My tears cease, eyes wide open, heart pounding. I'm hearing things. I have to be. There's no way she's here...
Despite this, I jump to my feet, wipe the tears from my eyes with the back of my hand and call out to her, "I'm here! Karen I'm here!"
"Tricia!" My girlfriend joyfully gasps. "Where are you?"
"I- I don't know. We're sealed in and there's no way out."
There's a moment of silence and all I can hear is my heart thudding in my ears. If she's gone-
"Okay, were coming in. Get behind something, like a desk or whatever's in there with you. If it doesn't see you, you'll be squished."
"If what sees me?" I call out, "and Gregory's here, he-"
"Tricia, hide!" Kenny yells, the power in their voice so overwhelming that I run to the dead end hallway before they even finish talking.
I jump behind a broken plank of wood and crouch so the majority of my body is hidden. Merely seconds after I'm covered, there's an deafening crash of something bursting through the wall, followed by debris hitting the floor and giant floor shaking footsteps.
"Trish?"
Two pairs of footsteps thud to the floor. There's an angered grunt, cut short by a fleshy slap, like someone was patting a horse's back.
"Sweetie? Are you here?" Karen's honey sweet voice echoes in the room.
"Karen!" I exclaim, struggling to get out of my hiding spot. Splinters scratch my skin and cut into my limbs, dripping blood everywhere. I manage to squeeze myself out and run over to her, "oh my god, it really is you."
Her bottom lip wobbles and she wraps her arms so tight around me I can hardly breathe. I squeeze my eyes shut and breathe sharply, inhaling her scent. I never thought I'd miss the smell of sweat and dirty clothes.
"I missed you..." she whispers into my shoulder, "I missed you so much."
"I missed you too." I pull out of her hug and cup her cheeks, resting her forehead against mine. "Will you marry me?"
"What?"
I drop to one knee and take one of her hands in both of mine.
"Will you marry me? For real this time?" I ask, "with a church and food, a pretty wedding dress- or a suit- and have our family and friends watch. It'll be so much better than last time, so much more... romantic?"
Karen giggles and for a second I think she's laughing at me, or at the idea of marrying me, but then she nods.
"Yes. Yes, of course I'll marry you!"
Before I can fully process her answer, she drops to her knees and presses her lips to mine. There's a faint taste of cherries in her breath and her lips are soft as always. Tangling my fingers in her hair, I pull her closer until there's no gap between us, our bodies presses together, limbs merged to match our lips.
"Alright love birds, time to go." Kenny pats my shoulder, "Craig's getting grumpy."
I look up expecting to see my brother pacing the floor as he always does when he's grumpy, but instead I'm face to face with a Cartman, one of the worst mutations out there. Once it sets its eyes on you, it won't leave until one of you is dead.
"Holy shit, run!" I scream.
Before I can even move, Karen and Kenny grab onto me, chuckling.
"That's Craig," Kenny explains, "named after your brother of course. He's our ride."
"How did you tame it?" I ask, shocked that a ruthless creature is sat calmly on the floor in front of me.
"We didn't really. It approached us once the bombs went off, lay at our feet and wouldn't move until we were on its back. It seemed to know us or something." Karen pets Craig's fat and swollen nose.
"We'd better get going kiddos," Kenny reminds us, "We only came here to rescue you, Tricia, and now we've done that, we've got to go to a safe place. This place is crawling with mutations and hordes."
"Gross." Karen wrinkles her nose.
She takes her brother's hand and lets him help her onto Craig's back. Once she's settled, she grabs onto a thin rope tied around the creature's thick neck.
Kenny offers me a hand and I almost take it, until I remember a certain someone who has been awfully quiet whilst we've been talking.
"Oh my god!" I face palm, "I completely forgot about Gregory."
"Who?" Kenny asks.
"Gregory, he's paralysed. We can't just leave him here."
I run over to where he had been lying.
Oh my god.
The scream leaves my lips before I can even processed what has happened.
"What's going on?" Kenny rushes over. He looks down into the hole and gags. "Jesus Christ. I am so, so sorry Tricia."
Gregory's face has been squished, presumably by Craig's gigantic feet, and his entire body crushed. Blood is leaking from the cavern in his chest and his bones jut out at odd angles, like a rose's thorns.
