Bitten

Preciliano shouts at Troy who is still frozen in shock.

"Hey Troy! we should move tonight, while I'm still mobile and get you guys out of here!"

Troy looks at his father who's head had been caved in and said.

"he has the key."

Preciliano tells both the ladies.

"hold on for a moment, I'll search his body for the keys to the winnebago."

after letting him go, he kneels down next to seemingly unmoving body, and avoids looking at the head.

"sorry Ryan, I did what I had to."

he searches inside each pants pocket, until he finds it.

"alright, is there anything in the house that we should take with us?"

Kelly answers.

"we packed the winnebago with essentials only, and our vacation house should be filled with food and water that should last us for at least two years."

Preciliano thinks to himself.

"now I see why they wanted to go there instead of trying to hunker down here."

Preciliano looks at the bite on his hand and sighs.

"damn it, my carelessness cost me my life."

Tracy grabs Preciliano's hand and said to Kelly

"we should disinfect this bite."

Kelly agrees.

"let's take him in the winnebago, we placed most of our medical supplies in there."

Preciliano protests.

"you shouldn't waste your medical supplies on me, since I'm already a goner."

Tracy starts dragging him by his hand.

"I don't want to hear you talking like your already dead, let's get that wound clean."

Kelly looks at her dead husband and said.

"you two go on ahead, I want to say a few words to him."

Troy walks past his mom and said.

"we'll wait for you in the winnebago."

they leave the house and quickly get swallowed by the darkness, Preciliano scans the area and comments.

"the street lights are off, so it's safe to say the power gridd is down."

in the distance they hear a couple of growling and moaning sounds, Troy whispers.

"we should hurry inside the winnebago and get moving, or we will end up getting attacked."

they use the light of the moon to guide them to the winnebago, and after Troy unlocks the door for them, he whispers.

"you two head on inside, I'm going to bring my mom so that she doesn't come here alone."

Tracy looks around and quietly asks.

"where are the light in here?"

Preciliano responds.

"I don't think we should turn on any lights, we don't want to risk attracting unnecessary attention to us."

Tracy takes out her cellphone and uses the flashlight on it, to give them some light.

"it's a good thing, I haven't used my phone since yesterday."

Preciliano praises her.

"good thinking sis, I can't believe I didn't think about using the flashlight from my phone."

she scans the interior and sees the couch, a little dining table in between two cushioned seats, and a small kitchen area, and at the very back there is a narrow hallway that leads to a door, she tells Preciliano.

"Percy, sit down and rest, I'll have a look around."

he sits down on the cushioned seats with the small table ih between them and wonders.

"when Troy gets here, I'll have alittle talk with him and make him realize that he can't freeze like that again."

moments later Tracy returns back to Preciliano holding a hydrogen peroxide on one hand and a bandage wrap on the other.

"found what I needed."

she sets them on the counter and then mumbles to herself.

"now for a paper towel."

she finds a roll of paper towels and then places the hydrogen peroxide, the wrapped bandages and the paper towels, on the small table that is in between the two cushioned seats, and sits down across from Preciliano.

"Percy give me your hand, so that I can properly disinfect it."

he sighs and gives her his hand.

"I don't think this will make much of a difference."

she pours some hydrogen peroxide on a small piece of paper towel and replies to Preciliano while gently rubbing it on the bite wound.

"please don't talk like that, I can't afford to think that I already lost you."

tears start rolling down her cheeks.

"we finally got to a place where you and me are talking and getting along."

she wipes the tears with her hand and then starts wrapping his hand with the bandage.

"but of course it became too good to be true and now fate is being cruel and it is going to take you away from me."

after she finished wrapping his hand, Preciliano stands up and said with open arms.

"come here."

Tracy stands up, and as they hug each other, he whispers to her.

"I'm sorry for being a dick to you for these past few years, I shouldn't have pushed you away."

Tracy sobs into his chest.

"I hate you."

Preciliano replies.

"I love you sis."

they pull their heads away and stare deeply into each other's eyes, and just as it seems like they were going to kiss, they are interrupted by the sound of the door opening, Troy who is holding Preciliano's bat, sees them hugging and thinks to himself.

"that bastard grew closer to Tracy, but at at least I don't have to worry about that anymore, once he turns into one of them."

he looks at both of them and asks trying not to sound jealous.

"what did I miss?"

Tracy answers.

"I bandaged his hand again, and he made me cry again by talking Iike he is already dead."

Kelly also enters the winnebago.

"please refrain from such morbid topics Percy, we should just focus on getting to our vacation home."

Preciliano tosses the key to Troy.

"let's get going, while I'm still me."

Troy goes to the front and squeezes through the gap between the two front seats, and sits down on the driver seat, he turns around asks Tracy.

"babe, do you want to sit next to me?"

she responds.

"maybe later, I want to keep an eye on Percy."

Troy grumbles and thinks to himself.

"I hope you die soon Percy, and have Tracy's focus back onto me."

after Troy starts up the winnebago, Preciliano said to Kelly.

"Missus Morgan, can you tie me up somewhere, so when I do become one of them, that I don't attack any of you and it'll be easier for you guys to

put me down."

