DAYLIGHT

Chapter 04

L e a n d e r

I looked at the new face that was staring at me. He showed up after we finished dealing with the zombies. Tall, maybe five inches taller than me, bulk build and it was showing on the khaki uniform that he was wearing, broad shoulders which looked good in a soldier uniform, very muscular, blonde hair, and blue eyes which were a typical perfect pair, high bridge nose and has a chiseled jaw. In short, he has a handsome face.

"Captain!" Lake called making me look back at the man.

"I am late, sorry." The captain said who has a low and masculine voice.

"No, you're just in time for us to finish. Damn, we're so tired that we could use a few days of rest. " Chad said making the captain smile.

"We have no time to rest, we need to move the citizens back to the barracks." He said and then his blue eyes landed at mine.

"This is Leander, by the way, the guy we saw through the drone." Marie introduced.

He nodded and extended his hand to me.

"Tilden Matthews, ZDS001 team Captain."

I looked at the gloved hand and shook hands with him. I only dared to shake his gloved hand despite how dirty my hand was because he was wearing black gloves but it only covered his palm and three-forth of his fingers.

"Damn! You are so scary! Look at these heads." Chan said as he approached me, kicking a head as if it was just a rock that was on his way while scanning the ground. "You sure know how to swing that baby."

I looked at the blade which used to be shiny but now filled with blackish fluid. I swung it downwards to whip some of the fluids away and had no plans on sticking it inside its sheath.

"Let's go." Tilden said.

We walked to where Tilden parked the armored car. I sat beside Marie and Lake. We all smelled like s**t except for Tilden making me wrinkle my nose. Looking at them, it seems like they already got used to it and acting as if their uniforms weren't soaked with zombie blood cause they never bothered to wipe it.

I looked at my wrist when I felt it stinging and was surprised when I saw a two-inch cut wound.

"I got scratched." I said making the dozzing people beside me exclaim in alert and Tilden stepped on the break right in the middle of the road.

"I just noticed." I said and showed them my hand. The scratch was under my wrist crossing the veins but it was only skin deep.

"You were scratched? Or is that only a cut? Did the zombie blood touch the cut?" Marie said as she grabbed my wrist and scanned it.

"I don't know. " I said.

"How do you feel right now? " Tilden asked as he pointed at the dashboard. "Maybe there's alcohol left from last time." He said to Chan who was sitting in the passenger seat.

"I'm fine. I don't feel anything." I honestly said.

"Don't lie. You should tell us how you feel because it's not only your life that's at stake here. You're lucky to die while you're still human."

"I honestly don't feel anything." I said as I calmly stared at Tilden.

Tilden nodded and looked back to the road and started driving. Marie kept on checking me if I was hurt and helped me clean my arm with alcohol afraid that the dried zombie blood would touch the cut.

Lake who was dozing off a while ago was already wide awake and looking outside the window. I was also checking myself if there would be changes in my system. Marie said that one of the signs was the veins where the area was bitten or scratched would turn black and it would spread throughout the body.

Marie kept on checking the cut from time to time and would sigh in relief when there was no sign of me becoming one of those undead. It was strange that I didn't feel anything thinking that I would turn into a zombie as if it was the most natural thing to be.

Looking out the window, the scenes outside were like a nightmare. No people could be found roaming around, abandoned cars were everywhere, and ruined and abandoned buildings. It was chaos outside making me wonder how I survived during those days when all of the people buried with me in that building were gone. Was it just pure coincidence?

Marie once again checked on the cut then the car slowed down to a stop in front of a gate filled with barbed wires with a red STOP sign. The gate opened and we drove inside the area.

The survivors that their squad gathered stayed in an abandoned dormitory. Seeing a lot of people roaming around outside was new to my eyes. The car finally stopped and Marie pulled me inside the dorm immediately.

"We should let it check immediately." Marie said and dragged me inside the dormitory and went into a room.

"Stay here for a while while I call the doctor ." Marie said.

I sat on a plastic chair and closed my eyes. I felt tired after everything that happened and I was hungry and thirsty also. Just when I was about to sleep, I heard someone walk inside the room.

A woman in a denim jumper.

"Hello, I am Jessie. May I see your wound?" She gently said.

I raised my hand and showed her my wrist.

"How long has it been since you were cut?"

"How long does it take to travel from S-zone to here?" I flatly said and she nodded as she picked a red box and opened it.

"How do you feel? Nauseous? Dizziness?"

"Aside from being tired, I don't feel anything. " I said.

She nodded as she cleaned the cut, bandaged it then gave me an antibiotic shot.

"For safety, you will be isolated for an hour or two." She said and I nodded without questions.

"All the rooms here are occupied." She said as we went out of that room and stopped in front of a small door. "So, you can stay here until your quarantine hours are over." She opened the door. "Please bear with it for a few hours."

I nodded and went inside the small electrical room. Breakers were attached to the wall and the only ventilation was the vertical holes at the door. Darkness enveloped the room when the door was closed and the only light source was the straight holes for ventilation creating strips of light from the outside.

I sat on the corner and hugged my knees as I closed my eyes forgetting the hunger and thirst that I felt at that moment and succumbed to my tiredness.

. . . . . . . . .