Nowhere is Safe

"OH GOD," he breathed the moment he turned his head back, only to come face to face with a teenage zombie girl holding a heavy bat.

Anything else and he would have had a different reaction than the one he had the second he laid eyes on the skinny and short zombie, half his height which he would have had no problems killing but for the different mutations on her body.

Her body was completely covered in hair and from the huge metallic bat she carried effortlessly in her hand, Aran knew he was in trouble.

"FR…", Aran opened his mouth to scream but he had barely begun when he saw a huge bat heading his way, faster than his exercise-lacking body could react to.

Before he could take in another breath, he felt the bat smash into his left arm and all he knew was pain.

"AAaaah…" he screamed in a loud voice forgetting for a second that in the new world he found himself in, attracting attention to one's self regardless of the situation was like asking for death.

By then, Gary and Fred had turned around with Fred instantly attacking the beast-like girl while Gary ran quickly to Aran, still-screaming body on the ground.

The first thing, Gary did was stuff Aran's mouth with a rag from his bav without a thread of emotion leaking from his face as he looked down at the damage on Aran's arm.

"He's going to lose it," Gary thought but still he knew better than to show his thoughts on his face as he scrambled to take a cloth from his bag wrapping Aran's entire arm up and tying it around his neck, as he listened to him groan with the rag still in his mouth.

It took only a few seconds for Gary to wrap Aran's arm and an extra few for Aran to finally calm down and open his eyes to look up at him.

"Get up…" Gary told him in a commanding voice, unlike his usual friendly tone, not showing any of the fear he felt, having been watching Fred battle the small zombie for a while, especially since all Fred had done was struggle to defend himself against it.

Fred too was covered with what seemed to be brown and thick fur, his hands became strong claws, his height increased by more than two feet, yet somehow the girl's strength wasn't at all inferior to the one he showed.

In her hand was a metallic bat which she raised and flung at Fred three times in one second. Whatever she lacked in power she made up with speed and Fred with his new size seemed to understand that compared to her small size, he was a huge target she had no trouble hitting.

His face squished together in pain, Aran struggled to stand, getting himself off the ground the moment he noticed how Gary's full attention was no longer on him. 

Biting the inside of his lips until he drew blood, to stop himself from making a sound, as a consistent piercing pain shot through his entire left arm all the way to his shoulder the second he got to his feet.

"Fred has a sign?" Was the first thing Aran said when he noticed the new look Fred had, with the only thing unchanged on his body being his head.

"Probably a bear sign," Aran wondered.

"Yeah, but it doesn't seem to be working. Moreover, it's dangerous to fight the mutated ones. The longer you fight them, the more zombies would be drawn to you,"

"Can't we just run away?" Aran thought, about to open his mouth and ask when he instantly crushed the thought in his mind,

With the speed the zombie displayed, Fred who had a sign along with Gary who was completely fine, he would be the slowest. 

He wouldn't even be surprised if the zombie decided to pounce on him first the moment they all decided to run especially since it seemed like it had sneaked up on them on purpose.

"What about your gun?" Aran suddenly asked, wanting to hit himself wondering why he didn't think of it before,

"No. I shouldn't use it. It would attract a lot of noise and all the effort we've been doing for the past hour trying to avoid zombies would be for nothing," Gary replied shaking his head from side to side to show how much he didn't agree with that option,

"But with the noise, they're making it's obvious that we're already attracting attention even if it's taking them time to get here…" Aran responded not bordering to hide how nervous and worried that made him feel.

The moment more zombies showed up, depending on their numbers, Gary would still be fine but he currently only had one hand, and even when he had two he had been kind of useless.

"We need to do something to give Fred an edge in this fight and we have to do it quickly," Aran said, looking over at Fred, already noticing the signs of tiredness seeping out of his body. 

He had been fighting with his full strength and considering that the zombie he fought, was technically no longer human, the longer the fight went on, the more Fred would be at a disadvantage.

Gary too noticed this and he couldn't help the sigh that came out of his throat as he reached for the gun he kept at the side of his bag.

It was a pistol and smaller than the longer weapon Fred asked him to use which he could also use to deflect zombie attacks from himself.

"I'll help him. You can stay here," Gary told Aran before slowly moving forward to help.

Aran though had no intention of doing that. He had no intention of even being two steps away from either Fred or Gary if he could help it.

"Nowhere is safe," he thought with a shudder, the electrifying pain in his left arm serving as a constant reminder, as blood slowly soaked the cloth Gary had used in tying it.