Shattered (Complete!)

Chapter 11

I heard the main door open with a loud creak.

"Come up here." Someone tugged at my shoulder and dragged me towards the narrow wooden staircases behind the dining room.

"Hey, where are you taking me?" I protested, trying to get free from the person's grasp.

"You need to be kept safely. Theo's order."

I turned to look at the woman. She was carrying a baby in her arms.

"Is that your baby?" I asked.

"No. That's my sister's baby boy. She couldn't make it through the apocalypse." Her eyes became dull.

"I'm sorry." I apologised, climbing the stairs with her.

"You stay here." Once upstairs, she pointed towards a door to the left of the stairs.

"Where are you going?" I asked her wearily.

"There." She gestured at the room which was opposite of this one.

"Lock the door from the inside." She commanded. "Don't open unless I knock thrice."

She huddled inside the room in a swift move.

I pushed the door open and went in the room as I was told.

It was a medium sized bedroom with a small bed at a side, two windows and a cupboard.

There, on the bed, lay a man with bandaged foot. The bandages were soaked in fresh blood and so was the bed-sheet.

This must be Martin who Theo had been talking about.

"Martin?" I frowned, staring at him as he was laying there quietly and staring out of the window.

"Hi." He noticed my presence and gave me a blank look. "I don't think so I know you."

"Well, yeah, I'm new here." I said without thinking. "Another survivor."

"And are they here again?" He looked distressed.

"Again?" I scowled. "What do you mean again? Do they come here often?"

"Yes, they did. A day ago. A group of sixteen of them. That's when I hurt myself badly." He pointed towards his foot.

"I can understand." I sighed, thinking about my people back in the cottage.

"They sent you up here?" He asked.

"Yes, they did." I answered. "A lady with the baby."

"Kasey", he replied, staring out of the window again. "We're trying to save the baby as well."

"Oh." I didn't know what to reply to that.

"Come and take a look." He insisted and I stood near the other window and gazed down at the porch.

At least twenty of those creatures were slowly making their way towards the main door.

They had a sloppy gait as they approached slowly. Their jaws dislocated showing their torn tongues and blood stained teeth. They moaned as they smelled the blood in the air. Skin peeled away from their bones and organs, showing their black hearts. Although they did not beat, you could see that the organs were torn, how their blood had turn in to a thick turbid brown and how their stomach slowly digested the flesh that was there own.

I saw Cleo and the others fighting them off so swiftly that it seemed to be an everyday task for them.

"You okay?" I heard Martin ask.