The Will to Survive Chapter Three

2014, August third, two days after first infections

It was a normal day, kids playing in the streets; no one was really worried about much. It was barely 2:00 P.M on a summer day, the afternoon sun covered every shadow, and there was no fear of predators, rapist, or burglars. It was a nice neighborhood, the type of place that no one seemed to care about what was going on in the world.

Mindy was watching over her six year old niece while the girl’s parents were on vacation. She kept an vigilant eye over little Matte as she played with Mindy’s own son, Tomas, age seven. They were playing hide and seek as Mindy was gossiping with a women she knew well, there was talk on the news about a new disease going around, when suddenly they heard screaming. They turned and saw what appeared to be a drunk who had pushed a woman down and started struggling with her on the ground. The woman’s husband rushed to help her knocking him off her; the man had his teeth in the woman’s arm and took a chunk of it with him. The man knelled down to help her when she suddenly ripped into his neck. There was several other people shuffling towards them, Mindy quickly grabbed Tomas and Matte and ran for their house. The man who went to help his wife earlier stood between Mindy and her house, he had crimson blood running down his mangled throat. Yet he seemed unfazed by this as he stood rigid, staring at her with dead eyes.

He stumbled towards her; she called to the children to run. He collided into her as Tomas and Matte dashed away, thank god for children’s fear and energy, she grabbed her assailant pulling him down with her. They rolled on the ground and finally off the side of the gutter onto grass. The thing that was once called a man beat into her trying to get his teeth into her; she was able to keep her right hand on his neck. This thing seemed to be weaker than a man should be and Mindy used this to her advantage. She grabbed a nearby rock about seven inches wide with a sharp edge and started beating into the thing’s skull. If it felt any pain, it wasn’t reflected from the monster’s face which had an almost animal look to it. It finally recoiled from her; she got up and backed away. Her leg was twisted during the struggle and she could barely walk on it. She spotted a pipe on the ground and grabbed it; the beast drunkenly stumbled toward her. The face of it was so mangled that it couldn’t even be described as human anymore. She took the pipe and bashed it into the creature’s leg. It fell down onto its knee but almost instantly stood back up. She took the pipe and pushed it through his neck, it stuck out, but the corrupted thing kept coming seeming not to notice the pipe. She finally looked around, and noticed at the top of the hill more human-like beasts were walking toward her area, about three, one was crawling. Then she saw a small one, not Tomas or Matte but another neighborhood boy, about eleven. She ran towards the woods, not looking back.

Two minutes earlier

Tomas made a run for the family house, he saw as Matte fell and was grabbed by one of the “adults” he couldn’t do anything, he just kept running until he reached the house. Suddenly he was grabbed. He fought and bit at his attacker, but it was hopeless. He went out cold.

When he woke up he was in an eerie, dark room. The windows were boarded up. He saw no light coming through the creaks of the window, it was night and he was alone.