Chapter 1 – Falling in Love the Wrong Way
On one unfortunate night, an accident in a research facility causes an outbreak of a virus that makes people cannibals by cutting off all if not all of the reasoning ability in their brain. The outbreak spread throughout all of the world. It was a global effort to find cures for major diseases after all with dozens upon dozens of researchers and countries involved. The reason why this outbreak had such a major impact on the world was because these cannibals, infected, or zombies as most call them were still able to mimic normal human behavior.
These cannibals could act normal as long as they weren’t compromised. They could even eat normal food and use their most recent memories to fool people to think that they were normal, however, they aren’t able to remember older memories or information that takes some time to remember. Once they have their targets secluded, they bite them or eat them to turn them into cannibals. Some areas of the country didn’t know or believe this outbreak was real since the cannibals were so good at blending in. After a couple of months, there’s good and bad news for humanity. The bad news is that there are more cannibals than normal humans. The good news is that there’s a cure and everyone in the world knows that the cannibals are a real threat to humanity and they’re fighting back.
A small group of survivors is holding out in the woods outside of their fishing town that is overrun with cannibals. Two people are heading out to a power plant since the power for their hideout has mysteriously been turned off.
“Get off me!” the young man says.
“Oh come on, Hagan. Stop being such a hard head. I’m just hugging you.”
“Well, I don’t like you hugging me, Chloe. I know what your feelings are for me even though I’m with Brandy.”
“I’m not trying to do anything. I’m over you choosing her over me.”
“The way you touch me sometimes says otherwise. Let’s just drop this drama once and for all. We need to be on guard.”
“Right.”
“You know what to do, right?”
“I know. I’ll keep watch by the cliffs while you go in to turn the power on.”
“Good. Watch yourself. Even though I don’t trust you with touching me, I do trust you with everything else.”
“Okay, you don’t need to worry about me. This isn’t like it’s our last time together.”
“I know. I’m just saying.”
Hagan goes down to the power plant to find it empty with nothing broken or out of place, but the main power switch is turned off, which is strange. No one is stationed here nor are there any known human settlements around this area. After turning the power back on, a gunshot is made from Chloe’s general area.
Hagan says over the walkie talkie, “Chloe? What’s going on?”
He receives no response. When he goes outside, he finds multiple people converging on him. Since the cannibals know they can’t fool him, they use the energy they use for reasoning and convert it to enhance their strength and endurance. Hagan tries using his knife to conserve ammo since there are so many, but he realizes that he’s outnumbered. He heads back inside the building and barricades the main door. He then tries to kill as many cannibals as he can that come out of the three windows in the small building until his back is up against the wall. He’s managed to save a clip of ammo for himself in case he has to put a bullet in his head, but it appears like he doesn’t have to.
The cannibals stop moving for some reason and just corner Hagan. He stops fighting and wonders what could be happening. It becomes clear once Chloe comes into the building. Her hazel eyes are gone and have been replaced with light blue eyes. Her lips are now blue, and her skin is pale.
“Chloe…”
“I’m sorry, Hagan. I didn’t want this to happen. I wanted them to kill me once they got me, but now I’m like this, and there’s only one way for you to survive.”
If two virgins are attracted to one another, the virus will take advantage of this and cut off part of their reasoning and increase their hormones so they can make infected children. Once pregnant, a female will give birth within a few weeks and have grown children within the same amount of time. These "zombie" children act like normal children and are almost indistinguishable from normal children, which makes them effective for infiltration and easy takeover of human settlements. It seems like to Hagan that the cannibals knew of the people within their settlement and purposefully drew them out so this could happen. He’s extremely stressed out and doesn’t know what to do.
“Just trust me, Hagan.”
“I trust you with everything but controlling yourself around me. I could almost swear that you did this on purpose!”
“I didn’t. You know how we can get out of this. Just trust me for now.”
Chloe slowly walks towards Hagan with her arms out. He points his gun at her, which make the cannibals take a step toward him to remind him what would happen if he refuses her. Hagan then lowers his gun and stands still, but uneasy. He lets Chloe bite his neck to infect him as her mate. The cannibals walk away with a smile as they trust their virus to work on him. Hagan bleeds blue blood from his bite wound as his sclera turns light blue while his iris and pupil turn completely black.
“Ow. Ow! Stop it!” Hagan says as Chloe begins to sensually bite and lick his neck.
He pushes her away and points his gun at her again.
She says, “You know you’ll die too if I die.”
“I’m not sure if I’ll care.”
Chloe is a bit shaky as she tries to control her desire.
“Chloe, control yourself.”
“I…I…”
Chloe begins to hug Hagan and breathe in his face with a captivating look on her face, which doesn’t help the way he feels.
