Apocalypse

25

Liz

Okay. My day, I've decided, has been very eventful.

My arm is aching. I still feel a little light headed. My heart is pounding up a storm inside my chest. I'm pretty sure I've gotten blood all over the shirt I'm wearing. I'm ready to go to bed now. But that's not going to happen for a while. If we even make it out of here alive.

There's screaming behind us. The woman had been infected and I passed it off as the flu. I know the symptoms of infection, and still I managed to overlook it.

Bloody brilliant, Elizabeth. I scold myself.

The screaming echoes down the endless white maze of hallways and calls all the attention to us as we crash over things and around doctors and scientists and guards. We're causing a large scene so there's no way in hell we're getting out of here undetected now.

The infected woman chases after us loudly. Screaming. Growling. Slamming into walls. Intent on tearing us apart.

Kate and I race as fast as we can with all these turns and obstacles. She leads me down hallways like she knows them like the back of her hand. She probably does. I have to trust her to take me through all of this, and strangely enough, I don't doubt for a second that she knows what she's doing.

However.

I am terrified out of my mind because the Infected should have gone after the easiest target. Which would be the shocked staff standing around in the halls watching us go by. But she's not. She's chasing after us. Moving targets Are the preference of the dead, I guess. How convenient for us.

"Where are we going?" I gasp inbetween laboured breaths. I still need to get into shape. I'm paying for it now.

Kate doesn't answer. She just makes a sudden turn and I almost run right past her, but she yanks my arm in her direction, not all too gently, either. She ducks into a seemingly empty room and I don't give it a second thought as I slip in after her. She slams the door shut and the Infected races by screaming. I hear another scream, more human this time. Crashing. Screaming. A gurgled choke. Tearing. Silence.

But for right this second, we are safe.

I lean up against a wall. My chest heaving as I began to catch my breath. Much quicker than I thought I would, though. Not as bent out of shape as I thought.

Kate stumbles back from the door she's just locked and runs a hand through her already messy hair. I don't think her hair is ever not in some kind of mess. It just always looks good. To me, anyways.

I scold myself quickly, I can't be admiring her right now. This is not the situation to be thinking like that. We're in the middle of a life or death situation and I'm thinking about how attractive she is. I mean really.

Get a hold of yourself, I think to myself.

Kate takes a moment, she's staring at the door and I know she's deep in thought. I take this moment to look her over.
She looks exhausted. I figure she must not have been sleeping. But then. Who can really blame her? She's had nightmares about this place since I met her, and probably long before that as well. Now she's been thrown back into that which has tormented her for as long as she can remember.
I take in the dark circles under under her and the way her bangs are hanging in her face in those same uneven strands they always have, if not slightly longer than when we'd first met.
She's wearing all white. Typical. So am I, really. The scratchy under shirt and pants are unbelievably uncomfortable. They chafe against my hips and I'm pretty sure it's raw now. I just have Kate's shirt on over top. It's the only article of comfortable clothing I have.
She has one new scar, just on her forearm. It's small, but the edges are an angry red that signifies it's recent. They've already been cutting into her. I feel anger trip over itself in my stomach and I feel my entire body grow hot with it before she turns to me, and the fury just disappears like a snap of the fingers.
She just looks so relieved, and I can't place exactly what halted my anger so firmly in its tracks until I see that her pale eyes are brimming with tears. Kate rarely cries. I've only seen it once. I open my mouth to say something -not sure what it is yet, but it's bound to be something stupid- but she steps forward, and pulls me into a tight hug before I can utter a word. A proper hug. Not like the terrible excuse for a hug we shared earlier. An embrace. Tight and secure and reassuring.
I automatically return it and let myself, just for a moment, forget about where we are and what we're supposed to be doing. I haven't seen her in what feels like forever. Too long. Any amount of time without her nearby is too long.
I feel her face pressed into my neck and her arms around my shoulders, pulling me closer. I smile, and I can smell her familiar scent blocking out the bitter hospital smell. I let my head rest on her shoulder. Just calm and safe. I'm not sure which one of us is the one trembling, or maybe it's both of us.