Bitten - Part 1

By: Evie Sum

Britney grunted as she stabbed through another walker. Murky green-black

blood splattered her face as the still corpse slid off her machete, landing on

the rocky pavement with a sickening crunch. With a grimace, she smeared the

slimy, vile-smelling substance off and bashed another’s head in before calling

out for her partner.

“Hey, Jace! You still alive?”

“Just dandy!” He quipped, panting. “Heading to ya.”

Within minutes, they were back to back, fighting their way to a nearby store

with its door ajar. Britney swiped at a walker that was far too close for

comfort. The head popped off with a sickly squelch, hitting the ground with a

crack as its skull split open. She grimaced- she had never been able to get used

to that.

She furrowed her brow, frustrated. While this was but a minor inconvenience, it

was one they could have easily avoided if someone hadn’t set off a particularly

loud alarm. The loud, wailing sounds had pierced through the eerily silent town,

alerting all nearby walkers. Distantly, she wondered if there was another

survivor close by. Would they be a friend or foe?

With a loud sigh, Britney returned her focus to the now-immobile walker in

front of her, watching it twitch and convulse on the ground. Ugh, how many

more of these do we have to face?

“Why did you set off the shop's alarm, man?”

“How was I supposed to know it wasn’t deactivated yet? We’ve-” he slammed the

end of his crowbar into the face of a particularly gross walker. Its eye popped

out and it staggered back with an ugly scowl. “-been in an apocalypse for years.

The power should be dead!”

Under the scorching heat and the sweat blinding their eyes, they finally made it

to the door and ducked in, slamming it shut. Without another word, they started

barricading every entrance and exit with all the furniture in sight. Chairs,

tables, and shelves were stacked up upon each other, forming a protective

barrier. Several loud thumps sounded just outside, and Britney smiled in grim

satisfaction at the open-mouthed walkers helplessly lunging at them.

Take that, you disgusting abominations.

She dropped her bag on a relatively clean shelf and wiped the sweat from her

brows, letting out a heavy sigh. That was one hell of a narrow escape. Jace

whistled as he looked around, grinning like a Cheshire cat. As usual, he wasn’t

daunted by the walkers in the least.

“Damn, this place is loaded.”

The furniture was made of dark ebony, polished till it shone through layers of

dust. She swiped her worn leather boots over the floor, revealing shiny white

marble tiles. A small reminder of how it used to be before all this happened.

But the most important thing...

“They have food!” Jace exclaimed giddily, hugging a giant loaf of bread. Then two.

Then three.

“Oy!” Britney snapped, “Don’t hug that- you’re covered in grime. What if it gets on

the food?”

“Ah, don’t be such a worrywart, Bri! It’s covered in plastic, see?” He lifted it up,

the light glinting off.

“Here, catch!” A loaf went sailing through the air. With lightning fast instincts,

Britney lunged to catch it, walking over to stuff it in her pack. They needed all

the food they could get.

She walked over, dragging the pack behind her. Wordlessly, Jace handed the

loaves over for her to pack, all while tearing into his own. Within minutes, the

cupboard was empty.

Britney stood and stretched, bones cracking. Jace stood with her, handing her

the remaining half of the stale bread. She tore into it with gusto, not caring

one bit about how long it had been stored for. Food was food. They couldn’t be

picky at a time like this.

“We should set up camp here for the night. There might be more things we could

use.” She said, bread muffling her words.

“Sure, but before that, let’s take a break.”

“You mean scavenge for supplies?” Britney questioned, raising an eyebrow. How

could they rest when they could be attacked at any moment? Jace could be such

a child at times. A dumb, lazy, food-driven child.

“Yeah. Uh, we could do that instead. Mhm. I was just about to say that. Totally,

haha. Yay?”

“Seriously, jace?”

He sheepishly chuckled. Britney glared at him, fighting down the smile tugging at

the corners of her lips.

A few hours later, they found two chargers, 3 packs of batteries, some

non-perishable foods (“Oh hey! Beef jerky!” Jace had cried. Britney smacked him

when he tried to sneak one.) and a few pieces of mint candy. All these went into

her trusty backpack.

After their search, they stumbled across a bedroom on the second floor.

“God, I feel so dead!” Jace groaned, falling onto the turquoise bed.

“Well, I sure hope you’re not. It’ll be a shame to kill my oh-so-helpful partner.”

Britney quipped. She too collapsed onto the bed.

“So you admit that you like me?” Jace smirked devilishly, lacing their hands

together.

“Shut up.” She whacked his arm. (he noted that she made no move to remove her

hand.)

“But seriously,” Jace said, shifting the topic awkwardly, “I never thought this

place would have a bedroom.”

“I know, right? I thought it was just a large department store. Maybe it used to

be some rich bastard’s home.”

They laid together in silence, ignoring the commotion outside.

“It’s late, we should try to get some sleep.”

“I’ll take first watch.”

“K. G'night.” She grabbed a pillow and buried her face into it, falling into a

restless slumber.

~A few hours later~

Jace watched as a horde of walkers pounded on the door. He gritted his teeth as

he moved the nightstand and a couple shelves in front, granting them a little

more time.

Ah, damnit. What do I do? Bri’s the thinker, not me... I can’t let them get to her.

What do I do!?

Oh no. He belatedly realized he was panicking. Deep breaths, calm down..

In front, walkers. Behind, Bri. He paused as his gaze landed on the sleeping bri,

knowing that this might be the very last time he got to see her.

As long as they don’t get to her, it’ll be fine.

“Don’t worry, Bri. I’ll keep you safe.” he murmured, crowbar at the ready.

“I’ll kill them all before they get to you.”

~Britney-centric POV~

“-tney. Hey, Britney, wake up~”

She blinked awake and took in her surroundings, disoriented.

The soft bed, the marble tiles, the cuddly pillow, the popcorn ceiling, the broken

door-

Wait. Broken door?

Heart pounding in her throat, she jolted upright, only to have a hand placed on

her shoulder. She looked up to find a bruised and bloody Jace, dismembered

walkers scattered around him.

“Woah there, Bri. It’s alright.”

“Are you okay? Wait, you’re bleeding, you’re definitely not okay! Did you just fight

off a horde of walkers? How the hell did I not wake up?” She rapid fired

question after question.

Jace laughed before abruptly coughing. Blood splattered onto the floor. Behind

him, a walker twitched. Neither noticed.

“Let’s go patch you up. Questions later.” Britney decided firmly, standing up. She

carefully guided him to the door.

The walker stood. It stumbled over to the pair, hands reaching out.

Chomp.

The walker had Jace’s shoulder clamped tight in his salivating mouth.

Desperately, Bri grabbed her machete and pried it off before decapitating it. It

slumped to the floor. The head bumped against a wall.

They looked at the bite wound. It was already swelling to an angry purple.

“Oh no.” They breathed, horrified.

Jace was bitten.