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Chapter 4 The Infected

I heard the groaning of the bloody man limping towards the main entrance of the airport.

There was a strange feeling inside me upon seeing that person. His movement was not normal. I narrowed my eyes and focused my vision on him.

His skin was aberrated pale. No. It was gray and wreathed with gruesome wounds all over his face and parts of his body that were not covered with his clothes. There were also disturbing dark contusions all over his skin and fresh burns as if he had just gotten out from a fire.

Horrified by the look of the man's appalling feature, I suddenly flinched, my eyes were both wide with fear. I sensed there was something wrong with that guy.

"Jason—"

"Shit. We need to get out of here now." Jason felt the same anxiety I had, his eyes were sharp and his jaws were stiff. I knew in an instant that we were all in danger. He quickly took all his things and I did the same. My hands were trembling with fear and my head was panicking. I hope it wasn't the kind of horror we were just talking about. But seeing that man, it was impossible not to be disturbed especially when we knew there was a threat about such a disease coming in this place.

I felt the adrenaline was starting to rush up into my head.

Is that a zombie? A real zombie?

I was finally hooking my backpack up to my shoulders when a scream echoed throughout the building.

Before I could even react to what was happening, dozens of people near the entrance were already running in horror towards the opposite side of the building as if getting away from something. Or someone?

I swiftly glanced towards the location of the person who was screaming and then I saw the peculiar creature who entered the building, biting someone on the neck, squirting its blood all over the floor and on the persons who were near them.

The floor of the building suddenly trembled from the barrage of people stampeding away from the scene as they let out blood-curdling screams. I was appalled by what I had seen, and couldn't entirely comprehend what was happening. I have never felt this kind of fear in my whole life. It was crawling through my skin down to my very bone, stoking the trepidation that was encircling inside my head.

I was petrified at the moment and if Jason didn't pull me away from where I was standing, I might have already died in a stampede of people that were running away from the chasing monsters behind them.

"What are those!" Li cried in horror. He almost stumbled down the floor when his panic made him lose his balance but Mona quickly held him on his arm.

"Pull yourself together, Harriet! You'll die if you'll just stand there!" he yelled at me while holding my hand and pulling me away with him as we ran towards the back door of the building.

Li and Mona were behind us, both were bewildered, trying to catch up with me and Jason's stride.

I couldn't explain why my curiosity was consuming me together with my fear but there was an urge in me that I had to see what was going on. I tried to glimpse on our back with my eyes wide terror while we were running away from it. And then I saw how that deteriorated creature tore the flesh of every person he jumped on to, like a foul monster ravaging those within its reach.

I haven't recovered yet from the dreadful craze I felt after what I saw when suddenly, the people who were attacked by that monster rose to their feet! All were covered in blood as their wounds gushed out the red fluid, drenching them with it. Just like the first monster who entered the building, their skins had also turned gray, the veins became visible on their skin and their eyes turned white, while their mouths were wide open as if ready to catch up with new prey.

"Shit," Jason swore under his breath as he shoved his way out but the people around us were all in grim panic, and some pushed and squeezed, cornering us against the wall.

I looked back to check on Li and Mona and they stared back at me, their eyes were wild with fear as beads of sweat ran down their faces. I swallowed a huge lump on my throat, not knowing what to do next. I worried about Mona because she seemed to be on the brim of shutting down. She was shaking terribly while covering her ears from the screams we heard as the creatures turned each of their prey into a living dead.

I felt Jason's pull on my hand as we struggled to shove people out of our way to where he was heading. I realized he was aiming to get out of the crowd and was planning to run towards the stairs up to the door of the garage area of the building. The turbulence of raging people who wanted to get out of the building through the exit door backed away from it as three new infected appeared in front of the wide, glass shattered door.

"Jason! We must get out of here now!" I screamed at him and we fought our way through the garage exit, while Li and Mona were behind us, putting their faith in both me and Jason.

I felt the squeeze of the crowd getting more unbearable and suffocating, as my tears welled from my eyes out of despair. The only thing that relieved me was Jason's tight grip on my hand, reassuring my safety as he led me out of the crowd.

All four of us gagged when we saw the floor was saturated with blood, some chunks of torn flesh, and twitching bodies of infected people who were slowly turning into zombies.

With adrenaline rushing through our veins, we quickly ran towards the stairs, up to the second floor of the building where the exit to the garage area should be.

Out of sudden agitation, I felt a spasm of pain on both of my legs as we all hurried up inside the corridors that were heading to the wide garage of the airport. Is it possible that Jason knew there were still vehicles we could use to get away from here? But even if we find any, we still need to voice activate it since the cars in this year were all voice or face activated and it would be a miracle if Jason would find a way to hack it.

It was so hard to breathe that I had to stop for a second.

"Harriet, come on!" Jason yelled at me, my sudden stop from running perturbed him.

"I-I'm so s-sorry I-I have to breathe." I wheezed between my breaths, my head was filled with clouds and my body was shaking from a wild mixture of fear and adrenaline.

The four of us turned our heads as we all heard a hair-raising howl and screeches not too far from where we were.

"Guys, I think they're almost here," Li whispered. His chinky eyes enlarged, giving me the kind of fear that felt as if I was punched directly on the stomach.

I filled my lungs with air as I nod at Jason and we continued running again, trying not to make too much noise. Good thing that I was wearing light rubber shoes.

Hours ago, I wished dad and Carl were still here with me but this time, I was grateful they were not here. I never wanted Carl to experience this kind of fear.

"Jayson where should we—"

I didn't finish my next words because something heavy had lunged on me, dragging me violently against the wall. It came from the passageway that thwarted us towards the exit. I saw stars when my head whammed the concrete wall and the world around me started to spin.

Before I even groaned in pain, I had already felt its violent, incredibly strong hands, nailing me. All my strength had vanished and what I only saw was a flicker of light from the ceiling, dazzling my eyes with despair, knowing it would be my end.

The creature opened its mouth so broad that it tore its cheeks apart, ready to rip a slab of my flesh off of my shoulders when Jason whack it with a fire extinguisher on the head and kicked it with all his strength, sending it flying away from me.

It appeared it wasn't affected by Jason's attack because it sprung from its feet again and was about to bite Li but Jason gave it another blow on the head using the same fire extinguisher and this time, he made sure that the skull of the infected was smashed. Its immobilized body landed on the floor as its brain scattered throughout the floor.

Heavens! I wanted to scream at the top of my lungs but I couldn't. The last thing I wanted was to get the attention of the monsters towards us.

My chest heaved as I tried to breathe more and steady myself. I was bewildered by Jason's unexpected action as he saved us. His movement was so definitive and sharp.

He looked me directly in the eyes, his green eyes were intense and brazen as he held down the piece of metal silently on a corner.

"Let's go." Jason firmly said and grabbed me up from the floor.

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