Chapter: 1

“Amelia!"

I heard a shrieking cry which caused the keys from my hand to slip onto the muddy ground. I hastily picked up the keys and on turning back my eyes met with a pair of bright blue eyes. The light brown colored hair were reflecting off the bright light of the sun that was entering through the small holes in the wall.

"What is it Erin?" I asked with several thoughts buzzing in my mind. Since past years, we have been through a lot and still the possibility of something dreadful to happen was near 99%.

"George! He...He......" her panicked expression and the name of one of the hunters was enough to make me understand what she actually meant.

I quickly sprinted towards an open auditorium of the once lively mall. All the life within it was squeezed out since the very moment these infected ones started to spread and feed on the poor, helpless beings.

The area was devastated. Lights were no longer on the ceilings and darkness had invaded the entire place. Upper floors were totally blocked as their passages prevented the entrance of any. Even the entrance and exit doors of the mall were blocked by the huge and myriad stones. We had, however, few secret passages through those stones which assisted the hunters to squeeze themselves under the tiny long passages and after crawling for at least two minutes, could find our way out. This mall was not only accompanied by 94 people but also by the tiny mice, who too had succeeded from not becoming the food of the Creatures.

On entering the auditorium from tiny, rough and destructed passages, I met the helpless body of George which was sprawled onto the cemented floor. People had surrounded him in a circle and were standing at a distance of good five feet, terror clearly laid on their faces of getting infected from George. 

I reached closer to him and settled myself on my knees. On reducing the distance, I noticed that he was trembling very badly and had a bite mark on his right wrist and on his right side of the neck. Dark red colored blood kept on seeping through the holes of the bite marks and had washed his entire shattered shirt with the blood. His black orbs met mine and I could see his life draining out of them.

"George! Stay firm man. You are our hero and heroes don't lose too soon. You still got your job to fill our stomachs with food. Remember?"

I whisper talked to him and while speaking wrapped a white cloth on both of my hands, which I had taken from my medical bag as it was rested beside me by Erin, who too was sitting by my side, her eyes glued to the side of George's face. She had always liked him but too late, she couldn't express her feelings. I could see her eyes shining due to the blanket of tears covering her eyes.

After wrapping my hands I placed pressure on his bite mark on the neck. Direct contact; skin to skin could get me infected too. Erin handed over the surgical instruments to me, still keeping her eyes attached to George's which were looking back to her.

"It is useless." His voice broke in the middle and he let out a cough of blood. He gasped loudly.

"You know I won't survive. They bit me deep enough to release their infected saliva into my blood. Please...."

He started taking shallow breaths while I was left stunned at his words. He was the first of all to say that. The others always used to cry and beg me to save their lives.

"Remember George, Hope! You gave us that concept. Stop it. Let me just take out some more blood out of you which I believe is infected. Taking off the first layer of the skin might also help."

I brought my hand near but he forced himself a little up and slid away. I looked at him angrily now. Shock was something which we couldn't bring on our faces. He was always like this. Taking care of others but ignorant about himself. How could he?

"Please George, for me." Erin cried while pushing herself closer to George.

Wow, that was a brave move. She always lacked the confidence to even look at George. George turned his face towards me and stared at me with a dead serious expression. Something bad was going to come out of his mouth.

"Throw me out." He said, loud enough for everyone in the room to hear. Gasps followed. Okay, this was quite unexpected.

"Shut the hell up George!" I couldn't control any longer. Erin beside me, stood on her feet and took few steps backward.

"Amelia! You shut the hell up! You know that I won't survive. I have gotten infected and soon will turn into one of those! No one can stop this! I will also try to eat you people and put your lives into danger! Hence, it is better to throw me away in order to protect your self, for God’s sake!" He yelled which was a new side of George.

"I think he is right." A very rough voice arose. I did not turn to see who it was. Only Dawson could be this selfish.

"I think it would be better if you keep your mouth shut Dawson!" Erin replied back.

My mind was fogged up too bad. George was right in front of me and wasn't allowing me even near him. How could I let such a useful and strong life slide away from my hands?

"I am right guys! What have we all been unto since all these years? Hiding and protecting ourselves from those infected creatures! So what will be the use of all that by keeping one among ourselves and threatening our lives like this? We got kids here too!" He shouted. His argument held some weight and was sort of correct from his side. Few people nodded.

"How can you people be so selfish? He helped you all. He filled the stomachs of your kids by entering into that dangerous world, risking his own life just for you all. He helped you keep yourselves covered in these pieces of cloth. How can you forget all that, huh!" Erin countered back.

"Well then all those efforts will go to drain when he will slaughter us for filling his own hunger! Sounds even, right?!" Dawson barked.

"Please be quiet everyone." A little and soft voice spoke.

Everyone heard it apart from Dawson and Erin who were too busy attacking each other with fuming words. I turned towards right and saw Lola holding the small brown bear, tightly in her arms with terror plastered on her face. I stood up and walked towards her and gave her small figure a tight embrace while stroking her golden blonde curls.

"Amelia, please ask them to stop. They won't listen to me." Her soft voice rang in my ears.

"Don't be afraid dear. Everything will be fine."

"I don't want to say this but I think we should let George go. I am afraid of getting bitten by him. Anyways, he will make new friends outside and will have a huge family, unlike us." Her voice trailed off. I kept on looking at her. After some time, my voice caught everyone's attention.

"Okay, George. We will help you out." I couldn't believe my words. George looked at me with a thankful gaze while Erin looked startled.

"Amelia?!" She whispered, not believing it was me. I couldn't either.

"Yes Erin. This is for our own good. Despite, we cannot let our efforts wash away. This is George's last wish adding to the other facts."