A comforting hand pats my back and another holds my arms to lead me away from the harrowing scene. I'm lifted onto Craig's back without me even thinking about it and Karen wipes the tears from my cheeks with her thumbs. She offers me a kind smile, but I'm too disturbed to accept it. She seems to understand.
Kenny lifts himself into the back of the beast and slaps the thing's thick thighs until it lets out a loud roar. Suddenly, it jumps to its feet and begins running towards the hole it burst through earlier. There's an uncomfortable squish as it squashes Gregory for a second time and I feel like my heart has dropped out of my chest.
Galloping like a giant mutant horse, Craig squeezes his way through the holes in the walls he had previously burst through, barely giving us enough time to duck to avoid being knocked out.
It only takes a few minutes to get outside and the cool, fresh air hits me immediately. Sunlight blinds me, the wind stokes my dusty skin, voices fill my ears.
"She needs medical attention immediately," a man's voice dominates the rest, "her lungs may be damaged from all of the smoke in there."
I'm suddenly grabbed by the waist and lifted off Craig's back then laid down on a stretcher. My head hits a soft pillow and a thin blanket is placed on top of me.
"I'm fine," I protest, attempting to sit up. I'm pushed back down by a strong hand. "Seriously, I'm fine! Just let me go."
"I'm sorry, miss, but we just want to check you over as a precaution before bringing you back to the base. You may have been infected by an airborne disease whilst in there. The explosion spread some of the plague around to some of our group."
"I'm immortal. I can't die or get infected." I try to explain, but they just ask me to be silent as they lead me through a large open area crawling with zombies.
To prove a point, I drag my forearm across a jagged bit of metal on the stretcher. Blood splatters across me and the blanket, causing the survivors to cry out in horror. Hurriedly, they reach for some bandages, but by the time they look back up my wound has healed itself.
"What the fuck?" One asks.
"I was experimented on. I can't die."
The people pushing my stretcher stop and I lurch forward from the sudden halt. They allow me to sit up and stare at my healed arm, running their fingers over where the cut should be.
While their amazement is entertaining, it's also quite annoying. Before they can start prodding me with things, I jump off the stretcher and run back to karen. She's still beside the mutant, patting his large nose and whispering to him like he's a horse.
"Baby, have you seen my brother?" I ask her.
Hand freezing mid-pat, she turns to me, face pale and eyes wide.
"I think this is your brother." She whispers, voice wobbling.
"What?"
"Well he responds well to being called Craig and gets excited every time he hears your name. Plus, we found him chewing on your brother's radio but we have no idea how he got it."
Hand shaking, I reach out for the mutant's thin black hairs sticking up from its lumpy head. He huffs impatiently and bumps my hand like a cat.
"Craig?"
It's only now I realise his eyes. His big blue/grey eyes with thick lashes and a slight upturn to the edges of his eyes that had dad convinced he was Asian as a baby and that Mom had cheated.
I run my hand down his face, fingers grazing over the slight indent his cheek always had from a childhood accident.
My vision blurs as tears roll down my cheeks. Craig blinks slowly and shoves his head further into my hand, grunting softly. When I don't respond with more strokes, he sticks his swollen grey tongue out of his mouth and swipes it across my face, wiping away my tears by replacing them with a thick trail of saliva.
"What's going on?" A familiar voice asks.
I turn and hurriedly wipe my tears, hoping they didn't see them.
"Hey, pillow princess." Henrietta's eyes lock onto my tearful eyes. Her mouth twitches like she's about to point it out but instead, she punches my arm, "why'd you leave us back there?"
"Oh uh-"
"It was all my idea," karen interrupts, "spur of the moment thing. I totally would've invited you if I had the chance."
Henrietta furrows her brows a little like she doesn't believe it, but doesn't question it any further.
Bouncing on their heels, firkle peeks out from behind the taller goth, eyes not staying still for more than three seconds.
"Have you seen kenny anywhere? I think he's got an admirer." Henrietta ruffles her friend's hair.
"I'll go find him." Karen smiles before skipping off.
Henrietta crouches down slightly and whispers something to Firkle, who pouts but nods and runs off after my girlfriend. Leaning against a low wall running along the outside of the destroyed lab, Henrietta beckons for me to come closer.
"When did you guys get here?" I ask.
