Her mind suddenly recalled what had happened to Mary before, she began to cry, she felt she had blood on her hands and no matter how many tears she shed, she couldn't reverse it, that thought made her cry even more.

Her phone still had no network, she wished she didn't live in this remote desert town, then maybe all this won't have happened, maybe if she was in a big city, she would have been rescued till now, she would be safely sleeping in an ER maybe and would be eating warm food, the thought of food reminded her of how hungry she was, this time even her anxiety didn't let her forget hunger, was she going to starve to death in this cupboard?, if the rescuers ever came would they find her decaying starved body?, or maybe they would be too late and find only her skeleton crammed between all the files in the cupboard.

Her thoughts made her dizzy, she felt slightly feverish too, her mind had started to become hazy, she blamed it on the crying and exhaustion but when her ankle began to hurt, she brought it close to her to check how severe her injury was, maybe it was twisted, what she saw shook her, she knew there was no escaping fate as she looked at the faint bite mark on her ankle.