I closed the lid but could still hear the hissing. At first, I thought it was nothing but the hotdogs cooking over the flame, unfortunately for that thought, the noise was growing louder. Sonofabitch. I cut the heat to the grill and turned off the propane. I threw the still steaming hotdogs onto a plate to my side and darted into the mudroom, closing and locking the door behind me.
“What-“
I cut Chelsea off by raising my hand to her mouth. I put the plate of hotdogs down onto the table and pushed her down to the floor with me.
“You’ve got to be kidding me!” She whispered. “You couldn’t have been outside for more than ten minutes. There is no way that their smell is that good.”
I gave her a stare to quiet her, not wanting to alert the contaminated with any noise. I hoped that they were only outside because they were randomly in the area, not because the smell of hotdogs carried them here. If there was one and only one to show up, it was safe to say that it was just a random passerby who heard interesting noises, but if a whole group showed up, that meant no more barbeques.
I motioned for Chelsea to stay put. I wanted to get a better look at what was going on outside. With careful precision, I slowly and quietly shifted my body over into the mudroom, grasping my bat while I did so.
I got on my knees and poked my head above the door where it became a window. Two. There were two of the infected in front of me. Both with the trademarked yellow eyes and white skin, mouths dripping with red blood. One was an older lady of questionable age while the other was a man who could not have been a day over thirty one with a large belly. I wondered if that was the remains of a beer belly from so long ago, or if it had become a blood belly since his contamination.
I could probably have taken them both, but doing so could cause a commotion, thusly attracting more of the contaminated to the area. If that happened, we were doomed to flee, assuming that we were able to survive the attack. I was not ready to give up waiting it out in this house, nor was I prepared to flee if needed.
The hissing of the contaminated became louder as they came for a meal but did not find any. I almost felt bad for them, as if I had tricked a dog into thinking I had a treat for it then opened my hand to reveal nothing as one would tease a dog. Almost felt bad.
The slurred communication of the monsters was becoming more and more aggressive, as if they were ready to fight each other, a nice thought. Maybe all of the contaminated could act like a bunch of pissed off teenagers and solve the world crisis by beating the living shit out of the others. That would be the amazing horror movie twist to solve the problems.
Unfortunately that was not the case here. They simply moved off, hissing on their way. The noise slowly faded as they walked farther and farther away from my house. We finally stood up once the sound of their speech had faded away.
“Too close,” Chelsea said. “No more of the grill for a while.”
“I can’t believe you called that one,” I said in disbelief. “Though, I don’t think that they were there from the smell. Only two showed up. If their smell was that good then more probably would be on the deck right now, having a barbeque of their own.”
Suddenly a shout came from the street. Startled at first, I almost fell over from shock of the noise. It was an ear tearing scream and it seemed to be moving closer to us.
Chelsea and I each grabbed a bat and ran into the living room, pulling the curtains back to see what was happening outside. A lady who could not have been older than thirty five was hobbling down the street, a company of contaminated at her heels. She was limping on her left ankle, swollen and probably broken. There were blood marks across her shoulders and neck, and all the way down her back. Her dark hair was shiny in the dim light, possibly with blood.
“Oh no!” Chelsea started. The person was moving as fast as she could down the street, almost making it to our house’s position. “What, what, I don’t know!” Chelsea said, her eyes turning red.
I froze. If we helped the lady then we would let the entire contaminated in the area know that we were here and lose our home. But how could we just leave an innocent person in the street?
“I’m going-“
“You can’t!” Chelsea said to me, grabbing hold of my arm. “You can’t.”
“Chels, she’s hurt!”
“She’s going to die soon. I don’t like it any more than you do but she has obviously been contaminated,” her free hand was held up to her eyes, covering her tears. “It’s just – we can’t.”
I stood there, watching the street, Chelsea’s hands holding me back.
The lady kept running as fast as her broken body would carry her. The signs of her fighting plagued her body. It was obvious that she had already survived one encounter with the contaminated but she would not be making it away from this one.
She was two houses down from my own when I saw her head turn up. Our eyes met, for one single sharp, quick second. Hope passed over her
