by Michael Blue
Examining the room, there appeared to be, about, three to four Clickers and Runners. That's when she hastily placed her head back down. Erlina hated Runners and Stalkers the most, and she had yet to encounter the huge fourth kind. She was taught, the best way to turn away attention from these things were to throw something that could catch their attention. Like blind animals, they would chase the sound, hoping to ravage whatever life they could get their hands on. Looking around, Erlina couldn't find anything. This was hopeless. Slowly, but quickly, Erlina moved on, crawling behind a turned table. As she stopped to take a breather and wipe most of the sweat off her neck, she heard something approaching her way. Listening closely, it could be told that it was a female Runner. She was moaning in painful aggravation, something that wasn't nice to listen to. She knew light didn't bother them, but Erlina still turned off her flashlight and tucked herself in more than anything. Thankfully, the Runner turned backed and was just seconds away from spotting Erlina. She exhaled, turning back on her flashlight. Looking down at the dusty floor, a visible rock was there. It was big enough to fit in her palm, and it was of considerable weight. Using her arm, she tossed it to a very far end of the basement she was in. Accidentally, she hit a Clicker in the head. It shrieked, and many others went around it once they heard the rock hit the floor.
All the shouting drowned out her foot steps. Erlina immediately began to crawl away from the table she hid behind and made her way to one of the five pillars that stood in the basement. It was the one nearest the exit, and she took her last look at the infected before leaving the room. Without a moment to spare, she quickly and discreetly made it out of the basement and headed towards stairs. There were many paths to take, but one led directly to the women's room as mentioned in a rusted sign dangling from the wall.
Making her way up to the base floor, she looked around; the coast and air was clear. She took off the gas mask and placed it delicately in her shoulder bag. All that was there was the catholic mass and two other locked doors. The large glass doors that led to the chapel were sealed shut. Erlina inched closer to the door just to look through the glass, but there was nothing inside that was of interest. Out of the blue, a Clicker ran to the glass and started banging at it. It was surprising to see that this glass hadn't broken yet. However, time was running out, and it was a waste of time to focus on these thing. She continued to make her way to the first floor, the first floor, surprisingly was clear. Most importantly, the floor above had collapsed. There was no way she could make it to the next floor without falling right through the stair case. It seemed that even the floors had gotten weak, because the hallway above had collapsed too. She voyaged through almost every class room and found nothing but empty first aid kits in some of the teachers' desks and cabinets.
"Oh, man..." she groaned in frustration.
She used her dainty hand to flip many of the many long braids from over her shoulder. She roamed up and down the hallway, multiple times. That's when she decided to check if moving on the next floor could actually be an option. Still on the first floor, she walked beneath the part of the roof that had already collapsed. Being able to see a couple of doors above one the second floor, and there was one door that stood out most to her. Squinting her eyes, she focused on the words listed on a rusting sign.
"Nurse'- O-e" it spelled, most of the letters being unreadable.
That's when the clever young child pieced it together. Her eyes shot open,
"Nurses office!" she cheered silently.
She remembered seeing an entrance to the back staircases, and that's what was going to aid her to the next floor. As she silently walked up the stairs, always keeping her guard up, she eventually reached the entrance to the last floor. She silently opened the door and began smiling. She couldn't believe that she made it this far and hadn't even been bitten or killed. If it wasn't luck, then she didn't know what it was. Erlina walked a couple of feet away, passing every class room there was. Her mistake, however, was assuming that the top floor was just as clear as the last. You could say that poor Erlina's luck was running out. Erlina slowly turned around after hearing a strange noise that sounded like a blood thirsty snarl. Her heart was racing a million miles again, unsure what to expect. In the distance, there was nothing in sight the more she stood in place. Erlina faced back to the opposite direction and continued walking forward, but her attention was caught by a full blown scream after taking one step. Erlina turned her head so quickly, her braids went with her, and she saw a Stalker beaming right at her. She screamed and didn't even bother to hesitate running. She darted away from the creature as quickly as she could.
"When those things chase you, don't ever look back. Because you have more of a chance of getting grabbed than escaping," she heard Joshua's voice say.
She ran and ran her hardest and could feel herself winning the race. Her finish line was what worried her the most: The collapsed floor. Could she make that jump to reach the nurses office? As the hole in the floor became closer and closer, it was eventually reached. Nearing the very edge of hallway, she jumped her hardest, even feeling a small sting on her thin ankles. She reached out both hands, praying that she could make it. But this next part shocked her most of all. She made the jump, alright, but not completely. Again, she was dangling off the edge of it, using both hands to hang on for her dear life. Remember that note on her upper body strength? She wouldn't die if she let go, but that'd be one hell of an injury.
