He scrambled to his feet and dived over the sofa, crashing down on the glass coffee table, shattering it all over the ground, as she attempted to lunge at him again. She set the sofa alight and continued at him, disregarding any obstacles in her path. Edward threw anything he could find at her in a desperate attempt to slow her down, but nothing seemed to work and he was being cornered again, in a burning cabin now to top it off. His back pasted against the wall, there was nowhere left to run to.
Before she could reach him however, she stopped suddenly and clutched her stomach as though in pain, before keeling over and dropping to her knees. It took a moment to register, so it didn’t immediately occur to him to use the opportunity to flee, for all he could do was stand there and stare at the burning pregnant woman, a putrid stench of burning flesh that stabbed the nostrils without remorse. Shimmying to the side, he kept his eyes locked on her as he made his way towards the door.
She threw her head back, her eyes rolled back into their sockets, she croaked and twitched and without warning her stomach exploded open, spraying blood across him and the wall. He shielded his face, but he was still covered in blood and guts, it was more than enough to make him want to heave and that was exactly what he did, as emerging from the hole in her stomach was the newborn, like a scene straight from that alien science fiction film, Attack of the Venusians.
It cried and outstretched its arms towards him, completely covered in blood and twitching like its mother. Had it eaten its way out or just used force?
He didn’t want to find out, he had seen more than enough and this entire cabin was engulfed in smoke, if he wasn’t eaten or burned to death, asphyxiation would surely get him.
Edward ran, leaving the burning pregnant woman and her crying infected newborn behind.
CHAPTER 19 - KUNAL, CHRISTINE & LORI
3:13pm - 8 hours, 26 minutes since outbreak in London.
2 hours, 3 minutes since outbreak aboard MS HotS.
. . .
. . .
Kunal and a group of other survivors had heard the announcement and made the decision to attempt to reach the bridge. Equipped with anything they could use as a weapon, they kept a tight circle and watched one another’s back. If they could attack before being attacked or avoid unnecessary confrontation wherever possible, maybe just maybe they could make it without a loss. The problem was with identifying who was infected and who wasn’t, sure there were telltale signs, like twitching erratic behaviour and sheer aggression, but what about those who had only just been bitten? Was there an interval between being infected and becoming one of them? If so, how long?
The place was crawling with these infected crazed people now and any shred of sanity they had once had, was all but gone now. Maybe it was inhumane to refer to them as less than human, maybe this was just some form of extreme contagious schizophrenia, but after watching those motherfuckers skin his best friend Tristan alive, let’s just say he wasn’t in a political correctness sort of mood.
He and Tristan had awoken late that morning with splitting headaches and tight stomachs after what was most definitely an eventful night, except they didn’t awake in the same cabin, for at some point during the night Tristan met some cute feisty blondie named Mirian and was immediately entranced by her, a sexy play hard to get attitude, a mouthy one and fully aware of the sexual vibes she gave off.
However her hovering friend wasn’t making things easier, so that was where Kunal came in as a wingman, something he was more than used to, what he wasn’t used to however, was playing wingman to get rid of a male friend and one who was sorta, kinda infatuated with his female friend and would spend the entire night getting wasted and complaining about how he was a nice, stable guy and that was what she needed, in short, the nice guys finished last spiel.
It was times like that, that Kunal realised how good a friend he was.
Needless to say, distracting Mirian’s clingy friend gave his friend a chance to go back to her cabin with her, meanwhile, Kunal used the opportunity to ditch that guy with a toilet excuse and one last piece of advice, that there were plenty of fish in the sea.
Tristan didn’t return until morning and what should have been a momentous occasion, considering what a great time he had, describing her as a ravenous tiger in bed, deteriorated into a morning filled with fret and anxiety as they frantically called family members to check they were okay.
When they heard the PSA, they were in the cafeteria, where reception was better, along with several others who were apparently thinking the same way. Since staff in and around the cafeteria were about as clueless as to the purpose of the PSA as those staying on the ship, they decided it best to return to their cabin, but that would never happen, for they need only get into its vicinity before encountering their first infected person.
They ran and
