Here is your next chapter! I hope you enjoy! Make sure to leave a comment at the bottom! :) Again I did not edit yet! SO please point out any mistakes, so I can fix em' And trust me, there will be a lot! The song on the side is what I listened to over and over while I wrote this chapter, so listen to it if you want! And it was in Percy Jackson: Sea Of Monsters!
2094: Chapter 3
One, I yelp out in pain. Two, I scream for Eli. Three, more zombies run towards me. Four, blood pours viciously out of my arm. Five, my legs feel like they weigh a hundred pounds. Six, I start to stumble towards the nearest building. Seven, my arm goes numb. Eight, nothing. Nine, nothing. Ten, nothing.
Nothing.
Why am I not one of them? Was my counting off? I don’t care! I’m alive! I’m not one of them!
The fact that my heart is still beating, gives me momentum to run. I hear a voice calling my name.
“Imogene!” It’s Eli’s voice. “Over here!”
I look to see him standing in an old building by a guy whose holding a gun. The man who holds the gun shoots down zombies, one by one. Not wasting a single bullet.
My feet hurt terribly. I never ran when I was in school. If I knew that zombies would takeover when I was younger, I would’ve trained. I’m pretty sure everybody would’ve trained.
The backpack that I still wear is weighing me down. Without wasting one moment I slip off the backpack. All the food I was carrying in it would probably be smashed now, so it is a useless weight that I was carrying around.
The building is not too far away, probably twenty feet away. I could no doubt make it, if I didn’t have zombies on my trail.
I stumble over the sidewalk, falling onto my stomach. I can feel the painful sting of fresh cuts all over my body. I don’t want to look down and see the damage I did to my body when I fell though. I quickly rise to my feet and start running, just as a zombie reaches the spot where I had fallen.
Eli starts to run towards me, to help me move faster, since it is quite obvious that I’m slowing down. He reaches me and tugs on my uninjured arm and we quickly make our way to the door where the strange man stands. Finally, Eli and I arrive. Eli shuts the large metal door with a loud slam and puts a chair against the doors handle.
I take in the room we stand in, and realize that it is a mini grocery store. I’ve been here a couple times before with my Mom. The sudden thought of my Mom tears my heart in half. I hope to God that she is all right. Silent tears drift down my face, but they are not for my Mom, they are for Aster. I hadn’t really known her for that long. She has always been the quiet girl that sits in the back of the classroom. But since I have met her, really met her, she was great. I just wish that I had been a friend of her before all of this happened.
“Imogene, are you alright?” Eli asks me, but his voice seems far away.
I look up to his concerned face staring at me. I shake my head slightly, signaling that I’m not okay. Tears fill my eyes, but I quickly brush them away not wanting to be caught crying.
“How could I be okay? Nothing has gone right. Everyone I love is dead! Everyone I know is dead! You left Aster and I. And now Aster is dead because of it,” my breath catches on the end, as I try to stop myself from sobbing. I know I shouldn’t be blaming Eli for Aster’s death, but I can’t help myself.
“But Imogene, you still have me. I’m still alive. You’re still alive. And Aster,” Eli lowers his head once he says Aster’s name, but then continues talking, “Aster is in a better place now. You just have to believe it.”
This time I can’t stop the sob that comes from my throat. I break into tears. Eli hugs me to his chest as I mourn over the death of my friend. But as soon as I start crying I stop. Even though the thought of Aster will be trapped in my mind forever. The last image I have of her is a gruesome image. I try to replace it with one of her looking happy, but come to the realization that there is no image of her being happy in the past few days.
As I struggle to contain myself, I finally take in the appearance of the strange man standing above me. He has dark hair the reaches just below his ears. The man has bright blue eyes that give him a mysterious look. He looks to be just over six feet tall, and probably twenty years old.
I catch him staring at the bite on my arm. The wound that should’ve killed me. Does this mean I have H-H blood? It’s the only logical reason why I’m not dead. Quickly I pull down the sleeve of my leather jacket to hide the gash. He tears his gaze away from my arm.
“Who are you?” I ask the man, my voice still shaking. “I’ve never seen you around town before, and everybody pretty much knows everyone here.”
A look of doubt crosses his face, but it is soon covered up with confidence. “It makes sense that you haven’t seen me before, I’m not from here. You see, I saw the walls to your town, and I had to check it out. I found an opening in the wall and was able to make it here. I guess I didn’t have the best timing though.” the man starts chuckling at himself.
“What’s your name? Where are you from?” I ask astonished that there is actually life outside the walls of Salvatore.
“For your first question, my name is Xavier, and as for your last question I’m going to keep that a secret,” he smirks slightly, but I just glare at him.
“Keeping secrets? I guess that gives me no reason to trust you,” I mutter quietly, so he won’t hear me. I decide to let the discussion drop, even though I’m itching to ask millions of questions. Eli takes my hand and pulls me to my feet.
“Are you hungry?” Eli asks, squeezing my hand.
“Very,” I answer.
“Good, because we are in the right place,” he says gesturing towards the battered down grocery store.
