Hush (Venom Epidemic, #1)

Chapter 05 - Hell On Earth.

          After checking nearly halfway down the backstreet of stranger's houses, Fleur found one that actually had a tough enough looking backdoor and it was open, to their relief, and it seemed safe. They couldn't afford to be seen by those blood-suckers.

          Fleur went in first and ducked into the little shed that had other random tools, things that weren't needed for an everyday rule, and closed the door after Katrina had followed inside. There was a small window that could look outside but it was a mirror from the outside. It was helping. They both got the chance to catch their breath.

          Katrina observed the interior; it had an old mattress, which had already took three quarters of the room and sat down on it. It didn't creek but it was as cold as an ice berg and made her shiver, but she needed to rest. As did Fleur, who followed her did the same and hugged her knees to her chest.

          Tears were running down Fleur's face. It looked like she was about to say something before she just as quickly, she'd clamped her mouth shut. Her eyes rolled to where the window was and her chin trembled in whimpers. She quickly moved backwards on the bed until she reached the dark corner. It was already dark and glum outside but the moonlight was shining through, which had lit some of the box they were hid within.

          Katrina realised that there was something happening outside. Her breath was releasing in short and shallow gasps as her cheeks were shining with warm tears. She cautiously stood up until her sight came to focus on the hell on earth on the other side and stumbled back suddenly, almost falling backwards and she caught herself. What she saw made the bile threat to pour out of her mouth. She covered her mouth and watched a blood-sucker looking at her.

          No, it wasn't staring at her ... it was staring at itself. Its eyes were red and the pupils diluted almost all the way – and they didn't blink even once – and there was blood leaking from them. Some had even dried as more bubbled up from their sockets, like water boiling in a pan. The skin was ghostly white and pale, like a Vampire. There were blotches of some dried and some fresh blood along with bruises.

          Katrina's breathing accelerated more and she thought that it could hear her. "Oh, God," she gasped in a whisper. Her eyes were wider than they ever could be and watery underneath the tears in the night sky. She could see the blood-sucker's reflection mimicking itself in its eyes.

          "Katrina, move away!" Fleur whispered strictly, hiding her face from the living nightmare.

          "Hush ... don't m – make-ah," Katrina gasped in a quiet whisper, "sound..."

          The infected coughed out more blood and let it spill over his bottom lips. It screamed in agony and rage into the sky.

          Katrina squeezed her eyes shut and forced herself not to make a squeak of noise. When she opened her eyes the thing was gone. Just to make sure it was really gone; she didn't even let herself take that shaky breath she was dying to inhale without her mouth being clamped.

          The sixty seconds lasted like sixty hours before her tears blurred her vision. She took that excuse to remove her hands and turn around shakily to face Fleur. The poor girl looked like she was going through torture. "It's gone," she whispered almost inaudibly, "For now..." Although her heartbeat was still beating unbelievably fast, she sensed a little relief flowing back into her veins.

          "We need to stay hidden, that way they won't know where we are," Fleur whispered, pulling the old – but clean enough – blanket over and up to her neck. There was a duvet there as well left for Katrina.

          "Yes," Katrina nodded her head. She began to search around for something to make sure the door couldn't open from the outside. Finally, feeling around on the floor, her hands picked up something that resembled a scarf but it wasn't made of wool. Then she started wounded it around the handle and a – conveniently – sturdy looking nail sticking out halfway in the doorframe. She wrapped the dusty cloth in criss-crossing loops, like a number eight, and tied it as tight as her strength would.

          "Good idea," she heard Fleur hushed voice float from behind her. "We'll be safe here ... we'll be safe here ... we'll be safe here" It was like a mantra that she as making herself get used to.

          Katrina took a place next to her friend and coworker, resting her back against the wooden wall. She closed her eyes, trying to calm her nerves. Nothing was making sense to her, except ... survival.

          Ten minutes had probably gone by until Fleur broke the ringing silence with a watery sniffle. She wiped her nose on a random old cloth she had found and blew her nose, trying to be as subtle as possible.

          "Go to sleep, Fleur," Katina advised, "We need the energy. Something tells me..." She paused to look at the dark sky that was littered with tiny candles, "that we'll need it more than we might think. Sleep."

          Fleur did as she was told and thankfully closed her eyes, finally letting her guard down to go to sleep. She was exhausted, mentally and physically, as was Katrina. Her head was leant again the wall to her right in the corner and slept.

          Katrina however couldn't go to sleep. She also feared the dark, which didn't make it easy for now at all. It was just like a phobia, not to the extreme, but still fearful enough that she couldn't sit in comfortably in darkness let alone go to sleep. Something that made gave her at least an iota of comfort was that there the little light being relieved from the stars and the streetlamp from the other side of the wall.

          A loud screech like hiss came from somewhere – it wasn't that near, nevertheless, it was scary – and echoed in the atmosphere, making Katrina tremble in trepidation. She was so desperate to call out for help and at the same time knew that she couldn't give herself and her friend away.

          The terror and the expectancy of the door to break down, by the things outside, had been getting the better of her. Albeit the dreamland had tried to overcome her many times before she stubbornly forced herself to stay conscious. Unfortunately, she fell asleep just before the sun started to rise from its slumber.