Chapter 11

Clark guided me out of the mini-mart, Jamie coming over as soon as she saw the two of us exit the store. "Hey, I heard screaming. Are you two alright?" She asked, her eyes shifting to Clark as I gave her no answer. "Yeah, we're fine." He said, "Why is there blood all over your shirt?" She looked at the two of us in concern, wondering where the blood came from. "I'll explain that later," Clark said, leading me to my car. He sat me down in the passenger seat and grabbed a water bottle, he took out a rag he had in his back pocket and wet it. He gently wiped my face and neck, making sure to get the blood off as I sat there still out of it. "It's alright, Blake. You're safe now. Everything's okay." He said softly, he took my hands in his and started wiping them. I could only nod at his words, "Jamie, can you bring me another shirt for her to wear?" Jamie nodded and walked to their car, everyone else was still raiding the nearby vehicles. "Here, I found this. I believe it's in her size." Jamie handed Clark a plaid shirt, giving her a small thanks before turning back to me. "I'm gonna give you some privacy so you can change." I nodded and Clark left to give me enough to change in the car, I closed the door and stripped my shirt off. Clark left the rag with me and I wiped the remaining blood off of my face, trying my best not to remember the attack. I slipped the new shirt on which actually fit me much better than I thought it would, I buttoned up the shirt and tucked it into my jeans. After getting dressed, I opened the car door and stood up out of the front seat. I was met with Scarlett who pulled me into a large hug, catching me off guard. I wasn't sure where she had come from but judging by the hug, Clark must have explained what happened in the mini-mart to the others. I slowly returned the hug as Logan and Liam came running over, looking incredibly concerned about my well-being. Scarlett pulled back from the hug, "What are you doing?" I asked, looking at all three of them.

"We just heard... You were attacked by two 'Infected' in the Mini-Mart. Are you alright?" Logan asked.

"Oh, that.." I looked down at my hands, "Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just a little shaken up is all." I shrugged my shoulders, wanting to take the attention off of the attack, I changed the subject. "We got a lot of supplies while we were in there." I turned around, pulling the basket of supplies out of the back seat. Clark had put them in there when he brought me over to the car, "I even managed to pick up some medicine and things like that." I said, holding the basket up in front of them. Logan, Liam, and Scarlett looked at one another before looking at me. 

"What?" 

"Blake, you can be honest with us." Scarlett started and I shook my head, "I told you, I'm fine. I wasn't scratched or bitten and Clark got there just in time to help me. I'm fine." 

"Blake," Scarlett tilted her head.

"I'm Fine!" I slightly raised my voice, "Alright, guys..." Clark walked over to us. He probably heard me raise my voice, "Let's give Blake some space, alright." He said, Scarlett sighed and threw her head back in frustration. "Fine," She groaned, "But if anything else happens, I'm not just going to let her get away without talking about it." She said she placed the basket back into the car and was about to walk off when we heard screaming from a store a few feet away from us. We immediately took off as we heard Jeremiah and Jamie shouting, the two rushing from a car behind us to get to the store. Without hesitation, I grabbed my weapon and started running towards the store. "Penelope!" Jeremiah screamed, running ahead of us. We heard more screaming before a loud gunshot rang, causing more panic among the rest of us.

"PENELOPE!!" Jeremiah screamed again.

My breath stopped, and my heart dropped into my stomach as we saw the scene before us. An 'Infected' had cornered Piper and Iris, who were hiding behind a collapsed shelf. In another corner, Penelope was trying her best to fight off the 'Infected' attacking her while Jack hid behind her. "Shit!" Jeremiah sprung into action, he grabbed a nearby bat and ran towards his wife. "HEY!!" Jeremiah shouted. The 'Infected' let out a guttural growl as it turned its attention towards Jeremiah, its bloodshot eyes filled with hunger and malice. With a swift movement, it lunged towards him, its decaying fingers outstretched. Jeremiah's heart raced as he braced himself for the impending impact of the 'Infected's' attack. With a primal roar, he swung the bat with all his might, the sound of bone crunching echoing in the dimly lit room. The 'Infected' staggered back, its movements slowing as it let out a pained howl. Jeremiah swung again, this time knocking the 'Infected' into another shelf. With another shout, Jeremiah swung again killing the 'Infected'. I turned my attention back to Iris and Piper who were still hiding behind the fallen shelf, Clark had jumped into action and killed the 'Infected'. It fell onto the shelf with a resounding thud, and the girls immediately came out from behind the shelf hugging Clark. "You girls okay?" I walked over to them, checking both girls for scratches and bite marks, and found none. The blood on them wasn't their's, it was from the 'Infected' that attacked them. "Yeah, we're okay. Penelope saved us before the 'Infected' could touch us." Iris explained, Jamie hugged her daughter tight. "No," Jeremiah cried out, the bat dropped and all of us turned our heads to Jeremiah. He wasn't looking at Penelope but at Jack with horror in his eyes, my eyes trailed over Jack's body to see that he had a scratch on his right arm. 

"Oh no," I said, Penelope started crying as she looked at the wound.