No Time To Bleed

“But, why would they be taking people?”

“Because they want some test subjects? It’s kind of obvious…” Alex snapped back.

He had his own gun gripped in his hands.

“Guys, we need to-“

William’s words were cut short by a scream.

“Eli, get down!” Clarissa’s voice blared from downstairs.

Our legs were just blurs as we zoomed down the stairs. At the bottom of the stairs through a giant archway. there was Clarissa clutching Eli to her body. A herd of deformed figures ahead, scalps popping open and pus dripping from their eye sockets.

Clarissa looked back to them, eyes panicked as Eli struggled against her grasp. “We’ve gotta get out of here!”

Their inhumane screams sounded and the undead surged forward. Clarissa shoved Eli toward them and cocked back her shotgun. A hole the size of a crater tore into one of the creature’s chest and he surged back. That only sent the crowd into pandemonium.

“GO!”

I snatched onto Eli’s hand with the bat in the other and followed. Alex led them down a narrow side hallway. Pipes and metallic drippings leaked from above. Gun shots were firing off from behind them.

“GO! GO! GO!”

We all out heaved off of the gaping hole in the warehouse’s wall. Bodies connected with the cold cement. Eli let out a cry. I dragged him to his feet and we both clambered up. Clarissa came barreling out the hole next, landing stone cold on her back. Her eyes connected with them before the herd came next.

“GO! GO!”

The first one came flying out the gap and into the air. Not even a second and her shotgun bullet took out a mass of his head. Eli screamed and I pulled on his tiny hand.

“We’ve gotta go!” Alex shouted.

I yanked Eli another brute time and Clarissa rolled away from the sewage of zombies swarming out now. Eli took on a burst of speed, seeing that Clarissa would make it.

The stretch of warehouse ahead was vast, at least a hundred yards to the back parking lot where the van was. A ghoulish scream from behind her, breathing on her neck. I tore the bat around in a thick arch. It landed with a defeaning that disconnected the zombie’s jaw. More surged ahead as her feet stung and burned. Alex waved a hand back and sent a bullet into one’s skull.

William fired a shot as well that hit one’s knee cap. “They’re getting closer!”

Alex and William stood ground. I ran behind them and took stance.

Bullets and shrapnel hit more zombies. One caved in between William and Alex.

I sent a thrusting kick to his knee cap and swung the bat with one arm. An eye oozed down and it’s body fell to the floor. We turned again and William stayed at my side.

“Keep moving!” Clarissa shouted, Eli beside her.

We cleared the long stretch of warehouse and slammed into the van. Eli and William jumped into the backseat. I went to the row ahead with Alex. He forced the door shut as the engine cut to life.

William looked through the back windshield. “Go! They’re catching up!”

The tires gritted and jolted the van forward. A heavy weight slammed into the van’s side, leaving a dent.

“YOU’VE GOTTA DRIVE FASTER! FASTER!” Alex shouted.

Eli shrieked again, tears pouring down his cheeks as a body slammed into the van’s back.

“They’re on the van! They’re on the van!” Eli shouted.

The sound of glass breaking came next, a bone exposed fist had went through glass. William let out a howl as one dug it’s hands into his hair.

I gripped the bat and slammed it into one’s skull. Eli dropped to the ground, shrieking, screaming, and hands covering his ears. The van tilted in a dangerous turn. The world was mayhem.

“Get him off! Get him off!”

I whipped the bat again as Alex pulled on William’s arms. The bat’s end hit with a crunch and the hand loosened from his hair. Painful spots of blood began to leak from William’s skull.

The mayhem seemed over, but one last thing was known. Scratches were all over William’s face.

“They scratched him!” Alex shouted.

William’s head shook feverently. “No! They didn’t! I’m fine! I’m fine!”

“Don’t do anything! Don’t do anything yet!” Clarissa shouted. “We’ve gotta get clear of those things first!”

Alex whirled around. “He is one of those things! If they break the skin, you’re gone forever!”

Silence overtook the car. Eli was still in piled heap on the floor. Glass now littered in the inside of the car.

“I’m your cousin.” William choked.

Alex didn’t even turn back. “Doesn’t matter. You’re one of them.”

“And you’d kill me?” William fired back. “You’d kill me when we saved you?!”

Alex whipped his head to the backseat. “I can’t ask to be fucking saved! You guys dragged me with you!”

“You would have been dead!” William’s eyes filled with rage.

I felt my heart dive. I’d never seen his eyes like that before.

“My mom saved you and you want to kill me?! She’ll never let you do it! Our dad died! I am all she’s got left!”

Alex’s chest heaved and he looked to William coldly. “Listen to yourself. You’re crazy.”

“I’m crazy?! I’m crazy?! I’ll show you fucking crazy!” William lunged forward.

Before I knew it my own fist slammed into his jaw. We were all thrown backwards as the van screeched to a halt. The van door opened and there was Clarissa in the searing outside light. We all froze as she stared inside.

“Will, get out here.”

William’s eyes snapped to her. “Mom, what?”

“Get out here now.” His mother swallowed, hand safely tucked behind her back.

William staggered out the van and to his mom. She took him out of our sight. Eli was sobbing in the backseat floor, sobbing so hard he was starting choke.

“What did you tell me when your dad died?!” she shouted.

“Mom, I don’t-“

Something hit the floor outside.

“TELL ME WHAT YOU SAID!”

“I said there was more to life than death, Mom! You had more to live for!”

Goosebumps chilled my bone. Silence would have been there if not for Eli’s sobbing.

“That’s right. And right now, you’re not my son anymore.”

William would have yelled out if not for the deafening boom that came next. A wet sound hit the floor and footsteps came around the car to the driver seat. Clarissa hopped in and closed her door.

“Alex, close the door.”

Alex was frozen in shock. “What did you do?”

Clarissa didn’t turn around again as she set the shotgun to the passenger seat. “Close the door now.”

With Alex still frozen, I reached past him and closed the van door. The van picked up speed, Alex stayed frozen beside her, and Eli had stopped sobbing in the backseat. Only the horrified shudders of Clarissa in the front seat could be heard as they drove on without William.