Dead On Arrival~ Episode 21: BloodStained

Note: This has been copied directly from my tumblr. Finished this before my computer went up. Posted via phone.

Episode 21: BloodStained

“Noooo! Don’t! Wait!”

The gun went off without fail and the deafening sound rung in my ears. The barrel of the gun stood straight up between us as we both took hold of it while the bullet meant for Audrey flew straight up like a rocket through the roof.

I stumbled backwards and Mark dropped the rifle holding his ears in pain. I had stopped him successfully to my relief, but my head felt like it would split in to two at any moment and the ringing in my ears replaced any sound in the room.

I feared I had gone deaf, but muffled shouting echoed through the room, “What the fuck is wrong with you? Are you crazy? She’s bit!”

“I’m…I’m not going let you shoot her. No,” I spluttered.

“But she’s covered in blood with a wound!”

“I…I don’t care. You’re not going shoot her. Besides she may not even be bit.”

“Then what are you going to do?” he exasperated.

I looked over at Audrey who was resting peacefully on a table nearby. It seemed she lost consciousness during the struggle. I looked over at Mark and back at her watching her chest move at a peaceful rhythm. I knew what I was going to do without thinking. I knew I had to wait. Wait and watch her before I made the dreaded call.

“I’m going to bandage her up. Make her more comfortable. Then let her rest and check on her through the night. If she hasn’t turned by the morning then we know she’s fine,” I said confidently. “So, in other words, we’re staying here. You’ll welcome to leave if you want”

“Leave? That gunshot probably got a mob of them heading this way. I’m staying. I got no choice,” he scoffed. “Just know if that girl wakes up and tries to bite your face off I’m going let her. Then I’ll shoot you both.”

He took one last glance at us shaking his head. “I’m going check for supplies and the dead”, he yelled. Then he disappeared out the room into a hallway connected to the room.

“You don’t bite do you?” I joked talking to her slumbering figure.

I then took a look around the room realizing where I was now. We were in a preschool or what looked like one. Rays of colors adorned the room. Doodles drawn with crayon decorated the walls with a chalkboard on one. The floors were also vibrant with smiley face adorned furniture, books, and toys littered across a puzzled themed carpet in the middle of the floor. There were even some art supplies on the table where Audrey slept as well. I couldn’t help, but smile examining the place. There was joy and abundance of innocent to it all. A total contrast to what was happing outside. One could forget such troubles in a place like this, but reality soon set in. The more I looked the more I realized this place was not untouched by the horrors we witnessed.

“Had the children made it out alive?” I thought as my eyes settled on some bloodstains on the floor. I tried to push the question out of my mind, but thoughts of my daughter and her fate plagued my mind then. “Was Maya alive?”

“No. No. She’s alive. I…I just know it. She’s alive,” I chanted to myself. I picked up a stuffed bear clutching it close. The cold metal of my cross pressed against my chest against my shirt. “No. She’s alive…”

“Vince? Vince!”

“Huh?”

I turned around to see Mark behind me. He was holding a plastic bag full of stuff watching suspiciously. “Didn’t search all the rooms, but I found a few things. Rubbing alcohol, some matches, some water, a few other things, and even got rid of a few stray corpses hanging about. You OK?”

“They weren’t children were they?”

“What?”

“Never mind”, I said throwing the bear aside.

I made quick work with what we had and patched up Audrey the best I could then. I finished right before nightfall to my luck as the room became increasingly dark. I could barely see my bloodstained hands in front of my face as they shook from the ordeal while Mark slept peacefully in a blowup chair on the other side of the room. He was snoring up a storm in front of a small fire he created using a metal wastebasket, matches, and pages from a book to my annoyance. Audrey, on the other hand, laid next to me bundled up in blankets safely on the floor. With the exception of a few whimpers, she slept soundly to my relief.

As the night went on and I was close drifting off to sleep when I finally heard her voice calling me. I lifted up immediately and looked over to see her sitting up rubbing her eyes.

“Vince? Ugh. Where am I? What happen?”

“Audrey!” I exclaimed. I grabbed her hugging her awkwardly while grinning like a fool. “I’m so relieved…”

“Vince!”

I let go smiling, “Sorry. You’re in the building we found. Remember?”

“Yeah, but what the fuck is this place? A fun house?”

“Nooo. It’s a daycare or some type of preschool.”

She scoffed, “Well you fit right in then.”

“You never miss a beat do you?”

We both laughed and I handed her katana back as she examined herself more closely touching the stapled up wound on her leg.

“For a minute, I thought you were a goner. Your clothes were caked with blood and your leg look like it needed stitches, but I did what I could. I still have your hoodie if you want it. Almost took the rest of those nasty clothes off, but I decided to leave them on. Didn’t want you waking up in underwear and getting the wrong idea. Lord knows what that katana would do to my head.”

She smiled sheepishly, “Plenty!”

“Heh. Well, I hope I never find out. I’m still trying to get the image of your handiwork out of my head now. So what’s all the blood about? Were you….bit?”

“No! It’s zombie blood. If you cover yourself with it they can’t smell you” she stressed watching my bewildered face. “Have you ever seen Predator? They used mud to camouflage themselves and their body warmth. Well, the blood hides your smell. If you smell like them, walk like them, and keep quiet you can get through a horde of them without trouble. Just along it doesn’t rain.“

“For real? Holy crap no wonder you smelled! That’s gross!”

She rolled her eyes, “It works thank you.”

“So you’re not bit?”

“No! If I was I would tell you!” she frowned folding her arms. “If I’m ever bit you will know. Trust me. I’m..I’m fine.”

I watched her for a moment as she suddenly turned away from me. Sadness etched on her face. I wondered if I had said something wrong or if she was starting not to feel well or worse, but she turned back to me with a serious expression.

“What I did was stupid and reckless. You should have left me, but I’m glad you didn’t. Thank you.”

“Think nothing of it.”

“No. Really. You’re really a good guy, Vince,” she said earnestly. “You really are.”

A good guy? Was I? I hadn’t done nearly enough to earn that title in my eyes. I had stolen from good people, hurt good people, and hung around with the wrong crowd all my life. If the dead hadn’t risen I would be serving life in prison for murder right about now. For once it was a crime I actually hadn’t committed, but I certainly wasn’t a saint just cause I didn’t do it. No. I was someone to be feared. Someone she couldn’t trust. I looked into her eyes and I knew I couldn’t keep hiding behind the mask of the hero she thought I was.

“You look like you have something on your mind too", she said studying me.

“Yeah, I do. Audrey…I…”

*tap tap tap*

“You hear that? Is someone or something tapping on the window?”

I shrugged, “It’s probably just a corpse or the wind….”

*knock knock knock*

“So do corpses or the wind knock after tapping now?”

No poll for this chapter, but they’ll be back with a poll after this next chapter. Polls are going be every two chapters for now.

In the meantime, please make your vote count in the previous chapter. It’s open for another week as I’m giving everyone some time to get their vote in. So far Lin’s boat cruise is winning. :P