Can't believe this book is almost ending :( This chapter might be a bit dull because well, I just really want to get through this part so that I can get to some of the fun parts xD

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Chapter Twenty One

Bike Riding & Stair Falling

Melody's P.O.V

Relentless screams flowed from her ruby red lips as the bullet pierced her abdomen. I stood behind her, watching helplessly as the bullet forced her body to the ground, the blood already pooling around her. I stood above her as tears began to cascade down both our cheeks. Her dark eyes quelled into a lighter shade before mutating into a grievous grey colour.

Without warning or hesitation her body flew from the floor and rammed into mine. Her teeth sunk into the flesh of my neck as her nails dug into the softness of my arms. My knees felt weak as she drained the life from me and a warm river of blood ran down my body. It was what I deserved. I could have stopped her from dying, I could have prevented her death if I had just done something different.

She released her hold on me and shoved me against the wall. Her lips now a more sinister shade of red she sniffed the air as she snarled at me. Without hesitation she threw her head towards the sky and began her relentless screaming once again, but this time I joined her in her shrieks as I too looked towards the sky and began screaming.

A warm hand placed roughly against my lips snatched me from my dementia as my eyes wildly weaved across the room before landing on a concerned Carl. Relaxing slightly, he removed his hand from my lips and stood up from his crouch.

"You alright?" He whispered, glancing momentarily to the closed door behind him. Sitting up straight I let my back rest against the wall as I wiped the sweat from my brow.

"Yeah," I whispered, my voice so small and confined I was doubtful he even heard me, "just a bad dream."

Nodding in understanding he sat down beside me, crossing his legs in front of him he tilted his head towards me.

"We're gonna make it Mel, I promise." He whispered, a soft yet dominant ferocity commanded his tone as his eyes locked with mine. "We're gonna get to the airport, get on the chopper and we'll be fine. I promise." Although his eyes and tone conveyed sincerity and certainty, it did little to console me, but I nodded anyway, forcing a small smile. Smiling back at me he opened his mouth to continue but stopped as Alan turned in his sleep. Not wanting to rouse him we waited several seconds before continuing.

"Do you wanna tell me what's up between the two of you?" He asked, an eyebrow raised as he gestured between me and Alan with his thumb. I huffed out a breath as I looked at Alan's still body before I returned my gaze back to Carl.

"It's complicated." I muttered.

"Complicated how?"

"He thinks he loves me."

"Well maybe he does."

"Well maybe he's confused." I rebutted, astonished that Carl would stick up for Alan.

"Either way, it's not his fault." I looked away from him as I tried to think of the right words to say. He was right though and there was nothing I could say that would counter that argument. Looking back at him I saw the dark circles under his eyes that were prominent against the bright light of the storage room.

"You go to sleep, I'll keep watch." Standing up from the floor I stretched out my arms and yawned as noiselessly as possible.

"Alright, I'll see you in the morning." He said, a yawn interrupting him as he scooted down on the floor so he was lying flat on his back. Closing his eyes it was only seconds before his low snores began.

Walking over to the closed door I sat down against it, looking across at the two sleeping men. It was annoyingly impossible to tell how long it was until morning in the small room. I scoured over the walls but there were no clocks. The only way to tell would be to go outside and see if it was light out. Beginning to fidget I played with my hands before I began to shake my foot. Immense boredom already consuming me it felt like hours since I had sat down by the door when in reality it had probably been only a few minutes.

Unbraiding my hair, I rebraided it before unbraiding it again and letting it flow naturally down my shoulders. I combed through it with my fingers before I stood up and walked across the room, taking extra precaution not to wake either of them up I snatched the knife from the shelf as quietly as I could and slowly opened the door. Slipping out I walked out the front door of the store and looked up at the sky, alight in an orange blaze. Purple tinted clouds swam across its surface as the round sun began to rise higher and higher into the air. The beauty of it seemed so misplaced in what was now such an ugly world. Satisfied that it was finally morning I walked back into the storage room.

Kneeling down I lightly shook them both. They both jolted upwards and began looking around frantically. I reassured them in a hushed voice that everything was fine and that we should leave soon. Nodding, they both stood up and walked out of the storage room and both began to inspect the intricate bikes that lined the dull coloured walls.

