This Beautiful World - Book #1 (BxB)

Chapter 5

We kept running, despite how difficult it was to keep going. It might not have been far, but I wasn't exactly the athletic type. I didn't have the stamina to run for long. However, I would keep going for as long as I could, especially when other lives were on the line. My mom and little sister were in town. I needed to keep going for them.  

Alex came to an abrupt stop. We weren't that far away from the parking lot now, but my friend stopped in his tracks which made Riley and I do the same. I looked past him to see what made him come to a halt. 

I could see his car which he always parked away from the others. Yet, there was an issue. We weren't the only ones who tried to escape to a vehicle. Others had the same idea, but they weren't so lucky. There were more zombies and more victims. Three others lay dead as the monsters feasted on their bodies. What sickened me, even more, was not that the monsters tore at their flesh, but that there was one person who was still alive and suffering. The person was screaming in pain as the zombies ate them alive. I felt my friends tense up beside me. I could only hope that person's suffering ended soon. 

Even though the zombies were currently distracted, none of us made a move. We could easily end up among the dead if we tried to escape to Alex's car now. Even though he always parked farther away, there were a few zombies who weren't eating those poor victims. It seemed odd that they weren't. It was almost as if they were patrolling the area and waiting for others to try to make their escape. 

"W-what now?" Riley quietly asked. 

I was at a loss for words. Our only means of escape was too far away from us and it was too dangerous to try. Walking to town was out of the question. It would take too long and who knew what we would run into along the way? But we needed to make a decision and fast. With each moment that passed, I grew more worried about my family. If things were starting to get bad here, then the town would be so much worse. Getting to the car was our only hope. For all I knew, it could already be too late. 

I clenched my fists. No, my family would be okay. I had to believe that. I would see them again soon. 

Without thinking, I pushed past my friends and ran into the open parking lot. Alex tried to grab me, but he didn't reach me in time. 

"Hey, you fucking freaks!" I yelled at the wandering zombies. This was probably the stupidest thing that I've ever done, but I couldn't stop myself now. When I got the zombie's attention, they wasted no time sprinting toward me. Why the fuck did these things have to run? 

It was too late to rethink my decision. I started running once again. I cursed myself for always cutting Phys Ed back in high school. Maybe then I wouldn't be winded after running for such a short distance. But now it was up to Alex and Riley to get to the car. I was leading the zombies away from them.

I ran towards the gate. Alex would need to drive past this in order to leave the campus and I knew that my friends would stop for me. They might have wanted to abandon the others, but they wouldn't do the same to me. I just hope that I didn't get bitten or scratched within that time period. The zombies were faster than me and I could hear them quickly approaching. It was only a matter of time now before they caught me. 

Thankfully, my friends were faster. 

Alex pulled up beside me with his car and Riley swung the backdoor open. As I tried to climb inside, one of the monsters grabbed me. The creature had the sleeve of my hoodie caught in its iron grasp. I pulled back as hard as I could, or else I would have been dragged out of the car. Riley grabbed me as well and together we were able to prevent the zombie from taking me with it. It tore my hoodie, but at least I was safe from being eaten alive. Alex sped away and I slammed the door shut.

I watched as the zombies tried to chase after us. No matter how fast these things might be, they couldn't keep up with a moving vehicle. At least they didn't have superhuman speed. Regardless, it seemed like humanity was fucked if things kept progressively getting worse.

Riley grabbed my arm and checked for any wounds. There was nothing. I was lucky enough that the zombie wasn't able to claw at my skin. When she saw that I was safe, she threw her arms around me in a tight embrace.

"Thank God. I was so worried about you." She sounded like she was about to burst into tears. I put my arms around her and hugged her back.

What I did was stupid, but we couldn't have stood around and waited for something to happen. We were lucky that things worked out in our favor. But even though things turned out okay, Alex was pissed.

He clenched the steering wheel tightly. "Are you out of your fucking mind? Why would you do something so stupid?"

His anger was justified, but I felt the need to defend myself. "What else was I supposed to do? We need this car. Someone had to do something and everything turned out fine in the end. I'm still alive and uninfected."

"That's not the point, Aiden! Things seriously could have taken a turn for the worse. One fucking scratch is all it takes. I could have lost you." I could hear the pain in his voice. Hearing that made me feel terrible for acting so recklessly.

"I'm sorry . . ."

"Don't apologize. Just promise me that you won't do something like that again. Don't risk your life like that. If we have to, we'll figure out how to overcome our conflicts together," he said.

"I promise." I buried my face in Riley's shoulder.

I hated that I upset my friends like this. It was selfish to make them worry about me. My desire to escape that nightmare and see my family again overtook any rational decision. I knew that one small mistake would have resulted in my death.

After that, the car fell silent. Alex focused on the road and Riley relaxed her grip on me. She had calmed down considerably, which I was thankful for. Now only Alex needed to forgive me for pulling that dumb move.

As Alex drove down the road that would eventually lead us into town, my thoughts drifted back to my family. All of us in the car were in silent agreement that our destination would be to check on our families and try to get everyone to safety. We were all worried about them. But after that, I didn't know what we would do. I didn't know where we could go to try to wait this out, if that would even be possible. With how quickly things went to hell at the campus, the town would have been fairing much worse.

Before long, I could see the town come into view from this distance. We would know soon enough how bad things were.