Infected inside

Infected inside (chapter 11)

I woke up around five in the morning and got dressed. I pulled on my white jumper, my jeans and my trainers. Living in an apocalyptic world with zombies at every turn wanting to tear into your flesh certainly made sure you never slept soundly ever again, even after realising the whole world had not been infected and living normally for the last year had not helped. It had taken me months to get used to sleeping in a soft bed again and to not jump at every sudden noise I heard. I still slept with the blade Liam had given me, under my pillow.

I made my way to the bathroom and washed my face and brushed my teeth. I didn’t wear makeup, I hadn’t bothered since the zombie outbreak. Living like that really taught you how to appreciate the small things in life and how pointless most things we did were. My dyed blonde hair fell into my eyes, it had grown almost down to my hips and had soft natural waves to it. My dark blue eyes looked tired and haunted. I stopped looking at how awful I looked and finger combed my hair before pulling it back into a ponytail. Grabbing my parka coat I pulled it on and went to meet Danny.

I knocked softly and then remembered how flipping early it was and how pissed people got when you woke them up. I started to slowly back away but the door pulled open and Danny was there dressed and ready. I should have realised he would most likely be the same as me because Liam had been that way a long time before the zombies and had said being in war f****d with your sleep and it was never the same after.

“Morning Gracie, you ready to go?”

I nodded and grabbed the ham sandwich he shoved into my hands and took a bite while he closed the door behind himself and pulled on his own coat. Danny was attractive for his age I had noticed. From the pictures I had seen of him younger, he was one of those people who got better looking the older they got. He had unusually green piercing eyes and the grey hair somehow suited him perfectly.

We started walking and I got lost in my thoughts. I had never been good at knowing states or counties and my dad used to always tease me about it. That’s why I couldn’t name the state WIC were in, I honestly didn’t know where we were I just recognised it from when WIC had flown me in on the helicopter. They had come all the way to England to get me and take me away from my state or was that county? Pfft this was why I was not going to ask Danny where we were, I wanted to cling to what tiny shred of pride I had left even if it was something as silly as not knowing what state we were in, what I did know was that we were in America and people seemed so much more friendlier and welcoming here.

The only person I had been open with about my vulnerabilities besides my parents had been Liam. I remembered talking to him about the zombie outbreak and explaining I had seen how it all started with the BHS company, he had looked at me confused and as I explained everything that had happened in greater detail dawning had lit his eyes and he had stopped me, explaining that BHS was a false name the WIC company worked under so that they could go undetected in experimenting and working on unethical and inhumane projects. An old marine friend of his had asked for help in investigating and whether he would be willing to come help get proof but the virus had spread much to fast before they had time to do anything.

I was also great at confusing people so I apologise if I didn’t clear up why I went from calling them the BHS company to the WIC company probably should have explained that a lot earlier. I giggled to myself and stopped immediately when Danny looked at me like I was a crazy person. We were walking through the town, the only thing I loved about winter was when it was so dark outside and the lights from the streets and the shops were brightly lit in the dark giving of this cosy look.

We reached the base and again went around the back and slowly made our way over to the fence. Just like Danny had written down the guards left their posts and made way for lunch at around eleven. There were three guards left but where they were posted wasn’t where we needed to go anyway. I was wondering how we would get through the fence as it was thick steel metal and not a thin wiry fence like the one Liam had clipped a hole into for me when saving my life. I watched as Danny pulled out something, I don’t even know what the hell it was just that it cut through the fence like butter, well maybe a bit tougher than butter. The noise it made luckily wasn’t loud enough or close enough to alert the guards or anyone else and once we were sure no one had grown suspicious we climbed through.

We crept along the grass and hid behind crates. I saw the door I had escaped from the day WIC had brought me here and we started making our way over to it slowly. We were almost there when we heard people coming and we backed away. There was no cover and nowhere to hide and I was about to start hyperventilating when Danny grabbed my arm and pulled me over to a drain cover. He started lifting it up and I helped him, climbing in when he indicated for me to go first. I climbed halfway down the ladder and waited for him, watching as he dragged the lid back over the hole putting us into darkness. I started to move down the ladder again and almost slipped and lost my grip, hand slipping against the wet feeling ladder. I caught my balance again and finished the last few steps before finally reaching the floor.

I felt scared being in the darkness, this wasn’t just dark like it got outside at night when there were no street lamps around, this was utterly pitch black. I jumped like a wimp when Danny glared a light in my face. I looked down to his hand and saw it was a torch. He handed me another from his backpack and he winked at me, “always come prepared for the unexpected.”