Short Story: Zombified Flesh

Warning: This contains fictional violence and disturbing themes

The blood was running down my face faster than my legs moved below me.
I was charging through the abandoned buildings, weaving in and out of them in an attempt to escape their pursuit.
The corpses were close behind me, refusing to let up as I jumped over the rubble, almost tripping in my plea for survival.

The entire city had collapsed, the graveyards erupted, the corpses ran through the streets as a virus took over.
It slowly infected the people, one by one. Until it finally starting to kill.
Those buried after the virus death came back, breaking their way out of their coffins and flooding the streets.

These zombies were infectious.
One bite and you’re bound to die, only to come back alive as one of them.

There weren’t many people truly alive anymore.
Most people were hiding in bunkers, hoping the corpses wouldn’t find a way to break in.
Hoping they wouldn’t run out of food, water, supplies necessary to survive.

I was one of the few who decided to stay above ground.
All the others were already dead or infected.
I was all alone as the infected buried themselves early so that it didn’t spread.
We were all fighting together, even in the grave we were trying our hardest to keep humanity alive.

As I ran, I had a horde of the corpses on me.
I felt like I was in a game, in a movie. In one of the many stories written about this situation.
But this wasn’t entertainment, this wasn’t a nightmare, I was running for my life.

This city used to be my home, now it was overgrown with vines, zombies and the endless streams of blood and guts.

My knife was never going to protect me, it only took one drop of their saliva in an open wound for me to be infected. And a knife would be make me too close to use it.

With all the scrapes, cuts and bruises littering my body, any contact with them would immediately infect me. No matter how careful and precise I was.

But even with my hardest attempts to avoid all contact with them, one finally grabbed me.

I wondered for a moment if it was someone I knew, making me hesitate as they wrapped their rotten arms around me before I plunged the blade into them.

I was able to rip away and continue running from the rest of them as I felt on injuries on my body.

I didn’t know if they could smell me or not, but when I ducked into another building, hiding and controlling my breathing. They seemed to pass by, not noticing where I had gone.

I laid low for a moment until I knew they were gone.
By now my throat was burning and no water would stop it.
I tried my hardest to ignore it as the dust and dirt always did it to me, but it only getting worse.

My hands trembled as I searched around the building, unable to figure out what it used to be.
I felt nauseous as I momentarily collapsed on a wall, dizziness taking over me before I steadied myself and continued to quietly look around.

I wiped the sweat of my cold face as I ventured down a flight of stairs, the darkness slowly taking over but now fully submerging me.

There wasn’t much to see, it seemed like a normal basement attached to someones house.
A few boxes were stacked up, a few random tools and things. But nothing that could really come in handy.

I shivered as I sat down on the floor, unable to tell the temperature of the room.
The colours, even in the dark looked off.
The bright red scarf I’ve had clung around my neck for the past week looked grey, my tan coloured pants were now white.
I looked like my skin was glowing in the shadows.

I could smell my own blood, hear my own heartbeat as it started to slow down.
I knew the sun would be starting to set soon, so I didn’t want to go back outside.
But I felt like I couldn’t breathe, like I was being strangled. I needed air.

But I knew what was happening.
I didn’t even see a drop land on me.
I didn’t feel any pain, I was barely in contact.

I was infected.

I wrapped my arms around myself as I trembled on the hard floor.
I felt like I could hear the corpses in the streets, I could smell their decayed flesh and the blood in their teeth.

Colours faded to nothing but black and white as my vision blurred.
My breathing was becoming more rapid as I tried to get enough air in.
I could still hear my pulse as it continued to slow and skip beats.

I struggled to my feet, pushing myself off the ground and picking up a chain.
It felt way too heavy for me, but I was able to tie it around myself.

I laid back against the wall, slouching down after I chained myself to it.
I wouldn’t die just to come back as one of them, I wouldn’t make the survivors chances down down, even if it was only one.
One was enough to get me.

The fever took over as I started to hallucinate.
My body violently shaking before as I heaved for air before I fell still.
My body slowly losing its feeling as it started to accept the virus.

I did what I could, now it was up to someone else.