The Forgotten

I ran into Amanda’s house feeling rather exhilarated from all the excitement. I had my bow and arrow in hand. I was the fastest shooter in the class; I was faster than the teacher.

When entered the house I could hear movement in the kitchen, and some heavy breathing. It sounded like Markus. I slowly walked, raising my bow and arrow and keeping myself quiet. When I turned around the corner with speed I saw Markus grabbing his arm trying to help Amanda’s little sister Sarah who was on the floor passed out.

“Markus, what’s going on?”I said inspecting him.

“It… that… that thing… I think it bit me.” He said looking into the distance.

I didn’t know what to say, so I stared at his arm for awhile, “Got a first aid kit?”

“Yeah,” he said, “Right in that drawer by the bookshelf.”

I quickly moved toward the drawer, and opened it pulling out the kit. I brought it over to him, and made no hesitations on grabbing his arm. His face was pale from the pain, and his arm was shaking. His breathing sounded heavy, and harsh like an animal in pain. I pulled out gauze, a needle, thread, and pain killers. I walked him over to the sink and cleaned the cut the best I could, he made a little bit of squeaking noise when the water hit his arm. I accidently giggled, because he usually has a very low voice. I sat him back down on the kitchen floor and gave him two pain killers; I didn’t wait for them to kick in.

I began with going to the freezer and pulling out an ice pack, “Hold this against your wound until I saw stop.”

He held the ice pack there for about three minutes, and then made him put it down. I looked at the thread in the kit, it was nylon, perfect for stitching the wound.

“Okay, this will hurt like hell.” I said giving him my belt to bite down on.

I started at the end the wound, put each side together. He made a whimpering noise, so I grabbed the needle and stitched the first stitch. He let out a bit of a scream, and tears filled his eyes. I grabbed the ice pack again holding it there for another moment, and then moved it away. I wiped away the blood with some gauze, and then continued suturing his wound.

Finally when I was done, I made him hold the ice to his arm. I then flipped Sarah over, and proceeded by grabbing her shoulders and lightly shaking her, “Are you okay? Sarah, are you alright?”

I checked her pulse, which seemed fine. I remembered the low blood sugar, so I looked on the book shelf right by the entry way of the kitchen and found a bottle of sugar capsules. I grabbed a paper towel and wet it in the sink. I put it on her forehead, “Markus, go get Amanda and Maddie. Tell them to pack their things and get ready to go.” I said as Sarah started to slowly wake up.

Markus got up grasping his arm, “Will I be infected?” He said scared to death of what might happen.

“Did you survive the vaccine that started all of this?” I asked looking at him with a hopeful look.

“Never got the vaccine, but there were a few who were not affected at all.”

“Well let’s hope you are immune to it. Now go get the others, and don’t tell Amanda about the bite. Tell her it was the knife. She has a tendency to freak out, and we need her to be in a healthy state of mind right now.”

He nodded and walked off to the back room.

“Julie…” Sarah said sitting up a bit.

I quickly turned around, “Take one of the pills.” I said putting one in her hand.

She took the pill and swallowed it dry, “Thank you, Julie.”

“You’re welcome.”

Sarah just leaned back, up against the cabinet closing her eyes.

I saw Amanda limp into the room and saw her knee, “Holy shit! What happened to you?” I said surprised.

“I fell, and tore up my knee.”

“Geez, you’d all be dead if I hadn’t come here. Glad I showed up when I did.” I chuckled.

All of them started laughing, then following my order. They went off to their bedrooms grabbing clothing and pictures. Markus grabbed his small duffle bag that had clothing and his books. Amanda grabbed a back pack and filled it with a notebook with papers and papers of her writing, empty notebooks, and clothing. Sarah grabbed her backpack and filled it with clothing, and her pictures of the family. Maddie who was in hysterics about mom and dad, filled her back pack with clothing, her lucky teddy bear that gave her comfort. I found a small backpack and filled it with as much food as possible, and left behind a note for if her parents were to return they would know exactly where we were. We all equipped knifes and head out the door.

The air outside was hot, and the smell of death filled the air. Some of the zombies were walking over to us, but we got in the car ignoring them. Markus sat in the front, and Amanda and her sisters sat in the back.

Driving through the town, we noticed people were being evacuated. Thousands of cars filled the road, and we were stuck in traffic. People were going to shelters, and tried to organize themselves. They were trying to escape the infection, and escape having the flesh picked off their bones. We were on the other hand, did not go to the shelter. We didn’t want to be in with a group of people, who could have been infected. If they found out Markus was bitten, they would have killed him.

When the traffic started to move on, we finally made our way to the freeway leading out of Albuquerque to Laguna. We drove past few that were infected, and it seemed much more peaceful.

I looked over to Markus who was grabbing his arm in pain. He was sweating like crazy and making soft whimpering noises, “Dude, you okay?” I said.

He just closed his eyes and leaned against the car window whimpering.

“Markus, what happened to your arm???” Amanda said in an uneasy voice.

He was silent.

“Markus! What happened!?” She said looking in to his eyes now sounding a bit annoyed.

“I was…” Markus was hesitant, “I was bitten…”

Amanda looked freaked out; I just continued driving forward and decided to say something, “He could be fine. Thing is we don’t know what this infection really is. Some people survived this infection.”

Amanda started to breath really fast like she was having a panic attack, “Markus, I love you.”

“Manda, you’re acting like I’m going to die.” He said in a pained voice.

“What if you do? What if you don’t make it?” Amanda said panicking, I continued driving.

“Amanda, I love you. I won’t let it happen.” He said turned around in his seat looking at her.

I just kept driving, and didn’t pay any attention to the rest of the conversation, looking out the window seeing the desert role by. The sun shining bright and the sky was a deep blue. New Mexico was beautiful, but my dream was to leave. At this point with the infection, I was stuck. All I could do was hope for some sort of change.