No Time To Bleed

My hands went digging into his neck, a scream erupting from my lungs. “I’ll fucking murder you!”

We both went down to the hard asphalt, one of my fingers snapped under the pressure and he kneed me in the stomach.

“Bring it bitch.”

I sent a sideways kick into his ribs. He dogged and caught my leg, sending me face first into the floor.

His lips came to my ear. “You’re a weak little bunny.”

Hands dug into my hair and slammed me into the cement. Blood exploded down my lip. I thrashed and screamed. His legs pinned me down.

Slam!

Slam!

Slam!

My vision was darkening.

“Show me you can fight.”

I slurred the words out my blood stained lips. “Give me the keys.”

My hand reached for a knocked over cup. I whirled around and slammed it into his temple. He went down abruptly, his legs heavy weight on my body. I saw little shards of glass sticking from the side of his head.

My head was a wreck and blood was dripping from my nose easily. I grabbed the first cloth I could find. God, this had been such a fucking awful plan.

I searched all of his pockets for the keys, the red of my face soaking into the gray t shirt.

“Shit!”

Bullets went off outside and shouting. “Let me in the car!”

Eli.

I went running for the fabric and tore my way through. Alex was already running towards me. Horror on his face.

“What happened?”

I didn’t even have the time to give an answer. Something heavy and cold came out of the air and hit Alex dead in the face. The wooden bat whirled around again and hit me flat in the chest. I flew back, coughing up whatever air was left in my lungs.

“I told I’d see how you’d fight, Bunny.” Reagan stood over me, glass still sticking out from his head.

The bat’s head came slamming down and I curled out the way. My legs swiped under him and he went down.

There was Kevin with a gun, shooting at the SUV’s windows. Eli could be heard inside screaming.

“Open the car! Get out!” The five year old yelled.

I scrambled for the bat, but Reagan’s fist came from the side and I felt a sickening snap as his finger hit me.

“Ah, you whore! You broke my finger!”

He was busy withering away and I scrambled up with the bat. “Eli, fight back! Fight back!”

Kevin was busy latching onto the SUV’s door, reaching over the broken glass to unlock the door.

“Fight back!”

Reagan’s hands came around and pulled my legs from under me. His body fell on top of mine. I was fighting with his raspy whispers in my ear.

I reeled my head back and it connected with his nose. He shouted curses blindly and held onto the collar of my clothes. All I saw was Eli being dragged out the car.

“Eli! Fight back!”

Another gunshot and Eli screamed, the bullet narrowly missing him as he felt to the SUV’s glass on the floor. Kevin threw a kick into the boy’s ribs.

Where the hell was Cece?!

Alex was a few feet away, eyes fluttering and mind probably reeling.

Then, I saw it glint in the sun. On Kevin’s pants waist was a roll of keys, dangling on the loops meant for his belt. That little brat had them the entire time.

The last blast of energy hit, my elbow slammed back into Reagan’s head and he let out a lasting whimper. Two more screams came and Kevin went running past me. A body was running over raggedly and my heart dropped.

“Eli, run!”

But the little boy was busy sobbing over the broken glass in his hands and aching ribs.

“ELI, RUN!”

Hands coiled around me and I fought. “Let go of me! Let go of me!”

“You can’t save him! You can’t!” Alex screamed.

The zombie descended upon the little boy, knocking him over to the ground in a fierce shove, and gave no more time. His teeth dug into a chunk of neck, taking out strings of blood vessels, and Eli’s screams were agonizing.

I slammed my heel against Alex’s foot, screaming. He still didn’t let go. The thing was busy devouring Eli and he was holding me back.

Shots went off and the zombie fell to the ground. Cece came scrambling over, her gun smoking from the barrel’s most recent target.

That’s when Alex let me go and I ran to Eli. His body never moved.