Infection Z Beswick, L. (books for 8th graders txt) 📖

they nod fear in their eyes, it sniffs the air and approaches our hiding place Sam squeezes her eyes shut in fear, I pull her close in an attempt to reassure her, I shuffle forwards until I’m a few steps away from the zombie, “don’t" April mouthed, I stand and swing my piece of wood at its head, it falls back but soon approaches again more ferociously making a groaning noise grabbing at me with its long arms, I swing again splitting its head open, its blood gushes all over me and its lifeless body slumps to the ground, I breath heavily adrenaline pumping inside me.

“Are you okay?” Sam asks, I nod “I’ll never get used to how gross that is" I gag at its blood all over my face, I wipe it away on my sleeve and gesture for them to follow me out, once outside again I see a crowd of the zombies, we hide behind some skips waiting for them to leave but that doesn’t happen, I lean around and see them just lingering only occasionally moving at any noises, I find a brick and decided to test a theory, I throw it into the street away from the direction we want to go, it smacks onto the floor causing all the zombies to head that way groaning and swinging their arms back and forth, once the coast is clear we quickly continue on our walk.

We walk in silence with occasional small talk, as we walk further and further away from our home town the sky begins to darken above us, thunder crackles making us all jump, a flood of rain follows soon after we all groan in annoyance becoming uncomfortable from our clothes clinging to us making us cold, I spot a seemingly abandoned building and point to out, “we can hide there for now!” I yell over the thundering storm above, we begin running through the rain until we reach the building, I grab my torch from my bag and lead the way through the building, “we should probably do a quick sweep to make sure we really are alone" I whisper, we split off to search the place that seems empty and hasn’t been lived in since the virus started.

“Oh my gosh!” Sam announces, I run towards the sound of her voice “Sam!’ I yell in panic, she is crouched with her back towards me, “Sam are you okay?!” I ask out of breath and panicked, she turns with a big grin “look how cute is he?!” she squeals in excitement and produces a kitten that is ginger with white specs, it produces a small meow and rubs its face on mine.

I sigh in relief “that’s what the commotion was about?” she giggles in response, “sorry didn’t mean to scare you, we can keep him right?” she asks making her eyes wide and pleading, “I don’t know" I frown unsure if adding another member to our group is really the best idea, “why?” she asks, “well it’s another mouth to feed, it’s not exactly quiet" I cross my arms refusing to give into her cute act, “aww please it’s a little kitty it doesn’t eat a lot, like fish and cat food, and he’s not that loud please!” she pleads, I sigh deeply closing my eyes, “fine" I agree knowing I’ll regret that decision.

April approaches us, “this place seems abandoned" she states, “okay we'll stay here tonight but once the weather’s clear again we have to keep moving", we all pull out our blankets and use our bags as pillows, we all huddle in a circle and get some sleep, the kitten begins purring as he settles with us, I look over at Sam who is smiling at the small furry ball, I watch her for a moment admiring her whilst she can’t see me.

She lifts her eyes to me and I know I’ve been caught, “Damon?” she asks, “sorry I didn’t mean-" I move my eyes from hers, she smiles “can I ask you something?” she asks, I nod in response having trouble making eye contact with her again, “if the whole zombie thing didn’t happen what would you have done?” I look to her again, “what do you mean?” I ask, “after high school, where would you have gone to college, do you want to get married, like future stuff" she shrugs, “well after finishing high school I would go to a nearby college so I could still help my mum, I wanted to study medicine and eventually become a doctor, I hope I would’ve met someone, got engaged...” I trail off, “you’ve really thought about it, I didn’t think guys thought about getting married and future things" she says quietly as to not wake April, “what would you have done?” I ask, “I would have another year of high school so I haven’t one hundred percent worked out what I wanted to do, but maybe in the future studied fashion design, and eventually created my own brand of clothing, but I don’t know" she laughs, “that sounds cool and what about getting married?” I ask, she becomes quiet for a moment “I want to date someone, get engaged and married, and honestly I was hoping that would be you" she says shyly, she speaks so quietly I almost don’t hear her, “what?” I murmur, she shakes her head becoming red in the face “that was stupid, ignore me I’m being weird" she laughs nervously, she turns, and I know she’s going to sleep.

Sam’s POV

I turn away from Damon feeling embarrassed from what I’ve just admitted, I hope he didn’t hear me, I close my eyes but struggle to sleep from the awkwardness I feel, “I wanted to marry you too" Damon quietly admits, my eyes widen in surprise, I pretend to sleep knowing if I turn he'll take it back.

“I know you’re sleeping so you won’t hear this but I just want