We were at the entrance when I had to hold Emery’s hand. She had started freaking out. Her teeth gritted against each other, and her hands trembled. I could tell that her eyes were darting everywhere. The woods in front of us were loud, and the group had started cracking jokes and laughing. We couldn’t see how torn up the road was, and Emery almost wiped out on a piece of pavement that was overturned. She flailed around, I ran over to catch her. Her hand caught my arm, and she gripped it tight. Her breathing was shallow and ragged. Small bits of hair had come out of her long ponytail and were everywhere. Draping down her back, clinging to her face, falling over her shoulders. She used her free hand and ripped the ponytail holder out. She shook her head roughly and let the dark mass of curls fall to her waist. She looked up at me. We had a nice and short conversation with our eyes, she needed some help. Emery was having a sensory overload. I flipped my palm up towards up, and she slid her hand down. Her left hand rested in my right. She nodded and looked at the ground. We continued walking.

Halfway down the road and to the gates, we heard the snarling. Emery gripped my hand tighter, I grit my teeth as my almost healed blister got squished. Blake and a few others had their knives and guns drawn. I whipped out my machete from its sheath with my left hand. Neo’s bag thumped against my leg with our sudden stop. I squinted in the dark. My broken glasses really weren’t helping me now. Emery brought the med kit up like she was getting ready to swing it. I could hear her breathing grow quicker.

One of the ladies in our group let out a scream, we all turned towards the sound. Her bags smacked against the ground, something snarling was on top of her. More shuffling and snarling came from that direction. I gripped Emery’s hand and started backing up. To my left, Raymond let out a grunt. In the moonlight, I could see that he had thrown the man from his shoulders towards one of the freaks. Another person screamed, and there was a loud thud. Claire, the first person who screamed, had stopped, but the slobbering noises hadn’t. Teeth on flesh. Muscles being torn apart. Something touched my left hand, and I swiped at it. A grunt came from my left, followed by a rough and warm hand grabbing over my fingers which were wrapped around the hilt of my machete.

“Oliver, run. Bolt around this way, swipe in front of you to make sure that the path is clear. Raymond and I will try to fend them off.” Blake whispered into my ear. I looked at him, but my eyes focused on something over his shoulder. The snarling had gotten louder. Blake pushed me back as teeth sank into his neck. I stumbled into Emery.

The snarling was everywhere. Heavy feet stomping across the blacktop.

“RUN!” Blake was screaming. Raymond had started shooting at things, but he had fallen down too. Another zombie had toppled Blake, other people were screaming. The new guy was long gone. Emery pushed me with the med kit, and we started running.

She was right by my side, almost pulling ahead. I could see the metal gates glimmering in the pale moonlight. Something clawed the back of my sweater, and I came crashing down. My chin collided with the asphalt, and I felt the blood start to stream out of it. My machete fell out of my grasp and clattered on the ground in front of me. Emery’s footsteps came to a stop. The cold hands continued clawing at me. I spun around onto my back. Hot, rancid breath blew in my face. I brought my foot up and kicked the zombie in the chest. My foot went through its ribcage. The blackened teeth sank into the skin just above my collar bone.

Fire. White hot fire is the only word I could use to describe it. I pushed the zombie off of me, and blood sprayed across my face. I looked up, Emery was standing over me, my machete stuck in the head of the zombie.

She put her foot on its shoulder and pushed it back. My machete came free, brain matter spilling on my head. I felt sick. Everything was too hot, my vision started going black and green. Emery got close to me and pulled me up. I tried pushing her off of me, but my arm felt like jello. My throat felt like it was sealed with glue and cotton balls. I was gasping for breath, desperately trying to get her away from me.

“Ollie, stop struggling, God. I swear, you need to let people help you. You hit your head hard, I think you have a concussion. Don’t fall asleep on me.” I shook my head and tried wiggling out of her grasp. She grabbed my left arm and slung it over her shoulder. The machete is still in her left hand. She carried me the rest of the way to the gates; her feet scuffing the road in her haste. I fought her the entire time.

My arm had grown slick with sweat; I almost got out of her grasp a few times, but she kept a vice grip on me. Why couldn’t she let me go? The glue in my throat had dried, and the cotton had been doused in gasoline. The fire in my neck had spread to my insides. What wasn’t burning was numb. I only had flashes of light to tell me where I was, there were only shadows and spots of light. There was no color in my new field of vision. Surely, there had to be blood all over me, did Emery not know that I was her biggest threat? I had to stay conscious. If I was conscious, I wouldn’t kill her. Maybe whoever was on guard duty would see and put me out of my misery.

“Maribelle! Help!” Emery started screaming. There was shuffling behind us, I could just hear the snarls over the roar of my own blood.

“Emery, duck!” Emery and I fell to the torn up asphalt, and shots flew over us. Bodies crashed to the ground. Quick and steady footsteps came up to us. “Oh my God.” Maribelle's sweet, southern accent had never sounded so appalled. I looked up towards where her voice was coming from. I could see her shadowy form in contrast to the ball of light she was holding. “Neo, get over here!” I couldn’t stay awake anymore. Maribelle could see, and I knew that Emery could too. Her scream answered all of the questions I had asked.

Her scream was the last thing I heard before the shadows filled my vision completely.