"WOOP! WOOP! LET'S BRING ON THE PAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!"

Nat froze. Her knees bent, her breathing rapid but quiet. Thank goodness she wasn’t in the front of the line, between the huddled bodies she could just barely make out the crazed soldiers from the crowd. They were talking amongst themselves for a moment, making jokes and laughing. Nataliya made eye contact with one of the infected, and it made her blood run cold. Her body tensed, and she prepared for the inevitable. Everyone with a weapon had left already, and in her distraction to find a weapon of her own, had left her far behind. Her own stupidity had gotten her in trouble. No, not in just trouble. In dead trouble. Nataliya swallowed hard. Out of the crowd she could just make out the blonde hair of the girl she had spoken to earlier. Unfortunately for her, that girl was front and center of the crowd. 

"I'm gonna fuck you in the ass, bitch!"

In seconds the girl snapped out of her shock and open fired on the crowd of crazies. That was a mistake. In seconds the girl was gone, blown into a pulp by the infected soldiers. Nataliya slapped a hand over her mouth, both to keep her from screaming and to keep her from throwing up. The crowd panicked, they started pushing, shouting, trying to make a run for it but to no avail. After they were done with the blonde, the infected opened fire on the crowd. 

Nataliya had no time to think, she didn’t spare a breath, her knees gave out and she dropped like a rock to the ground. Laying on her stomach, she closed her eyes tightly and felt bodies drop around her. She thought of the girl that had hidden beneath a fallen body earlier and held her breath, hoping the same tactic would work. Something warm and wet dripped down her back. Nataliya closed her eyes and came face to face with a woman, maybe in her late 30s, her eyes still wide open, her face blow off just below her left nostril. Nataliya whimpered and tried to look away without making too much noise. Peering over the dead woman, she noticed a small glint of metal not too far off. In the commotion, the pistol had been kicked about 10 feet from her. Nat watched the marine with one eye as he paced between the bodies, after his other infected pals left. Every time he would near her, Nat would hold her breath and lay perfectly still until he walked away. For minutes he circled the room until she came up with a plan. 

Nataliya waited patiently until the marine had circled past her and to the other end of the room. As his back was turned, she wasted no time in shimmying into a fetal position and sliding the shoe off of her right foot. The gunshots in the distance masked any sounds of her moving, and also distracted the marine enough to not notice her movements. It was obvious the infected soldier was getting restless in the room, and wanted to join in on the fun. Nat waited for him to walk by again, gripping the shoe under her so he wouldn’t suspect anything had happened. As soon as his back was turned, Nataliya whipped the shoe as far as she could through the door. It ricochet off the wall and landed out of sight in the hall.

“What the FUCKING SHIT was that?” 

The marine took the bait and followed the noise to the door. Nataliya sprung from her position, and lunged for the pistol. The feeling of the cold metal against her palm almost made Nat break out in tears. She let out a nervous laugh before the stomping of feet suddenly brought her back to attention. 

“I KNEW YOU BITCHES WERE STILL ALIVEEEEE!” 

The marine screamed as he rounded the corner. Nat wasted no time firing almost all of the remaining ammo into the infected marine.