Tracy protests.

"we aren't tying you up like some animal Percy."

Troy overhears and interjects while still driving.

"Percy has a point, my dad attacked my mom when she went to check up on him, so if he does become one of them then he won't be able to hurt us."

Kelly agrees.

"yeah I agree, but we're only doing it to be just to be cautious."

Tracy feeling bothered about what Preciliano suggested thinks to herself.

"I know, he's only doing it to protect us from himself, but I really wanted to spend his final moments with him, not tied up like some animal."

Kelly wanders off to search what she can use to tie up Preciliano, while Tracy said to him.

"we don't have to tie you right no, we could wait until the fever hits you."

Preciliano asks.

"would that make you feel better?"

she nods.

"a little bit."

he sighs.

"fine, but once the fever sets in, I don't want to hear your complaints."

Kelly returns with some rope and asks.

"you ready Percy?"

he replies while glancing at Tracy.

"about that, I just told my sis that, we could hold off on tying me up until the fever sets in."

Kelly sets the rope on table and replies.

"I'm okay with that."

after a while of Kelly and Tracy interrogating Preciliano on how he is feeling, Troy calls him over.

"yo, Percy can I have a word with you?"

he responds.

"yeah."

he thinks to himself while squeezing through in gap in the seats and sits down on the passenger seat.

"I need to make sure his head is in this, because I need him to be able to protect my sister when I'm gome."

Troy who is focused on the road, points outside the windshield.

"do you see them? they are aimlessly wandering around, they don't seem to understand that this vehicle has people inside."

Preciliano looks out the passenger window, and sees groups of them that come into the view of lights from the headlights walking around, with slumped shoulders.

"I guess they only react to living things, and not inanimate objects like the winnebago."

Troy glances at Preciliano's bandaged hand and asks.

"how does the bite feel?"

Preciliano replies.

"I don't feel pain from the bite itself anymore, but I do feel a weird tickling sensation, running through my body."

he sighs and continues.

"it might be the virus spreading all over my body."

Troy then said.

"I wanted to avoid talking about it, but you haven't given me much choice."

he looks at Preciliano in the eyes.

"you sta away from Tracy, if you really care for her, you shouldn't put her through the pain of losing you."

Preciliano scoffs.

"what, is that all you wanted to say? and here I thought you wanted to talk about something serious."

he asks focused on the road.

"what else would I talk to you about?"

Preciliano shakes his head in disappointment.

"I wanted to talk about how the supposedly tough guy Troy, who always pushes people around in school, standing frozen in fear, as he watched his mom get attacked."

Troy thinks to himself.

"Percy you fucking asshole, if you you weren't already a goner, I would be beating your ass like how used to."

Preciliano gets serious and said sternly.

"that better not happen again, since it will be up to you to protect them."

Troy feeling even more annoyed thinks to himself.

"this bastard thinks that I'm not capable of protecting them."

Preciliano looks out the window and notices two people waving at them to stop, after Troy pulls on the brake, Preciliano asks aggressively.

"why did you pull over ? we are no position to help random strangers."

he points at them.

"relax it's a lady with her kid."

Preciliano turns back and said to Kelly and Tracy.

"there might be people in trouble, me and Troy are going to have a quick look."

Tracy grabs the bat and gives it Preciliano.

"be careful out there Percy."

he makes a crass joke about himself.

"what's the worst that can happen? I get bitten again?"

Tracy gives him a murderous look, he chuckles nervously and apologizes.

"too soon? my bad."

Preciliano exits through the passenger door, Troy and Preciliano slowly approach the lady and her kid, they also approach them cautiously until they come into view of the headlights, a young African-American lady with short black puffy hair, and dark brown eyes behind her glasses, and wearing dirty navy blue scrubs, she said with heavy breathing.

"thank you for stopping."

a loud gunshot is heard in the distance, she looks in that direction and said.

"our house got overrun by them and my husband stayed behind so that we could escape."

Troy makes an offer.

"do you want to wait for him inside the winnebago

with us?"

she answers elated.

"yes we would like that."

Troy then said to Preciliano.

"lead them inside Percy."

Preciliano thinks to himself.

"I don't like this but, I won't be around anymore to make these decisions."

after entering the winnebago, Preciliano introduces himself.

"my name is Preciliano, but I get called Percy since most don't bother trying to pronounce it."

he notices a large bite mark on her arm when he shakes her hand.

"the name is Leslie Jones."

she then introduces her daughter who looks like a mini version of Leslie, except she has frizzy curly hair, and is wearing a white top and a navy blue skirt.

"this my Daughter, Dayjanay."

Preciliano then introduces them to Kelly and Tracy, he then pulls Leslie to the side and whispers.

"you were bitten?"

she whispers back.

"yeah, but I beat the fever the came with it and didn't come back as one of them."

completely baffled about what she told him, he asks while showing his bandaged hand.

"does that mean, I could live through it?"

she shrugs her shoulders.

"maybe?"

Preciliano contemplates about what Leslie just told him, since it renewed, a new hope into him.