Damaged Goods
by Samie Sands (Sample, featured in Undead Worlds)
How the hell did this happen? I still, even now, can’t work out how I allowed myself to be so stupid. I’m a smart girl, aren’t I? At least that’s what I’ve always been told. The teachers at my school have always said to me: ‘Ava Jones, you are a smart girl. One of the cleverest in the class. You’ll go far in life’. Maybe if they could see me now, none of them would be half as quick to say that.
I mean, what sort of girl allows themselves to get bit, in the middle of the damn zombie apocalypse? I’m sure as hell not going far in life now!
I tentatively glance my eyes downwards to look at the injury on my trembling arm, but it’s hard to stand the sight of it. As soon as I spot the slightly brown, coagulating blood that’s forming on my wrist, my eyes squeeze shut and my lips clamp together so tightly it’s as if they fear vomit might fall out if I dare to part them.
The pain is much worse than the sight though, so it's not like I can ignore it. It’s hot and radiating all over me as if it wants to swallow me whole. In all honesty, I’ve never experienced anything quite like it before.
I’m not an idiot, I know what the bite means, I’ve been out there enough to know what it’ll turn me into, I just don’t know what to do about it. I know my skin will grey, my irises will pale, my body will slow as my brain shuts off. I’ll become one of the monsters that are outside my door right now, waiting for some human flesh to consume. Hoping someone will be dumb enough to stumble into their path. I’ll become the one thing that everyone wants to avoid these days, the nightmare that no one can stand to even discuss.
The worst part is I could've avoided that fate too if only I listened.
No comments:
Post a Comment