The Ending Of A New Life

-Infected-

-Nayeli's POV-

I woke up in a room full of people who were wounded even worse than me. I was laying on a pretty hard mattress that was uncomfortable to lay in, but I tried my best to not complain. I then looked around as I tried to recognize any faces and all of a sudden I see Paola. I immediately try getting up but immediately fall on my knee which hurt like a bitch. I let out a small squeal of pain as my face flops back to the hard mattress. I then look up at Paola who is staring right at me in concern, but as soon as she recognized my face, she immediately ran over to me, cupping her hands against my cheeks, "Girl! Are you okay?!" She whispered, I let out a deep sigh of distress, "No... I'm really not..", Paola noticed my eyes watering up and she immediately came in to hug me tightly. Even if she didn't know what happened, it meant a lot that she was there when I needed someone the most. I hope to God she and her family are okay. Her only family is her mom, Fernanda, Jacky and Vicky, and I see them as my family too since they're so kind to me and love to have me over a lot. Paola suddenly speaks up, "Are your mom and sister okay..?", I then break right there. I start to bawl my eyes out and cry loudly, catching the attention of strangers, but they try not to interfere. I then respond, "M-My mom and sister... They're dead.. I saw them die right in front of my face.." Paola immediately falls silent as tears begin to run down her cheeks. She begins to cry in silence as she feels my pain. We're both crying to each other now and out of nowhere, these two grown men come up to us. They look scary but then they look at my wounded leg. 

"How are you feeling??" one of the men spoke up, "I-It hurts...", the grown man then clears his throat, "I saved you from the chaos that was going on out there.. I saw you were laying with your dead mother and I took you here to have you healed up.", I then tilt my head a bit, feeling really upset, "Where's my mom?", he then replied, "My buddy John made sure to take her body to a safer place where her body will be examined.", This immediately boils my blood, "Examined for what? Leave my mothers body alone! She wouldn't have wanted this if roles were reversed! I demand to go see my mother!", the guy sighed, "Listen kiddo, I know you want to see her, but we're trying to find a cure and we're injecting some liquids in her to see how she'd react to certain liquids.", I looked confused and replied, "Even if she's dead? What good cause does that do?", the man replied, "Look, you don't understand and I get it. She's an experiment for a reason. That's all I can say." I feel myself wanting to scream at the guy but then I see Paola who's worried and I immediately take a deep breath as I calmly respond, "Is she in this building at least?",  the man responded, "Yes, she's in this building but I highly advise you do not go out there to see her. You need a couple of weeks to rest your leg regardless, so you won't be able to move from your spot. I will be providing your foods and drinks in the meantime. By the way, my name is Leonel, Leo for short.", I sigh as I nod my head softly, looking upset.

I need to see her.

Time skip to later that night. My leg is still definitely wounded up, but I didn't care if the pain got worse. I got Paola to hand me crutches for that specific reason and when I figured everyone was asleep, I carefully got out of bed and started making my way towards the doors, up until I saw Leonel walking into the rooms to supervise people. He immediately saw me and crossed his arms, "What are you doing awake at this time?", I immediately flinched at this and came up with a response really fast, "W-Water.. I need water.." I whispered as I tried to make my voice sound as husk as possible so it could sound like I'm dying of thirst. He sighed as he pointed towards the water station which was down the hallway, "5 minutes, since I know you're wounded. Don't go wandering off.", I nod my head as I begin to crutch my way to the water station. I saw there was a line of people which was perfect for me. I get in the line and wait a couple of seconds before people start to get behind me. I immediately crutch away as Leonel isn't looking and I start making my way around the shelter. It looks so eerie because of how dark it is and it seems only ran by 4 people. I only met two of the men who are running this shelter, which is John and Leonel, but I've never really got to meet the other 2 men, so I'm kind of terrified. I walk into these two large doors, assuming its the lab. Bingo. I started crutching my way to the lab room and try to look for my moms dead body to say my final goodbyes. I know, It's stupid but I was mourning really badly, I just wanted to say my final words before I move on with life.. To which I know I'll never move on from this.. I go into the Mortuary room to look for my mother and there, I see her on the examination table. 

I see some blood around my moms mouth which worried me because she wasn't like this when I saw her recently pass. I look at her pale, cracking skin and I immediately start tearing up as I stand there, holding her cold, dry hand. I then begin to whisper to her, "Mom, I know you can't hear me, but I promise to God I will survive this epidemic.. I am so sorry I wasn't the most perfect daughter. I was always so moody and I should have appreciated you when you were around more often. I miss coming home from work with Lesly just to see you in the kitchen or sometimes in your room doing your makeup since you were going out shopping.. I miss sleeping on the same bed as you when I'd feel too anxious to sleep alone.. I miss you sending me videos that would make you laugh even if they didn't make me laugh.. I miss you.. I'm so sorry for not being perfect mom.. I'm sorry.. I wish you could hear how much I love you so much." I start to break down in silence as i hold her cold hand tighter. Out of nowhere, I then look up and out of nowhere, I feel a biting sensation against my arm and I flinch and yelp as I now then realize what just happened. I feel my crutches falling which cause a loud sound and this alarmed one of the men that's in charge of the shelter. He immediately runs into the lab and into the mortuary room shouts out, "GET AWAY FROM THE TEST SUBJECT, NOW." I then start to make my way out of the mortuary room and go to the man who is holding a pistol and shoots at my mom since she was practically chasing after me. She finally falls to the ground and I immediately look at the man with pure anger and shout out, "What the FUCK did you do to my mom. What the FUCK DID YOU DO!?", the man looked at me and responded, "We were using these injections we got from the cordyceps virus and injected her. She was supposed to stay in the room so we could examine her and come up with a cure. Did she bite you?!" I immediately lie and say, "No, she never bit me. She scared me when she started getting up so I ran." The man looked suspicious at first but then took a deep breath and began walking me out of the lab, "Get back to your room kid. If anyone catches you, you're dead. I'm only sparing you one time because you're young. Just go." He said in a stern voice and I nodded my head quickly as he gave me an extra crutch. 

I started crutching my way back and Leonel is still standing there. I look guilty but then look at Leo and he whispered, "Where were you? I didn't see you in line.", I gulped silently and replied, "Sorry.. Something caught my attention and I went to go check it out...", Leonel rolled his eyes and sighed as he responded, "You do realize if any of these men catch you out after curfew, you're dead meat? Now get back in the room and stay there for the night. I'm sure you've had your water break." I nod my head as I comply and immediately get into the room and head over to my designated mattress and lay down carefully. I then grab a flashlight that's on the floor to examine the bite. I felt my stomach drop when I saw how the bite looked. I started to panic as I realized I was practically infected. Fuck... How am I going to live with myself?! I try my best to enjoy my last moments but I'm just overthinking on how its like to be an infected. Will I be conscious while I'm infected? They look so scary.. The way my mom turned from dead to an INFECTED in practically less than a day?! I'm so scared.. What if I turn into an infected overnight?! And how was my mom able to bite me, stand up and chase me down?! God, this is so horrifying and something you'd expect to see only in fiction, but this is some real shit, and I'm beyond horrified. I try to go to sleep since I'd assume it's really late over here, so I try getting comfortable on this mattress, but I keep on tossing and turning, afraid that I'll turn into an infected in a day or so. 

At least I got to see my mother one last time...