“Get…get off! You aren’t helping by doing this.”
Hagan pushes Chloe further away this time.
“I’m…I’m sorry.”
Needing to let go of his pent up energy, Hagan punches a wall then grunts in frustration. They both stay in silence for a few moments as they collect themselves.
“You couldn’t do anything else. You didn’t have a choice in the matter…I forgive you. It’s not your fault.”
“Thank you for understanding.”
Hagan walks away with Chloe behind him. He unconsciously walks faster than her because of his frustrations and begins to feel pains in chest. Chloe picks up her pace to get to him.
She holds his chest and says, “Remember, you can’t be far from me.”
“Yeah.”
Hagan walks away from Chloe still frustrated.
“I thought you said you forgave me.”
“I do. I’m still frustrated by this situation. I know for a fact that you like it more than you’re showing.”
“Hagan…”
“I don’t want to hear it right now.”
Chloe holds onto Hagan’s arm, which gives him a little comfort. He unknowingly goes along with her holding his arm until he realizes when they get back to their settlement. This is when he pulls his arm away from her. As they approach the small settlement set in a secluded prison, Hagan wishes the snipers would shoot them since he knows they can see him, but they don’t. The people in the settlement signal the doors to be open with an orange light to signal caution. Brandy, Hagan’s girlfriend, walks out of the doors armed with a shotgun and two other guards who have submachine guns. She has a condescending but worried look on her face. The three point their guns at Hagan and Chloe as they get closer.
Hagan says, “Brandy…I’m sorry. It was a trap set by the infected. I think they meant to get people like us so this could happen.”
“Then I should’ve been there instead,” Brandy says, “Do you remember where we first met?”
“On a grade school trip. We were at the docks and that’s where I got your number.”
“Good. You’re still conscious. Chloe, do you remember the first time we met?”
“We met in pre-school.”
“That’s right. Well…I guess we can’t do anything now. I already have someone calling the CDC to come here to cure you. Hopefully, this’ll turn out to be something good especially since you two have the cure for this virus in your blood.”
Since human blood and the virus are synergized when a couple is infected, their blood can be taken and used to create a cure that makes normal humans immune to the virus. It can also cure cannibals assuming they haven’t been infected for a long time or if their bodies aren’t heavily damaged.
“That’s good. I’m thinking that if the cannibals thought of this plan, then they’re probably going to keep tabs on us since they can sense us. Get the defenses ready if they do attack,” Hagan says.
Chloe brings up the fact that, “Wouldn’t it be better if we just secluded ourselves away from here? We’re going to be putting everyone in danger.”
“I didn’t trust you with Hagan when you weren’t infected. What makes you think I’ll trust you when you’re like this?” Brandy counters, “We’ll hold the two of you in separate cells, so nothing happens when you’re sleeping. I’ll be guarding you two during the day.”
“Brandy, I…”
“This is final, Chloe. We aren’t going to argue about this. Hagan, explain everything to me.”
Hagan explains what happened to Brandy as they enter the prison. After his explanation, Brandy lets the other guards go to help the others prepare for a possible attack by the cannibals. The three young adults who were close friends only a couple of hours ago sit in silence as if they were strangers.
“We may be infected but we can still help around the prison,” Hagan speaks up.
“It’s fine,” Brandy responds, “We have twenty well-armed people here. You don’t need to worry about them. Just worry about yourself for now. Oh, and take this gas mask. You’ll need it.”
“Thanks.”
As Hagan takes the gasmask, Brandy shakes her head.
“I can’t believe this happened to you of all people with her in the mix.”
“Me too. I’m sorry I didn’t prepare for something like this to happen.”
“It’s not your fault.”
Brandy stares at Chloe who’s been staring at Hagan for a while now.
“Eyes off him, Chloe. You don’t want to lose control of yourself.”
“Oh, I…I…”
“Yes?”
“You shouldn’t worry about him anymore. He’s mine now.”
“Excuse me?”
“I…I’m sorry. I don’t know what came over me.”
“That better have been the case. Go take a cold shower. That should help you keep control of yourself.”
“Hagan has to come with me.”
“Oh, that’s right. I guess you’re never taking another shower until the CDC come then. I think you two should get some rest before dinner. It should calm your minds.”
Hagan and Chloe sleep in separate cells with their doors locked while Brandy heads off to help the rest of the prison prepare for an attack and getting her mind off the situation to calm her mind as well. During his sleep, Hagan feels his heart slowly begin to beat. He can hear the beating of Chloe’s heart from the other side of the wall and the two hearts beat together as if calling out to one another. His breathing starts to slowly intensify as his heart keeps beating intensely. Before he knows it, the heart he feels on the other side moves into his cell until a presence lays on him and holds him.
