Fearing The Unknown

—Night—

Seeing the crowd of strangers appear so suddenly, Jessica stood up and talked to prove she is not a monster.

"Ahhh, Wait! wait! Wait! Hold on. I'm not going to hurt you. Okay. I'm just trying to figure out what the hell is going on with me."

The stranger with the shotgun, was a tall muscular man that looks like he's in his 30s. With blonde short wavy hair. Wearing a button up white shirt and blue jeans.

" SHUT IT! What are you!?" The stranger with the shotgun said. He made sure that he pumped a shell into the chamber right before they saw her.

"I'm, Ugh… I don't know? All I know is that… food tastes disgusting. And water hurts my throat when I drink it." She struggled to speak as her voice was raspy from drinking the water from before.

"Kid, Have you smoked before? Because you start to sound like. And not just that, cut the Bull-S**t and tell me what Are you!"

Jessica was freaking out not knowing what to do in this situation. Either Tell the truth and she'll end up being shot or Tell a lie to try to convince them. But that isn't really the clearance of answers of whether they're going to shoot her or not.

"I was a student. I had a normal day of school. Until I came back home and all of this fall upon my house. These monsters were at my home. Waiting for me and my parents. My mother died. And my father helped me get out of there before we were overrun. We got out in this car. But before we left. A horde of those… flesh eaters? Surrounded us in that car banging on the window. One of them was my mother. That was, I guess, infected. She busted through the window and bit me. After my father went through the horde I started to pass out as… a fever came over me? And then? Everything went to black and I woke up outside of this car…"

The memory of when she got bit and how she passed out appeared as she spoke. Realizing that her mother. The Flesh Eater that now she is, was the culprit of changing her.

"That's the truth?" No one spoke, as they were quiet. But there wasn't complete silence. In the distance you can hear explosions, gunshots, screams and yells of terror coming from the far in the city. But the closest sounds. Were the monsters. The Flesh eaters. We're near, and getting closer and closer.

"Huh, we have to hurry up. Quick check the car has the parts that we need."

"Got it."

"Uhh, on it."

Two from the group of strangers, started looking around the Tesla as they searched at different places where there would be engine, tires and any other spot to find what they're looking for. Still standing frozen at gunpoint, Jessica was curious, and asked a question.

"What Ummm? What are you guys doing?

Nobody said anything. The two they're around the car working. We're looking around different compartments, different areas and inside the car to salvage anything they can find.

"Found a shotgun, empty though."

"I found a couple of parts that might be useful later on, But do we want to wait on us?"

They straight up ignored her question until she recognized that one of the strangers was a red-haired girl, and the girl was bleeding. The girl wears a tank top revealing her upper chest. She was holding on to her left arm, on the area between the shoulder and the elbow. It seems like she was holding pressure on a cloth on her arm. She might have been wounded, from an earlier time, But while she was holding pressure she left there or her hand away from her arm and looked at the cloth that she was using. And revealed that there was a scratch that I was bleeding lightly. Not as much blood to the point where it's fatal but just leaking a little bit.

The blood… the red… the heart.

Jessica was hypnotized by the bleeding scratch. And a normal time before this all has happened She would have been disgusted or worried of such an injury. But now she was so hypnotized by the red liquid leaking from this girl's scar. For a moment her mouth began to watered and drool, from the side of blood.

The stranger that was holding the gun, Saw the look on Jessica's face. It was a face of obsession. To him he was cautious. Those are the eyes of the monsters that killed his loved ones. And here one child has those eyes talking and speaking properly like a normal person. From his experience, those flesh eaters do mumble, but mostly it was nonsense. But here she was speaking properly. Either that's dangerous or there was hope for the future of humanity. Either way from his personal thoughts, he cannot let his guard down. He could not lose anyone else. And then that face of obsession started to drool, and then her eyes pulse.

"Hey! No funny business." Earlier he did have the shotgun pointed at Jessica, but as the other two started to search the wreckage he lowered his guard for a bit. Now recognized that starving predatory face on Jessica. He pointed the gun again at her and intimidated her. "Kid! Listen to me. You Don't want to act up stupid now." This warning wasn't heard by her. She was so hypnotized by the blood she blocked out everything except for the visual site of the blood.

The blood. The blood. The smell! The taste! Oh, blood! Jessica was overtaken by her strong urge of hunger. And it wasn't just hunger. Whatever force took over her she could not help it. She took one step forward, and everything went to hell.

*BANG!*

He pulled the trigger, the shotgun bursting a slug. And Jessica was hit in the gut, and flew backwards and fell on her back bleeding from the hole in her stomach.

The man breathe heavily as he was slightly panicking. But regain composure by calming down.

" Kid, why were you so stupid!? Didn't you hear me!? God damn it!?" His voice was a mixture of sorrow and rage. He fell to his knees as he lost strength at the realization that he just shot a child. But at the same time he was conflicted that this child had those eyes and like those monsters.

The same eyes that his brother had when he came back home to see their mother. And found his brother eating their mother. It was a confusing conflict of emotions where he tried to be reasonable with his brother, but he didn't realize that he was gone at the moment. After nearly killing his wife. He took action and killed what his brother had become.

On the single day he had killed five people, they were like monsters with those eyes. And here, this fifth person, was the only one that spoke, and it was reasonable, like if they were a normal human being and not like these flesh eating monsters. He was just so confused, so conflicted, he doesn't even know what is morally anymore.

"Frank! Frank! Get up. We got to go!" The red-haired woman still held on to her bleeding wound, and walked up to Frank and patted his shoulder and tried to get him up. "Honey Frank please. I need you to get up. And go with us. We got to go!" She looked at Frank's eyes. And he looked back at her. Coming to realize what they need to do. Frank may have almost lost her this time, but he will protect her as long as he has strength within his body.

Frank got up, still shivering, and pumped the shotgun. "Everyone wrap it up. Those things can hear that shot from everywhere and they are going to come to us. Let's get out of here now!"

The moment he spoke those words nobody didn't expect a phenomenal thing to happen.

*GASPING!*

As a loud gasping of air was spoken out loud behind Frank, a silhouette sprung up as if they were energized immediately. But really it was Jessica still breathing, as She woke up from her new death experience.

Jessica looked around her, her eyes darting left and right. With her hands she patted her stomach and felt a crater within her stomach. She can feel the blood slowly leaking out. At first she was panicking. Breathing heavily as there was now hole in her stomach. The wound stinged the moment she felt it. She was about to yell but her hyperventilating prevented her.

There's one thing on her mind. Get away and run! She tried rolling off of her bottom and trying to get up on her knees and stand up. But even turning her torso. Her stomach sting like the muscle was squeezing and cramping. When she attempted to move the sting of pain electrified her throughout her body commanding her to halt as her body was not paralyzed in pain.

*GROANING!*

Within her groans you can hear a little bit after scream as her voice squeaked a bit, Just buy the amount of pain that she felt just by trying to move. By then she fell back to the ground lying down defenses in a paralyzing pain.

That's when Frank came walking and stopped. Looming over her like a skeletal grim reaper. With a shotgun he held, he pointed the barrel at her forehead.

"I'm sorry kid. I cannot risk losing everything again." Franklin looked deep down into her eyes. That's just how welled up in tears accepting her fate as she closes her eyes.

*BANG!*

*CRUNCH!*

"AHHHHHH!"

Jessica opened up her eyes. Her right ear ringing, from the shotgun blast as a slug Hit the ground beside her. And Frank above her scream in raging pain, as a familiar monster bites his arms.

"Mom!?"