Ravage: An Apocalyptic Horror Novel(86)

Up ahead, he heard rustling. It sounded like Annaliese was heading into the hedges that ringed the park’s outer pathways. He was just about to ask her what she was doing when he heard her cry out.

Nick dropped the bags he was carrying and looked around frantically. As he did so, he ended up treading on a stuffed dolphin. His ankle twisted and he cried out in pain.

Annaliese was struggling on her back with an infected on top of her. There was a second infected person coming out of the bushes; a Chinese guy with broken spectacles.

Shit! What do I do?

Nick knew that if the infected Chinese man made it over to Annaliese he would have no problem sinking his teeth into her as she struggled with the woman. Nick would have to take the man down first.

Here goes nothing.

With a rapidly swelling ankle, he lolloped towards the Chinese man and leapt into the air. He planted a sloppy flying kick in the best impression of Bruce Lee that he could manage. The man went stumbling backwards into the bushes and Nick landed and hissed out in pain. He spun around to see that Annaliese had the infected woman around the throat and was trying to bring up her knees as a barrier between them.

Nick went to help her.

He grabbed the infected woman around the waist and tugged her backwards. At the same time, Annaliese kicked out her legs and struck the woman’s abdomen. The extra momentum sent Nick reeling backwards to the floor with his arms still wrapped around the woman’s waist. He held on tightly as Annaliese hurried to her feet.

“Keep her there,” she shouted.

“Yeah, no problem,” said Nick, sarcastically.

Annaliese disappeared out of sight. The infected woman thrashed about in Nick’s arms. He suddenly felt alone…abandoned.

Then Annaliese reappeared and dove at the infected woman in his arms. She swung her arm and cracked the woman across the face. Nick felt the body go limp and quickly dumped it to the side. He scurried back to his feet and saw that Annaliese held a jagged rock in her hand. It dripped with blood.

“Very effective,” he said. “Think you can-”

Annaliese’s eyes went wide.

Nick was tackled from behind by the infected Chinese man. He fell to the floor face down and struck his head on the pavement. Immediately his vision dimmed and his hearing buzzed as though his ears were full of flies.

He was hardly aware of what happened next as he lay on the floor impotently. Sounds of a desperate struggle ensued, but he was unable to do anything.

I need to help, Anna.

Or she needs to help me.

There was a wet sound.

And then silence.

Nick was still dazed when the struggling stopped. He wanted to roll onto his back and see what was happening, but every time he tried to move, a wave of nausea flooded over him. His head clanged like a kettle drum.

I think I’m going to puke.

A hand clamped down on his wrist and squeezed. The breath caught in his chest as he lay there, still powerless.

“Come on,” Annaliese told him. “I handled it.”

Nick blinked and tried to stop his vision from tilting. He took a few deep breaths before he was able to place his palms on the pavement and push himself up. Annaliese helped him to his knees and then, slowly, onto his feet.

He wobbled a bit and she grabbed a hold of him. “Whoa, you okay? You took a pretty big bang on the head, there. I can already see the swelling coming up.”

“I don’t feel right, I…” His words trailed off as he saw the blood pouring from Annaliese’s neck. He reached out a hand, but then stopped himself.

Her blood could be infected. Don’t touch it!

Annaliese stepped away from his grasp and frowned. She followed his gaze and looked down at her shoulder. She saw the blood there and her mouth dropped open.

“Oh, no,” she said. “No, no, no.”

Nick stepped forward and put his hands on both her shoulders. Suddenly his headache was gone, replaced by trepidation and fear. He caught Annaliese’s gaze and looked her dead in the eye. “Are you bit?” he asked her. But she didn’t seem to hear the question and stared into space. “I said, are you bitten?

“I…I don’t know.”

Nick shook his head. “Damn it!”

Annaliese began unclasping the buttons of her shirt and tugged the material away from her neck and shoulder. Nick leant forward to examine her wound.

Damn it, damn it, damn it.

There was a lot of blood. It was bright red and already clotting. It wasn’t from a deep wound, but that wouldn’t matter if it was from a bite. Nick followed the bleeding to its source, until it became clear what they were dealing with.

I can’t believe it.

He stepped away from her and let out a sigh.

Annaliese eyes went impossibly wide. “What?” she pleaded. “Am I bitten?”

Nick shook his head and stepped closer to her. He reached a hand around her neck and plucked something from a gash he had discovered on the back of her shoulder.

Annaliese flinched. “Shit! What was that?”

Nick held the sharp twig out in front of her and watched the relief take over her. He couldn’t help but laugh with relief. “It was sticking right out of you. It was in pretty deep, but there’s no bite.”

Annaliese put a hand to her forehead and rubbed. “Thank God! I must have landed on it when the infected woman took me down to the ground. Jeez, that was close.”