Vick stood still while he gazed toward the silhouettes of the tall patches of grass that danced with the light gushes of the wind under the night sky.

  He whistled a happy tune as he threw the cigarette butt onto the ground, stomping on it after taking his last drag. It was quiet out here in the middle of the woods. There were the occasional sounds of the creatures of the wilderness but nothing much apart from that.

  Turning around, he peered back at his camp in the distance. There were a couple of people sitting around the campfire, talking to each other. He came here with most of them after the failure of the 'quarantine' zone.

  However, there were two of them who came here afterward. They apparently came from the town's hospital. Vick could only guess as to what kind of a hell that was to stray away from.

  Even though both of them managed to come here, one of them was unconscious, a cop. Vick sighed to himself as he approached the camp. Their rations were running out, and these two came at the worst time possible.

  He heard the voice of the other woman, who wore a lab coat, as he had gotten closer to them. She was telling the others about how they were found by Vick while trapped inside a cop car.

  After giving the group a wave, he sat near the campfire. There were six of them in total, seven if he counted the sleeping deputy inside the tent. The others were a couple with their college-age son, the doc, a man who was a national guard, and him.

  "Hello." He greeted them.

  The others either nodded toward him or responded back with their own greeting. He decided to sit next to Sophie.

  "Your friend still sleeping?" He asked her.

  Her head bobbed in place. "Yeah... Yeah. She's still asleep but she'll be fine, probably just concussed.

  "Alright then." He went to reach out to one of the water bottles nearby, cracking its cap open to take a sip.

  "The others were telling me about what happened at the quarantine center. Do you wanna... tell me about what happened?"

  After some deliberation and a few more sips from his water, he nodded. "Sure."

  Helicopters flew by as the murmurs of the crowd continued. The woods surrounding the campfire gave off the fresh scent of the trees, mixing it with the smells of gasoline and smoke.

  Vick carried his sick wife in his arms as he also carried a heavy backpack behind him. Amanda, even though conscious, wasn't feeling her best right now after they had to flee their home upon being attacked by a couple of intruders as they were preparing to go to the quarantine zone mentioned on the radio.

  Amanda coughed once again, shivering in the man's arms. Her condition was going for the worse. And it all happened because of a bite on her shoulder a couple hours ago.

  "We're almost there, honey. You will be safe. I promise." He muttered under his breath, trying to reassure her.

  She didn't respond to him, however. Only shivered a bit more as her skin felt colder by the second.

  The line moved up enough for him to see the actual height of the walls and the soldiers with hazmat suits protecting the entrance. A few towers had soldiers manning what seemed to be grenade launchers and machine guns.

  "The fuck are they preparing for?" He questioned, to himself.

  He stepped forward to the guard in front of him, who peered at Amanda behind his hazmat suit.

  "Is she sick?" The guard asked.

  Not knowing what else to say, Vick only nodded in response.

  "Go over there." He opened a gate to his side. However, it didn't appear that the others were led through that section as well.

  Before Vick could say anything, a scream echoed from within the camp. It was suppressed by gunfire. Soon, a few shouts came from within, following more screams and gunfire.

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  The crowd outside the walls got rowdy due to this development, people were confused as to where to go as screams ensued from every direction. Vick held Amanda tighter as he stepped to the side of the road, seeing that the guard was following him along.

  "Fuck this! Come on!" The guard gestured for him to follow along as they went to a trail within the woods. They could hear the never-ceasing gunfire behind them as they continued to jog away from there.

  "What the fuck is going on?!" Vick yelled in desperation as he continued to jog away.

  "Man, don't you fucking see it? This is /the/ apocalypse. People are trying to eat us!" Yelled the guard, who sounded pretty young. Probably a high school graduate who enlisted due to 'reasons'.

  As the duo used the path and started to walk instead of jogging, they could only hear the gunfire from a distance. The guard, to not suffocate, opened the head part of his protective suit.

  He indeed was young and appeared to be in his early twenties. His hands clutched upon the vest he wore as he breathed in the air deeply, motioning for Vick to wait.

  As for Amanda, she was still in Vick's arms. The man, even though he was pretty muscular, couldn't carry her for much longer without a break. Taking this as an opportunity to catch his breath as well, he laid her on the ground gently.

  "What's wrong with your wife, dude?" The guard asked.

  "She is sick. Someone bit her and now she can barely hold her eyes open."

