Page 5

Muzzle guy shakes his head, giving me a peek at the baseball bat in his backpack. So maybe he’s not a zombie, but being smart just in case he’s bitten? I could work with that.

Silence fills the room, making it appear much smaller than it is. I’m unable to look away from the man, taking him in. He wears all black, including a black trench coat.

“It’s hot as balls outside; why are you wearing a coat?” I ask.

He tilts his head to the side, eyeing me before he reaches behind him. Everything happens too fast from there. Muzzle guy grabs his baseball bat, reaches forward, and yanks on my wrist. Falling forward, he shifts until I’m behind him.

“Wh—” The words die in my throat as three zombies come running into the room. Their skin falling from their arms makes me gag. Their milky eyes remind me of muzzle dudes, but I rid myself of that thought. Rumors flew around the world that half-zombies were around us, too. I doubted it just for the simple fact that it's not possible. There is no medical reason for the virus to pick and choose whom it wants to turn. A virus is a sickness, and the undead returning didn’t make sense.

An ear-piercing scream pulls me back just as Jamie falls to the ground, a zombie landing on top of him. I climb to my feet, my eyes drawn to the muzzle guy as he fights off two zombies. I reach in my pocket and pull the rocks out. Before I can think about it, I throw one of them at the back of one of the zombies' heads. It does nothing but bounce off and make the undead thing turn towards me.

“S–shit,” I stutter out. I suppose I didn’t think about throwing a rock at something that wants to kill me. Until now, we’ve scraped by, not having a run-in with any zombies. Unfortunately, that meant I didn’t have a proper weapon. However, I also believe if I tried to beat one with a baseball bat or mallet like Jamie, I would probably throw my arm out and be completely useless anyway.

Jamie screams once more; his voice slowly dies out. My attention is snagged by his body lying on the ground; one zombie holds his forehead while he bites down on his throat.

“Jamie!” I screech. Dread fills my stomach, my heart sinking as the realization that Jamie is dead. He might not be dead at the moment, but the second one of those th?—

Something hard hits my chest, knocking me to the ground. I blink my eyes open, immediately drawn to the muzzle guy standing with his back to me in a fighting stance.

“N–No,” Jamie attempts to call my name. I look over, and tears start to leak from the corner of my eyes as I take a look at what he used to be. He pleads with his eyes, begging me to help, but it’s useless. He’s been bitten. If he doesn’t bleed out now, he’ll eventually turn.

“I’m sorry,” I mumble. My body shakes, watching his life drain from his eyes. The realization that this is real, that zombies are very much here and there’s nothing we can do, hits me. Tears stream down my face; I'm unable to concentrate on anything.

“Get up,” someone says. Looking up, the muzzle man holds a gloved hand out for me. “I’m not going to bite; let’s go.”

I’m not sure what he means byhewon’t bite, but that doesn’t stop me from sliding my hand into his. Closing my eyes, he helps me to my feet. I stand there shakily, looking at the three dead zombies that I hadn’t noticed were dead, along with Jamie. His dead form lies there, blood pouring from his wounds. He didn’t deserve to die, and he didn’t deserve to be bitten like that.

“We need to get out of here,” the muzzle guy says.

I can’t look up at him when all I can focus on is Jamie. I didn’t like the guy much, but he was a part of the camp. He helped me when I needed something. He smiled at me and waved.

“What’s your name?” He asks.

“Noah,” I mindlessly told him.

How did we go from being safe and wondering who was hiding in the shadows to now Jamie being dead and me standing with some stranger?

“Noah, we need to go,” he grabs my bicep.

“We can’t just leave him.”

“Noah, there’s more coming. We can’t be here, and it’s hard enough fighting one of them, but fighting more is nearly impossible.”

I nod, except I can’t move. I’m frozen and terrified; I can’t think clearly. How can Jamie be dead? He was alive just a second ago, and now he’s gone. How am I going to explain this to his girlfriend?

“Fuck,” the muzzle guy curses under his breath. It’s then that I hear the growling and shuffling of more zombies.

CHAPTER4

Reed

He’s annoying and doesn’t listen well.

I’ve told him we needed to leave, but for some reason, he wants to stare at his dead friend on the ground.

There are a million things I should have done, and one of them was not to grab his hand. I might be different, but my cock is alive. And decides that now would be the time to stand at a fucking point. If I weren’t fighting for my life right now, I might be embarrassed that I’m rock-hard.

“Noah, we need to go,” I grit through my teeth. Of course, the twink barely glances at me before staring at the door wide open.