He took shelter in a storage closet as two crazies, gurgling and muttering something to themselves passed him by. This was all too much, he couldn’t believe he was hiding in a storage closet to avoid being eaten alive by crazy cannibalistic people.
The corridor walls and floors were painted with blood, human remains littered the floors and sanity seemed a rare commodity, a polar contrast to the normality of yesterday. He was just waiting for this nightmare to end. He was still hoping and praying that he had consumed far too much alcohol last night to think rationally, that this was just a part of his drunken delusions and if it was, he’d promise himself to never fucking drink again.
But how could it be a nightmare? He could still hear the screams of people ringing in his ears and see the look of mindless rage from that man who attacked him back in the cabin. If this was all really just a vivid nightmare he couldn’t escape from, he questioned his own sanity to conjure up such a thing.
His heart was pounding, one false move and he’d have that horde all over him, an idea he couldn’t even begin to fathom.
There was a click as the intercom speakers activated and there came a voice, different from that of the captain’s.
“Survivors on board, this is Tai Amihan, former crew member of the captain, I say former because the captain and several others have taken it upon themselves to leave you to your fates. Like cowards, they fled and are boarding a lifeboat to abandon ship as we speak. Had I not informed you, you would never have known that, now you do. However, all is not lost, there are still lifeboats and I want to rescue as many of you as possible. Make your way to the bridge if you can where we will be making our last stand and together we’ll get off this dreaded ship. I repeat, make your way to the bridge. We’ll be awaiting your arrival”. The intercom speaker clicked off, leaving Edward staring at it in disbelief.
The captain fucking fled? What the fuck? He actually fled? Simply abandoned them to their fates? What the hell was that about? Who did that? Who could just up and leave the moment things got a little too hairy to handle? Was he not supposed to stay on the ship and go down with it if needs be?
Edward couldn't believe what he had heard, it was still taking its time to register, but after his initial anger subsided, he tried to look at the situation objectively, would he flee if he was in that situation? Probably.
Either way, if there was any chance whatsoever of their survival, he needed to rescue his family and get to the bridge as quickly as possible, every second of his precious time spent hiding here just lessened the probability of their survival.
He poked his head out from behind the door to survey his surroundings and the corridor was quiet, he could probably make it over to that open door at the end of the corridor, but he’d have to be quick.
He ran over to the door taking cover inside the cabin beyond ìt, as two crazies passed him by. It appeared to have been broken into, not unlike his own cabin door. Distracted by noisy thoughts and fluctuating feelings, he didn’t even notice the person lying on the bed behind him, as he peered through the peephole to see if the coast was clear, he didn’t hear the person clamber off of the bed and begin walking towards him.
It was only as he readied himself to open the door did he hear the gurgling and low inaudible muttering coming from behind him. As he spun around, he narrowly escaped being bitten, as a woman with her arms outstretched and her teeth bared attempted to pounce on him without warning. She missed him, but that wasn’t going to stop her attack, as suddenly she threw herself at him. He ducked as she attempted to swipe at him with her nails, but her onslaught continued, knocking objects to ground. It was only after he had managed to put some distance between her and him could he see the full picture, this woman was pregnant and had several deep bites to her fresh, her hair was a mess, but it did nothing to hide what was once a pretty petite face. She looked early thirties and this was probably her first child. The sight of her was something of an extreme wake up call, a glance into the future of the human race if this infection was allowed to fester. It was truly heartbreaking to see her in this state and even though he had the scissors in hand in order to defend himself, he simply couldn't find it in himself to attack her.
“My baby needs to eat. I need to feed my baby. I need to feed you to my baby”, she muttered, dragging her feet across the floor towards him.
“Stay back!” He warned, waving the scissors at her, but she didn’t appear the least bit fazed by it, continuing her approach. “I said to stay the fuck back!” Her pupils were dilated and frenzied, on top of that was her compulsive twitching, now quite evidently a defining trait amongst the infected. Maybe it was better to just refer to them as twitchers.
“My baby, my baby is hungry”, she kept repeating. Edward was cornered, as much as his moral code prevented him from attacking another person, let alone a woman, far less a pregnant woman, it was also about to get him killed. He climbed up onto the bed and she climbed up after him.
This was his chance, it was all or nothing. He pulled out the deodorant can and the lighter and using them as a flamethrower, set the sheets
