Virus - A Zombie Novel

August 15th 2014

12:38am

I awake on the floor - unable to remember how I got here. It's completely dark and I can't see a thing. I sit up and groan as my back arches. I must've hurt it lying on the ground. I put my knees up and lean my arms on them, resting my head on my arms. Flashes of yesterday's events go through my mind. The screaming, the crying, the pain in my heart that I can still feel. I did the right thing. Breaking it off before it had even started. We had fought nearly every day since he confessed he liked me. It would've been dumb to start a relationship with someone you have fights regularly with. I close my eyes, but soon raise my head up after hearing a bang. It came from the hallway. I hold the wall and help myself up onto my feet. I walk, slowly, over to the door and grab the handle, trying to be as quiet as I can be. I turn it and open it the tiniest bit, just so I can see out. My eyes adjust to the darkness of the hallway, and I soon see a silhouette of a person. But this person, isn't moving, it's kind of just standing there staring at something. I need to see who this is. I decide not to call out - just in case.

"Psssst." I whisper. The person's head twitch, then they slowly turned to look at me. I realised I didn't know this - this - Lurker. It was a Lurker, I could tell by the way it saw me and lunged towards my door. I slammed it shut just as it hit my door. I panicked. I ran for my bed and pushed it towards my door, blocking the entry. "This isn't happening. This isn't happening." I said to myself. This house was meant to be safe. I grab my rifle and duffle bag off the ground and head for the window. I open it and stick my head out, looking for an escape route. I looked down and saw a ledge just below the window, leading to the window just beside me. I sit down on the window sill and swing my legs out of the bedroom and onto the ledge. Before I move I take my gun off safety, just in case of whoever is in the room next to me. "Don't look down." I tell myself as I begin to shuffle along the side of the building. The next window is about 4m away. I'm on the second floor and it's about a 3m drop, the car park being under us. While I'm moving I look out and notice the front gate wide open, swinging with the wind. Someone had opened it. There were a few loose Lurkers wandering around but they hadn't seen me yet. I reach the window and turn, looking in. I see 2 beds with two bodies lying in them. I try and slide the window up but it won't budge, so I knock quietly. Someone sits up and looks around sleepily, before turning my way and seeing me. It's Lincoln. He rubs his eyes while looking at me, before realising he has to let me in. he stands and walks over, unlocking it and opening, letting me fall inside and onto the floor, landing on my bum.

"What are you doing?" he asked. My fall had woken up his roommate, who I know see as Finn. He smiled at the sight of having me in his bedroom.

"Lurkers - Lurkers in the hall." I say breathlessly. Finn sat up looking at me alarmed. "We need to go."

"How do we tell the others, they're all over the house?" Finn asked his voice still in sleepy mode.

"We need to shoot one, they'll know then." Lincoln said. I nodded in agreement, that's the only way. "Get your stuff Finn." He said walking over and grabbing his bag. Lincoln pulled a shirt from his backpack - I hadn't even realised he wasn't wearing one. Now I have, it's impressive. I look away before he catches me looking. Finn gets up and grabs a bag similar to Lincoln's, but maybe a bit bigger.

"Ready?" I ask them.

"Yeah. Look, Alex, you weren't here, well you were, but you were unconscious. Finn is a doctor, so we all agreed that we need to protect him over ourselves. Got it?" Lincoln said. I bit my lip and nodded, he had reminded me that I need him to check my scratches. Lincoln smiled slightly at me; I guess he didn't like the idea either. I walked over to the door and grabbed the handle, turning it quickly and swinging the door fully open. I had expected something different, maybe at least one Lurker, but there was none. Their door opened up just outside of the hallway and into the grand foyer. I stepped out, looking down the hallway. The Lurker was still at my door, so at least I knew I wasn't crazy. I pointed at it and Lincoln stepped in front of me aiming his gun. He whistled and watched the Lurker turn around; then shooting it directly in the forehead. He laughed and waiting for the others.

"You enjoy this?" I ask raising my gun.

"Guilty pleasure." He says. I watch the top of the stairs as Willow steps out of her room. She raised her eyebrows at me and I nodded, smiling. I couldn't help but be happy I was leaving this house, it was filled with bad memories and screaming. I especially want to get away from this grand foyer; the source of all my misery. I still looked up at Willow smiling, but my smile faded when a Lurker appeared behind her.

"Shit." I screamed. She had no gun on her and she slept alone. I took off running for the stairs, but a Lurker stepped in my way, coming out of the lounge room. I aimed and fired, knocking it to the ground. I grabbed the stair handle and begged myself to be faster as I bolted up the stairs for Willow. I reached the top and the Lurker had got her to the ground, on top of her. Her hands were braced on its shoulders, pushing its face away from her. She was screaming as I walked over to her. I finally got to her and kicked, hard, the Lurker in the side, knocking it off her. I raised my gun and aimed, taking shot but hitting it in the shoulder. Willow got off the ground, brushing herself off. I reloaded and aimed again, this time hitting in the ear, which put it down. Willow hugged me. I squeezed her in my arms; I definitely wouldn't have coped if she had died. I looked as Beau, Nikki and Parker watched us hug, mouths open. They must've seen it happen. Nikki shook herself and knocked on the door next to her, and a few seconds later Bennett and Nolan walked out. "They're here. We need to leave." I said panting. They all nodded and went back into their rooms, coming out with bags and guns. "Where's Grey?" I yelled over the sound of gunshot. Lincoln was knocking them off downstairs, one by one. Everyone looked at me blankly. I stared at beau, who was grey's roommate. "Where's Grey?" I repeated.

"We - we ran out of supplies. Grey volunteered to get more over night." Parker said.

"By himself?" I asked. They all nodded. "Whose idiot idea was that?"

"His." Beau said. "I wanted to go but he wouldn't let me."

"Are - are you serious?" I said running my hand through my hair, that was in a loose ponytail. "Willow get me paper, a pen and a nail." I said. She nodded and grabbed a gun off Beau, heading downstairs for supplies. "And you guys, you need to stay away from me. I am so fricking pissed right now I could blow every one of your heads off for letting him go alone." I said turning around and walking down the stairs to take my anger out on Lurkers.