Run Rabid run!

Running. Part 2

Although I ran Pell-mell, panicked, scared for my life, I couldn't help but notice how athletic the blonde woman ahead, looked, she was no frail princes, she ran around and hurdled obstacles with purpose. Several times she pinched glimpses over her shoulder. She had concern on her face, not fear. I shouted for her to wait up, for her help. I still felt weak, disoriented and confused. I wanted answers as much as help. How was this all happening, what had happened to the world whilst I was unconscious in hospital? I mean, one minute I'm farting about with a fox cub on a bus, the next I'm running for my life with my arse hanging out the back of a gown, chased by the dead, I mean, what the hell!

Up ahead I see Miss Athletic skip a fallen chair, and dodge to her left whilst planting one heck of kick to the bloodied jaw of a Zee that crawled from her right, I was impressed. She disappeared through an open door. I followed her through, and then down a flight of stairs. She was fast and I was falling back. My bare feet hurt, probably cut to ribbons, but I could not stop to find shoes or clothes, not yet, not until I was safe. I shouted again to the woman, she did not acknowledge me, even though she must have heard me. Looking ahead of her, I could see her destination. At the end of the dark hallway lay the hospitals main entrance, closed and barricaded, from the inside. There was to much for her to move quickly from the exit. From dark doorways either side of her emerged several stumbling, aimless corpses. The sudden appearance of the woman galvanized them into a frenzy of action. Shocked and surprised she skidded to a halt and desperately searched for another way out. I watched as she slammed a shoulder into a partially open door, and barge her way through.

This gave me chance to catch her up. With only a meter between myself and the Zee's , I made it through the doorway to. Jesus, they were close, one slip and they would have me, and I'd be done for. As my eyes adjusted to the darkness of the stairwell, I gasped in horror at the pile of dead bodies at the foot of the stairs. I had no time to stand and gawp. I pulled myself up and over the rotting bodies, as the woman must have done also. I could hear her ascending further up, and then she screamed, quickly followed by the falling body of a blood covered Zee. I was barely able to avoid its fall, I jumped to the side as its flailing clawed hands raked my bare back as it tumbled past, yet I was too pumped to feel any pain. Taking the steps two at a time on hands and feet, I race on. From above I heard the woman scream again, but not in terror, it was with rage, quickly followed by the sound of shattering glass. I emerged from the stairway into a bright corridor just in time to see a leg disappear over the sill of a broken window and out onto the roof top of a lower story.

Running towards the make shift exit, I was snagged and thrown to the floor by a Zee who had gained on me. Landing heavily on my hands, I flipped onto my back as the Zee pounced on top of me, its rank smelling teeth snapping at me, I quickly tucked my knees up in to my stomach and kicked out with all my strength and sent the Zee flying backwards into its two raving companions. Without waiting to see if any of them came back at me, which I sure they did, I scramble to my feet and dove through the window on to the flat roof top, a roof top that was empty. Miss Athletic had disappeared. I could not see her anywhere. Damn!

I ran to the roofs edge, I ran all the way around its edge. At first I could see nothing, she was gone, and then as if from a drowsiness that I had just woken from, I see everything around me. I can see for several blocks down town, there is no movement, no people, no cars, not even a dog, or pack of dogs. Well, I say no people, it's not strictly true, I can see many people, most of which are dead, still, lay in heaps, across pavement, hanging out of cars, strewn every which way. All had been ripped open, ripped apart where they had fallen, never to move again, in life or death. There were also many corpses that were moving, walking, crawling in search of what? Victims, sport, or food, yes it is food that they hungered for, whether it be animal or human, it was all fair game.

I remembered scenes like this from the TV shows and films I used to watch, exactly like this, except I wasn't supposed to be slap bang in the middle of it all. Now I was wondering whether I was the steely hunk of a guy who battles to the end and survives with the girl adoringly at his feet, or the whimpering snot nosed coward who survives all the way to the end, but at the cost of other people's lives. I suppose I will find out soon enough.

A sudden noise from a side alley followed by a couple of expletives and running feet, draws my attention, as well as the attention a small horde of Zee's. Ah, Miss Athletic is back. I watch as she runs down the alley kicking each door as she ran past. None had opened, not even when she had used her shoulder. Like in B movies, she backed further down the alley until she had nowhere else to run. Now there was fear on her face! Now there was panic, but what could I do from up here? Nothing, there was nothing I could do! She was dead!

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