"Too bad they're not motorbikes, would have gotten us there faster." Carl commented, jutting out his lower lip as he prodded the wheel of a bike with his index finger.

"They'll get us there and that's what matters." I said, stepping forward and picking a bike at random. As Carl wandered towards the far corner of the store, Alan drifted over towards me and watched as I precariously removed the bike from the wall.

"You shouldn't get that one." He stated quickly, eyeing up the bike in my hands. When I looked at him expectantly he continued. "That's a mountain bike, we only really need a road bike." He said, looking around the store quickly he stepped towards a smaller, black bike and took it off the shelf. Resting the bike I had picked out against the wall I took the bike he offered me with a hushed 'thanks'.

"Look about what happened I-" I waved my hand in his face before he had any time to continue.

"You don't have to, I get it." I told him with a small smile.

"You do?"

"Well no, not really." He huffed out a sigh and ran a hand through his hair.

"I've just," another sigh "I've always been a victim of falling in love really fast. It's how I got together with my ex-wife!" He exclaimed.

"Gee that's encouraging." I muttered with a roll of my eyes. His frown deepened significantly as if he only just realized what he had said. I could tell by the expression his face overtook that he was mentally slapping and cursing himself out. Taking the opportunity I walked away from him and lead the bike outside of the store. Finding a small bench I propped the bike up against it and sat down, waiting for them to pick out their bikes. After several moments they both walked out, leading bikes similar in characteristics to the one Alan picked out for me.

"Riding without a helmet? I should fine you!" Carl laughed as he threw a helmet towards me. Catching it before it had time to hit me in the face I plopped on top of my head and secured it there. "I'll lead the way." He stated as he sat on his bike and slowly began pedaling forward. Sitting on my own I quickly followed him as Alan began following after me.

We rode down the road and away from Lane Cove. The wind blasting past us and caressing our skin. It would have been a pleasant sensation if not for the acidic smell of the rain that relentlessly attacked our nostrils. We whizzed past a selection of streets and several infected, none of which bothered to chase us. We stopped only momentarily outside a large block of units that had caught ablaze. Large flames reached towards the sky as a black cloud infected it. Several burning infected stumbled out of the building, their limbs flailing as they howled a long song of pain.

We continued riding, passing over a bridge and riding past Hunters Hill. I looked ahead and frowned at the tall buildings approaching. It wouldn't be long until we were back into the city. Just as the thought flew to the forefront of my mind we had already carefully squeezed past all the cars that littered the bridge leading into the bloodbath, graveyard of a city. We rode fast down the streets, whizzing past buildings and slowing only minimally to ride around corners.

Reaching George street we rode down majority of it. A corner approaching I slowed the bike down slightly as Carl disappeared around it. Maneuvering the bike round the corner I quickly pulled on the brakes as the faces of the infected infiltrated my view. Quickly pulling the bike to the left so iwouldn't ride into them, the bike toppled over sending me spiralling to the ground. Standing back up I looked over to Alan and Carl to find them in similar positions. Running over to Alan I helped pull him up as the first of the infected began stalking towards us.

"Forget the bikes! Get to the train station!" Carl shouted as he picked his bike up off the ground and hurled it towards the infected. It struck the nearest one in the chest and sent him to the ground, creating a small ineffective barrier between us the horde slowly approaching.

Whipping my head around in every direction my eyes soon landed on the staircase leading down to the underground train station. Casting one last look at the crowd of infected shambling towards us I followed Carl and ran towards the station. Gripping the rail I skipped down the steps two at a time, looking ahead and desperately trying to ignore the trepidation and fear as the darkness of the tunnel became evermore prominent. In haste my heel slipped forwards as my grip on the railing loosened slightly, but enough for me to lose my balance.

I felt Alan's hand reach out and try to grab me in vain but his efforts were too late as I fell forward into the darkness. My shoulder smacked against the side of a step as I tumbled down the stairs. My leg bent awkwardly below me and sent jolts of electrifying pain through my thigh. As I crashed into Carl we both began to fall down the steps, our grunts of pain barely audible against the increased volume of the infected. Desperately throwing my hand out I tried to clutch onto the railing as my head smacked against the concrete steps and sent me into a daze.

