Blood Type Infected (Book 1): No Future For Man

by Marchon, Matthew

  I kick the pile, sending ashes into the air as charred remains begin to break away. Blake follows my lead and kicks until there’s a small opening, just big enough for us to squeeze through. He takes off the second he can, hopping over what’s left of Mr. Adams, practically flying down the stairs, tossing the fire extinguisher in the process.

  “Shit! Noah.”

  I turn to see Felecia standing there, a horrified look on her face. Why is she looking at her feet? My eyes follow her gaze. How did I not realize Felecia is barefoot? Her flip flops must have fallen off while dangling from the window. There’s glass and zombie blood all throughout the stairwell. She can’t walk through it, she’d be infected within the first few steps.

  “Go. You can get out.” Her voice is urgent. She bops up and down a couple times while shaking her hands as if that’ll persuade me. “Please, just go.”

  I turn my back to her and squat down. “Get on.”

  Her arms wrap around my neck a second later. No persuasion needed. Her skin presses against my bare back and I hoist her up by her saturated jeans, holding on as tight as I can. I run through the narrow opening. Her warm breath on my neck feels as amazing as her body does. If we didn’t have a gang of zombies behind us, I’d be incredibly turned on right now. Okay, fine, so I am. I’m a dude, what do you expect?

  We turn at the landing halfway down the stairs. I can hear them behind us, crashing into the extinguished heap of their fallen brethren. It’ll slow them down but it doesn’t change the fact that they’re only nine steps behind. If one of them trips, and let’s face it, they’re not exactly the most graceful creatures on the planet, it’ll crash right into us.

  I try to quicken my pace but it’s hard with an added hundred pounds on my back. I’m glad she’s here though, and relieved she realized it before it was too late. There’s blood and bits of glass everywhere. It doesn’t matter that she’s slowing me down, I refuse to leave her behind like Blake did. Granted, he’s terrified but I can’t believe he would take off without her. She saved his life, the least he could do is help save hers.

  The sound of his feet trampling over the shattered glass at the bottom of the stairs means he made it out. We’re so close I can hear the raindrops saturating the asphalt. It makes me quicken my pace, although I don’t know what we’ll do once we leave the hellhole that nearly claimed our lives. I guess I’m hoping most of my undead classmates have stayed inside. I’ll carry Felecia as long as I can but I can’t hold her here forever.

  Her head shifts slightly. A few strands of her golden mane caress the side of my face. Her shaky breath hits my ear as we descend the final steps on our stairway to freedom. I’ve changed my mind, I’ll hold her here forever.

  “Noah, my car’s in the lower parking lot. Key’s in my pocket. Wait! Stop! Now!”

  I listen to her odd request but don’t plan on staying put for long. Why the hell does she want me to stop? Oh you’ve got to be kidding me, don’t tell me her keys aren’t in her pocket.

  A body flashes through my line of sight and splatters off the staircase a few feet ahead, crumpling his torso on a botched landing. That son of a bitch dove over the railing trying to get to us. His limp body bounces down the remaining stairs like a slinky, snapping and twisting his limbs in every direction.

  “Clear. Go.”

  I do as I’m told without so much as looking. Why do I trust her? I can tell when she looks forward again. Her damp hair falls over my shoulders, her breath serenades my ear, instantly reminding me why I had a crush on her in the first place.

  We were playing soccer in gym. I had the ball, she was trying to steal it from me. Someone bumped her from behind and she fell. I remember wondering how someone could do that to a girl, how they could be so careless when it was just a stupid game. I let the ball get away from me, opting to catch her instead. We fell into the bleachers, me breaking her fall. Her sweaty body was pressed against mine, my heavy breathing blowing the flyaway strands of her ponytail back as she leaned against me.

  “Thanks.” She gasped for air, her minty breath blowing gently in my face. Even back then she was a bitch so I was surprised she didn’t yell the second I touched her.

  “You okay?”

