Trigger Warning: Animal Death

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Elias, the injured Tommy, and Clint the dog, ran down the street, away from the screams behind them. The group quickly turned a corner on Durum where Eli lived and the pharmacy Tommy needed was located. Tommy grunted in pain as blood ran down his arm from where he was attacked. Eli was surprised at how well Tommy was doing with the pain, but he then remembered that he had been injured far worse back in the war.

Clint barked as they past an alleyway with a group of people ripping into an elderly woman. Eli averted his gaze, not wishing to commit the horrid act to his memory. Years of watching horror movies had not prepared him for the savagery that was going on. Eli steeled himself inside as he kept sprinting down the street.

[color=02a621]“Almost there,”[/color] Eli whispered to Tommy, hoping to not attract any attackers.

Tommy replied with a grunt as he kept up with Eli. Within a few minutes, Eli could see the pharmacy. However, it had already begun to be looted. Clint dashed ahead, entering the drug store. Tommy ran after him, still clutching his arm. Eli swore as he followed after the two of them.

“Clint! Come back here!” Eli heard Tommy bellow.

Eli followed the noise to the back of the pharmacy, where he found Clint and Tommy standing over the remains of a man. He was dressed in a postman’s uniform, perfectly normal looking, save the massive hole in his head. Eli held in some vomit as he saw the corpse. He was quickly snapped back to reality by Clint’s ferocious barking. Eli spun around to see a man pointing a shotgun at Tommy.

“How did you get hurt?” the man questioned intensely.

“What?” Tommy asked with confusion.

“The wound on your arm. How did you get it?”

[color=02a621]“I don’t know. Some guy bit him,”[/color] Eli replied.

The man responded by shooting Tommy through the head, spraying blood, brains, and pieces of skull everywhere. Eli mouthed what the fuck and Clint leaped at the man. However, the man let loose the other shell in his gun, hitting Clint right between the eyes.

[color=02a621]“What the hell was that?”[/color] questioned Eli in shock.

“Once they bite you, you become one of them,” the man said simply.

[color=02a621]“What is them?”[/color] Eli whispered as he became aware of the blood of Tommy and Clint covering him.

“The dead,” the man laughed eerily, “They ran out of room in hell.”

As the man continued to laugh, Eli began to back away. He noticed that the shotgun was double barrelled, meaning he spent his round and would need to reload. Eli took the opportunity to bolt out of the store. Running as fast as he can, Eli didn’t look at the new corpses littering the street. He just kept running till he saw his apartment building. Dashing toward the front door, Eli paused as he heard a guttural noise.

The door to his building burst open as a bald man covered in bed smashed through. Eli quietly said shit as the man locked eyes with him. Eli spun as fast as he could, turning away from the building, and moved as fast as he could in the opposite direction. The roar of the man told Eli that he was following after him. Eli pumped his legs as he ran for his life. His thoughts quickly raced as he was moving on pure adrenaline. His mind wandered back to that strange phone call this morning, the priest saying he had a safe area.

Realizing that he wasn’t far from Fifth, Eli began to run with a destination in mind. He hoped there would be some kind of help there, as he was pretty sure that there was more than of these things following him, at least based on the noises they were making.