Red Bite

Annie woke up beside Nathan were he was still lying. his abdomen had bandages all over circling his body. after one day, Nathan hadn't yet wake up from his injuries. Annie actually slept on a chair so her body was pretty sore. she stretched her body for a bit then she left the room.

walking across the hallway, she saw the glares of the students at her. she felt their anger and sadness through their eyes. she lowered her head and quicken her pace. Annie reached the school canteen. there, she saw Caitlin and her friends already drinking their coffee.

"morning"

"good morning to ya too!"

"hmm"

"good morning"

Annie approached and greeted them with a smile. Robin greeted her back with his very cheerful voice and a wide smile. while Angelo just nodded at her and Caitlin greeted her back with a smile.

Angelo couldn't help but notice while Annie was smiling, there was still a hint of sadness on her face. she was really trying hard to hide her true emotions. then an unexpected voice was heard.

"don't ya worry about them, they weren't on the front lines they wouldn't know what really happened. besides, you're not incompetent, actually you're a good leader, you made the right choice by not going back to campus when you were being chased by the giant dog. surely if that happened, all of you are already dead by now. so you still managed to save more lives than you lost. cheer up a little bit"

Annie was surprised with what Robin has said. she thought Robin was just a foolish man who doesn't know how to read the situation. she smiled sincerely at Robin and said.

"thank you, really. uhmm since I'm here, i want to ask for your help. if that's okay?"

Annie sat beside Caitlin and asked to help her for something. she asked first their permission since they're new here and might not want to risk their lives for the people they don't know well.

"sure, go ahead"

Caitlin patted her back and nodded at her. Annie felt relieved. she really want their help because there might be another monsters lurking outside, and only them have guns

"uhmm... well, you already know that we weren't able to get the bodies outside yesterday because of fear and it was also getting dark at that time. so I am planning to go collect their bodies so we can give them a proper burial and honor them"

"okay, when do you want to do it?"

"as soon as possible, if that's okay with you too?"

"come on, you already gave us food and even let us stay here. of course that's okay with us. we owe you"

Angelo spoke in a serious voice then looked at Caitlin and Robin who nodded simultaneously. hearing what Angelo said, she felt relieved. it felt like a heavy burden lifted off her chest.

"thank you so much, really. thank you, thank you"

"you thank us so much haha"

"we're ready now, lets go!"

Robin stood up and stretched his body. after some preparation, they took off. while walking at the school grounds, Annie asked the question that has been bugging her

"you guys said you were travelling? where were you planning to go? as far as we know, there weren't any evacuation center"

Angelo answered her.

"actually, we don't know too. we were just wandering around to see if we can find any survivors or military. just like you said, there aren't any evacuation center"

"so we are really happy that we found you guys, we can turn this place into a fortress you know"

Robin said again with a cheerful voice as always. Annie was now wondering why this guy is always so cheerful even if everything is going so bad.

"but if you just walked surely you encountered those red monsters, right?"

"that's the best part, we actually didn't! the road was so devoid of life that not even a dog can be seen that was why i was so surprise to see that giant dog. we were so lucky you know!"

Robin said in a slightly raised voice. this made Annie fell into deep thought.

'even there huh? i wonder were could they be'

"Robin's right, we were so lucky. we didn't even know that animals can be infected too. the only monster we saw was the guard on our call center building"

Caitlin said with a solemn voice, her face was a little distorted at the thought of what happened to them after the guard came to their offices. she closed her eyes and muttered something.

"everything's going to be alright"

"where is this call center building?"

"we're from San Pedro, Laguna. we worked there. we stayed there for two days after everything went to chaos. then we walked and somehow we found ourselves here"

Angelo explained to the surprised Annie.

"wow, that's pretty far"

"yeah, i know right. we were so exhausted you know!"

as they were talking they reached their destination. they searched and searched and searched... but, there was nothing. not a single piece of human can be found. the four was shocked, they readied their guns a waiting for any enemy ambush. while Annie fell down to her knees. her body was shuddering, tears flowed down her eyes. she placed her hands on her face as she cried.

for her, this is the only gesture she knows to honor the sacrifices of this brave people who died and lift the burden that was weighing down her chest. so she really wanted to give the students a proper burial. but now it was impossible.

"ack, damn it! I'm sorry, I'm really sorry!" sobs

"hey hey, it's okay. no one knew this would happen"

Caitlin tried to comfort her. she sat in front of Annie and held her face with her two hands and directly stared at her watery eyes. when their eyes met, Annie stopped crying. then Caitlin smiled really gently and patted her head before hugging her. at this moment, they heard something.

"hel- help, i c- can't fell my legs. please..."

Caitlin and Annie stood upright simultaneously then the four looked at each other with a surprised look on their faces. then they heard him again.

"any... anybody ther- there?"

Annie then realized that she knew this voice. she racked her brain to remember who this person was, after a few seconds she remembered and said with a loud voice.

"JOSHUA! where are you?"

"Annie? is... is that really y- you?

"yes! it's me. please tell me where you are"

"I'm here... at the drugstore"

the four of them looked in the direction of the drugstore. Annie rushed over there with her full speed. she reached the door and opened it. there, she saw the blood scattered on the floor. then she looked under a desk to find Joshua there slumped down. his skin was pale, the eyes who was fierce during battles was now full of fear and terror while his face is crumpled because of the pain. he saw Annie standing at the door then he smiled faintly.

