Chapter 11

I watched, unable to move, as Stacy screamed in agony while Samuel….. An infected, ate her. He tore through her neck and was feasting on her vocal cords. Stacy became still. Other infected swarmed the storage closet.

Finally, I felt like I could move. I pointed my guns at the swarm of infected and rushed in. They came at me from all sides. I kept going. One by one, the infected fell. None came within five feet of me. Finally, when I searched for infected, my guns raised, I found none.

I took a look into the storage closet and found nothing but dead, eaten bodies. I feel the walls around my heart crack but I hold them together. Now isn't the time to get emotional. Now is the time to live.

I turn away and head to the exit, refusing to look back. I swing open the door and the horde of infected I had anticipated would be out there attacked. I wasted no time unloading my magazines into any infected I saw as I tried to process the little boy from earlier.

Is it a bite that makes you infected? Is that why, when an infected person eats a human, they become infected? But if that's true, then how the hell did the first infected come to exist? I checked my leather holster and winced.

One magazine left for each gun. Not bad but not too good either. I sighed and looked to my left and smiled. Its that military jeep Samuel had picked me up in. I ran to the jeep and checked. They keys were exactly where he'd said they were.

I put the keys into the ignition and the engine roars to life. I smirk as I step on the gas and speed away from the military facility. I follow the roads, not really bothering to pay attention to which streets I'm going down until I see smoke in the distance.

No way in hell I'm going that way. Every infected is going to head towards there like a moth to a flame. "Farah!" A voice cried out. I clenched my jaw when I recognized the voice.

I step out of the jeep, shoving the keys into my pocket. "Walk away." I command, my voice cold. Mike looks distressed but I couldn't honestly give a fuck. "Please, just listen." He begged, tears in the corners of his eyes.

"If I listen, you will leave of your own accord and never approach me again?" I ask, my voice is still cold. He nodded his head vigorously and I sighed."Go ahead." I say.

"Grace and TJ are stuck in the burning building! Another group went in to raid it and when they saw we were inside, they fire bombed the place and ran off. They're both gonna die! You have to help them!" Mike pleaded.

"Like you all helped me?" I asked coldly. His face turned pale and he looked away, once again refusing to look me in the eye. I approach him. I take a gun out of one of my holsters and pressed it against his forehead.

He said nothing and just closed his eyes. "Whats to stop me from blowing your brains out?" I asked coldly.

"Nothing. I deserve it. But they don't. I'm the one who convinced them to betray you and when you left, they immediately tried to go after you but I convinced them that staying with me was in their best interest. They don't deserve to die so please don't let them!" He replied, tears rolling down his cheeks.

He'd convinced me to save them. However, I didn't actually buy the whole, 'Oh, it's all my fault! Don't punish the innocent for my crime!' act. It was so obviously a lie. The only reason I agreed to save them was so that they would owe me one in the future.

I put my gun back in its holster. "Lets go save them." I say. He stands quickly and follows nervously behind me as if he thinks I am going to change my mind. We make our way to the burning building and I sigh. This is gonna be a pain in my ass.

Twelve minutes later, I was right. We stood at the entrance to the last floor, this being our last hope at finding Grace and TJ. At least, for him. I couldn't care less what happens to them. Mike carries a crow bar he found on the first floor.

As we made our way though a hallway on this last floor, a scream echoes. "Help!" A voice shouts. TJ. I whip around and bolt down the hallway. The others may be assholes but the only person I might forgive is TJ.

She is the only one who showed any sign of regret for what she did. Mike shouted, "Wait for me!" But behind me, I heard groans as zombies appear out of nowhere and Mike gets swarmed. I didn't bother helping him. He's a big boy and can handle himself.

If he's not…. Oh well. "Stop!" I hear TJ scream. I follow the screams up a set of stairs and am on the roof. I see Grace and TJ tied up, Grace with a gag in her mouth and TJ with her gag shaken loose. I hear footsteps behind me and before I can react, I feel like my stomach is being ripped in two.

I look down and see a wooden stake protruding from my stomach. "Shit." I mutter in surprise. "Farah!" TJ screams. "Stupid bitch." A woman says as she places the gag back in TJ's mouth. The wooden stake is pulled out of my stomach and I fall to my knees in pain.

The woman turns towards whoever fucking stabbed me and says, "Tie her up. She'll go after loud-mouth." The woman glares down at me in disdain and walks off. The guy ties me up in a rope and pushes me down next to TJ.

I struggle to reach into my back pocket where my pocket knife is when I hear the woman hang up her phone. "Bring loud-mouth here. Boss says to just get rid of 'em." A man grabs TJ and drags her to the edge of the building.

I immediately become panicked as an unfamiliar feeling wells up inside me. I finally manage to grab the pocket knife and I start sawing at the ropes that tied my hands together. I watch as they tie a rope around tie the end to a pole.

All of a sudden, they push her off the building. I watch in horror, thinking she was dead until I saw the strain on the rope. She was still alive, just dangling a hundred feet in the air. I see one guy look over the edge and smirk.

He pulls a knife from his pocket and begins sawing at the rope. I saw faster and the rope slices. I wiggle my hands free and jump to my feet, despite the pain in my stomach. I grab my guns out from their holsters and shoot everyone I see.

Another guy with a gun fires at me, hitting me in my left ankle. I ignore the pain and blow his brains out. The lady from earlier waves goodbye as she jumps off the building. I look over the edge and find nothing.

Not her remains nor any signs of her life. Odd. I holster my guns and run as fast as I can, despite my bleeding ankle, to the rope as I see it begin to snap. I kneel down and try to hold the ends together, but I can't.

The rope snaps and suddenly, I'm dangling over the edge of the building, holding the rope TJ is attached to in one hand and keeping us from falling to our deaths with the other. I almost immediately let go. I am not a strong person, but I am not weak either.

However, holding myself and another person up with one hand while having a hole in my stomach and ankle that's oozing blood and hurts like hell is too much, even for me. I feel my grip on the rope keeping us from falling to our demise slip slightly.

TJ tries to say something with tears in her eyes but I can't understand through the gag. I feel the tendons in my arms strain and threaten to snap as the weight becomes nearly impossible to bear. I hear a familiar voice and am thankful that Mike can handle himself.

I hear him cut Grace loose and they bolt to us. "H-Holy shit!" Mike shouted in alarm. I glare daggers at him and he gulps. "Mike, reach down and grab my shoulder and pull me upwards. Grace, do the same with the rope." I order.

Mike reaches down and grabs my shoulder. When he and Grace are in position, I say, "Now!" They begin to pull and I feel like they are ripping my body in half. Despite this, I don't let go. I hold on to the ropes as tight as I can, not daring to loosen my grip in the slightest.

After what seems like an eternity, they finally pull me over the edge and Mike takes the rope TJ is tied to and pulls her up. The last thing I see before I pass out from the excruciating pain is TJ, now freed from the ropes, sobbing above me.