duvet~

1

Rain soaked your shirt, the once crisp white now smearing with mud and scarlet. Pushing bag your bangs you bit your lip, drawing blood as you curse silently. Turning on your heel to leave you pause before retrieving something from the floor, the silver shining as it passes the dim light of the lamp whose wax was now spilling to the ground.

Taking a deep breath you grip your bag tighter and reach down to close the still open pair of once green eyes, which are now a cloudy white, and then run.

Your feet don't take you for admittedly, not even ten feet later you're crouched in the dirt after slipping in a puddle of mud, bile hanging in the back of your throat. You try to choke it back, tears brimming in your eyes, but fail miserably as the rain picks up in tempo. Wiping your mouth you push back the hot tears now falling down your cheeks as you choke back a sob, not wanting to draw the attention of anyone, or anything.

And then you begin the walk back.

~~~

After reaching the outer limits of the QZ you give the perimeter a once-over. Guards posted everywhere, like normal, you think to yourself before one of them squints in your direction and begins to walk over. Panicking you back up, nearly tripping over your own feet when you notice him stopping, a man, woman, and girl standing in front of him. You flinch when the man rushes the guard, punching him again and again before the rest are alerted.

"Joel, she's infected!" the woman calls out as she turns to run.

But the man ignores her and ushers them forward and under a school bus, obscuring them from your view.

"Well, there goes my plan on getting home before curfew," you mutter to yourself as you crouch down and attempt to grab your bag.

But before you can you hear the sound of running. Looking up you see the group leaving.

Glancing back at the compound you bite your lip and make the decision to run after them. Your now dry shoes slam against the dirt as you run, trying to catch up when you hear a loud bang, and then everything goes dark as you fall forward.

As you struggle to regain your senses, your head throbbing with pain, you realize that you've been shot. You try to stand up, but your legs feel weak, and you stumble back down to the ground. You hear footsteps approaching, and then a pair of hands grab you roughly by the shoulders, dragging you to your feet.

You look up to see the man who had attacked the guard earlier, his face twisted in anger. "What are you doing here?" he demands, his breath hot on your face.

"I-I was just trying to get home," you stammer, trying to pull away from him. But he holds you tightly, his grip like a vise.

Coughing you taste the metallic tang of blood and bring a hand to your lips, your fingers a dark crimson when you take them away.

"W-what," you gasp as you look down, your shirt now completely red as the blood dripped down your waist.

Hyperventilating you feel dizzy as a woman shoves him to the side and raises your shirt, "Shit," she whispers as she puts pressure on the wound, "Grab my bag."

You can feel your vision growing darker as she gets to work, carefully pulling the bullet out of your wound before grabbing a bottle of clear liquid.

"This is going to hurt," she warns before pouring the liquid over your wound, causing you to scream out in agony. But it's over quickly, and she begins to wrap your wound tightly with a bandage.

You're barely conscious, but you can feel yourself being lifted up and carried away. You don't know where they're taking you, but at this point, you're too weak to care. The rain continues to pound against your skin, but all you can feel is the pain in your side.