Chapter 12

The first thing I notice when I come to is the fierce pain radiating from my face, all through my skull. I can barely open my eyes from the pain. Groaning, I try to move only to realize my hands are bound behind my back. My heart rate picks up as I remember the situation, I'm in. I remember the men breaking into the house and how scared Mikayla was. Mikayla... where is she? I begin to panic, my eyes finally adjusting to the dim lighting in the room I'm being held captive in. It looks like a basement.

Just as I begin to sit up to attempt standing, I hear a snarl. Terror strikes me and I freeze, holding my breath and waiting. I slowly look to my left and see an undead standing by a shelf in the corner of the room. This one has been gone for a while by the looks of it. Looking at the decomposing flesh causes my nose to realize the acrid smell filling the room. The skin is mottled and grey, slipping off the muscle underneath, hanging limply in some spots where it must have snagged on various objects. I can see the tendons of the creature's jaw flexing with each snarl. It looks haunting, the lone light bulb in the room illuminating its sunken facial features.

When I'm finally able to look away, I turn my head the other way and see Mikayla. She is laying on the ground just a couple feet away, her hands bound in the same manner as my own with what looks like thick nylon cord. I bite down on my tongue hard to keep from yelling for her and making sure she is okay. The instantaneous pain clearing my head a little. I keep my breaths as shallow as possible and turn my eyes back to the undead before scooting to the side quietly. It wasn't as quiet as I thought it'd be, the dusty floor scratching the second I tried to scoot my body. My eyes widen as the undead lunges at me and I scream for all I'm worth and throw myself backward as hard as I can. I knock into Mikayla before noticing the clanging noise underneath the snarling and desperation of my hungry attacker.

There are chains around its ankles, securing it to the metal shelf it was standing beside. The shelf must be mounted to the wall, otherwise, there is no way that I would be alive right now. It reminds me of the zoms we saw on the road before all of this happened which makes sense when I think about it. I'm pulled from my thoughts as Mikayla stirs from behind me. The snarling and flailing of decayed tissue have not ceased and I see the panic in her eyes the moment they open.

"Hey, hey... it's okay."

She looks at me, fear replaced with confusion. My voice is scratchy and my throat burns as I force the words out anyway.

"It's chained to the shelf, see?"

She looks over and visibly relaxes. She coughs, her small frame jerking roughly. Her voice doesn't sound any better off when she speaks.

"Where are we?"

She looks so young as she stares at me, waiting for an answer. One that I don't currently have. Sighing, I scoot myself back against the wall and straighten my legs out in front of me. May as well get comfy since we don't know when the meatheads will be coming for us. Or if they will. I lower my voice to a whisper, praying that the monster a few feet from us will lose interest soon. Preferably before it's rotting ankles give way and let it drag its body towards us.

"From the looks of things, I'd say we are in a basement. Everything is going to be okay though. We can get out of this somehow. We just have to play it smart."

I don't sound too convincing but I can't help it. These fuckers already seem like real creeps. Just look at the way they left us down here. Just the thought makes my lips curl back in disgust.

"Awe... how cute. You think you're going to make it out of this alive.", jeers a voice from the other side of the room.

My head snaps up, as does Mikayla's, and the hothead from earlier strolls out of the shadows where we can see him. The zombie changes targets and is now throwing its weight against the chains in his direction but he doesn't even flinch. We don't give him the satisfaction of his taunt working and keep our mouths shut as he watches us.

"You want to play tough, huh? We will see how long that little facade lasts. You're going to wish you never fucking crossed paths with us, you little piece of shit.

He stalks closer to us and kneels on the floor in front of Mikayla.

"You're not too bad looking." He leers, his hand reaching out to roughly grasp her chin.

Her eyes fill with tears and he turns her face up towards his own but still, she doesn't speak. Rage fills my body, but I don't let it show. Instead, I lean towards the man, sitting up straight.

"She's just a child. She wouldn't know what to do with a man like you." I say confidently, jutting my chin towards him.

The sicko moves his gaze to me, looking me up and down. I have to fight the shudder threatening to run through my body. He moves closer to me and runs his dirty, calloused fingers through my hair.

"Is that so?" He asks me with a vile grin on his face. "It's been a while since I've had some fun."

While he is distracted by what he thinks to be a jealous proposition, I take the opportunity to slam my forehead into his nose as hard as possible. The pain is blinding but his screech is well worth it, again. He stumbles back a bit holding his face. I smile, I can feel the blood running from my forehead down my face. I spit on him as best I can and laugh.

"You're that fucking dumb? Wow."

I think I have the upper hand until his crazed laughter begins to echo off of the concrete walls. "I'll show you dumb; you little bitch."

With that, he wipes the blood on his pants and stands up before roughly throwing me over his shoulder. I kick and thrash as hard as I can as Mikayla starts screaming and wailing but it's no use. He continues for the stairwell, his grip on my waist solid. I've pissed off one fucked up individual and now I get to deal with the consequences.