The Corrupted (Completed - editing)

Chapter 3 - "Wake Up"

Peering up at the massive barbwire fence, I shiver remembering the North Wall compound… I can’t think about the past. Not now. I need to focus on being strong, not only for my survival, but also for Simon’s. With Ethan by my side, we approach the large metal gate off to the side, hidden by the bushes. Ethan presses a button on his keys and the rusty gates slowly creak open.

“Cool.” I murmur under my breath, walking in through the gates. Ethan presses the button again, closing the gates.

“Wait until you see this.” He says with a smirk on his face. As I stop and turn around, I realise that he had the keys in his hand again, but was holding a different key with a smaller button. He presses it, and I jump back in shock as the whole fence… Lights up. The entire fence around us, and kilometres away slowly sparks up, as if it’s alive.

“Electric fence, nice touch,” I say smiling, but still keeping my distance from the fence.

“Come on, I’ll show you the house. It’s just down here.” He starts to walk down the dirt road, and I scurry behind him quickly catching up. I have to admit, this place was beautiful. Tall trees arch over the dirt road, creating a sheltered roof kind of look. It was stunning, as well as offered great camouflage. Soon, the smell of rotten flesh and filthy air slowly disappeared, and was replaced by a sweet, comforting smell… almost like- No… no it couldn’t be. I smell the air one more time just to clarify and I can already feel my mouth salivating. Homemade apple pie. I start sprinting down the road, catching Ethan off guard causing him to jump and drop the duffel bag. The cool breeze blows in my hair, and I take my hair out of its messy ponytail, feeling the wind slowly separate sections of my hair. I go faster and faster, seeing how fast my legs can take me. I feel them slowly waking up, as if they’d been asleep for a century. With a grin on my face, I turn the corner and I gawk in awe at the sight in front of me. A two storied, dark wood mansion with a warm glow coming from the front two windows.

“EVE! JESUS, YOU RUN FAST…” I hear Ethan call out behind me, followed by footsteps and heavy panting. He rests his hand on my shoulder trying to catch his breath. The single touch sends butterflies through my stomach.

After finally catching his breath, he says, “So, you like the place?”

“Y-You’re kidding, right? This place- it’s…Amazing.” I murmur, still in awe.

“Jeez, you’re slow Costco girl,” he says while walking towards the house, the duffel bag still wrapped around his wrist. I snap out of my daze and run to catch up to him, realizing what he said.

“Um… Costco girl?” I say with a grin on my face, having to widen my step to keep up with him.

He laughs and looks down at me saying, “Yeah, that’s your new nickname. Kind of genius isn’t it?” I swing at his shoulder, attempting to punch him but he jumps and dodges out of the way, spinning and coming up behind me. He then picks me up from behind and chucks me over his shoulder. I swing my fists and thrash my legs against him, trying to get him to put me down but he doesn’t budge.

“Wow, you’re super light. What did they feed you in there, Costco girl? Small grains of rice?” He says, once again continuing to walk down the gravel path. I can’t really see if he’s going to the house or not, all I can see is back were we came. Come to think of it, what had I eaten back in North Wall… My head suddenly gets fuzzy and I get slightly dizzy, so I rest my head against his upper back/shoulder.  As my head touches his body, I instantly feel him tense up.

“Hey, you alright?” I hear him whisper into my ear. Instead of replying yes or no, I simply nod my head because I didn’t have the strength to speak. I turn my head and see black writing on the back of his neck, but his collar cuts off my view. My brain was just aching for me to pull up his shirt to see what it said. I wonder if he has any other tattoos... I mean, he kinda seems like the guy that has tattoos I guess.  I lift my head to look around, and I smile at the sight around us. Surrounding us were fields upon fields of long grass. About 10 feet tall, I’ve never seen anything like it before. In the back I could see the slight outline of mountains, the view was perfect. I try to think back if I’ve ever been to the country… but my head increasingly gets worse. Maybe I was just tired. Ethan puts me down, and spins me around.