The Mansion

"It can't be a bite…probably just looks like one," Aran thought, tossing the thought to the back of his mind, not wanting to imagine such a thing happening.

It was obvious that apart from the bleeding on his shoulder, Fred had also strained the muscles on his feet as he struggled to even stand properly on both feet.

"Yeah Gary, Please help him. We shouldn't have to amputate his arm from his shoulder just to save his life," Aran replied in mock hurry, gesturing to Gary in a rush with his good right hand.

"How can we survive with two disabled people in our group?" 

"Our group? You ungrateful bastard!" Fred cursed about to fully erupt in anger when Gary intervened.

"SHUT IT…" Gary yelled loud enough for the normal zombies still struggling to climb over each other on the other side of the gate to hear…and turn to stare straight at him before growling louder doing everything they could to climb over it.

Still, that didn't in any way change how clumsy most of them were as they kept falling off before even getting halfway up it.

With the many wounds, and tears on them, the only reason most of their bodies still functioned at all was that their bodies were simply empty shells, and only a tiny portion of their brains still kinda worked.

"I shot that mutated zombie twice. There'll be more coming after us, with even more mutated ones, especially with this small crowd," Gary said pointing at the zombies on the other side of the gate while also looking around him, to ensure they didn't get sneaked up on by any new ones.

"Both of you are in no condition to be fighting each other," Gary said, having already gotten a bandage out of his bag, the last remaining one he had, and gently binding Fred's wounds as his hands visibly shook as he did so.

The possibility of Fred turning, slowly dawned on him, unable to imagine what he would do if that ever happened.

"I can't kill another human again…I can't," Gary thought, zoning off for a while before he came back to himself when he heard Fred coughing.

"Kurgh…Kurf…"

"What's wrong?" Gary asked, staring even more intensely at Fred.

"Nothing. It must have been the lingering effects of the jump," Fred replied, removing the hand he had placed over his mouth, and hiding it in his pocket before straightening up back to his human form.

"We should get going. I'm worried about this place. Since we got in, regardless of the sounds we made, we haven't heard or seen a single zombie. Don't you guys think it's weird?" Fred asked, speaking in a hurry, as he began to physically move, dragging his left leg slightly behind him.

"True,"

"Yeap, seeing a zombie is the new normal," Aran replied agreeing with Gary as he walked behind both him and Fred. 

Even if Fred was now injured, amongst all of them, he was still the most useless, especially since even if they handed him a gun or any object he still wouldn't be able to use it.

"We should go past the large lawn up to the huge…errmm, mansion," Gary said, settling on the most adequate way to describe the gigantic house and mini-forest-like surroundings they now found themselves in.

Just the runway leading to the house, with short trees on every side, was long enough to be designated as a carpark.

"Keep your gun ready…even if there are no zombies, there might be other people there," Fred warned and Aran instantly spoke, his eyes sparkling with hope and curiosity.

"Isn't that a good thing? I mean in these strange times shouldn't the rest of us stick together?"

"Oh…I hope you really don't find out just how Zombie-like some humans can be," Fred absentmindedly replied, keeping his gaze mostly on Gary, while doing his best to resist the urge to cough, which he so desperately wanted to do.

Gary on the other hand said nothing and simply continued walking forward, while also stealing glances at Fred whom he now felt he had to pay extra attention to.

They walked steadily for a while with the three of them paying attention to every minute sound around them, including the fluttering of the wind.

Finally, they had only gotten to the bottom stairs leading up to the big silver mansion in front of them when the three of them unexpectedly heard the cocking sounds of guns from various directions, even from behind them.

"Raise your hands and drop your weapons?" A feminine voice said in a deadpan tone from behind Aran, which made him instantly raise his good hand.

Aran was shocked to feel the cold metal of what he knew to be a gun against the back of his head for the second time that day, unable to do anything but mutter to himself in a low tone, under his breath.

"I have only one good working hand and I'm not even holding a weapon," he grumbled, a little surprised to see Gary and Fred in front of him still holding their weapons, even if they now held them out beside them.

"I won't repeat myself again. Drop your weapons, or I'll blow this one's head even if it's obvious that he's barely hanging by a thread," the female voice spoke again, with Aran staring hard enough at Fred's head to bore a hole into it as he felt the woman behind him, press the gun harder into his skull.

Seconds passed, and all Aran could do was look on in frightful shock as Fred still continued to firmly hold on to his gun, even if Gary slightly lowered his.