INFECTED

Chapter 17

After opening the gate widely, Audrey immediately went back inside and Troy started driving again. As we got out of the school's premises, we were all dumbfounded at what we saw. Cars have scattered along the road and there are no people left at all. Dead bodies are everywhere and I also spotted some blood splattered on the walls, posts, vehicles, and even on the ground. Troy's totally right about what he said, it is really happening everywhere. Troy was driving slowly since there are some dead bodies laying on the road and there are some cars blocking the way making it absolutely difficult to drive faster. The rest of us were sitting quietly while gazing our eyes on the terrifying sight outside.

"Three days have already passed since this horrifying catastrophe has started, and within that span of time, I can't believe there are so many things that have already happened," Alexis started talking breaking the silence inside the school bus. All of us turned our attention to him except for Troy who's focussing his attention on the road, "and after witnessing different tragedies, I have formulated a few hypotheses about those flesh-eating monsters or the so-called 'infected'. First, getting bitten by an infected could turn you into one of them and I think it depends on how serious the bite wound is. Just like my friend, he got bitten on his hand but it was not that deep. It was about twenty minutes or so before he completely turned. Also, one of my classmates got bitten on his chest that removed a huge chunk of flesh and he quickly turned into a monster within a span of like, thirty seconds or one minute."

That's an excellent observation right there, but how come that the span of time turning you into a monster depends on how serious the bite wound is?

"Remember that guy named Gerald Lewis?" Troy suddenly spoke but still focusing his eyes on the road.

"Yeah, that guy back there on the junior building, who knocked the door seeking for help and later on turned into a monster," Lauren said.

"He got a small chunk of flesh missing on his chest and a moment later, he turned into a monster that caused a lot of death," after Troy said those words a horrifying scene suddenly flashed on my mind. Oh, right, Gerald Lewis, he really did turn into a monster but not as fast how Kevin turned.

"Kevin got bitten on his shoulder, the bite wound was too deep that we could almost see his bone and it rapidly made him turn into one of those monsters. It was only like two minutes or so and he was even fighting it but unfortunately, he did not last long," I said making Alexis' theory makes sense.

"Speaking of Kevin, he got his calculations wrong," Alexis said that made all of us look at him with our puzzled faces.

"What calculations?" Lauren asked.

"Last night, he told us that it was forty-eight hours before Melissa completely turned, but he's wrong," Alexis said while the rest of us were listening carefully, "you see, I remembered that it was around 4 pm that Melissa got scratched by a monster and she completely turned around 6:30 in the morning."

"Holy shit you're right!" Lauren said realizing that we totally missed how Kevin calculated wrong.

"That means it only took fourteen hours before Melissa completely turned," Alexis said. Why does it feel like something bad is gonna happen?

"Fourteen hours? Wait, as far as I remembered, it was around 5 pm when Elio got scratched then followed by Michael. How come that both of them haven't turned into a monster yet?" After Audrey has said those words, there was a sudden sound of cracking bone that came from the back of the bus. All of us stared at each other's faces as my heart started to beat fast.

"Uh, guys..." Audrey said pointing at something behind our back that made all of us looked at where she was pointing.

I covered my mouth with both of my hands watching at the horrendous sight in front of us. It was Elio and Michael, a purple pulsating slime was streaming out of their eyes, nose, mouth, and ears until they were both covered in it all over their body except for their faces. Both of them are unconscious but their skin has completely turned pale while red and purple veins are starting to show up below their eyes.

"What's happening back there?" Troy asked but all of us remained quiet and still in shock.

The purple slime covering Michael and Elio suddenly moved by itself and was slowly reaching towards each other like it has a mind on its own. All of a sudden, the slime merged with each other pulling Michael and Elio together and after that, the slimes went back inside them through their eyes, mouth, nose, and ears revealing a disturbing sight.

Kellie and Angel shrieked in horror and the bus suddenly stopped that made all of us fall on the floor. I immediately stood up and once again I saw the body of Michael and Elio laying on the floor which disturbingly merged into one.

"What the hell is that?" Troy asked that made me look at him and his face was filled with fear and disgust.

Lauren fixed herself and stood up from the floor. "That's Michael and Elio."

"How the hell is that Michael and Elio?" Troy asked again with his puzzled look. Kellie started to sob so Lauren immediately hugged her.

"There was this purple slimy thing that made them look like that," Audrey tried to explain while helping Alexis get back from the chair but it made Troy even more confused. Before Troy could even say a thing, Alexis immediately spoke and explained what happened but Troy still can't believe it.

Even I can't believe what I just saw, the whole thing was completely surreal.

Troy took a step closer to Michael and Elio's merged body. "Those purple slime, what are those?"

"I don't know but it was totally fascinating," Alexis' said with his face that looks so amazed.

"Fascinating? That was completely disturbing!" Lauren tried to argue and I totally agree with her.

Kellie suddenly ran towards his brother who has completely merged with Elio. The poor girl burst into tears while Angel walked beside Kellie patting her back trying to comfort her friend.

My phone suddenly vibrated so I immediately took it out of my pocket. Someone is calling but I don't know who it was because it's a number. Who might it be? The first thing that I have thought was dad so I immediately answered the call.

"Hello?"

"Lei..."

That voice, it was Aaron. I was about to say something but a loud shriek of two girls made me flinch. I looked at who it was and I was right, it was Kellie and Angel. I just stood there frozen terrified at what I saw. It was Michael and Elio's merged body, it is now standing on the backside of the bus holding Kellie and Angel on their necks.

Kellie... Angel... No...

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AN: Hi there! Happy 1k reads you guys!  Yey 🎉. Thank for still reading this story and I totally appreciate it 😊. Any thoughts about this chapter? Stay tuned!