  “Uh huh.” She nodded, her body still pressed tightly against mine, propped awkwardly against the bleachers. Then she leaned in and whispered softly in my ear, “I think we might be enjoying this a little too much.” And then she kissed me on the cheek and got up. She looked over her shoulder as she jogged back into the game and smiled.

  I snap back to the present where I duck under the door handle like so many of my friends before me. I never thought I’d be granted the opportunity to cross that threshold to freedom I’d created. The fact that I’m doing it with Felecia Harmon on my back makes it that much more improbable.

  The rain drowns out the wail of the ear piercing fire alarm. For the first time since this all started, I take a breath so deep it coats every inch of my lungs with a shot of fresh air. I exhale deeper, blowing the wet strands of Felecia’s hair from my face in the process. Her intoxicating scent catches me off guard and I find myself inhaling again just to breathe her in.

  Her soft lips brush against my ear before her breathy whisper travels through time and manages to infiltrate my heart, unearthing feelings I’d buried long ago.

  “I think we might be enjoying this a little too much.”

  I smile at her words that somehow managed to transcend time. I can’t believe she remembers. She must have been thinking about that day too.

  “It’s okay, you can put me down now. I can run.”

  “We can’t risk it.”

  She has their blood on her feet, no way around it, all it would take is one cut and she could be infected. We didn’t make it this far to die now. I give her legs a little squeeze. She tightens her grip around me. We’re not dying. Not here. Not now.

  I run like our lives depend on it. They do.

  CHAPTER 16

  The parking lot comes into view but I don’t like what I see. There’s too many kids running erratically, something tells me they’re not all trying to find their cars. Some of them are trying to find their next meal. Desperate screams are muffled by the barrage of raindrops and water cascading down storm drains. But I hear them.

  It doesn’t deter me from my mission. If we can make it to Felecia’s car, we have a chance at getting out of here alive. Despite the fact she can’t weigh much more than a 120 pounds, my body is starting to feel it. Still, I refuse to put her down.

  Our bodies shiver as the cool rain pelts us, pinching with every drop, reminding me this is not a dream. She squeezes tighter, goosebumps covering our cold flesh. God, the feel of her skin is amazing. If this is what Blake is missing out on nowadays then it’s no wonder he’s in such a foul mood all the time.

  He yells for me to wait as I rush past him, Felecia clinging tightly to me. The rain drops sting my eyes when they hit, making them blink shut every time. It’s getting hard to see. You know what I need? Glasses, with windshield wipers.

  As if she can hear my thoughts, Felecia’s hand reaches around my forehead like she’s trying to shield the sun from my eyes. It’s working. The rain isn’t blinding me anymore. Again, she surprises me with how observant she is. And thoughtful. You know, about someone other than herself. I’m actually grateful to have her here with me.

  “To the far right. Silver Camry.”

  With my eyes set on the car and her hand deflecting the rain, I quicken my pace. I honestly thought she’d be a burden but I couldn’t have been more wrong. I don’t want to think about where I’d be without her.

  The closer we get to the parking lot, the more I can tell how bad it is. The place is a warzone. Cars are smashed into each other, windows broken, body parts scattered about, the rain can’t wash away the blood fast enough. On the bright side, I notice that a lot of cars are missing. I just hope my friends were able to get out alive. I’ll call them the second we get to safety.


  Luckily our ride doesn’t appear to be damaged. I’m guessing kids hopped into their cars, got swarmed and eventually crashed. I don’t want to imagine what it’d be like to have a bunch of bloodthirsty Cujos banging at your door until they eventually break in. What I do want to imagine is a bunch of police cars pulling up and telling us they have everything under control. Unfortunately I see only one, its lights flashing, door open, no one inside. Something tells me there’s a zombie disguised as a cop running around here. That’s the last thing we need, walking cadavers with guns.

  “Noah, there’s too many.”

  I don’t want her to be right but she is. There’s a crowd of them near her car, all bent over, probably eating some kid who thought he made it. My heart goes out to him. They’ll devour him before he has a chance to turn into one of them. I’m not sure if that’s a bad thing. Judging by his screams, it certainly isn’t good.