“You did check this place for zombies, right?” I ask Xavier. Eli quickly gets a look of horror over his face.
“Of course I did,” Xavier says.
“Good,” I sigh out of relief, so does Eli. “How about that food now?” I walk over to a shelf that has all types of crackers on it, and I pick up a Ritz crackers box. I guess that it’s okay that I dropped the bag with the food in it, considering we now have a room full of food.
“Aren’t you guys going to have any food?” I ask Xavier, while I stuff three crackers in my mouth.
“I’m not hungry.”
I shrug. Then I go and sit down beside Eli.
“Do you still have your backpack? I’d kill to be in fresh clothes.”
Eli nods, and then gets to his feet to walk over to where the backpack was. I follow him, and reach for the backpack, pulling out new clothes.
“I’ll be back in a minute,” I inform Eli, as I make my way towards one of the bathrooms in the grocery store. Once I make it to the bathroom, I start to change into my new clothes, but a horrible pain stops me before I can take off my jacket.
I peel back my leather jacket, whimpering when it passes my inflamed arm. I inhale sharply as I catch the sight of my arm. My entire forearm is covered in dark purple bruises. A gruesome wound is placed in the middle of my arm. Dried blood is splattered all around my arm. Flesh hangs loosely off of me. And I swear that I can see my bone. Luckily, blood has stopped pouring from my arm.
Now that I have taken my jacket off, I can strip off everything else with out touching my arm. I change into my new clothes and feel refreshed. Before I put on my new jacket, I get some toilet paper, and get it wet in the sink. Gently, I dab the toilet paper onto my skin, trying to get some of the blood away. Every time I touch my skin, I flinch. Once I have cleaned off some of the blood, I put on my jacket. Leaving my old clothes on the ground, I leave the bathroom.
When I return back to Eli and Xavier, they are setting up a makeshift bed made out of clothing. Eli looks over at me and smiles. “We decided to stay here for the night, so the zombies can cool down.”
I nod my head, now recognizing how tired I am. “Someone should stay on guard though just incase... one of those things get in,” I tell them. “We can take shifts.”
“I’ll go first,” Xavier offers.
“Okay, just wake one of us up if you want to go to sleep,” I remind Xavier. I settle down onto the clothes, which surprisingly are comfortable to lie on. Eli comes down beside me, and offers me his backpack to use as a pillow. I accept his offer, and tuck it under my head. Before I know, I’ve fallen into a deep sleep.
That night I dream of Aster. She screams for me to help her, but all I do is stand there, staring at her. Zombies of all sizes come for her, but for some strange reason they avoid me. A tall male zombie takes a bite out of Aster’s leg. She screams in agony.
“Why aren’t you helping me?” she screams. I want to help her, but my legs won’t move. All I can do is stand there, helplessly. Another zombie, this time an old lady, comes and takes a chomp out of Aster’s arm.
“You are the worst person ever. You are a waste of space,” Aster whispers, just before her eyelids close. Her breathing stops.
The dream mutates into another nightmare. This time I can move, and there is an angry, zombie, Aster, chasing after me. Her almost white hair is now dyed red from blood. Aster’s already pale skin has now turned to a sickening grey. Her striking purple eyes are the pale blue, signaling that she wants flesh and blood. Signaling that she is a zombie.
She chases after me, limping, but sprinting. She grunts in the effort of running. As usual in dreams, I can barely move. Soon enough, zombie Aster catches up to me and pounces. She takes a bite out of my shoulder leaving a gaping hole.
“My death is your fault,” she grumbles in my ear. Her rotten breath swimming in my nostrils.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” I whisper over and over.
“Imogene?” Aster asks. It takes me a minute to realize that it wasn’t Aster who said that, but Eli. I’m shot back into reality as I wake up from that terrifying nightmare. Eli sits over top of me. “Why are you sorry?”
“It was my fault!” I yell, “I killed Aster. I could’ve saved her, but I was too scared. I’m a coward. I should’ve been the one to die, not her.” I barley take notice of the tears streaming down my face.
“It wasn’t your fault,” Eli whispers as he pulls me into a tight embrace, again. “Don’t ever say that it was your fault.”
I let myself cry over Aster’s death. I don’t stop myself, but instead sob on Eli for who knows how long.
I don’t understand why Aster had to die. Was it some kind of terrible twist of karma? Did she perform some horrible deed that determined her death? Or was it just a fluke? All of these questions flash through my mind as I try to think of logical answers.
Xavier is asleep beside me, oblivious to the fact that I’m crying, which I am grateful for. Eli must’ve been on watch while I was having my nightmare. Somehow, I fall back into a dreamless sleep as Eli plays with my hair.
I’m the last to wake up. Eli and Xavier are raiding the grocery store for breakfast. I sit up and rub my crusty eyes. I guess that’s what you get for crying all night.
Eli comes back first and hands me some cheerios, which I immediately take. My stomach grumbles as I eat my breakfast. Since I’m still hungry by the time I have finished my serving, Eli gives me some of his.
