Chapter 18
~Alyssa~
"The engine's failing," I said, grabbing a hold of the bags of weapon.
"What?" Jeremy said.
Ugh why did Dominic leave me to this? If we survive this, I'm so kicking him.
"The engine's failing, Jeremy. We need to get out. Now."
Once it hit them, they began moving. The helicopter shook again, sliding to the right, taking everyone with it.
"I can't hold it longer!" Dominic yelled.
I turned and my eyes caught his glance.
And then we dropped. The pressure pushed me to my knees and I felt my eyes getting watery.
I heard Ella let out a small scream. God, she must be freaking out. I looked at her, and saw Jeremy holding her hand, whispering things in her ears, trying to get to calm down. Ella wasn't easily calmed. There was only one person that could do that.
And that was Eric.
But my cousin was doing a good job of changing that.
I closed my eyes and waited.
Then we crashed.
The impact was quick.
I opened my eyes and saw smoke. I heard coughing, but I couldn't see. Then I noticed I was also coughing. I couldn't breathe: every breath I took filled my lungs with smoke. The helicopter was on fire. I couldn't get up, so I tried to crawl. I started coughing really hard, leaving a burning feeling in my throat. Tears started rolling out of my eyes. I couldn't move anymore, so I dropped onto my back.
I felt tired. All I wanted to do was sleep. Then I felt strong hands pick me up.
"It's OK, Alyssa, I got you. I wasn't going to leave you."
Jake?
"Hmm," was all that came out.
I felt him put me on the ground. I started breathing again, and I opened my eyes.
I coughed and tried to get up, looking around rapidly.
"Where's Dominic?" I said.
Jake passed his hand through my hair.
"Be careful-"
"Where's Dominic?" I repeated, my voice stronger.
He turned and I followed his gaze back to the helicopter.
The helicopter was on fire. But right in the pilot seat, I could see Dominic with his head against the door.
With his eyes closed.
"NO!" I yelled, stumbling to get up.
"Alyssa!" Jake said, but I was not listening.
I pushed past him and ran to the helicopter.
I opened the door and tried to control my tears.
Dominic had a huge cut across his forehead, blood falling from it. His arm had blood all over it and it didn't look like he was breathing.
No... He wasn't breathing!
"God, Dominic," I whispered.
I was about to get him out when I heard a voice behind me.
"You're gonna need help."
I turned and saw Jeremy. He had scratches on his cheek and neck. I let out a sigh, hugging him, never being so happy to see my cousin in my life. He hugged me back quickly and went over to Dominic.
He picked him up and I helped him to drag Dominic away from the helicopter.
Then it exploded, bursting into flames.
We dropped Dominic next to Ella, who was coughing uncontrollably.
He still wasn't breathing.
Ella turned, still coughing, and looked at Dominic. Her face was all covered in ash, and it looked like she was having trouble breathing. Nonetheless, she moved closer and checked his pulse.
"I don't...feel a...pulse," she said in between coughs.
No, this wasn't happening. Dominic wasn't going to die.
Jeremy acted first. He put his hands on Dominic's chest, and started pumping, trying to get his heart to start again.
It wasn't working.
"Alyssa," Jeremy said, stilling pumping Dominic's chest. "Remember those classes my mom made us take a few years ago?"
Of course I remembered.
I nodded and got ready.
"One, two, three," Jeremy said.
Pinching Dominic's nose, I bent down and gave him mouth to mouth. Then I listened, waiting to hear him breathe.
"Again," I told Jeremy.
He nodded.
"One, two, three."
I blew more air into his mouth and waited.
Come on, Dominic, don't die on me!
"Again!" I semi-yelled, not bothering to wipe the tears falling from my eyes.
"Alyssa-" Jeremy whispered.
I shook my head.
"Again, Jeremy!" I yelled. "We're not letting him die."
He took one look at my face, and looked down at Dominic.
"One, two, three..."
I blew more air into his mouth and placed my ear against his chest.
Come on... Damn it!
Then I heard him cough.
I abruptly sat up, hoping I wasn't just hallucinating.
I wasn't.
Dominic's eye were wide open as he started gasping for air. Jeremy pulled him by the arm, helping him sit up. He started coughing, but once he was done he smiled and looked at us.
"What did I miss?"
And that's when I whacked him in the chest.
Everyone looked at me in shock, including Dominic.
"Ow!" Dominic said.
He opened his mouth to say more, but before he could, I pulled him into a hug.
He slid his arms around my waist and buried his face into my neck.
"Don't you ever...ever scare me like that again," I whispered into his ear.
He hugged me tighter.
"Don't plan too," he whispered back.
"Hey guys," Jake's voice came out of nowhere. "Hate to break this up, but we need to run, like, now!"
"Why?" Ella asked, turning around.
Jake pointed to the ball of flames a few feet away.
"That's why."
I let go of Dominic and followed everyone's eyes.
Apparently, the fire had drawn some unwanted attention.
We didn't wait to figure out if the Zombies were fast. We picked up the last of our weapons and ran.
As soon as we ran, the Zombies ran.
