Queens, New York
Hilary held the gun with trembling hands, fingers never leaving the cold metal of the trigger. The building was abandoned, or at least it seemed that way from the outside, but the scream from the top floor window that had alerted her here was a real as the ground under her boots.
The smoke from the streets outside had sifted into the building, and everywhere she looked she was greeted with the same grey-silver mist. Her heart raced because she knew she wasn't dealing with rational humans that would cower at the sight of a gun. She was dealing with primitive, blood thirsty monsters, and whoever screamed was too. The person may still be alive--or they could be long dead.
Hilary turned a corner, planting her feet on the ground of the top floor of the apartment building. Beyond her the mist was thick, so thick she didn't see the figure heading for her until it was almost too late.
She shot twice, her body shifting backwards from the force. One of the bullets missed, instead hitting the roof, but the other pelted straight through the skull of her assailant, who came crashing down right before her feet. Hilary stepped back, bile rising in her throat as a sickly pale woman beneath her writhed with her final breaths. Her face was smeared with vomit and blood, and her eyes were sunken and hollow. Despite being alive, her pupils looked devoid of humanity. Hilary shivered and stood back, aiming and shooting once more. This time she didnt miss and the bullet blasted another hole in the infected woman's skull, killing her.
Frightened, Hilary pulled on her face mask, tightening it. She stepped past the now dead infected woman and into the translucent mist. The sound of her footsteps echoed through the hallways, and outside the window the moon was high in the night sky and the rain had begun to fall with an extreme force. The place stunk, but she couldnt figure out what exactly could possibly produce that kind of odour.
As she passed by a door she heard a scream again, this time louder than before. With haste she turned, her feet connecting with the door as she pushed the rotten wood off its hinges. The door landed below her, dust rising into the air and instantly she was greeted with flat static from an old radio. The room was dark, save for one flickering light at the end of a battered wall, and after gathering herself, she moved inside.
The floor creaked under her feet as her eyes scanned everything she could visibly see, looking for the victim. Then, it started again, loud, hurt and throaty, and Hilary quickly pointed her gun at the source.
The radio.
The radio.
"Shit." She stepped back and turned to run as a figure from outside grabbed her leg and dug its sharp nails into her. Hilary screamed, pointing her gun and shooting no less than three times, before the infected holding her leg was limp and dead. She pried its claws from her legs, wimpering in pain as she saw yet another one crawling from the room. The creature growled, and she poised her gun to shoot--
nothing.
The bullets had run out as the infected leaped at her with blood stained lips. Its eyes were dilated, void of anything, and as it grappled on her leather jacket she smacked its scarred pale arms with the butt of her gun. It whined, letting go as she crushed the weapon onto its skull.
It fell to the ground, not dead but slightly unconscious. Once again she smashed her gun onto its head before stomping on it. She wasn't going to have any more surprises. Sure the infected is dead, Hilary sighed and rested her hands against the windowsill, letting out a hoarse breath.
She didnt know how to feel about the events that had just unfolded before her eyes. Usually, the infected operated blindly, without plan, but she knew that what she had just experienced was infected people using the radio to lure her there--meaning they were now gaining intelligence or some sense of unity? She didn't want to believe it, but ignoring it now would be plain foolishness.
The smell in the building had grown worse, and after catching her breath and calming herself she decided to leave. Pocketing her gun, she found her car parked in the alley between two red brick buildings. The rain was still pouring, and even she knew it was dumb to be out this late. She had probably already missed singing happy birthday to her sister--her mom was clear about the whole 'get there in ten minutes' thing.
Finally safe in her car, Hilary ripped the surgical mask off her face and sighed. The muffled sound of rain hitting her windshield calmed her down, and she rested, for just a moment, on the soft leather of her car. If the world wasn't the way the world was, she could've picked up her friends and gone to the mall or something. Now, things were different.
Starting the car, she pulled out of the alley and drove down the freeway. She was going fast--a bit faster than she was supposed to, but there were no police out at this time to stop her anyways. Nobody cared like that anymore. She wanted--no--needed something to take her mind off what happened in the building, and driving at ungodly speeds in the middle of a thundering storm was just that.
If only she knew this was just the first stage in their evolution.
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