II. Resurgence
Febuary 2, 2036
"Why do you have to leave, mom?"
"Dad wants me to help with something really important. You stay here and behave, okay?"
"But what if the bad guys get you?"
"Don't worry, sweetheart. I'll be fine."
"Ah!"
I shot up from the ground. Agh, my head hurts, it pounds as if someone swung a sledgehammer on my head. I felt weak, really weak. It's like my body is slowly giving because of all the adrenaline that rushed across it. Except, this weakness felt different.
I have entered many situations where I came so close to dying. A grenade almost blowing me up, a bullet barely missing that could've hit me, and knife fights where I almost get myself shanked. Even then, the fatigue I felt after those close calls was nothing compared to this overwhelming feeling of my body parts about to split apart.
Jesus, what happened?
Just at that moment, it came back to me. The chase, the gunfight, and the escape. It happened so fast I could barely keep my head in the moment. Something stung on my shoulder, it felt as though something bit me. As soon as I checked though, I saw things differently, literally. My vision had a light tint of red. This is weird. I went in to rub my eyes when I felt a thick, sticky liquid on my hands. A cold shudder went up my body when I saw... Blood? Okay, this is getting a little scary. What really scared me was what I saw when I made out what I saw on my shoulder, a bite mark.
Holy fuck, I remember what happened before I passed out, the zombie pouncing on me. That's what this was.
The Bite
I was bitten.
But... I am awake?
No, This is impossible. I haven't heard of a single guy that walked off a bite without degrading into a cannibalistic psycho. I'm supposed to be walking around, going to whatever made a sound and maybe tearing apart whoever who made it. I'm supposed to be reduced to nothing but a hollow shell for the parasite to use as to infect more living beings. This virus acts fast, infecting the brain within mere minutes, yet I'm standing, thinking thoughts and fully aware of what's happening. Wait, what happened to those guys I left inside that room? Did they survive like I did?
I went to the door, pistol in hand. and slowly opened it. The moment I opened the door was when I was in complete shock. The pursuers didn't turn out like me, that part I knew, that was the part I was betting on when I escaped. The part that really shocked me was this: The whole room was filled with the zombies I let inside, yet not a single one of them seemed to smell, or even realize I was there. I decided to try something stupid, going near them. I inched close to the nearest zombie. You'd think that at this point they would sense and attack me now that I'm close, right? No, they didn't. It was as if they think Im one of them.
I'm not sure how this is happening, but I'll to worry this later, I need to get out of here!
I grabbed my weapons and got outside. I made sure to move as quietly and quickly as possible.
Why won't this car go any faster? I grabbed the radio and push the button.
"Johan? Johan do you copy?"
No response.
"Johan, come in buddy."
Buzzzzzz
What the fuck happened, man? Did you get curb stopped?
Damn man I knew this was a bad idea. Why, Johan, in your right mind, did you decide that stealing from a heavily armed squad was gonna be a good idea?
I light up a cigarette and smoke, it calms down my mood.
Lambert, in all my years of knowing you, this was the dumbest idea you've had.
"Something on your mind?"
I sigh, admitting to it.
"You know how I get about these things, Selina."
She looks at me with sympathy.
"I do, but you also know that we need this, its the best bet we have if we wanna keep our band alive."
"Stealing from a Heavily armed group with mass amounts of resources? More Specifically, The Greenskins? You and Johan should have understood that these guys are not some pussies with guns. They are savages who, as far as we know, could shit on anyone they wanted."
"We're desperate, Nathan! How long do you think our band can keep itself together without food, or even weapons to keep ourselves safe? There was literally nowhere else that had enough supplies that would suffice for our numbers. Why don't you understand that?"
I take a deep sigh as I look at her. She wore a grey shirt and cargo pants, with a bullet proof vest over the shirt. She's frustrated, and rightfully so. We haven't been ourselves for the past few days, and this supply raid was our hope that kept us going. With the chance of losing our friend, and the aforementioned supplies, it's hard to keep it together. My thoughts are interrupted when I saw smoke, the kind that would come from a fire. Immediately, I changed gears and accelerated the car.
"What are you doing?!" Selina asks after the sudden speed-up.
"I have a feeling that fire is worth checking out."
