Infection

She grasped her mothers’ locket in her hand. Heart-shaped, and made of silver, it was the last physical memory she had of her mother. It contained a photo of her and her mother at the beach when she was 8. That was 4 years ago. Before the meteor had hit. Before the hunger and the thirst. Before just surviving became her way of life. It was a better time, a happy time. There had been no happy times for a while now.

A little over 2 years ago a meteor had hit earth. It had landed somewhere in the desert in the middle of Eastern Nevada. The impact had little effect other than creating a crater in the uninhabited desert. The real issues started 4 days afterwards when the meteor mysteriously crumbled apart all on its own. When it broke apart, a seemingly infinite amount of an unknown gas was released into the air and spreads quickly around the world. 95% of humans became infected with a sickness overnight. The disease attacked the central nervous system but did not kill those who it infected. No, their fate was much worse. It seemed to turn back the hands of evolution, turning humans into almost a primitive, wild species. Their eyes became orange and glowed like cats’ eye’s so that they could hunt at night. They crawled on all fours and ate whatever they could get their hands on. Animals, garbage, rotting food, and the 5% of humans who, for some reason, remained uninfected by the gas became their prey. On top of this disease most plant life and animal life died immediately, leaving the remaining uninfected humans struggling for food and resources.

Yes, 5% of the worlds’ population was seemingly immune to this disease that was released upon earth. Nobody knows why, and they probably never will. The remaining humans have had to go into hiding as it is too dangerous to be roaming around outside. Non-perishable food and water could be found in the cities, but they were crawling with the infected. Rural areas were more protected from the Infected, but food and water were hard to come by. Most chose to live in the city in small groups. Smaller groups were easier to find food and water for and were less likely to attract attention from the infected.

This was her second group she had been with. Her and her mother had been part of the first group. There was about 12 people from their old neighborhood, and they had stayed in one of the families’ basement for months. One day 2 members on the group went on a trip to try to find food. It was not long after the disease had been released so rummaging through other houses cupboards and refrigerators would usually give a plentiful bounty. While searching some houses they had gotten a little careless and attracted some of the infected. They ran back as fast as they could, unfortunately leading the infected right to our location. Her mother had quickly put her in a cabinet and barricaded the door. The screams were unbearable as she hid in the cabinet crying while her mother and the rest of the group tried to fight off hordes of the infected. But almost louder, was the silence that came after the fight was over. She sat in that cabinet for hours, hoping and praying to hear the voice of her mother or anyone from her group, but all she heard was silence. After almost an entire day in the cabinet she pushed her way out. The infected had moved on to look for food elsewhere. Little trace of her mother or the rest of her group remained in the thrashed basement except draped over some bloodstained and broken furniture lay her mothers’ heart shaped locket. She had curled up into a ball for hours crying on the cold concrete floor of the basement. The next morning, she had woken up to the sound of voices upstairs. Some people from another group looking for food found her that day. She had lived with that group ever since.

Now here she was, almost 2 years later, sitting in the attic of a church that she and about 15 other people called home, grasping her mothers locket, staring out of a crack in one of the boarded up windows at the outside world. The last hunting party had left 4 days ago and never returned and most likely never will. Food and water are scarce, and some members of the group were not doing well. They heard the screams of the infected at night growing increasingly closer. They would not put up much of a fight in their current condition. Many members were giving up hope. They needed to find food and water and they needed to find it soon. She squeezed the locket tight and began to cry.

That night as the group lay down to sleep there was a sudden knock at the attic door. Who could it be? Perhaps it was the hunting party returning with more supplies! A feeling of hope rushed through the church attic as one of the group members went to open the attic door. Once it was opened a puzzled look came across the group members face.

“There’s nobody there.” He exclaimed.

Confused murmurs filled the room as the attic door was closed once again. The girl crawled over to the boarded-up window to see what was going on outside. As she peered through the cracks she was not greeted with a view of the outside world, but instead she was greeted with a pair of glowing orange eyes staring back at her.

She let out a scream, startling everybody in the church attic. Her scream was soon followed by the inhuman screams of the infected coming from outside the church. The attic was now alive with the sounds of hundreds of the infected crawling all over the church. The group huddled together in the middle of the room. There were too few of them and those that were left were too weak. Suddenly the sound of glass breaking filled the room, followed by the boards that were the only thing left between the group and the hoard of infected outside being clawed at and broken. There was no escape. All the group could do was sit there and await their fate. With tears rolling down her face, she clutched the locket in her hand one last time and whispered to herself…

“See you soon mommy.”