The Stalker had jumped after her, but didn't stick the landing as it went crashing into the hall below. It broke both of its legs, but it was still salivating for Erlina's flesh and crying in pain. She glanced down at it, and it was waiting for her to fall on top of it, just so he could tear her to pieces. She began struggling, and she was losing her grip. Her eyes were flooding with tears, and she was fighting to pull herself up, but she just didn't require the strength to. As her grip slipped free from the edge, she released a loud shriek, but suddenly stopped, looked up to see a male figure grab her arm.
"It's okay!" he said.
Was he an angel? She wondered; tears still falling down her cheeks. Fairly, he pulled her up over the edge and fell backwards on his rear-end after seeing that she was in good condition. No scratches or bites; she was good to go. Erlina was laying on her front, exhausted and devastated all in one. She was breathing heavily, trying to catch her breath. She used her arms to help herself sit up and she scooted away from the edge of the collapsed floor just in case anything else was to give way. She looked up at the stranger who helped her. He looked really young, probably about sixteen to seventeen years old. After she was finished analyzing him, he stood up on his two feet quickly, and opened another entrance that led into a class room beside the nurse's office.
"You coming in or what?" he asked.
Erlina didn't know how to react. She knew she couldn't trust anyone, but would an enemy save her life? With much hope in her heart, she followed the young man into the class room and closed the door behind her.
She stood by the doorway afterward and she twiddled with her fingers, looking down and thinking. The young dude placed his hands on his hips and then crossed his arms afterward, releasing a loud sigh. He walked over to an old teacher's desk that wasn't too far from where she stood, and he leaned on it,
"You okay?" he asked, sounding quite concerned.
She could only nod.
"That was a pretty close call, huh?"
Erlina nodded again.
He slowly walked up to her, causing Erlina to turn her head even more, but she watched him from the corner of her eye. Quickly, he extended his arm.
"Nate Hyong," he introduced.
Erlina turned her neck, to see the young man offering her a handshake. There was less tension in her from before, and she relaxed her hunched shoulders. She grabbed his hand and nodded, forcing a little smirk.
"Erlina," she greeted back.
Nate smiled at her and chuckled. He seemed relieved from getting an answer out of her. Also
, he had a really outstanding aura. He wasn't like the other guys out there. He had a couple of canned fruits that he had already started eating. He offered her, but she declined. She wasn't really in the mood to eat. He grabbed a can, and was using a plastic fork to eat, savoring it as if it were steak.
"So, what's a little girl like you doing here?" He asked.
She hesitated, but one look at him made her spill.
"My cousin is hurt," she vaguely confessed, "I just want some pain killers, rubbing alcohol...probably stitches."
"So you came here on your own..." Nate added.
"I snuck out. They're probably already waiting back at the house to kill me," she said, "I should've let that Stalker grab me."
Nate immediately began to laugh hysterically.
"Now that's pretty funny."
Erlina smiled back at him and surprised herself by remembering something pretty astonishing. Placing her hand in her back pockets, she pulled out the folded note she found outside earlier. Along with the note, she took the gas mask out from her shoulder bag and offered both to him.
"I found this outside with the gas mask," she said,
Nate took the letter and began reading it. He knew what it was from the time he laid eyes on it. Believe it or not, he began crying while simultaneously chuckling, remembering his friend's faces.
"I can't believe I left this outside," he said walking to a student's desk and sitting in it.
"Thank you so much," he said crossing his arms.
Among all the other various desks, lined up in messy rows, Erlina chose one to sit in too. She offloaded herself, taking off the shoulder bag and weapons and resting them beside her. Her body was finally able to breath, and she could move around freely without any limits. She crossed her lower legs and rested her head on her hand.
"Did you find them...?" Erlina asked cautiously.
Nate nodded, "Yeah, I did. But not how I wanted to find them."
Erlina continued watching Nate. He was trying incredibly hard to hold in his sobs. She could almost feel the gloom.
"Were they infected?"
"Uh, yeah," he gulped, "They—they, uh...they took their own lives though," he said nodding to himself.
"They're bodies are in the library opposite this room." He nervously added.
Erlina didn't know what to say. She wasn't so good in situations like this. Most of time, she made things really awkward by either trying to change the subject or talking about it for too long.
"James and Everett were my closest friends for as long as I could remember. Practically grew up with them," he said wiping his eyes.
Erlina exhaled, "I'm sorry,"
He nodded in understanding, taking off his cap to rub his forehead free from a migraine, "It's okay..."
A moment of silence grew in the room.
"I lost my dad a year ago," Erlina joined in.
"That sucks..." he said.
"I haven't really been able to talk about it with my family. They're still trying to get over it," she said rubbing her eyes.
"Sometimes, the best way to get over it is to talk about it, you know?" Nate wisely said.
"I-I mean, I guess..." Erlina said looking away slightly ashamed.
