The Rotting Flesh Book 1: Escatology
Chapter 29: Kindred broken souls

Her jeep kept cutting frequently as a sign off low fuel. After forcing it for a reasonable distance it finally shut down in front of a school. Tanya hopped out before the undead in that area got to it and sprinted towards the entrance. When she turned back to see if she was not being followed she nearly tripped, countless zombies were already on her tail. Panting heavily and trying to keep her emotions stable she ran through the school corridors looking for somewhere to hide. She could not fight back the flashing images of what had happened to Rodrigas. A part of her just wanted to die she knew he had died trying to save her so it would dishonor his memory.

She had cried so much she no longer had any tears to shed. The pain was so unbearable she almost felt physically numb. She had fleed from these zombies for so long her body was close to giving out. It was becoming more difficult to breath by the minute and she was becoming slower. After countless glances she finally saw an escape route and took it. She barged into a classroom closed the door and ran to the teacher’s office and hid. Fighting to suppress her heavy breathing she listened to hear whether the zombies had followed her here but it was quiet.

Twisting and turning on the ground, Tom heard faint groans. As his eyes slowly opened and the blur faded he saw a horde of eaters. Immedietly he jerked up realizing he was out in the open. From almost every direction they came, like vultures coming to meat. He stood up without a thought he charged through five of them knocking them down. Without wasting time he started his bike and sped off into the distance. Tears endlessly came out as the incident replayed itself in his mind. After what felt like forever of running he finally made it to what seemed like an abandoned school building and ran inside. The zombies were still pursuing him but he had managed to create a great distance between him and them. Things were not looking promising for him if he failed to replace somewhere to hide. He started walking looking for somewhere to hide trying all the doors but they were locked. As he was about to take a turn he spotted a figure in the far end rushing into a room and slamming the door.

No zombie could to that…….and that looked female he thought and advanced towards the door

Slowly turning the knob he pushed the door carefully as to avoid being ambushed incase he had seen wrongly. He could hear feet being dragged and loud groans, the zombies were getting closer. He peeped inside but saw no one. Quietly shutting the door behind him he looked for a secondary hiding spot and saw the teacher’s office.

Fuck offices he remembered the time he nearly died in one back in Cyna i got no choice here

Tanya controlled her breathing from behind the office door as she prepared to defend herself. He tightened her grip on the baseball bat she found in there. The door knob slowly turned and with each cm her heart raced faster. Without thinking twice the moment the door opened she swung her bat hitting her target. In order to make sure it was dead she got out and lifted her bat in the air to land a finishing blow when what she saw stopped her in her tracks. The zombie she had hit was bleeding which was unnatural.

Shit, its a person she quickly realized and dragged him into the store room and shut the door

“Damnit, I hope he isn’t dead” she said staring at his motionless body

She felt his pulse and it was still pumping. She sighed in relief and slumped down against the wall. Tanya sat there and zoned off into her thoughts, still being haunted by the images of the incident back at camp. Tears could no longer come out, she had cried enough

First dad and mom then you Rodd. Whats all this damnit she ground her teeth I’m done letting people in, you always lose them in the end damnit damnit Tanya why didn’t you listen to Rodd. Shiva was a total stranger but i easily trusted her she sighed in disappointment

As she tormented herself with her thoughts groaning yanked her out of her trance. The man she knocked out was fidgeting like someone having a nightmare. He would frown and continuously whisper something. She went closer to hear what he was saying

“The Theresa no, I’m sorry” he whispered with a troubled look on his face “why Jane”

Tanya’s eyes widened with what she was witnessing. Tears were slowly flowing out of his eyes. He was crying in his sleep.

I wonder what he went through to get him in such a state she thought and sat back down

He fidgeted more and stopped. She sat and stared at him wondering what he was dreaming about. A part of her wanted to wake him up but since silence was the plan, waking him up might shock him causing him to make noise attracting zombies.

He must be going through hell

He groaned once more and slowly began opening his eyes. Things were a blur at first due to the tears in his eyes but after wiping them he could see more clearly. Directly in front of him sat a female person. For a moment he thought it was Theresa or Jane but the memories of what happened quickly rushed back to him. Tanya did not move and there was no expression on her face.

“It must have been hell ey” she said still expressionless

“Huh?”

“What you went through” she added

“At its highest” he replied “how did I get here?” he added looking around

All he remembered was entering a classroom and after that everything was blank.

“Check your forehead” Tanya said pointing at him

He touched it and it hurt

“You knocked me out” he put the pieces together

“Yes”

“Okay, I won’t ask why. Tom”

“Tanya”