Elle McBriar

...Stopped counting

They say when you're on the brink of death, you don't actually think.

You feel pain, but you don't. And now I know what they mean.

I'm in constant pain. All the time. Who know if its been days, weeks or even months since we've been here. All I know is I've given up.

I haven't seen Gage since I was taken away. I hope he's okay, I miss him.

I also haven't been attended too since I was thrown in here.

With all the blood I've lost, I should be dead. I don't know why I'm not. My blood could save over 100 lives, with the amount they've accumulated.

At random parts of the day, or night, I'm being shocked. I can feel my skin being ripped and I can smell the flesh, it burns. Not only my nostrils but myself. Eventually the batter has to die. I'm waiting for that day.

Sometimes when I fall asleep, I pray I don't wake up. But I do. And I'm always disappointed. I wake up thinking I've reached hell, but then my eyes adjust and it's still the same, metal room.

I thought I was finally getting used to the nightmares but here we are, repeating the cycle once again.

Who knows what'll happen. Maybe we'll be saved. Maybe we'll die. All I know is, I'm waiting for something to happen.

I hear a door slam in the distance, and I don't bother checking who it is. But when I feel my legs being grabbed, I'm being carried bridal style. My eyes are closed, I'm half asleep. Bouncing up and down, uncomfortable fingers dig into my back.

Next thing I know, I'm being thrown down. I land on my back, my head hitting the hard surface. I open my eyes, feeling my vision go fuzzy, "Elle? Elle are you okay?" Gage asks, leaning over me. I see two of him as he helps me sit up. I can barely breath, I was winded. I touch the back of my head, bringing my hands down to my face, blood.

Squeezing my eyes shut, I pray for this nightmare to be over.

"Elle?" Gage asks again. I shut him out, bringing my knees up to my chest as I lean against the wall, covering my ears with my hands. An alarm bell sounds, I jump, "What is that? What's happening?" I ask, Gage comes over to me, "It's okay. A zombie probably just got out."

I nodded, I hope he's right. Then, with the flashing lights and loud siren, the door swings open, and two angry men come rushing inside. They pull Gage way from me, punching his already broken face, I'm next. The shock collar on high heat as I scream in pain.

I tried to claw the collar off me, I'm surprised they let us in here without tying our hands together. I crawled forward, getting my breath knocked out of me. I walked over to Gage, who was lying on the floor unconscious. "Gage, w-wake up!" I pleaded, tears spilling out of my eyes, "GAGE!" I screamed. The guy who was once punching Gage had left the room now, the electricity was still soaring through my veins as I tried to wake up Gage.

He's still breathing, that's a sign, "Gage please, I can't lose you." I cried, whimpering as I put my head on his chest.

Everything is numb. My mind, my body, my words. I can't feel anything, anymore.

I lay beside Gage, twisting my hand into his, linking our fingers together. If we die, we die together.

The collar finally stopped and I breathed. But not for long. Once my back hit the cool metal floor, I succumbed into closing my eyes. Resisting the urge to fight back.

They won.

My eyes fluttered shut and for a minute it felt nice. No sound, no collars, nothing. But then it happened again. Gunshots ricocheted around the room, echoing through the loud metal hallways. I looked up, peeking through the tiny window in the metal door.

I thought I was losing it, is that Alex?

"LOOK OUT." He mouthed to me. I shielded Gage's body, hearing a loud boom and the room fill with smoke. I can't hear, but I can taste it. The ash and powder. It's on my tongue.

My ears a ringing. I don't let go, still holding onto Gage. I feel myself being pulled away, "Come on." I shook my head, moving away from Alex's grip, "No, G-Gage first." I mumbled, holding the side of my head as it pounded with every movement, "No Elle, come with me." "No Alex, take Gage. Now. I'm fine. He's not waking up."

They took Gage, despite their bitching and moaning.

I relaxed onto the floor. They found us. We're saved.

* * *

I never know quite what's happening when I wake up. But what I do know when I woke up today, is that I was lying on a very uncomfortable surface, way less comfy then the stupid bed they had me on in that room.

I squinted at the light above me, reaching my hand up to push it away. It fell over and the boys came running in at the noise, "Oh my God you're awake. Thank God you're awake." Alex cried, running over to me. I pushed him away, "W-we have to go back there. They're going to end the world if we don't stop them!" I pleaded, they looked at me like I was crazy.

I tried to stand up, but Paxton caught me before I fell to my knees. "Woah, slow your roll there. You've been out for almost 12 hours, you have no energy." I sighed, rubbing my eyes, "Where's Gage, is he okay? Did he get out?"

Alex nodded, "He's okay. He's resting. Like you should be, right now."

