The Divine Infection

Chapter Thirteen: Undead Ahead

"It stopped." I whisper.

"No shit." Jim sighs. We all slow our pace, and in a short moment are just stood in the centre of the road, listening. I can hear screeches in the distance, and some frighteningly nearby, but other than that...

"Dall?! Where'd you go?" I hear someone yell. I listen closely to this someone yelling panickedly, and then a figure comes into view at a turning point in the street, walking around and stumbling. "Dallon?!"

"Excuse me, do you need help?" Barrone calls. The figure at the corner, a blond-haired girl clearly younger than I am, turns her head quickly towards us; then she's running towards us, her grey eyes wide with fear, rounded cheeks tainted red as she pants with exhaustion.

"I need your help! My boyfriend is missing, I heard him screaming and then he just went quiet and I need to know where he is! Please, help me!" She panics, her eyes brimming with tears.

"Hey, calm down." I say quickly, stepping towards her and looking down at her sympathetically. "We'll find your boyfriend, calm down. Where did you last see him?"

Barrone casts me an exasperated glance, one that clearly tells me to stop wasting time and leave the girl to her own problems, but something tells me I should be helping her, so I ignore him.

"We...we were at the safe point, waiting to pick up any survivors that answered the transmission...he heard noises, people shouting for help, so he told me to wait at the van and he went off to check it out. N-next thing, he was screaming..." She says quickly, tears running down her cheeks. "I need to find Dallon, he's the reason I'm still alive, I need him!"

Dammit, poor girl... "Can you tell me where he went?" I ask. She nods, but doesn't speak; instead, she turns and runs off shakily down the road, obviously expecting us to follow her. We all run after her, and when a loud cacophony of haunting screeches cracks into the stormy night we all grind to an instant halt. The girl is just staring right on ahead of her, eyes wide, tears mixing with the rain on her face as she sobs. I rest a hand on her shoulder, clearing my throat slightly, and then she looks helplessly up at me.

"He's dead, isn't he?" She whimpers. I close my eyes and bow my head, before nodding.

"Most likely, yes. It happens a lot." I say.

"Can...can I go look for his body?"

"I wouldn't, if I were you." Jim says. "It could be pretty ugly. You should try just getting on with things."

"That's easier said than done." She whispers. "I need Dallon. I love him. If he's dead-"

"Then you'll need to get over it and fight to survive by yourself. You said you were at the safe point? Can you take us there?" Barrone asks, rather insensitively. I scowl over at him, but the girl just nods.

"You're right." He is?! "I-I'll take you up the collection point. And then back to the safe point." She begins to walk, and we all follow suit. As everyone else lags behind, I stay beside the girl, my hands buried in my pockets and my hood over my head as rain continues to splatter down.

"What's your name?" I ask her quietly. She looks up at me through tearful eyes, a picture of grief and suffering. Her blond hair is plastered to her head, her cheeks red from the cold rain hitting her face; I can feel nothing but pity for the broken girl before me.

"Alaya." She replies. "But everyone just calls me Miss Murder. I'm a...a bit of a jinx." She mumbles. I cock an eyebrow.

"Oh. Well, I'm Leigh. Also a jinx." She smiles slightly at that. "How long've you been at the safe point, then?"

"Well, I've stayed in Dundee all my life. What about you?"

"I've been staying in Beccles all my life, with my brother. We all started heading north a while ago." I tell her, before shivering against the cold.