They weren't the fast Zombies, they were the slow ones. I mentally thanked God they weren't super fast, because with the conditions everyone was in, we'd have been dead already.
Logan and Wes ran close behind. It looked like Logan was having trouble keeping up.
"Come on, Logan," I heard Wes yell. "Run faster!"
"I can't-"
Were the last words I heard Logan say.
I heard him scream. I heard Wes yell his name.
Then I heard Wes scream.
Tears fell down my eyes but I kept running. We all kept running. Even though we knew they were dead, we kept running.
I couldn't feel my feet. I felt like they were going to give out any second. How long could we keep this up?
Not long.
We stopped for second, the Zombies feet away from us. Wes and Logan had given us some distance. We all looked at each other. We needed a plan and fast.
Ella was coughing, her face a light shade of red, but she pointed off to the distance.
"Look!"
We turned and saw a metal fence. Yes, a fence. We didn't think twice before running towards it.
The mob of Zombies was gaining on us, but we reached the fence in record time.
Lizzie and I were the first to climb over it. Followed by Dominic and Jake. Then Ricky.
Jeremy was half way up when I realized something.
Where's Ella?
She came into view after I thought that. The ash in her lungs was slowing her down, and the Zombies were speeding up. She reached the fence and began to climb it. Jeremy was still on top, one leg over the fence, sitting as he reached his hand down to her. She would have touched it, she would have made it over...if it wasn't for the Zombie that grabbed her ankle. It pulled her off the fence, onto the ground.
"Ella!" Jeremy and I both yelled.
I couldn't lost my best friend. Not in this lifetime.
She screamed and tried to get the Zombie off of her. It must have been a fast one because it was the only one that reached us so far. But the rest weren't far away. I was about to climb over the fence when I saw someone over the fence fall in front of me.
Jeremy shot the Zombie right in the shoulder.
What the hell, he missed!
It snapped its head at Jeremy.
"Come at me," Jeremy yelled at the Zombie.
What the hell is he doing?
"Jeremy!" Lizzie yelled.
The Zombie moaned and jumped off Ella, running to Jeremy. It jumped on Jeremy, pushing him to the ground.
"No!" Ella screamed as she got to her feet.
"Go!" Jeremy yelled as he wrestled the Zombie. The gun had fallen out of his hands in the process, flying out of my view.
"No!" Ella yelled. "I'm not leaving you!"
I bit my tongue. I couldn't just stand here.
"Ella, go!" Jeremy yelled again.
She shook her head as tears came down her eyes.
"I'm not leaving you!"
Just then, another Zombie came out of nowhere and attacked Ella.
"Damn it!" I said, running to the fence.
"No," Jake said, grabbing my hand.
"Let go of me!" I yelled, pulling my arm away.
I tried climbing the fence again but Jake took my arm again.
"You can't help them if you're dead," he said.
I pulled my arm away again but looked at him.
He had a point.
Then I heard Jeremy scream.
I turned around and saw that they were still wrestling the Zombies.
I took Jake's gun and shot at the Zombie fighting Jeremy right in the head. I aimed at the Zombie on top of Ella, but when I pressed the trigger, nothing happened.
I swore under my breath. Out of bullets. Out of all the times, it's out the moment I need it the most!
Jeremy and I made eye contact for a second, and he crawled over to his gun and aimed at the Zombie, shooting it three times.
I let out a breath I didn't know I'd been holding when they both ran to the fence. The minute they were over it, I hugged Ella.
"Idiot," I whispered into her ear.
She laughed.
"OK, everyone done with the near-death experiences now?" Ricky joked as he wiped his forehead.
Letting go of Ella, we all turned around.
Oddly enough, there was a cabin in the middle of this circle fence.
Where there was a cabin, there was bound to be a person.
"Come on," Ella said, catching her breath again.
We started walking when we saw a blue light. The blue light ran right through the fence, electrocuting any of the Zombies touching it.
What the hell was that?
"You saw that, right?" Dominic asked. "It wasn't just me and the whole coming back from the dead thing, right?"
"No, I saw that," I said.
"Jeremy, you OK?" I heard Ella say behind me.
I looked over at Jeremy. Sweat was falling from his head and he looked faint.
"Yeah, I'm fine - I'm-"
He didn't finish because he passed out.
"Jeremy!"
Ella and I ran to him, kneeling on the ground.
"Ella, what's wrong with him?" I asked, my voice cracking.
She checked his pulse and put her hand on his forehead.
"I don't know. He has a pulse. I-I don't know."
Ella was stumbling. Ella never stumbled.
"What?" I asked.
Ella always knew everything. How could she not know?
Then I heard the click of a gun. We looked up and saw Ricky pointing the gun at Jeremy.
"Ricky, what are you doing?" Ella demanded, standing up.
But Ricky's eyes never left Jeremy's body.
"Move away from him."
"What the hell?" Dominic shouted. "Put the gun down, Ricky."
Ricky shook his head.
"Can't do that."
"Why?" I asked standing up. "Why can't you, Ricky?"
He kicked Jeremy's leg and I finally saw the blood stain on his leg.
"Because he was bitten."