Finally, Xavier comes back and we begin to talk about our plan to get over the wall. Since Xavier knows the way out he is going to lead us. I feel a slight discomfort over this, due to the fact that I barely know him, but it would be stupid to go without him.
Eli told me that the zombies have calmed down, and we will be able get out of the grocery store alive, if we stay quiet. Knowing this information, we start to pack up our things. I quickly get some food to take with us, which I then stuff into the only backpack we have left.
We all grab our weapons, Eli with a knife, Xavier has his gun, and I have my bat. Eli takes the backpack, and we leave our safe haven. When we make it out the door everything is quiet, just like it was when we first started heading to the wall. Although, this time I know that the zombies could be just around the corner. The knowledge of that leaves me in a state of fright.
Xavier walks confidently; as if he knows the zombies aren’t going to attack us. Eli tries to walk like him, but you can tell that he is scared; like me. Salvatore looks worse than the last time I saw it. You can tell that zombies have overrun the town. Are Eli, Xavier and I the last living people in here? Are we the last living people on earth?
No, of course not. Xavier would have told us if the virus had spread outside of Salvatore. Wouldn’t he?
I look up to Xavier’s face studying him. Where did he come from? I knew he came from outside the town, but from where? Why is he keeping all the secrets from us? Does he not trust us? Xavier turns his face towards me, and I quickly turn my head, focusing on the more important things in front of me.
These past few days I have grown used to the sight of blood. Last week, if you had shown me what I was seeing now, I would have puked. I had never been good with blood; just a scratch on someone’s knee would gross me out. It’s interesting how you can get so used to something you used to hate, if you’re around it long enough.
I recognize the street we are on almost immediately, and notice that we aren’t that far away from the wall. Perhaps two blocks away, but in zombie land it feels like forever.
“Are you sure you remember where the opening in the wall is? I’ve been around this wall so many times and there was never an opening,” I explain to Xavier.
“I know where I am going,” Xavier whispers harshly. I flinch.
Eli gives Xavier a look. “Come on, be nicer man. She just wanted to know if you knew where you were going.”
“Well, it was a stupid question. And if she has doubt in me, then she can go look for an opening in the wall without us,” he tells us, obviously annoyed with the both of us.
“Sorry,” I mutter, “I just wanted to know.”
We continue to walk through the broken town. It brings tears to my eyes seeing Salvatore like this. I grew up here. I grew up with all these people. And here I am blasting their brains out with a bat.
I had never taken The Three Year Plague seriously. I know I should’ve, but it just seemed like fiction to me. Is this The Three Year Plague, or is it a whole new virus? I just hope that we can get a vaccine soon, so I can go back to my normal life. But I know my life will never be normal again. And I’ll have nothing to go back to. Everyone is already dead. Salvatore is dead. I can never have a normal life.
Salvatore means savior. This town was supposed to save us. Save us from the things outside the wall, but now all it’s doing is trapping us inside with the cannibals we once called our friends. I never thought of that this place was a prison, but now that’s the only word that comes to my head when I think of Salvatore.
We reach the wall without any zombies noticing us. And can’t help but let a small smile form on my lips. The fifty-foot metal wall amazed me, but scared me at the time.
“So where’s the opening?” I ask, Xavier.
“It’s around here somewhere,” Xavier says moving his hands along the metal wall.
“Are you sure we’re in the right spot?” I ask curiously, hoping the question won’t make him angry.
He grunts. “Yes we are in the right spot. I think I would know where to look, I mean I was here not too long ago.”
“Okay,” I mutter. “Where should I look?”
“Just stay there. I’ll find it.”
I go and stand beside Eli, who hasn’t moved since we have arrived at the wall. I look at his face, and he seems pretty content with himself considering the circumstances.
“Are you excited to finally see what’s outside of the town?” I ask Eli.
“I’ve always wondered if there was life on the other side of the wall, and now that I have the chance to find out what’s there I’m,” he hesitates, “to be honest sort of scared.”
“So am I. But I need to know what’s out there, you know?”
“Yeah. I know,” Eli takes my hand in his, and together we watch Xavier look for the opening. The opening to a new life.
“A-ha! I’ve found it!” Xavier presses a small button in the wall that was invisible to me before this moment. Once he presses the button, the metal wall starts moving frantically as a small door appears.
Eli squeezes my hand, and I squeeze back. Together we make our way towards the door.
“I told you I knew where it was,” Xavier says happily.
“I guess you do. Sorry about all my questions,” I whisper softly. “Shall we go?”
“Yes, we should, but there’s one problem,” Xavier explains. I get a worried look on my face.
“What is it?”
“He can’t come with us,” Xavier smiles evilly, as he points his gun towards Eli, and pulls the trigger. A gaping hole forms on Eli’s chest. He dies instantly.
I scream.
And I leave you with a cliff hanger! *grins evilly, like Xavier* it seems that everyone around Imogene is dying.... Any who leave a comment below! BTW The next chapter is where everything is reaveled in the story!!