  "Wait... Did you say someone bit her?" The guard gulped in place as his hands went on to grip his rifle danging in front of his chest.

  "Woah! Woah!" Vick placed himself between the guard and Amanda she raised his palms in surrender. "What the fuck are you doing?"

  "She's sick, man! She's gonna become one of them! Fuck!" The guard raised his rifle a bit. "Step aside. Look, she ain't gonna be your wife for long, man. I'm telling you."

  Vick, not understanding what the guard was saying, only looked confused.

  "Okay. Look. Once someone gets bitten and shit, they turn to one of those fuckers. That's not your wife anymore man."

  Of course, this didn't make much sense to Vick, who faced the guard. How could it make sense to let someone kill your wife over what they said to be true, anyway?

  As the duo argued, Vick heard a cough mixed with a wheeze and shuffling coming behind him. He peered behind his shoulder for only a second.

  "Amanda, stay behind me!" He said as he continued to face the guard.

  There wasn't any response from Amanda herself, only more groaning and coughing came from her direction. However, the guard's eyes were open wide as he stared at the woman.

  "Man, get the fuck outta there! I am telling you, she's gonna fucking kill you!" He yelled out, frustrated.

  Before Vick could say anything else, he received a blow to the back of his head. It was a weak punch, though, it did make him lose his balance and find himself on the floor.

  He immediately turned around to see Amanda shuffling toward him with bloodshot eyes and pinpoint pupils. Blood was coming out of her nostrils and ears as she let out a few coughs.

  "Amanda? What are you... What are you doing?" He questioned as he found himself crawling away from his wife.

  "Step back! Ma'am step the fuck back! STEP BACK!" The guard now had his rifle raised directly at the woman. Hearing his yells, she turned toward him.

  After a second of eerie silence, she suddenly tried to lunge at him. Loud shots echoed in the air a few times as the woman's body dropped to the ground with a thud.

  Vick, watching the entire thing from a close distance, couldn't speak. He felt a few hot droplets graze his skin in crimson as he peered at the spurts of blood coming out of his wife's neck.

  Several groans came from the woods surrounding them, making the guard move to Vick and grab him by the shoulder. The man couldn't react as he was dragged up to his feet and off the scene. He matched the guard's steps as his instincts commanded him to do so.

  "She was long gone, man! She was long gone!" The guard next to him tried to reassure him as they jogged off in the path.

  However, they weren't in the clear as Vick heard someone sprinting at a high speed right behind them, cracking every kind of branch there was under their feet.

  Both men turned around to face what could be their doom as neither of them was fast enough to not get caught. The guard raised his rifle toward the direction of the fast-paced sprint.

  With the crackle of a few bushes, a figure emerged from the tree line and stepped onto the path, sniffing the air violently. It was a young woman wearing a tracking suit. Her eyes were covered completely in crimson and her pupils appeared blank.

  After sniffing the air some more, she turned toward the duo in an inhumane motion, as if she was trying to break her neck. The guard's finger pulled the trigger a few times.

  Shots ringed once again as there appeared a few holes in the woman's body, actively bleeding. However, this didn't deter her from sprinting at them at full speed. Her cries of pain were at an almost deafening point as well.

  The guard fired at her torso and head until she came up close to him, collapsing on top of him. But she didn't bite or move much, just laid on top of him motionless as blood poured out of her.

  Vick, after some hesitation, helped the guard up to his feet. Both of them disappeared from the vicinity once again as they feared that more of them would come to this location.

  Later on, Vick found out the guard's name to be Derek.

  Sophie took in a deep breath as she nodded her head to the story. It appeared that the only way for them out of here was long gone now. She knew that after coming to this camp a few days ago but she didn't know how messy things had gotten up in the quarantine zone.

  "I am sorry for your wife." She uttered her condolences.

  Vick hung his head low as he drank some more from his water, exhaling sharply afterward. "Yeah, Derek here was right." He flicked his chin at the man who was the aforementioned guard. "She was gone after that bite anyway."

  She could only nod to that sentence, reaching out to scratch the itch on her ankle over the fabric of her trousers. A bite that's capable of doing such things in a short time somehow didn't affect her much. Or it was taking its time coursing through her veins. Who knew, really?

  A movement within the tent took her attention as the silhouette of the Deputy stood upright. Her lips were drawn to a warm smile as she stood up on her feet, walking over to the tent to check up on her.