If she would've known that, she would've been talking about it almost every minute of every day. She's had bottled up emotions and confusion from the day she lost her father. It was never really explained to her, and most of her misunderstanding went towards her aunt. He was with her; why didn't her aunt protect him? Why wasn't she there to protect him herself? Then again, she knew better. Her aunt had done nothing but provided for her most of all; it could be guilt, but Erlina knew it wasn't, it was just plain love. Erlina fought back the tears and looked at Nate's condition. He was pretty dirty, and he looked like he had been camping in here for a couple of nights.
"How long have you been here?" she said.
"Probably about a week..."
"Don't you want to leave?"
Nate didn't answer after a while,
"After seeing James and Everett...I-I tried killing myself. Wimped out," he chuckled.
Erlina couldn't laugh, and Nate noticed that. He guessed there were certain things you couldn't joke about to a little girl, even if she had seen some pretty gnarly things in her lifetime.
"But, uh, I just lost the will to leave this place. I can't do it on my own...I see myself giving up,"
Another pause occurred.
"We can leave together..." Erlina recommended.
Nate looked up at her and smiled.
* * *
Without a question, Nate agreed to leave with Erlina. Personally, he didn't just do it for himself, but he mostly did it for her. It was funny that a teenager like him had so much to learn from a young girl such as herself. Getting up from his seat, he walked over to the teacher's desk and scooted back the wooden chair. Underneath was a hidden backpack and blood stained hatchet. Reaching in his book bag, he pulled out a pistol and put it in the back pocket of his jeans. Erlina, as always, placed on her shoulder bag first, with her quiver over it, while the bow hung from her shoulder. Nate noticed her quiver, and thought six arrows were a really low count for someone to defend themselves with.
Nate opened the door that led out to the hallway. A large segment of the floors still hadn't collapsed, so Erlina and Nate had enough room to move around together freely. The nurse's office was the first to definitely grab Erlina's attention. She walked towards the door, and slowly opened it. She shuffled her eyes left and right before fully placing both feet into the room.
"I'll be right back," Nate said after supervising her. He turned into the library.
Erlina didn't question why Nate was going into the room where Everett and James bodies were. She could only make a limited amount of guesses, but there was no time to think now. She turned her attention back to the office and searched relentlessly through the cabinets and cupboards. There were files upon files and Erlina was becoming frustrated. She didn't come this way for nothing! There had to be something at least. Walking further into the office, she was led into a bathroom. The first thing she did was open up the mirrored cabinet and the bottom cupboard underneath the sink. There wasn't much in there except for a couple of painkillers in the cabinet above, and half used bottles of peroxide and rubbing alcohol below. Luckily enough, she found a first aid kit with some bandages. After tightening the tops of the bottles, she tossed every last one of it in her bag.
"Found anything?" she heard Nate call out from the outside.
"Yeah!" she replied satisfied, "Just no stitches..." she added.
Closing up her bag, she made her way back to the exit of the nurse's office. Outside in the hallway, she noticed a plank successfully set up, reaching one edge of the collapsed hallway to the other. Not to mention, Nate had a handful of arrows in his hand. She made the conjecture that maybe they were for her, but didn't want to jump so quickly to assumptions. She made a quick count and could say there were probably nine in his hand. His face also looked different, like he was crying.
"Ah, there you are," He said relieved to see her, "I went in there to get you these..." he said walking beside her and putting the arrows neatly in her quiver.
"And to say goodbye to them..." Nate sniffed.
"Thank you," Erlina said with much appreciation.
"Now you have seventeen. Use them wisely. They always tended to break when James tried using them on Clickers," Nate advised.
Erlina nodded. Turned out she counted them a little too quickly, but whatever; the more the merrier.
"Oh! One more thing," he said reaching at his side. Taking one of the two gas masks off, he passed it to Erlina, "You can have it. Lovely reminder of me," he chuckled.
Afterward, Nate began prowling over the plank. The Stalker was still at the bottom, but it was in a different location. It managed to move around just a little by the use of its arms and it hadn't noticed them. Focusing back her attention to Nate, Erlina's turn to walk the plank was next.
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"That plank was already there when I came here. I'm guessing another group of guys left it..." Nate said.
Refraining to look down at all costs, keeping her eyes on Nate, she alertly made her way to the other side.
"Awesome, let's get out of here!" Nate energetically said turning away and running down the hallway.
Erlina, too, ran after Nate. He was a really fast runner, but she still managed to keep up with him. He ran to the back stair cases because, remember: The last flight of stairs had also collapsed with the hallway. Nate looked through the small window of the door and could tell that the back stairs were clear.
"The second level was clear when I came in..." Erlina said looking at him.
"Until that Stalker followed you?" he commented as a reminder.
"That's true..." she admitted in understanding.
Nate slowly opened the door, trying to prevent a lot of noise from the creaking of the door. Standing a bit by the steps, he was listening closely. After not hearing a sound, Nate continued walking. Erlina followed, slowly letting the door close behind them. They both ran down the stairs, eventually making it to the second level. Opening the door, Erlina placed her little hands on his wrist.
