This Would Be Paradise (Book 1)-A Zombie Novel

Chapter 37

The gleam of stainless steel scalpels and scissors were reflected back at me. Maybe they had used this as an operation room? Or for something worse?  The way the infected were chained up, lead me to lean towards the latter. And what the hell would they need the meat locker looking room for? The shit I get myself into...

The banging increased tenfold, spurring me on to use the butt of the flashlight to smash the glass. Still using the flashlight, I cleared off the rest of the jagged pieces. I shoved my jingling backpack through the opening. I needed something to gain ground with. Whipping my head around, my eyes landed on the patient bad. With a heft, I rolled it towards the window. The wheels squealed from lack of use and one of the infected turned towards me. I stood as still as I could, waiting for it to go back to clawing uselessly in the direction of the door.

Once it grew tired of staring at me, I wheeled the bed the rest of the way. The door flew open at the same time I planted a foot on the bed. Riley and the man I recognized as Conner burst into the room momentarily caught off guard by the infected waiting to devour them.

"Holy shit!" Conner yelled as he slid to a stop.

Unfortunately for him, he entered the room first in a sprint and was unable to stop in time. The infected with the longest chain latched onto him and took a massive chunk out of his arm. Conner's scream bounced off the walls, encouraging the other infected. Riley whipped out his gun.

"No man, don't!"

The gun flash briefly lit up the dim basement. Conner dropped like a stone, the hole in his head still smoking. The infected fell down with him, tearing into any part it could get to. Riley's head snapped in my direction and I scrambled to get out, having wasted precious time watching the whole scene, hoping Riley would meet his end to. No such luck.

I had my arms and head through the opening, my legs flailing to try and get purchase. I felt a hand wrap around my ankle and yank. My arms scraped along the window frame and I landed face first on the disgusting hospital bed. Then with another forceful pull, my face met the cold, cement ground. I could taste blood in my mouth, my teeth having sliced open my tongue.

"You just cost me another good team member," Riley tsked.

Roughly, he grabbed my upper arms and turned me over.

"You're going to pay for that."

I spit the blood welling in my mouth at him. He made an angry grunt and a hand flew to his face to wipe the blood off. I kicked out my leg and it landed in his side with a thud.

"Bitch!"

Using his brief moment of distraction, I scrambled onto all fours and got up. He was right behind me, on my heels. He recovered fast. Riley tackled me to the ground, my hands flew out instinctively grabbing at anything and a tray of tools clattered to the ground with us. The sound of the stainless steel hitting the cement rained all around us.

I used the tray still gripped in my hand to smash Riley's face. He grabbed my wrist and pried the useless weapon from my hand and threw it away. It rattled like a tin sheet as it sailed away from us. I fought to punch and hit at him, but Riley managed to gather my wrists in his hands.

"Keep fighting me, I like it." He was out of breath from our tussling.

"Fuck you!" I yelled straight into his face, blood and spit mixing with my harsh exclamation.

"You would like that wouldn't you?" His grin didn't reach his eyes, they were dark and dead. He might as well have been an infected for all I saw in there.

"No, that's not what this is about. Revenge. Once I kill you, I will find the rest of your group and kill them too."

To emphasize his point, his hands moved from my wrists to my neck. My oxygen was cut off abruptly and I clawed at the hands now squeezing the life out of me. The pressure on my neck was beyond painful and I kicked out my legs, desperate to get air. Black dots where starting to line my vision and dance before my eyes.

"Fighting only will make it last longer."

The coldness in Riley's eyes was replaced with sick amusement. He liked killing. This world didn't ruin his life, it set him free. He had killed before and would keep doing it. What if he did find my friends? What if he found Chloe? I removed my nails from the hand wrapped around my neck and felt around the floor near me, looking for anything that could be a weapon. I didn't have much time, I was starting to fade; I could feel it.

Death was closer than it had ever been, but I refused to give Riley the satisfaction. My hand wrapped around the hilt of one of the dropped tools and with my last remaining strength I brought my arm up in a wide arc. The sharp edge of whatever tool I had grabbed embedded itself in Riley's neck. His eyes went wide in shock and his hands flew to his neck. Suddenly, I could breathe.

Cool, blessed air reached my starved lungs and I heaved in deep breaths. My eyes were watering and my throat burned like I had never felt before. It was like acid coated the inside of my throat and air was water being poured onto it. Riley was pale and clutching at the handle protruding from his neck. Blood poured from the wound like a faucet turned to max. It looks like I had stabbed him with a scalpel.

He collapsed to the ground, his mouth open and fluttering like a gaping fish on land. I hauled myself to shaky feet and reached into my waist band. I loomed over him, the gun aimed right for his forehead. Once he saw the gun in my hand, he reached up; whether to plead for his life or beg for it to be quick, I will never know. Because I pulled the trigger.

 He won in the end. Now I was a monster too.  

A/N: So here we are, the last chapter. There will be an epilogue and update posted Friday :)