Time to Survive

I Smell Blood

"You're making a mistake!" I gasped, struggling against the man's grip on my arm. "A fucking huge one! I'm not alone, I ---."

"Be quiet before you draw the zombies!" the man snapped at me, shaking his head, his long dreads hitting me in the face. "I'm trying to save you here!"

"You're putting me in danger, let go of me!"

"You were in danger, I saved you! That zombie was on you before you knew it! You were almost bitten!"

Oh for fucks sake.

I ground my teeth together.

"My group ---."

"Isn't gonna waste time looking for you as far away as you wandered; I'm your best hope for survival!"

As if.

This fuckhead was crazy.

I had just gotten far enough from the group where I could see the cars but they couldn't see me drop my pants. When I'd gone to stand up, I'd heard the crack, but by the time I'd turned around, the deader had been collapsing behind me and this lunatic had showed up, pointing a gun in my face.

Saying he was my only hope, that I had to go with him in order to survive.

Like whatever.

Poor dude was already bit, I was pretty sure this was the fever setting in, driving him crazy. I'd seen it happen to enough people by now to know the signs.

First, they grew sweaty, all over, and their eyes start to sort of glaze. It depended on what strain of the virus they got on how fast they went, and from the looks of it the bite on the guys bicep was probably a few days old.

There was no telling how long he'd been wandering around out here, abandoned by his group.

Or alone.

Just unlucky, either way.

From how deep the bite went on his arm, I knew he didn't have long left until he became a deader himself; his eyes were crazed, completely dilated and roving in every direction as he mumbled to himself. He was a big dude, all broad shoulders and beefy arms, stocky but nowhere near as tall as Chris.

Still, there was no way I could fight my way out of his grip, I'd been trying for the last thirty minutes.

Hell, I could barely keep up with his strides through the woods!

And I didn't want to waste a bullet shooting him, either.

"Look, dude ---."

"Chris."

Well what were the fucking odds on that one?

"Chris," I huffed, "look. You can't help me," I told him, trying to dig my heels into the underbrush. "You're bit, do you understand? You're more of a danger to me then ---."

"Shut up!"

He abruptly turned, jerking on my arm so hard I rammed into a treee, gasping as my shoulder hit the rough bark.

"Just shut the hell up, Maria! I'm gonna keep you fucking safe, I told you I would! You don't gotta leave me behind like this!"

What?

"My name's not Maria ---."

"I said shut the fuck up!"

Eh.

Okay.

So this wasn't working.

I stared at him for a few seconds, seeing the sweat rolling down his pasty face, his eyes blooshot and still not quite focused on me.

I had to get the fuck away from him.

Run for it.

Find the others.

Surely to god they were in the same place, right?

I knew Chris would be searching for me without a doubt.

But the others ---.

"Come on," the man pulled on my wrist again, forcing us to keep walking.

Dammit!

What the fuck!?

I had to ge away from him!

He had to let go some time, right?

I was making as much tracks as I could, stomping on twigs and dragging my feet, so if the guys couldn't follow my trail then they were the biggest pack of idiots I'd ever met.

Well.

They were idiots.

Son of a bitch.

I was screwed, wasn't I?

There was no way they were going to come to my rescue.

Which meant I had to do this myself, like always

Well, I had a plan.

I could......

Well, I could.....

Fuck!

I would just have to wait until he let go and then make a run for it, hope he doesn't shoot me in the process.

And he was out of his mind, so anything was possible ---.

"Look out!" I gasped, trying to stop, trying to make the man stop, but it was like he had gone blind as well as delirious.

Deaders.

He was heading right for a pack of deaders.




Chris POV


Fuck, why did everything have to be so complicated?

....

What was taking her so long?

"What the hell is taking her so long?" Kuza grouched through the radio, sounding as annoyed as I was worried.

"I dunno," I frowned. "I'll go check, you guys sit still."

She was taking an awful long time to pee.

Was she sick?

Had something happened?

It was making me worry.

I huffed as I tossed the radio down in the seat, scooting my ass towards the door and hopping out of the SUV.

"Kelsey?" I called.

.....

"Kelsey?"

Shit.

Now I was worried.

I started forward, my pace quick as I climbed over the guard rail of the road and moved my ass toward the woodline, reaching cautiously for the gun tucked into the back of my jeans, just in case. I heard a car door open behind me, but I ignored it, looking around for any sign of her as I approached the woods.

"Kelsey?" I called softly, seeing no sign of her.

Kelsey!?

"Where is she?" Ryan asked, and I jerked, my eyes roving behind me.

How the fuck did I not hear him come up behind me?

Jesus.

"I dunno," I muttered, shifting my weight edgily.

My heart was starting to thunder painfully in my chest, my palms growing sweaty.

Where was she?

She'd only been alone maybe five minutes, tops.

Where ---?

"I smell blood."



Ryan knelt beside the deader, it's brains splattered against a tree. It was a fresh kill from the looks of it, within the last couple minutes, which meant whoever did this wasn't too far away, we still had time.

"Do you think Kels did it?"

"She wouldn't have used her gun," Ryan muttered, rubbing his chin at my remark. "Not in close range like this, too much noise. This wasn't her. Plus they had to have a silencer, we didn't hear any gunshots."

"Fuck," I ran a hand down my face, clenching my jaw.

"Do you think there was more and she just had to run?" I asked, looking for some explanation, one that wouldn't mean ---.

"She would've run back to the cars, Chris. You know that." Ryan's voice was grim.

Fuck.

"So someone took her," I muttered, swallowing hard. "We gotta find her then! They can't be far ahead, if we hurry we can make it and find them and get her back, come on ---."

"Dude, we gotta tell the others, we can't just run off," Ryan burst, straightening quickly. "We gotta ---."

"We have to get her back, Ryan, before they hurt her!"

I would kill them.

I would fucking slaughter them.

They wouldn't touch her, not one curly hair on her head, or so help me god I;d bring the entire apocalypse down on their heads!

"I'll go ahead," Ryan said after a moment, dead eyes roving towards where Kels would have been dragged off too. "You go warn the others and get some shit."

"What!? No fucking way ---."

"Chris, we can't both go and note tell them what's going on! I'll go ahead, I'll be able to find them better and it's not like I can get hurt! Warn the others and then catch up with me! We're wasting too much time arguing about this and you fucking know it! So move!"

Goddammit.

"Just hurry," I muttered.