"Not long ago. I wasn't here for the attack but I got here before they rescued you," she replies, "you seem really shaken up. Are you okay?"
"I don't know." I admit.
Then, the impossible happens.
Henrietta wraps her arms around me and pats my back gently while I sob loudly into her shoulder. Comfortingly, she rocks us slightly back and forth and brushes my short hair out of my eyes when necessary. Within seconds, the majority of Henrietta's arm is soggy from my tears.
"You'd better not get any snot on me." She warns.
I quickly wipe my nose with my arm just in case, "sorry."
Out of nowhere, there's an explosion from inside the lab that gets the ground shaking so much I fall into Henrietta. With ringing ears, I look around to see if anyone else noticed it - thinking it may be ptsd, but much to my relief, other people are looking around confused or picking themselves up off the floor.
"What the fuck was that?" Henrietta asks.
"There must've been a late bomb inside. We should get out of here."
"I've got a truck not far away. We can take that back to the closest base."
"Sounds like a plan. Stay here, I'll go and find the others."
After receiving a nod from the goth, I run off in the vague direction Firkle and Karen went. There are people everywhere, dead, injured, helping the injured, killing zombies that are getting too close. It's impossible to focus on one person because it's so crowded that by the time you pick one person, five or so others have gotten in between you.
"Karen?" I yell. My voice is immediately drowned out by another explosion from the lab. "Karen! Firkle!"
Panic spreads amongst everyone. Screaming and running attracts the nearby zombies, which slowly start crawling closer and closer to the crowd. Gunshots fire and blood is splattered as random survivors attempt to hold them back. It isn't enough. Within minutes, we're going to be swarmed with the undead.
"Karen!" I yell again, voice burning.
Faintly, I hear Firkle yelling for Henrietta. They're close.
"Firkle! I'm coming. Keep yelling!"
Their voice is wobbly, clearly crying. I can hardly hear them over the noise of those around me. Have to keep trying.
My feet pound on the dying grass, heart pounds in my chest. The ground shakes. Another explosion.
"Firkle!" I scream.
"Tricia!" They call back. Very close. "We're behind the bush."
Right by my feet is a tall hedge covered in rotting flesh. The smell is awful, so awful I have to bend over and throw up right there.
Small sobs come from behind the plant and when I peer round, all I can see is Firkle's back.
"Hey firk, you okay?" I ask. "Where's Karen?"
Without answering, Firkle shifts slightly to the side.
Karen's body is lying on the ground, throat covered in blood. Red drips from her slightly parted blue lips which match her unfocused eyes, staring at nothing in particular.
Torn and tatted, her clothes lie limply on her body, so ruined that they barely cover her skin, revealing bloody cuts, surfacing bruises and deep tooth marks.
"Oh my god..." I drop to my knees. "I can't lose you now, baby, we've come so far!"
With a shaking hand, I press my finger to her neck. Luckily her the cut on her throat doesn't reach the bit where her pulse is. It's slow, but it's there.
"Trish?" Firkle's small voice asks.
"Help me pick her up."
"Is she okay?"
"Help me pick her up." I repeat.
Nervously, firkle reaches over me and lifts her head from the ground. They cradle it gently, brushing thistles and branches out of her tangled hair as I bend down to pick up her legs. Unconscious people are a lot heavier than they look.
As carefully yet quickly as we can, Firkle and I carry karen through the bustling crowd, weaving in and out of trees and people. Not too far away, Henrietta is scanning the area for us, standing on her tiptoes to try and see more.
"Henrietta! Come help!" I yell, luckily grabbing her attention.
Her face drops when she sees us carrying a body, and she starts running over immediately. She takes Karen's head from Firkle and hands them her keys.
"Go to the van. Green keys." She orders.
"I'm fucking colourblind."
"Fuck's sake kid." I grab the keys from Firkle and pass them her legs, "I'll do it."
The van isn't parked too far away and we get there relatively quickly. They put Karen in the back seat and jump in the front. I sit in the back with Karen, her head on my lap so I can stroke her hair and try to clean up the blood from her throat so we can go from there.
Henrietta starts up the truck and pulls out of the small gap in the trees she parked in. People outside bang on the windows, begging to be let in, screaming and pleading until their voices are too sore. Heartless, we drive past them.