  I slow to a gradual stop. We can’t wait here long or they’ll notice us. The sound of approaching footsteps from behind makes me realize that if Blake is running to the parking lot, he must have a car here too. We can leave with him.

  “What are you stopping for?” He comes sputtering to a halt beside us, more winded than me. I catch him smirk at Felecia who is still latched onto my back. “Let me guess, little Miss Prissy didn’t want to get her feet dirty? What did she do, promise you a blowjob?”

  “Fuck off Blake,” I growl without looking at him. “Don’t you have girls to impregnate? Babies to raise?”

  “Oh,” he laughs, “I see you’ve gotten to him Felecia. I don’t know, do I have a baby to raise?”

  “Go to hell.” She doesn’t sound confident, her voice trembles and I feel bad for her. “I should have let you die up there.” She’s not saying it to be mean, she’s saying it because she means it. I get the impression there’s more to this story. Right now, I don’t care, we just need to get to a car.

  “Blake, don’t say another word or I swear to god I’ll kill you myself. Which one is yours?”

  “Blue pickup. Put her down and let’s go.”

  “I’ll put her down when we get there.”

  “Yeah, ya see, you’re coming with me, she’s not.”

  “What? Oh you cannot be serious,” Felecia practically screams in my ear, annunciating every venomous syllable.

  He looks at me sternly. “It’s on you Britton. What do you wanna do?”

  “I’m not leaving her here.”

  “Fine, stay. Don’t say I didn’t offer you a ride though. Thanks for the help. Good luck.”

  He’s not kidding. He’s leaving us here. That douchebag is actually leaving us behind. Felecia saved his life. I don’t get it. Why am I not going with him? She has her keys, she just has to wait for the area around her car to clear out.

  “Noah, go. I’ll be alright.”

  “Felecia–”

  “Please,” she whines, cutting me off. “After all you’ve done for me, it’s the least I can do. I’ll be okay. Just go with him.”

  For a second I consider it, but only for a second.

  “I’m not putting you down. I’m not leaving you behind. Besides, if I did, the zombies would see you in your bra and get all excited. Do we really want a bunch of horny zombies coming after us? They’re bad enough without boners.”

  “Noah,” she laughs, holding onto me even tighter. I can tell she’s about to protest, but doesn’t. Her lips press against my ear and give it the tiniest kiss that should certainly not send tremors through my heart. “Thank you. You’re always protecting me. Why?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Well, I like it. I can’t thank you enough.”

  I give her legs a squeeze to let her know I’m not going anywhere, just don’t ask me to explain why. All I know is that her arms around me make me feel, I don’t know, loved. I’m not dumb, I know she doesn’t love me, she loves the fact that someone’s helping her. It doesn’t have anything to do with me and in the end, she’s only going to make me regret it. But for all I know, the end will come in five seconds and if it does, I’d rather face it with her by my side, or on my back, whatever. She can get up and spit on my lifeless body afterwards as long as I never have to know. I’d rather die with the illusion of someone needing and appreciating me. Loving me.

  “God damn it!”

  Our heads both whip to the side at the sound of Blake’s voice. He slams his foot against the side of his truck and runs like hell.

  He’s not alone. His little outburst alerted the reanimated bodies to his whereabouts. The idiot doesn’t even know. I see why he’s so pissed, someone rammed into the front of his pickup, it won’t even start.

  No, no, stop. Why is he running back to us? He’ll lead them all here.

  It’s a long shot, but maybe with them distracted, we can run out around and make it to her car safely. I get ready to move but a loud rumble distracts me. It sounds like a truck, a monster truck, maybe a tank. Has the National Guard finally arrived? Someone’s come to help us?

  The school bus crashes into a deserted car on the far end of the parking lot and continues on like it’s nothing. I know who’s driving it before I even see the gray ponytail.

  They came back for me.

  Blake spots the bus at the same time I do. He changes course without warning, realizing he’s being tailed by a vicious pack of his peers. He’s closer but Marty will blow right by that son of a bitch and make a beeline for me.

  I run. Felecia doesn’t question my decision. After a step or two she puts her hand to my forehead and blocks the rain. God I want to hug her.

