Infection |Infected Book 1|

Chapter 10 (original version)

All of us stood at the cellar door in silence.

Rich had his knife in his hand looking at the door. He stuck his other hand in his back pocket and pulled out a picture, kissing it before putting it back.

Selma stood weaponless with a small duffel bag, packed with her and her daughter's things. Her other hand held Aundrea's. I glanced down at her and gave her a little smile after seeing the fork in her hand. Not scared of anything.

Cody was holding a baseball bat that I'm guessing he had brought down when they first came down here. He swung it back and forth between his hands anxiously.

I was holding a wooden chair leg. Cody had broken it off from a chair in the kitchen and it had a nail sticking out the end of it.

"Are we all ready?" Rich mumbled, his eyes picking through the group of us.

"Yes," Cody whispered. He turned his head to look at me and we locked eyes. We shared a silent conversation between us, maybe even a goodbye. With his open hand he reached down and laced his fingers with mine sending sparks up my arm. He lifted my hand to his lips and kissed it gently; never taking his eyes away from mine.

The door flung open breaking our gaze apart. The bright light from outside blinded us all for an instant before Rich barreled out into the sun with the rest of us on his tail.

I almost stopped to look at all of the destruction but then I felt a tug from Cody's hand that kept me going. I searched for where Rich was leading us and saw that it was the street. Bodies laid strewn across it and cars were twisted metal. I stopped mid-run causing Cody's hand to slip out of mine.

"Wait," I said firmly but quietly. Everyone stopped and turned their heads to look at me. I could tell they were scared to stop. "We can't just go walking down the street." I waved my hand in front of me. "That's the most obvious way to be seen."

"She's right," Cody said to his dad. "We go through backyards." He didn't wait for Rich to agree. Instead, he grabbed my hand and led us towards the backyard of the house next door.

All of the backyards were open with no fences so we jogged through them with ease. The grass felt good on my bare feet but I was sure to look for rocks or broken glass with every step that I took.

We didn't see as many bodies in the yards than we did in the streets and maybe that was a good sign because we didn't see any infected.

Cody held my hand the whole time we ran, not letting me get behind or out of his site. We didn't speak and I could hear his pants of air as we made our way through every yard.

"Well," I heard Rich's voice ahead of us. "Look's like we got lucky--"

Click, click. Rich's voice was cut off by the sound. I instantly classified a shotgun being cocked as the scariest sound I've ever heard.

"Where do you think yall are goin?" I heard a deep scratchy voice. My heart almost stopped in my chest and I gulped down breaths of air trying to revive it. Selma dropped down and shielded Aundrea while Rich, Cody I turned towards the house.

A man with wild black hair aimed a shotgun at us. He was standing in the doorway to his kitchen with one foot still inside. He cocked his eyebrow.

"I said, where do you think yall are goin'?" He asked us a little more sternly.

"We're headed to the Walmart up the street," Rich answered raising his hands in the air as a surrender. "Gotta get some supplies." He shrugged his shoulders as if saying, 'isn't it obvious?'

The man aimed his eyes and gun at me. "Yall infected?"

"Does it look like we are?" I said with a stab of annoyance. Cody turned to look at me with an expression of warning on his face.

"Well how am I supposed to know?" The man asked. A sly smile spread across his face. "Maybe you should take off your clothes so we can see if you got any bites on you."

I saw Cody tense next to me. His voice was cold as he spoke. "You better not--"

"Durbin," Rich said to the man. "You know that's not necessary."

"Who's got the gun Rich?" The man named Durbin retorted back. These two obviously knew each other. Durbin continued to aim at me. Stubble grazed along his jawline. He winked at me and said, "Come on sweet thing, we're all waiting on you." He pointed the shotgun at me again.

Selma covered Aundrea's eyes and looked away at the other houses. Cody stepped in front of me, blocking Durbin's sight.

Durbin let out a roar of drunken laughter. "Calm down boy!" He lowered the gun to his side. "I was only joking." But something in his eyes told me that he wasn't kidding around.

Cody still remained where he was not even shifting his weight. I could see his back and shoulders tense through his shirt.

"Wouldn't mind seeing her with her clothes off though," Durbin said reaching his arm into the kitchen. He pulled a flask from the counter and brought to his mouth taking a swig. "Good to know this world still has some beauty in it." He winked at me again and bit back the bitter taste of the alcohol. "Well, I guess I'll be coming with yall. I aint got nothing but beer in the fridge and I'm feeling like an adventure." Durbin swung his shotgun over his shoulder and stepped out of his house not even shutting the door behind him.

"Hell no," Cody said holding his bat out to block Durbin's way. "You're not going anywhere with us."

Durbin faced Cody and bowed his shoulders. "You better watch it boy," He said with intimidation. "Or I'll snatch her up like its Christmas morning." I could smell the alcohol on his breath he was so close.

"Go ahead and try," Cody said back just as intimidating. "You'll regret it."

I glanced over at Rich who was just watching silently, his eyes filled with worry.

"Can we just get out of here?!" Selma yelped looking over her shoulder. "It's not safe here."

"Let's go gang," Durbin said taking the lead, his shotgun still thrown over his shoulder. Rich followed behind him with his knife out; ready to attack if necessary.

Cody turned around and kissed my forehead before grabbing my hand and following the train.

"Why is Rich letting him stay with us?" I whispered into Cody's ear while we walked.

Cody angled his head down and said quietly, "He has a gun and we need one. Rich always thinks practically."

"It seemed like they know each other," I watched Durbin to make sure he didn't hear us.

"Long story," Cody said through his teeth. But I could tell something about Durbin angered him. "I'll tell you later." He gave my hand a squeeze and I saw his eyes widen when he looked ahead.

We were standing in the Walmart parking lot. I gasped at the chaos of it all. Shopping carts lay turned over across the lot, dumping bags of food and toilet paper onto the pavement. Mutilated bodies were hanging out of car doors. My eyes paused by the front doors when I saw them.

We all spotted the infected at the same time and dashed to hide behind cars. A severed hand lay at my feet and Cody put his hand over my mouth to stop the scream that threatened to come out. Durbin peaked his head up above the hood of the Honda he was perched behind.

"There's three of them," Durbin said plopping back down to the ground, his shotgun clutched in his hands. He went to cock it when Rich stopped him.

"If there's more near by," Rich whispered to him. "The bangs will surely attract them." Rich turned to look at Cody.

"Look's like it's time for batting practice," Rich smiled.

Cody stood up with his bat and started to sneak up to the doors. He stopped behind a big black truck, pressing his back against the driver's side door. Taking a deep breath, he locked eyes with me before he turned to face the infected with his bat raised.