While we driving towards the smoke, I noticed a couple of things that weren't supposed to be normal in an abandoned city like this: There were bullet casings, craters that looked like a grenade blew up there, tire tracks, and pieces of a car scattered, like some it had been chipped off.
"What're you thinking?" Selina asks, probably noticed that I observing the details on the road.
"A car chase. It probably involved bullets and explosives." I deduced.
"Didn't Johan have people chasing him? I heard gunfire and explosions across his radio." Selina remarked.
Wait, that was probably what this all is. Which would mean that the fire I saw was...
"Oh my God." I realized.
As I said that, we arrived at the source of the fire. It was car that was flipped over on its side, windows broken and dents, which looked like it was damaged due to heavy gun fire. It was one of those handmade bullet-resistant cars that, compared to a military variant of a humvee, had a less durable frame than itss own inspiration. We got out of the car with our weapons, should anyone with a grudge against us decide to act up. After we got out, we saw a man running towards the vehicle. He looked like he had the worst day of his life, his hair looked all messy, his pants and army-green jacket tattered and bloody, and he was limping the whole time he was running, as we got closer, though, we realized he was heading towards the vehicle. Not only that, but I also noticed one tiny detail, there was blood on his one of his shoulders, a little too much. Then I saw it. Even from a distance I could tell, It was a bite mark.
I know what I have to do.
I aimed my rifle and fired, but the shot missed. The man saw us and stared for a second, and then ducked into cover behind the car.
"What the fuck, Nathan?!" The man yelled.
That voice. I know that voice.
"Johan?! Is that you?" Both Selina and I exclaimed.
"Yeah, Maybe check who your firing at before pulling the trigger you assholes!" He retorted as he came out his cover.
Selina looked alarmed when she saw the bite mark.
"You're bitten, you even looked like you turned already!" She exclaimed.
"Its been an hour since I've been bitten." Johan said calmly.
"But how did you-"
"Look, I don't know either but the virus probably kept some of my brain intact but thats all I can think of right now. We need to get out now because more of the guys who chased me are coming."
We ran far from the crash site, going towards an empty building. Going inside, Johan Drew his pistol and scouted the area to make sure the place was secure. i was waiting for him when selina asked me a question i've had since we saw Johan:
"Should we trust Johan?"
To be honest, Im not quite sure what to think. On one hand, Johan has been infected for the last hour yet he can speak clearly and even has his instincts. On the other hand, however, he is still infected and the virus, from what I've seen, is clearly unpredictable and this might be a possible mutation. We're not to sure as to what might happen, or what will go wrong. Right now, We'll have to wait and see, because we would get ripped into two by a couple of greenskins if we dont hide.
"Let's wait and see, He could be our best asset at the moment." I answered her
She nodded hesitantly, and went to the other side of the room.
Just then Johan returned.
"Building's secure." He informed.
We went inside. Just in time, In fact, as we heard more cars pass by, probably towards the crash site to salvage something, and you know, rip johan into two.
Johan sat down and sighed. Looking at him now, I noticed a few more things. His eyes are a pink-ish red, his skin is a light gray, like a body you would see at someone's wake. Damn, he looks worse than I thought. There were bullet holes on his legs, bruises all over, and the bite mark being bigger than I what I viewed it from a distance. It's as if his body was rotting, even with his brain and conscience intact. Despite this, his seemed to be relatively fine, apart from the previously mentioned features. His voice is also unnaturally deep.
"How are you feeling, bud?" I asked.
"Not great. I feel like shit." He complained.
"What happened to the supplies?" Seline inquired.
"They burned up with the car. I couldn't do anything about it."
sigh
"So what now? we wait until they leave and have another go at it?" she asked.
"Absolutely fucking not." I said firmly.
"I'm not gonna get us all killed. Look at Johan, if he hadn't survived the infection, he would've been a walking corpse like all the other infected. We can't risk it all again knowing that he practically died and that we would've, too."
"But-"
'He's right, Selina." Johan Agreed.
"We need to find some other place to raid." Johan suggested.
"But where?" I asked.
"I don't know, but we'll have to figure that out later. Right now, our main focus should be staying alive."
Sigh
This is gonna take awhile...
To be continued...