My body collapsed atop Carl's as we finally reached the bottom of the stairs and found ourselves on flat ground once again. It was impossible to ignore the foul stench that permeated around us and the screaming infected as they began descending the stairs. Pushing myself away from Carl, my muscles ached in pain as I stood myself up. Apologizing and helping Carl up I turned around and looked up the stairs. The light in the distance was just enough to reveal a steady line of infected limping down the steps towards us.

Limping over to a map on the wall Carl pressed his face up against it as he tried to read it in the darkness. Waving my hands out in front of me I waded through the black abyss that surrounded us until a hand wrapped around my own. As my eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness I was vaguely able to make out the defined features of Alan's face as he squeezed my hand reassuringly.

"Follow me!" Carl hissed, his footsteps clicking against the linoleum floors. As the infected reached the bottom of the stairs and entered the station their shrieks sent shrill echos to reverberate down the tunnels. "Get on the tracks and follow me!" Carl shouted, his voice adopting a severe urgency as I watched his figure drop down onto the tracks and begin running up the tunnel.

With my hand clutched in his, Alan ran towards the tracks with me limping behind him. Releasing my hand he dropped down onto the tracks before turning around and helping me down. I reached out and grabbed his hand in my mine as we both began running up the tracks. The ballast rocks scraped and crunched beneath our feet as our heels dug into them. Within seconds the infected were on the tracks. Their footsteps growing in volume and in numbers. I looked back at them as best as I could. Convulsive motions agitated their limbs as they shambled after us with a vital urgency.

My joints screamed at me in agony to slow down but I knew I couldn't stop. Not yet. Foot after foot it was an eternity before the next platform became visible in the darkness. Panting furiously I felt myself begin to slow down as fatigue settled in every pore of my body. Heaving himself up onto the platform Alan turned back and pulled me up onto it.

"Shit, shit, shit." Carl muttered between pants of breath. Even in the darkness the beads of sweat that lined his face were prominent.

"What? What's wrong?" Alan asked, his hand still clutched in mine.

"It's another two platforms before we get to the airport." I groaned loudly at his words and cursed under my breath, casting a quick glance down at the tracks. The infected had yet to reach us.

"We can't keep going," Alan breathed, leaning forward and clutching his stomach with his free hand.

The air in the tunnels was thick with the scent of death that held no remorse in suffocating us as we begged for air. The ballast rocks that covered the tracks only made it more difficult for us to run, with every step our foot would sink in, only to be ripped away again with extreme effort. I looked around the small platform until I found a set of stairs leading up to the street.

Pointing towards the stairs, "We have to go up to the street." I said, desperately trying to regain control of my breathing.

"There might thousands more of them up there!" Carl exclaimed, gesturing upwards towards the street.

"There might not be! We have to take our chances!" I yelled back just as the first infected came into sight. Slowly stepping towards the stairs I watched as they struggled to lift themselves up onto the platform. One infected woman managed to lift herself up, only to have both her arms snap in half, the bones protruding through her skin and caving towards her, they impaled her chest as she fell down onto them.

As more of them appeared it became more apparent that they wouldn't be able to get up onto the platform. Every time one of them came close another infected would knock them back down in their conquest to get to us. If not for the circumstances a scene similar to this would have almost been funny.

Tearing my eyes away from them I stumbled over to the stairs. Grabbing onto the railing and ensuring my grasp was secure I began limping up the steps, one at a time. With every step the radiant light of the sun became ever brighter. As I reached the top of the steps the brightness engulfed me and held no qualms in temporarily blinding me. Squinting heavily I shielded my eyes from the sun as I looked down the long street beside the stairs.

I huffed at the sight of the school in the distance and the memories that tainted it. Adjusting to the brightness I lowered my hand and looked down the road that lead towards the airport. My eyes widened in disbelief as my brows arched upwards, every one of my limbs froze as my blood ran cold.

"What the fuck is that?"

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Thanks for reading!