Bit

"I'M ABOUT TO DIE!" The thought flashed through Aran's mind as he felt the wind blow through every part of his body even as he continued to fall.

"It really is a terrible way to die," he thought as tears filled his eyes, even with them closed.

"Is it too late to promise that if I live, I'll never again be useless? I SWEAR IT. I just need another chance…" Aran begged in his mind, praying to whosoever could be listening for help as he tittered at the brink of death.

"Who Am I kidding? This isn't a book or a movie. I SHOULD JUST DIE," Aran muttered under his breath gritting his teeth together and bracing for the pain of impact the moment he hit the ground, before the zombies descended on him.

Fortunately for him, Aran hit something which felt more like a human body than the ground to him. 

He was still expecting to be torn into by various sizes of teeth when he unexpectedly heard Gary's voice.

"What the hell are you doing? You're freaking heavy. Get the hell up!" Gary half yelled, annoyed that Aran had simply laid on him without moving even after he managed to catch him with his entire body which was now aching.

Aran's eyes snapped open the second he heard Gary's voice, grinning from ear to ear the moment he saw Gary standing in front of him, as he ignored the searing pain coursing through his left arm.

He was still smiling when he got up, looking up the gate for Fred who he was now eternally grateful to, only to notice how things weren't going well for him in any way.

"He had to take care of the spidery Zombie first but by the time he did, the other one with the extremely long neck was already on him," Gary explained and Aran couldn't help the worried expression that appeared on his face.

The only reason he was alive is because of Fred. If something happened to him, he would forever hate himself for it.

"Is he okay?" Aran asked, all the while knowing how stupid it sounded since he could clearly see that Fred was not at all okay. It was obvious that the long-necked Zombie with extremely long teeth was intent on ensuring that he couldn't jump down. Holding him long enough for the others to arrive.

It was smart enough to know to avoid getting close to Fred, only attacking the second he was about to continue climbing.

"Jump," Aran suddenly screamed at him, with Gary being the first to look at him as if he were crazy or broke something when Fred had tossed him down.

"What? It's the only choice he has. We can both catch him,"

"In his mutated form?" Gary asked with a shocked expression on his face, asking Aran to look up again at Fred's size.

"He could change to his human form?"

"…and risk being bitten? Even in his mutated form, a full bite might still make him turn. The chances are just lower"

"Well he has to do something," Aran replied, wondering why he seemed even more anxious about Fred's condition than Gary himself.

But before they both had any more time to think about the next course of action for Fred.

Fred jumped.

More like tumbled over the fence, as we watched the wretched mutated long-necked zombie with huge teeth, tumble along with him. His teeth were ready to sink his teeth into Fred in mid-air.

"Bang!"

Aran instinctively jerked back in fear at the unexpected sound of a gunshot.

Gary shot the zombie, but an intense look of worry could be seen on his face instead of relief as he dashed towards Fred the second he landed on the ground, after he shot the mutated zombie directly on the head away from them even before it landed.

"Are you okay?" Gary asked in a voice laced with concern right before he gasped out loud in shock.

"What's wrong?" Aran asked the second he also got beside Fred, hoping he hadn't broken anything and that his mutated state helped him not to get wounded.

But the moment he got to his side, he too instantly understood why Gary had suddenly gasped the second he stared at Fred.

Apart from his arm where there were specks of blood where he had probably been scratched either by the gate wires or the zombies, directly on his shoulder was a big gash, big enough to look like a zombie bite that had torn into his skin.

"The both of you look like you've seen a ghost," Fred joked right before he struggled to his feet, touching his shoulder to check what the both of them were staring at, before staring at his hand coated in his blood when he took his hand away.

"It was probably a tear by one of its claws," Fred told them and from Gary and Aran's expressions, considering that the two of them were the only ones that could fully look at the wound on his shoulder, couldn't agree with him.

"Is someone going to help me or am I going to bleed to death?" Fred asked Gary not at all sparing a look at Aran who he felt was still utterly useless, and the only reason he wasn't insulting him yet was the fact that he was at least standing on both his feet.