Survive 2.0

Something Familiar

"Hello?" I called into the dusty shadows of the abandoned hallway. I heard a sound far away that I was always warned of. I guess I never really put the thought into consideration.
"Krrrrk-k-k... rack-k-k." Clicker! My mind raced with one horrible thought after the next. How would I kill it? Will it get to me before I get to it?
Shuffling filled the eerie silence of the hallway. The only light source available was a shaken-up flashlight provided to me by the FEDS. To be quite honest it was a pathetic tool. I had used it for years and this flashlight always held out, but it was really only a matter of time before it broke.
"Krrrk-k-k-k-k. Raaack—ck-k." The clicking grew louder, a sickening familiar sound. I don't know where I've heard this clicking before, but she knew it was too familiar to forget.
A breath huffed from my chest. The darkness grew quiet. Too quiet, I thought. Too quiet was always a problem in a world like this.
I looked down at the dust-covered linoleum. Leaves scattered the floor and old newspapers and worksheets. This place wasn't too old. It was only the high school basement of the FEDRA hideout. The FEDS said that this place had been swept long before I had come along; the clicking I heard confirmed that it had been a while since this place had been swept.
Maybe if I followed the rules for clickers (stay quiet, don't move), I could sneak out before it noticed me. The FEDS encountered clickers before. Some FEDS lived before the accident. They were 35-50 years old. No one spoke of the accident. It was a...sensitive topic for the old people.
"RAAAARCK." A roar erupted from the shadows. In the shine of my flashlight I watched as a ferocious monster bursted through the dark and threw itself into the wall. I reached to pull a knife from my pocket. My breathing grew rigid while I watched the clicker roll like a fish-out-of-water per the walls and floor. I readied myself for the kill. I needed to. Otherwise, this thing would kill me.
"Parasite, parasite parasite." I repeated beneath my breath. Its rotten flesh stunk of blood and piss. Mold crept on the fabric of its shirt, and it kicked up dust as it moved along the walls. I scrunched my nose and furrowed my brow. With a swoop of my arm I slit the clickers neck. The cordyceps tendrils stuck to the blade and the clicker continued to thrash around. I couldn't impale the head like all the FEDS could. Hard and layered shells of fungus protected the hosts brain. A girl like me couldn't stab through all layers. I would need a gun.
    The clicker lunged forward, baring its green teeth at me. My arm flew between me and the parasite. We fell back into the linoleum floor. I struggled to push the thing off of me but my arms felt like noodles. The hand holding my knife shook against the clicker's tight grip. Bile rose in the depths of my throat. After a minute of forceful tugging my arm moved, and my knife peirced the thick fungus repeatedly.
    "Ra-A-c-k-k-k..." the clicker tumbled to the side. I scrambled to my feet, haphazardly pushing my legs into a full sprint down the hall. I raced though the dark s the beam from my flashlight waved crazily against the walls. Parasite, parasite.
    "Parasite!" I screamed.