This is the End 2(674)

“Do not hold your breath for that one,” I answered flippantly. I started backing toward the door; I had to get out of here!

“Good advice,” he said dryly. “Now let me give you some. Don’t ever stay too long in any town because I will find you. Don’t tell anyone your real name from here on out, or I will find you. And,” with this statement hanging nervously in the air, he finally said, “Don’t ever, ever think you will be safe from me- because there is no place in this world I would not go for you.”

“Now that’s just crazy,” I laughed because I couldn’t help myself. “You just sit tight and I’m sure some other poor, unsuspecting girl will pop up and you can hold her prisoner for the rest of her life.”

“I don’t think you’re getting it-“

I held up my hand and shook my head. “I don’t really want to get it. I just want to go.” I stepped through the door and breathed in deeply with relief. His keys were still in the padlock so I closed the door and clicked the lock shut. I heard his struggles as I took the staircase several stairs at a time. He was seriously stronger than me, and I suddenly doubted the durability of those steel bars.

Damn it.

And probably I should have gagged the man.

Oh well, it was too late to go back now.

I fumbled with the front door lock but eventually found it. I let the padlock fall away but still

opened the door carefully. The dark streets were quiet and stretched out in front of me in utter stillness. I knew there were guards walking around everywhere though and making it through the main part of town was going to be a biotch.

Fear pelted my insides and my breathing whooshed inside my ears as I struggled not to panic. Somehow I pulled myself together and dug for nonexistent courage. I just had to get to the football field. They would be waiting for me if I could make it.

Hendrix would be waiting for me.

And with those thoughts propelling me forward I somehow managed to stay in the shadows of houses, trees and buildings and make it to the edge of the main street. The school was before me and beyond that, the football field.

I was catching my breath and watching as the guards paced in front of the school and fields. I had no idea how to get there from here, but I had to. I didn’t have a choice.

And that’s when Kane’s booming shouts broke up the quiet night. For a moment I wondered what took him so long to start yelling, but I assumed it was pride. He thought he could catch me on his own, he thought he could hunt me down no matter what.

And when he realized he couldn’t, he started yelling. His shouts boomed through the still air with ungodly intensity- haunting the night with his inhumane anger.

Idiot.

Guards from all around me reacted and started running toward the sound. I clicked on the safety of Kane’s gun and readied myself for a confrontation that never came.

There were still guards around though and I knew I had only precious seconds to move before Kane would catch up with me.

I took a step into the light of the moon and took off sprinting for the fields. I mentally prepared myself to shoot at a living, breathing, non-infected human being, promising I would only maim them critically and try not to kill them.

Two guards saw me moving and took off running so they could intercept me. I didn’t know if they knew who I was or not, or if they just didn’t like random people running around their town at night, but it didn’t matter. I would shoot them if they tried to stop me. I would.

I had no choice.

Still my hands were shaking with uncertainty and my palms were sweaty and slick.

Just as they were about to reach me with guns raised and ferocious looks contorting their expressions the door to the school slammed open and Miller came running out, screaming and hollering. He was insane with it- making as much noise as I had ever heard another person ever make.

But then I realized why.

He had released the Zombies from inside the school.

And he was drawing them outside.

I didn’t know how he managed to get them all out, or by the looks of it at least most of them, but it didn’t matter, because soon enough this town was going to be overrun with them.

Granted they could barely run and their bodies were hardly able to carry their weight. Some couldn’t even manage that and they pulled themselves along the grass or cement with their elbows. Still, it was going to take a while to clean them up and the guards that had previously been in pursuit of me were now tasked with rounding up or finishing off the Zombies.

“Get to safety,” one of the guards ordered me.

“Sure thing,” I grinned at his back and then took off sprinting for the bleachers. Their shiny metal gleamed in the cold night like a beacon of hope, like a lighthouse during a terrible storm. If Miller was on his way, then Hendrix would already be waiting for me.