  Marty hits the gas and runs down a couple of undead high school kids. Judging by the bloody remains splattered across the front of the once yellow bus, these are not the first he’s hit. It may not be the National Guard but that’s okay, I’d rather stick with my friends.

  I can see their faces as we close the distance, some I expected to see, others I didn’t. What the hell is Neil doing on there?

  The door folds open with a hiss. Blake gets there first, leading a parade of disfigured, bloody students behind him. Limbs missing, chunks of flesh torn from bone, vital organs dangling, teeth stained red by an animalistic hunger they’ve never known. They were so close, but in the end they became what killed them.

  Felecia’s breath catches in her throat when she sees the unstoppable wave rushing towards us. Her free arm wraps around me even tighter and we race through the pouring rain towards an ever expanding wall of blood thirsty monsters.

  Marty barely slows for Blake but has to in order to avoid a mini pile up of cars and corpses. Marty’s speeding up before Felecia’s ex gets both legs inside. A roadblock of human bodies wander into the path of the bus and get mowed down without a second thought. If it were one or two they’d get flattened by the giant yellow behemoth but they’re getting caught beneath the tires. Even from here I can make out limbs grinding against the axels before being flung into the cold rain.

  Another hundred or so, maybe more, emerge from behind the bus, undeterred by the mangled bodies spit out at them. More round the corner, the slower ones. They limp, hobble and drag themselves, refusing to let death claim their soulless suits of flesh. Their screams are nothing more than the pitiful groan of a man on his deathbed, but together they create a rolling thunder, warning us of the storm ahead. The warning came too late.

  Felecia gasps in my ear at the sight of the undead barricade as it grows larger by the second. “Oh my god Noah. Holy fuck. What do we do?”

  CHAPTER 17

  Marty can’t stop the bus, they’d swarm it within seconds. He has to keep moving.

  I stop abruptly and switch directions. Marty picks up speed. I won’t be able to answer Felecia when she asks what we’re doing, I’m too tired and scared. The sheer magnitude of the mass of walking dead bodies has knocked the air from my lungs. The added weight’s dragging me down, I can’t go on much longer. But I refuse to let her go, not after all this.

  She doesn’t as
k what we’re doing, she just continues shielding the rain from my eyes. She should be crying or screaming or telling me to move faster, she’s Felecia Harmon. Why is she being so nice, so supportive, so, sweet? This isn’t her. She can’t keep confusing me like this. She needs to make me hate her again. Say something mean that will make me remember why I detest her in the first place.

  Marty drives by. The feet of a hundred zombies slap off the saturated asphalt. They’re too close. I can’t look back but I’m certain I hear their hands hitting the rear of the bus, trying to grab on. I wouldn’t blame Marty if he sped off and left us here.

  I can feel the eyes from the windows all glued to me while I attempt to run faster than I ever have before. My feet barely touch the ground, gliding over the sidewalk like Felecia’s no longer holding on. Oh no, she didn’t let go, did she? Because I’m not leaving her, I swear to god I’ll run back and grab her. My heart stops. I have to squeeze her just to make sure I didn’t lose her.

  “Let me go Noah. You can make it. Save yourself.”

  I try to say ‘never’ but choke on the wind and rain flooding my mouth. Her hand rubs my chest before holding me even tighter, the tips of her fingers digging into my skin, but not her nails. What the hell is wrong with her and where’s the bitch I’ve grown to hate? She must feel my heart racing, her hand is resting right over it.

  They’re yelling from the bus but I can barely hear myself think. The roar of the crowd overpowers everything. I block it all out and run for dear life. My body doesn’t feel like mine. The sounds of this dying world fade out.

  All I hear is my breathing.

  Everything disappears. Tunnel vision takes over. The raindrops fall slowly around me and I finally feel it, I’ve broken that point in speed where it feels like I’m flying. Something enters the zone I’m in. Nothing ever breaks my concentration at this stage. It doesn’t distract me, the sound comes in gently and exists in this vortex with me. It’s Felecia.