"it... really is... you. thanks..."

he finally gave in to the pain he suffered all over his body and he passed out. the last thing he saw was Annie approaching him with other people he never saw before.

"help! hurry!"

Annie yelled at the three who responded very quickly. Robin and Angelo both placed both arms of Joshua on their shoulders to carry him. while Caitlin and Annie carried the guns that the two was carrying for them. they rushed to their campus only to be greeted by a huge commotion among the students.

"hey! what's happening?"

Annie grabbed the arm of one of the students standing in front of her. she looked terrified and distress. her face was pale and couldn't speak immediately.

"someone's dead, some says he committed suicide!"

"what? damn it!"

'I'll just take care of that matter later'

"make way! make way!"

Caitlin yelled at the students who were blocking the entrance of the building. some of the students were startled at the loud voice suddenly yelling at them. when they saw they were carrying someone, they quickly parted like the sea when moses parted it.

Annie took this opportunity to rush a head of Caitlin to go to the school clinic. she quickly informed of Joshua's situation. in turn nurse Josephine quickly cleaned the remaining bed beside Nathan's. she met the three who was escorting the passed out Joshua.

nurse Josephine helped the two men place Joshua on the bed very carefully. then she quickly remove Joshua's school uniform where she found the countless bruises, scratches and claw wounds so deep that they can see the bones and innards of Joshua. nurse Josephine winced at the sight. she wasn't sure if she can still save him.

"can you save him miss?"

Annie asked in a hopeful voice. she clasped nurse Josephine's hands tightly. her eyes were watery and is about to cry. nurse Josephine sighed at the sight of pitiful Annie. she didn't want to burden Annie with anymore deaths. so she looked at Annie's watery eyes and smiled as sincerely as possible and said

"i will try my very best. luckily we have everything we need here, thanks to the drugstore nearby. you don't have to worry now, okay? rest for a little bit"

nurse Josephine looked at the three people behind Annie and nodded. the three people knew what the nurse want them to do. Caitlin placed her soft hands on Annie's shoulder and lead her outside the room.

"come on, Annie"

meanwhile outside the school building.

the students was still congregating at the dead body of a young man. his body was twisted in an unbelievable angles his bones was clearly broken. the young man faced the ground and dried blood colored the dirt around him. beside him was a woman who was holding his bent hand. she was wailing at the sight of her dead boyfriend.

sobs "why! Brian! i thought you were going to marry me!? why would you do this? no, this can't be. someone... someone clearly murdered you!" sobs sobs

"it's really a pity, but you have to accept the fact the he really committed suicide"

the woman heard a nonchalant voice behind her. there she saw a man with black hair and a medium sized body standing behind her while his arms are crossed. he looked at her like a dog.

the woman burned with anger and slapped him hard on his face. her hand was imprinted on the man's face. his face crumpled as he felt humiliated. then the woman yelled at him.

"how can you say that? you don't know him!"

the man yelled back at her.

"this bitch! how can you be so sure that he won't do... this"

"because he's my boyfriend. we all ways talked about what we're going to do after we survive this Apocalypse! he wanted to marry me! he wanted children! so why would he kill himself!?"

everyone was startled and was now convinced that someone murdered Brian. they looked at each other with a doubtful looks. at this moment, the students was not trusting anyone beside their closest friends. Marvin, who was yelling at the woman felt alarmed.

'shit! i might get found out!'

"how can be so sure? i mean, do you REALLY know your boyfriend? it might look like that on the outside but deep down, we all hide something, am i right? maybe he's just trying to comfort you. we are in the middle of the Apocalypse! it will definitely take a toll on someone's mental health!"

"hmm"

"yeah, he might be right though"

"he's right"

the students was agreeing to what Marvin has said. this made the woman more furious, her face crumpled because of anger that she has been experiencing.

sobs "you... you don't know him!" sobs

"just accept it"

Marvin sighed and said with a nonchalant voice. he turned his back and walk outside the crowd without even looking back. he had a faint smile on his face.

'hehehe, success'

back at the school clinic

when nurse Josephine finished cleaning and sewing the wounds, she felt a little hope. at first she didn't know if Joshua can survive another day, but now.

'you're really strong, Joshua. i have high hopes for you.'

nurse Josephine sighed after she cleaned the room but then, she saw blood on the bed sheet where Joshua's leg are located. she didn't noticed it until now. she has been so focused on the upper part of the body that she completely forgot to check other parts of his body. she picked up her scissor, she first looked at the wound. it was a bite wound, not too deep but not too shallow either. she sighed inwardly thinking that the wound was not serious.

'thank god, phew. just hang in there, Joshua'

then she start cutting the black pants every male students wore. she started from the bottom. as she was cutting, she noticed the skin becomes redder and redder. she was confused but she dismissed it. when she reached where the wound were located, she spread the cut pants she was now cleaning the wound. she first sprinkled it with alcohol and wiped around the wound to clean the dried blood. to her surprise, the red color didn't vanished. she wiped it again and again and again... but it stayed color red. she gasped in horror.

'could it be!? oh my god i have to inform Annie!'

she rushed outside to call Annie.