Infection: Dying Days

"It looks like we'll have to walk from here. The good thing is that we're only half a block aways from my apartment complex so it shouldn't take us long to get there."

Staring ahead at the street littered with nothing but crashed and abandoned vehicles, I put the truck in park and hopped out. The street was so obstructed by all these vehicles that we have no choice but to leave the truck here and travel on foot. 

When everyone was out, I made sure to survey my immediate surroundings. There weren't any infected in sight. But I did see a few walking down the street about a hundred yards out. 

"If Mr. Cole saw what I did to his truck, I bet he would try his best to come back alive and kick my a.s.s."

I said with a bitter smile as I stared at the front of the truck. Its front bumper was even more damaged and bloodied, the headlights have cracks in them and the grill seems to have...chunks of meat stuck in it. As for whether or not it's brain matter or flesh is up for debate.

"I'm sure he would. How could you treat her like that? Tsk, tsk, such a waste."

At Andy's jab, I replied while shrugging my shoulders.

"It was either treat it like that or get eaten. I know! How about the next time I drive, you can become the bait and draw the infected away? If you do that, I'm pretty sure the truck won't get damaged any more. Whaddya say, how 'bout it?"

"On second thought, there are times when you have to treat her rough and there are times when you have to treat her kindly. And considering the circ.u.mstances that we're in right now, treating her kindly is not an option."

"Hahaha!"

At Andy's mock-seriousness, everyone had a light laugh. After we were done, I walked turned towards the general direction of my apartment complex and said to the crew.

"Well, let's get going then. Follow me."

And as I did this, I discreetly sent Andy a look. Understanding what I meant, he quietly went to the back of the truck and got the blue gym bag. Within it, although unexpected, were the fruits of our labor. 

After a short and quiet walk that consisted of a little more than three minutes, we arrived at my apartment complex. When Big Sis, Andy and Amanda first laid their eyes on it, they were slightly surprised. Seeing this, I couldn't help but smile wryly.

"Although the building looks a little bad on the outside, some of the apartments are actually quite nice. Especially after the landlord started renovating it."

I'd admit, when I first moved here, I was a little surprised too. Back then, the building looked even more runned down than it was now and appeared to be on its last legs. The first month living here, I never even unpacked because I thought I'd have to move out again due to safety hazards. That's how messed up this building was.

But as it turned out, the reason as to why the building was so run down was because the landlord recently purchased it at a foreclosure auction and never had time to do a mass renovation on it. He could only do a few apartments at best.

And sadly I didn't live in any of them. Those days of freezing at night are still fresh in my memory.

Luckily, as his number of tenants grew, the number of complaints did as well (including mine) so after getting complaints from the tenants that stayed here left and right, he started having renovations done on the whole building. And the results from those renovations are what we're seeing now. However, because some seemed to feel like he answered the complaints too late, a couple of tenants moved out. The building went from housing 130 people to around 90.

By now, we're in the building on the third floor. It was too dangerous to stay down there and talk. 

"I'm surprised that we didn't run into that many infected up here. Didn't you say that there's around 90 people that live here?"

Big Sis asked. And I, while cautiously checking around a corner replied.

"Yeah. but they're probably at work. Because on the way to my apartment, I hardly hear any noise coming from these apartments, except for a few."

I doubt they'll ever come back here though.

"Don't you live on the fourth floor?"

"I live on the westside of the complex. It's situated in a nice corner so other than the neighbor on my left side, I don't have to worry about that much noise."

"But what about that noisy neighbor that you keep complaining about? Didn't you say she makes too much noise and bothers you on the weekends?"

Andy, who was right at the very back behind David suddenly interjected. And with an eyebrow raised, Big Sis, with her eyes still trained on me asked Andy with a strangely eerie voice.

"Oh? What girl?"

"I don't know. But I'm told that she's hot. There are times when Desmond complains that his neighbor would sometimes visit his apartment and eat all his food while incessantly complaining about her job. Then there are times when you would complain that you'd have to drag her back next-door because she drank too much and passed out..."

"Really?"

Andy then goes into further detail about the actions of my neighbor...For some reason, I feel an impending sense of doom. The more Andy talks the more I feel it and the more I feel Big Sis' eyes bore into my back.

I wish I didn't tell him about that! If I'd know he'd do this, I would've kept my grievances to myself! 

"Here's the last flight of stairs.."

Saying this, I hurriedly cut Andy off mid rant, prompting him to hush, and went up the stairs, gun raised and finger on the trigger. 

The area around the top of the stairs was clear.

"My apartment is just around the corner."

With quick but careful steps, I peek around the corner...

CRUNCH! CRUNCH! CRUNCH!

There was an infected crouched in the middle of the hallway in front of an apartment entrance. It was gnawing on the body of a tenant that lived there! It had its back turned towards me so I couldn't get a good look as to who it was feasting on.

Pulling my head back from around the corner, I look towards everyone behind me and notify them on what I saw. After I was done, I placed the pistol in the back of my waistband and stretched my hand towards Andy.

"Let me see that knife you got. I'll sneak up to the infected and silently take it out."

I would use the gun if I had a suppressor but alas I don't. The only thing that we got that could effectively take out the infected is the bowie knife Andy took from that looter earlier. If my thinking is right, other than having superhuman levels of strength and an abnormal craving for human flesh, infected are still anatomically human. So with one good stab to the base of the skull, it should be killed instantly.

"Be careful. There may be more hiding in that apartment."

Andy advised as he handed me the bowie knife. It had some weight to it. Getting a nice grip on it, I give him a slight nod and slowly creep my way towards the infected. And as I got closer, I slowly started to see who the infected was chewing on. It was an overweight dude with long hair and scraggly beard. His stomach got eaten so much that his intestines were faintly showing. 

When I recognized who it was, I momentarily froze.

...I knew this guy. He wasn't very much liked in the complex. 

Sometimes when I walked by his apartment, I would hear him shout at his teammates on the computer because they 'made' him lose the game. I would also hear from my neighbor about how he would ogle her and the other girls in the building with perverted eyes and try to make passes at them. He even offered money for their 'services'. He was an a.s.s in my opinion.

CRUNCH! CRUNCH! CRUNCH!

I was now three feet behind the infected. Thankfully, it didn't notice me because it was too busy  eating. Reaffirming my grip on the knife, I grabbed it by the hair and rammed the knife into the base of its skull. And to make sure I did the maximum damage, I lifted up on the knife and furiously turned it. There, that should've completely severed the spinal cord. 

When I was done, I snatched the knife out and the infected fell powerlessly to the floor, unmoving. The knife had a thin layer of blood on it, which unfortunately got onto my hands, making the whole thing sticky. After confirming that the infected was dead, I cautiously looked into the fat guy's apartment. From the entrance, besides not spotting or hearing any infected, I could see piles of trash bags stacked upon each other in the kitchen and a box of half eaten pizza on the living room floor...This guy was a slob.

"Let's save your place for tomorrow."

Deciding to put the guy's apartment on hold for looting until tomorrow, I softly close it. If there are any infected in there, they can wait until later.

Once I was done doing this, I looked back towards the corner where Big Sis and the rest were. I wiped the knife onto the now dead infected and gave them the 'OK' to come over.

When they all saw the partially eaten dead body, their gazes locked onto him with shock and horror. 

"My apartment is just over here."

To snap them out of it, I dug into my wallet which in my jacket and fished out my house key. As I approached my door, I said with a sigh of relief.

"Sigh, finally, home sweet home!"