Protect Her  

"I would give my left nut to fight an actual zombie, not these bullshit excuses for them," continued Marc, once again slamming his fist on the table. Then, I heard the sound of flesh meeting flesh, and a body fell to the ground.

I wondered if he meant to hit his mother or not.

'Deal accepted,' sounded the female voice in my head.

Suddenly, there was a bright light, and I heard another body drop. I had no idea what was going on, but the screams coming out of the kid were enough to make me smile.

"Oooh," purred Greed, his peppermint breath breezing across my cheek. "It looks like someone made a wish."

'That was a wish?' I asked, cocking my head to the side as I stared out into space. 'But he didn't say the magic word.'

'You don't have to actually say 'I wish' for it to be a wish. It just has to be something you want deep in your heart,' he continued, his delicious voice sending shivers down my spine. I felt his hand touching my shoulder right before my sight returned.

On the linoleum floor beside me lay a gangly teenager dressed in the same militia uniform as every other man here, his hands cupping his balls as he screamed at the top of his lungs. Marie hovered over him, not sure what she should be doing, as she searched around the kitchen.

'So, when he said that he would give his left nut to fight an actual zombie,' I started, trailing off as I continued to watch the boy wiggling around on the floor like his life was over. Tears and snot were flowing freely from his eyes and nose as he continued to scream.

'Be careful what you wish for,' murmured Envy on my other side. The joy and satisfaction in his voice made me want to laugh.

Suddenly, Marc's screams were soon joined by others outside of the cozy kitchen as the bear, Lufroid, stormed into the room, his gun up and ready. "We need to leave. Now," he growled, sparing his son nothing more than a quick glance before turning his attention back to Marie. "Get whatever food you can, but we leave in five."

Marie looked up at the bear with tears streaming down her face. "Something happened to Marc," she murmured, almost as if she was in shock.

"Something is going to happen to all of us if you can't get your ass in gear fast," snarled Lufroid. "Leave him and get the supplies."

Suddenly, the door slammed open so hard that the wooden barricade shattered under the force.

"Uh oh," grunted Pride. "I wonder what is going to happen now."

Before I could see who was coming through the kitchen door, Greed removed his hand, and everything was dark again.

"You don't need to see this, Little Bit," murmured Greed in my ear.

Nodding my head, I felt my heart beating faster. Now that I had finally experienced being able to see again, there was nothing I hated more than being left in the dark. It made me feel vulnerable and weak.

Closing my eyes, I concentrated on my other senses. The first thing that hit me was the stench. It smelled like roadkill left on the side of the road for weeks in the heat. It was enough to make my eyes water as I opened my mouth, trying to get the smell of rot out of my nose.

However, that only seemed to make it worse. If I thought the smell of whatever was entering the kitchen was bad, it was nothing compared to the taste.

You know how you can practically taste some smells? Yeah, this was it. My tongue felt like it was coated in rotten meat with maggots crawling through it. My stomach revolted, and I clamped my mouth shut, refusing to puke.

It had been days since I last ate, and there was nothing worse than throwing up on an empty stomach.

Suddenly, the sound of bullets firing brought me out of my head, and I fell out of the chair, dropping into a crouching position. One arm gripped Teddy to the point I was practically strangling him, and my other one covered my head as I snuck under the table.

Eventually, the sound of gunfire stopped, only to be replaced by the sound of clicking.

"Stupid meat sacks," grunted Pride, and I could hear the smirk in his voice. "Using up all the bullets without making sure that there were no more threats first."

"Marie!" screamed the bear. "Get the food and get the girl. We leave now."

In the silence, I could hear the faintest moaning sounds as more thuds and drags started to come even closer.

"I can't find her!" screamed Marie.

"Then leave her! She would be nothing more than a liability anyways," grunted Lufroid. Two different sets of footsteps ran in the opposite direction as Marc weakly called out for his parents.

"Ah, humans never cease to amuse me," grunted Greed. "It's safe to come out now."

"Are you sure? Because those zombies look hungry," murmured Envy, and I could feel myself starting to panic at his words. I didn't want to be eaten!

"They won't touch her with us here," replied Greed, completely calm. I knew he meant well, but he was currently invisible and didn't have enough power to be able to protect me in any way, shape, or form. How was he going to make sure that they didn't touch me?!?

"The original zombies, probably not," agreed Pride, and I felt myself breathing a sigh of relief at his words. "But these new ones? They're so dumb they could throw themselves at the ground and miss. I don't know if we can protect her from them."

Great. This was just great. Why the fuck would one nut McGee wish for more zombies?!? It wasn't like he was winning the battle anyway!

"Fine. We won't take the chance. Just stay under the table. We should have enough strength thanks to that wish to put a shield around you. The mindless ones won't stay long if there is no food source."