I kept looking straight, anywhere but away from Erin's gaze. She looked at George and then at me and then at everyone else. After that she again looked at me while shooting daggers with her gaze which I could feel from the corner of my eyes. Then she turned back on her heels and ran away, her sobs getting fainter due to the distance.

"You were, you are and will always remain our hero, George." I said while walking towards him. He gave me a two finger salute, something he often did. Then he winced in pain and his breath started to hitch.

"Now lets get you out of here, our hero." My voice boomed.

***

I quickly covered my hands with black gloves and my head with a hat which helped me secure my light golden, grayish colored shoulder length, sleek straight hair. The other hunters were now reduced to 3 altogether from 4 due to the absence of George. We all missed him to our full but had to move forward, just like what we had been doing since all these years. Poor Erin, she kept herself away from all of us, hid behind the shadows to make sure that no one could see her swollen and blood shot eyes. She needed time and that is what I gave her.

"Back to earth, Amelia." A melodic voice pulled me out of my thoughts. I looked towards Sarah, a woman in her last forties. Few strands of black curly hair were popping out of the hat while her black eyes were staring at my face, waiting for an answer.

“Ugh, pardon?” I replied.

She placed her hands on her hips and pushed forward one healthy leg. She was a woman with stoutness and short height, only 5'0 feet but the incredible thing was her energy and activeness in spite her weight.

"You need to stop thinking about what happened the past week. If your mind will be boggy like this, you won't take even a minute and will become the food source for 'them'. So get your brain start working. Everyone ready?"

She finished her sentence with a question to everybody which I used to do when George was present and in return I used get a two finger salute from him. I had to do this. For everyone. I nodded at everybody which indicated that we were about to get out. I then started pushing myself on the ground and through the small passage underneath the stones, which we used for the exit and entrance.

I began crawling and pushed my self forward. The rest followed me after I was completely hidden under the channel. Then the passage became too small that we had to lie flat on our stomachs and start to slither like snakes. Soon a ray of light met me eyes denoting that we were near to crumble out of this passage. My breath had became shallow while my heart beat fast. Although it had been a thousand times when I came out but it still made me react like that. Of course, the danger still lied outside.

After a while, when I reached the end, I popped my head out to see if there was anyone. Looking at left and then right and after making sure the way was clear I quickly slid myself out and my pale white skin met the warm sensation of the sun. Oh, how good it felt to be under the warm blanket of the sun, away from the coolness that lingered in the mall. The soft breeze gently kissed my cheeks.

For once, when I kept my eyes closed, everything felt normal. Like nothing happened but when I opened my eyes, the scene before me clearly portrayed the deceiving thought. It made clear that it was far from true. Grass had overgrown and the street lights were on the ground while few strangled in the transmission lines of the electricity, ready to fall anytime.

Hastily after making another check in my surroundings and after the rest of the hunters came out, we headed to wards an alley. The surroundings were wrecked and the buildings were about to collapse. Their paint had vanished and left simple cemented walls while there were scratches on the walls. Blood was everywhere. The bodies which had once flesh on them, were now left as simple skeletons with smell hitting our nostrils like usual, causing us to put our hands on our noses.

We kept our selves in the middle of the sunlight as these creatures kept themselves away from the light but a chance to jump on their food could make them do anything.

On reaching our destination, which wasn't far enough, it was time for us to split ourselves to get inside the building and get our things. I was assigned to get the fruits off the trees which meant this time I was supposed to stay outside while the rest two had to go inside the building to get clothes and other sanitary things.

I motioned them to split and get inside while I stayed outside. Splitting lend a hand to reduce the human smell and to reduce it even more, rubbing the mud on our skin was a way. My other two companions bathed themselves in the mud and followed by them was me.

After they entered the building I followed a narrow path beside the building where I knew were the trees on which I could find fruits. I made my way past the broken alley and the thorny bushes along with the fallen branches of the trees. Soon I came to a stop where I was greeted with the trees. They were in perfect condition. This question always lingered in my mind that why didn't the Creatures enter this place ever and only the trees with fruits were protected.

Ignoring the question, I pulled out my knife from my belt and came under a tree. It was long heighted and shadowed me from the scorching sunlight. I threw my knife pointing towards the fruits that were hanging loosely on the branches. The knife wheezed over the fruits and they landed in my hands while the knife fall with a thud on the ground. Years were enough to train me for doing this.

However, George was the one in particular to train me. I was soon lost in the memories of him teaching me without any words being spoken. My eyes felt wet and I came to notice that they were filled with tears. I had stopped crying over the years and had become soulless. This is what doctors were often like but I was made like this because of these creatures and the plague.

Suddenly, I was brought out of my thoughts when I heard a breaking sound. Felt like a small branch of the tree had broken due to someone stepping on it. My heart began thundering inside my chest. Sweat pricked my neck causing my hair to stick there. I looked at the knife lying on the ground. Shit! I was screwed. I waited, frozen in my place with fruits in my hands, listening to the sounds. I heard footsteps approaching.

This wasn't any creature. They kept on creating irritating sounds and their breath was loud. These sounds of walking were the clicking of the shoes against the ground. They didn't belong to my partner hunters. They wouldn't fright me like this.

On making my heart come to a little slow pace, I gripped one fruit tightly in my hand and twisted my feet a little to turn myself. My scrutiny mode was on. An then when I heard a shallow breath just few feet away, I turned around, raised my right hand with the fruit in it and threw it at what or who was standing behind me.

But on turning, my eyes shot open and it felt like a dear was caught under the headlights. The fruit did land on that 'thing', actually to be correct, on that 'someone' and earned me a laugh in return. Yes, a laugh that made the fruits slip from my hands and my arms fell to my sides. What on earth were they doing here? Around me?! Yep, there were more than one and I was alone. Ready to face this all, alone.

***

Hello Lovely People!

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Love,

Eeman Faisal