His heart starts beating faster as he starts to feel warm and elated. The presence on top of him brings their beating hearts together and makes him more euphoric. Hagan then starts receiving kisses, which makes him uncontrollably kiss back and feel this presence. He starts getting licked then scratched as this keeps going on. The presence on top of him is pushed off. He then panics and tries to reconnect with it but is held down before being drenched in cold water and slapped several times.
He wakes up to see that Chloe managed to break open their cells and get to him. Three guards are holding her back while pouring cold water on her to calm her down. Brandy shakes her head with her hands on her face.
“I should’ve remembered,” she says.
Infected female mates who are infected are much like female insects who are stronger than their male counterparts. They are harder to calm down, easier to arose, and are usually violent during sexual intercourse.
“Brandy…I’m sorry I didn’t resist. I was sleeping and barely had any control over myself,” Hagan explains.
“You could’ve…Nevermind. I understand. We have to talk.”
“Look, when the CDC comes here, things will go back to normal, which includes our town!”
“I’m not sure that will happen. A large group of cannibals is coming this way soon. If we can’t hold out, you have to survive. You two are what humanity needs to get more of the cure.”
“Don’t talk like that Brandy!”
“I’m just saying if.”
“It won’t happen. I’ll help you defend the prison.”
“Then grab a gun and let’s rock.”
“That’s what I like to hear.”
Hagan and Chloe arm themselves with submachine guns and shotguns before going to the wall above the gate with Brandy. An almost uncountable number of cannibals arrive in the distance and surround the prison. They stop a few feet away from the prison to make sure the humans see their numbers to instill fear into them. They then walk forward with confidence and a smile much to the surprise of the humans.
A prison guard says, “There were supposed to be traps on the outside of the prison. What-”
Four people are shot in the legs by cannibals acting like normal humans before they turn vicious. Everyone outside retreats in and ten of the twenty people in the prison are already infected within a matter of minutes with no causalities on the side of the cannibals. Two virgins are infected, but they quickly shoot themselves in the head for fear of what might happen.
The humans try in vain to hold out in the prison as the cannibals find their way in without trouble due to their numbers and infiltrators. Six more virgins are infected but kill themselves as the others did. What seems like an hour passes until the battle is finally over. In actuality, it’s only been ten minutes. Hagan and Chloe stand with their guns pointed at the cannibals who don’t do anything but smile in victory.
“Oh, no…Brandy,” Hagan says as he sees her walk out of the crowd of cannibals infected.
She smiles at him then says, “It’s okay, Chloe. You can have him. He’s yours to do with whatever you please.”
Tempted by the thought, Chloe tries to resist doing anything.
“We’re leaving here, Chloe!” Hagan says as he tries to get her to move.
The cannibals say to the two, “You won’t last long.”
“You might as well give in now.”
“You’re only making this more difficult for yourself.”
“If you have children now, you’ll be helping humanity. Not damning them.”
“Give in to your desires.”
“You’ll live happily together.”
Chloe is stunned by the cannibals’ tempting thoughts which makes it almost impossible for her to move.
“Damn you! I’ll get help for you, Brandy. Just you wait,” Hagan says before dropping his heavier guns, picking Chloe up, and retreating into the forest.
The cannibals just smile as they run away, confident that the two of them will eventually give in. After miles of running, Chloe begins to lose herself. She touches Hagan’s chest before kissing his neck. Seeing that he’s near a small stream, he throws her into it to calm her down, but the light splash barely has an effect on her, so he holds her down in it until she calms down. The two are now near a small safehouse location not too far from the town.
As Chloe collects herself, she says, “I’m sorry, Hagan.”
“Whatever. We can’t do anything about the people we lost. We can only hope the CDC gets here soon so we can cure the ones who didn’t die.”
“Hagan…”
“I’m going to sleep in the basement of the shack and I’m going to lock the door. You can sleep in the bed upstairs. If you need something, just knock, but don’t lose yourself again like you did in the cells or I might kill us both like the others did.”
“…”
“I know how you’re feeling, and I’d give you a hug to make you feel better, but I can’t. Just know that I’m going to do my best to take care of us and that we get through this.”
“Thanks.”
“Get some sleep. We’re probably going to need it.”
Infected by Demon Hunter is probably the obvious choice for a song I associate with this story. I have a few more in mind, which I'll share with you as the story goes along. If you didn't know, I share these songs with the story chapters to show you the songs I listen to while writing these stories. If I don't associate the music I listen to with a story, I probably won't share it with a chapter because it doesn't mesh well with the story.
