The Infected Part One

The air is cold tonight as the sun faintly peaks out of the ash filled sky. The world we live in now has been through hell. The Russian invasion of the U.S, pandemics, nuclear fallout, hell, even an asteroid the size of Los Angeles hit the Earth, caused quite a bit of damage. This is our life, a group of about twenty-two adults, three young kids who have all lost their parents. My name is Sarah and my job may be the most important one here. I'm the gatherer, my job is to leave the group and find supplies. I also scout a path that we can keep moving on while I'm out. Lately the one thing that's been hard to get a hold of is water. The ash has taken out most of the major water sources, the oceans were all pretty much evaporated from the asteroid. The water that was left over after the fallout, well you guessed it, the rich and famous got to decide what to do with it, hide with it in their bunkers, while us, the poor folk, watched them. We fought over what little scraps we could get our hands on, killed for a sip of water. The things we've all had to do to survive out here have left us broken and unhinged to what we used to be. I was a Doctor, a damn good one. I used to heal people, help them. Now, I avoid people when I can and kill them if I need to. This world is cold and ruthless.

I'm setting out for my nightly supply run. With me, I have Nick, he's a good tracker. I like bringing Nick because he understands me the way no one else does.

"Sarah, you ready?" Nick asks.

I nod and we make our way through the subway tunnel we've called home the last few months. I have no hope that we'll find water, tonight is about food, if we find water, then that's great, if not then at least we won't be hungry. The animals we find have been completely changed by the radiation from the nukes but we still eat them because in this world, if you don't have a little bit of radiation poisoning then, are you even alive?

We reach the end of the subway tunnel, burnt trees and ash await us on the outside. The only light available is the light of fires scattered around the city, bouncing from wall to wall.

"Sarah, look." Nick pulls me down to his level.

"Deer tracks?" I ask.

Nick nods and follows the tracks. They lead us to a nearby cafe, abandoned obviously. What I wouldn't do for a warm bagel with cream cheese. We enter the building. There's a faint trickling sound.

"Wait, trickling? Is that? No...water!?" I look to Nick.

We start searching for the trickling sound, getting closer and closer. Until eventually we step in a puddle. Except, it's not water.

"Blood." Nick says as he rubs it between his fingers.

We look up to where the blood is trickling from to be met with glowing eyes. There's a low growling to pair with the eyes.

"Lion." I whisper to Nick.

"Back away slowly Sarah, no sudden moves."

We both start with one foot, the lion lifts it's head up, drops the neck of the deer from its mouth. Slinks down from it's perch. The lion has obviously been in fights with other predators, scars and blood cover it's body, it's even missing an ear.

"Nick, this lion looks weird."

"It's probably the radiation. No worries, right?"

"No, no, this one is way different. Do you smell that?"

Nick seems to sniff the air.

"It's rotting?"

I nod.

I study the lion as we back away, it's missing skin on most of its appendages, its skin it has left is gray. It smells like death. This lion is most certainly dead. If it's dead, how is it stalking us right now? It's impossible.

"Nick, how is this possible?"

"You tell me, Doc."

The lion roars which is our signal to get the hell out of there, now! We turn and run as quick as we can. We can hear the lion panting directly behind us. Nick slips on something and falls. I turn just in time to see the lion pounce on him. Nick is fighting it off the best he can.

"NICK!!" I scream.

"GO! Sarah! GO!" Nick shouts back.

I can't leave Nick, I won't leave Nick, he's my best friend. Come on Sarah, what do I do?

I pull my machete I've got on my hip out of the sheathe. The closer I get to the lion on top of Nick, the more the stench of death grows. Without even thinking, I plunge the tip of the machete into the skull of the lion, pushing deeper and deeper until it just wouldn't move anymore. The lion instantly drops on top of Nick.

"Oh my god, Nick!" I roll the lion off of him.

"Thanks for the assist, Doc." Nick stands up.

Blood is falling from Nicks arm.

"Oh, the lion got me with his teeth, those things are sharper than they look, almost like razor blades."

"Nick, something was definitely wrong with that lion, I'm not sure what but I think this is a problem."

"I'll be fine Doc, the lion just had a lot of radiation poisoning from eating the animals right? So, it's fine." Nick begins to walk away.

Nick falls to the ground immediately. He begins screaming and looks as if he's seizing.

"NICK!? Oh god." I run to him.

"Something's happening to me, Sarah! I-I can't feel my arm. What's happening!?"

Nicks arm is oozing black liquid where the lion bit him, his veins now carrying the black liquid throughout his body. It reaches his neck, Nick collapses in silence.

"Nick...? Nick!?"

"Mm..pfff..mummmmf" Nick let's out sounds, with those sounds are the deathrattle that everyone has when they die in today's world. The smoke and ash has destroyed all of our lungs.

Nick is dead.

I sit there for a moment listening to Nick make the sounds of death. It almost sounds like a rattlesnake.

The tears rolling from my cheeks and falling onto the snow-like ash covered street.

"I'm sorry, Nick. I need to go. I'm really sorry this happened to you."

I stand up, turn and begin to walk away from my best friend.

"Sssssss.....aaa...r....aaaaahhhh"

I turn around.

"Nick!?"

Nick is standing upright, pale, black ooze falling from his eyes, mouth and nose.

"Ssssss....aaa...rrrrr...aahhhh" He says.

I approach Nick cautiously. This isn't right. This isn't Nick. This is something else.

"Ssssss.....rrrraaaaghhhhhUUUGGGHHHGHGH" Nick lunges for me.

Nick has the same stench the lion did. What is this? What's going on? It's almost as if Nicks corpse has been reanimated. That's never happened before. Theoretically with enough radiation in the blood, it could hypothetically create a walking corpse. It would trigger certain functions in the brain, even after death. It would only be for a short time though.

I keep avoiding Nick. Walking him around, not taking my eyes off of him. What is going on?

Suddenly, a gunshot echos through the air. A hole appears in Nicks head, he drops.

"What the hell were you doing little lady?" a voice appears behind me.

"Wha-who-who are you?" I ask.

"You new here!? You have any idea what that was!?"

"That was Nick, my best friend and you shot him before I could figure out what was wrong with him!"

"I'll tell you what was wrong with him missy! He was bit by an infected wasn't he!? He turned a few minutes later and then tried to have you for dinner, right!?"

"He....he was bit by a lion, it wasn't life threatening, it could have been stitched up and it would have been a scar but nothing serious."

"Lady, any bite from anything infected is a death sentence. You only have moments before the infection takes over. There's a theory that if you get bit on a limb you can hack it off and maybe be fine. Heard of stuff like that happening around the world but never been willing to try it myself. I'm sorry about your friend but if you wanna live, you need to come with me."

"My..friends in the tunnel."

"In the tunnel!? Oh, lady, that's where I just came from...if you had friends down there, they're not much your friends anymore."

"Wait, what do you mean!? What happened!?"

"They're infected now, walking, flesh eating corpses, how long were you down there lady!?"

"My name is SARAH! It's not lady, or missy, it's S-A-R-A-H, we were living in tunnels and underground bunkers since close to the beginning of the fallout from the asteroid. What is this?"

"Oh boy, Sarah, you need to come with me, we need to get to safety and I'll tell you everything. There's a lot you don't know.