My stomach grumbled, cutting us all off, "You hungry?" Alex said quietly, "Very. I haven't eaten since they took us that day." I laughed bitterly, my mind racing.

It smelt heavenly in the kitchen as I sat curled up on the couch, facing the sink and fridge. Paxton sat next to me, his eyes on me at all times, "What is that?" I ask, "Soup." He shrugged.

I gratefully took the bowl from him, taking a spoonful into my mouth. My God this tastes like heaven.

"What happened down there, Elle? All we know is that you guys were gone and then you didn't come back." Alex stated, sitting on a chair in front of me, I sighed, "How long were we gone for?" I asked, "5 days. It's almost 6pm." He sighed. I took another spoonful of soup before bringing a shaky arm up to touch my mouth, it stung from the cut inside my mouth.

"We were attacked. I was hit from behind. Gage saw it happen. He warned me but he was already behind me." I sighed, "He? It was a he?" Paxton said angrily, balling his fists, "Yeah it was two guys only. One tortured me, the other tortured Gage."

"What did they want? When we got there we couldn't see their faces or what they were doing, we just shot them. But when we got closer, there was bags and bags of blood. Close to 20." I almost choked on my soup, "20 bags of my blood?" I spluttered, "Your blood? Why did they take your blood?" Paxton snapped, looking at me, "The guys who took us were Tyler and Jared."

Alex's eyes widened, "The guys who created the whole rat serum and then it turned into zombies?" I nodded, "They did the experiment on purpose. They told me that they wanted to create the serum. And they needed my blood to create more zombies." I whispered.

"But there are no more humans to create zombies-"

"That's what I said. But apparently they were injecting animals and already deceased zombies and turning them into flesh eating killing machines." I said, slightly angered.

I stayed quiet, looking down at the soup, "Anyway. They uh, had a shock collar made for dogs, and put it around my neck. And every time I spoke up, or talked, they shocked me." I swallowed, feeling the rough skin tears. I brought my fingers up to the bumpy skin, I'll need to bandage it. "They shoved needles into me, and bled me dry. I got punched, repeatedly. And so did Gage."

Paxton scoffed, "Trust me, your injuries are far worse than Gage. He took it well. He'll be fine. A few bumps and scratches never hurt anyone." He smiled sadly. I nodded, inhaling air as the sudden loss of it. I landed on my back when they threw me and I guess I'm still not over it.

"I'm gonna have a shower and head to bed. Thank you for dinner. And uh, saving me."

I got up, Paxton giving me a hand as I hobbled to the bathroom.

I could hear them talking as I turned on the shower, peeling off my clothes and standing naked in front of the mirror. My body was black and blue. Blue and purple bruises coated my wrists and back. Dried blood was flaking off my face and ankles as I stepped inside.

I can't tell you how amazing it feels to have a shower.

I scrubbed as hard as I could to get the feel of their hands off me. Even though my skin was bright red and sore, I felt clean. Rid of them.

I stayed in there for a while, hopping out after a bit, not wanting to waste any hot water.

After I'd gotten changed, I knocked on Gage's door. He mumbled a 'come in' and I pushed the door open, seeing him lying in the dark, "Hey. How are you feeling?" I whispered, sitting on the edge of his bed. He sat up, running his hands through his hair, "I've been better." He chuckled, "How are you though?" I shrugged, "I don't know."

And it's the truth. I don't know how I feel, honestly. I kind of feel like crying and punching something but then I also feel like eating popcorn and watching cartoons.

"Come with me, we should probably get wash your face before it gets infected."

I stood up, the warm air rushing past my bare legs as I opened his door. He followed me out and into the kitchen, "Welcome back to the land of the living." Paxton smirked, looking at Gage.

Gage bro-hugged them both as I grabbed a first aid kit.

First I tended to his eye. I made him hold an ice pack there as I cleaned his lip, taking off the dry blood before rubbing some ointment onto it. I went to his nose, then his eyebrow, cheek and knuckles, where the skin was split because he tried to punch back.

Once he removed the ice pack, his eye was still swollen shut and purple. I very gently cleaned up the blood and put a tiny bit of gauze over the cut under his eye. Then I made him hold the ice pack on it again, "Do that for like 10 minutes everyday and you'll be fine." I smiled, packing up the kit, Paxton's hand covered mine, "Not so fast. You take care of everyone else, I think you forget about you." He smirked. I grumped, "But I'm fine. I don't need-" Paxton tapped me on the top of my head and I flinched, my headache returning, "I thought you said it didn't hurt."

He smirked, using my words from the other day when he ripped his stitches.

"Fine. But if I get an infection, I'm blaming you."

* * *

hii

yay! they're home safe. what'd you think?

happy reading :)