The Secret of the Witch

"Come on! The safe room is this way! We're almost there!" Francis shouted powerfully as he sprinted as fast as he could. Behind him, three other persons tried to catch up with his insane speed.

"Wait up! Bill can't handle this tempo!" Louis shouted back at the biker. But Francis didn't slow down.

"Are you stupid? If that witch catches us, we're dead meat! I hate witches!"

"She's not following us anymore!" Zoey hollered in an attempt to calm down Francis. She was barely moving her legs from exhaustion. The girl prided herself on her physical condition but even for her, running this fast for so long was killing her. And she didn't want to even think about how Bill, an old veteran, and Luis, an office man, must feel. How was Francis able to get so ahead of them and not faint from exhaustion was a mystery for her.

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Suddenly, Bill screamed. Luis turned around barely in time to catch his falling body while shouting the old man's name. Zoey immediately halted to stop and started scanning their surroundings. Even Francis, who was sprinting away stopped and started to run back to help his friend. As he neared Bill's location, he could see several infected shambling slowly in their direction. Without hesitation, he pulled out his pistol and without stopping shot several times at the moving corpses. He saw in the corner of his eye that his bullets hit their intended targets so he holstered the weapon again and continued in his rush.

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Meanwhile, Luis gently set Bill down on the ground and checked for his pulse. His face paled when he couldn't feel it. Bill wasn't looking good and he was gasping for air. Luis knew he has to do something but he didn't know what. The only thing he could think of was to try and say some words of encouragement but when he opened his mouth, no words came out. He felt a force tug at his shoulder and heard someone shout but he couldn't make out the words. He stared blankly at Bill's face without knowing what to do. His eyes became watery and Bill's image grew gradually more and more blurry. Suddenly, something hit his face and Luis' vision focused again. He realized Bill is no longer lying on the ground before him and he saw Zoey's face.

"Snap out of it Luis!"

He felt the girl's hand on his cheek again. The burning pain helped Luis' mind to finally realize what is going on. The black man shook his head and stood up.

"I'm alright now. Where's Bill?"
Zoey didn't respond but waved her hand at Luis to follow her. They jogged down the street for a while when Zoey suddenly turned and entered a nearby store. It was dark and empty, like all of them but upon entering, Luis immediately noticed Francis' big stature. He was doing something on the table but Luis couldn't see what it was but the answer quickly became clear.

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"Voila!" Francis exclaimed and a bright cone of light cut through the store. It was a small lamp standing on a nearby table. Next to the lamp, Bill was lying on his back, rasping heavily.

"Bill!" Luis shouted and rushed to check the condition of his fellow survivor. However, he was quickly stopped in his tracks by Francis' stretched arm.

"Whoa there. Calm down a bit. He's okay. He just needs a bit of rest."

Luis opened his mouth to object but then closed it again. He sighed and closed the door to the store.

"I-I'm sorry. I panicked. I didn't know what to do. I just… I… I…" Luis tried to find the right words to express his feelings but was interrupted by Zoey who suddenly started shouting.

"What were you thinking Francis? You knew Bill can't handle too much physical strain! What if he got a heart attack? Could you live with that?"

"What did you expect me to do? When that witch started running after us, there was no other option than to flee." Francis confronted Zoey's outburst calmly.

"We could have tried to kill her!"

"We tried that, remember? We shot all our ammo into her and it didn't even slow her down. It's because of that we're stuck with these lousy pistols and we're running low on ammo for them too!"

"That was because you were more focused on running than aiming properly!"

Francis' face reddened with rage and he shouted: "So now it's MY fault? And who was it that startled the witch in the first place? Huh?"

Zoey was clearly taken aback as she tried to form a response.

"Wha- But I-"

"Yes, it was you! I told you not to get close to her! But you just had to go and try to console her!"

"But how could I leave her alone when she was wailing like that?" Zoey's voice lacked her previous anger. She couldn't deny anything Francis said.

"She is already dead! She doesn't have any feelings! Her wailing serves only to attract idiots like you so she can kill them!" Francis stepped closer to Zoey, his face being only few inches from hers. Without holding back, he shouted: "It is your fault that Bill almost died. It is your fault that we don't have ammo! It's all only your fault! And that time when the helicopter left without us – that was your fault too! It was you who wanted to search the buildings for supplies and because of that, we were late! Without you, we would all be already safe and sound! You're only making things worse! You should just die!"

"NOOOOOO!" Francis' words were like sharp scythe, mercilessly cutting her apart. Zoey clasped her ears and fell on her knees, screaming wildly. "Noooooooooooo! It's not true! That's not true!"

Her eyes widened as she started to tremble uncontrollably.

Luis immediately crouched to the girl and hugged her comfortably.

"Calm down! Zoey, listen to me. Listen to me! You're not making things worse. You're a big help for us. Without you, we would never get as far as we did."

He stroked Zoey's back gently as she sobbed on his shoulder. After several minutes, Zoey calmed down a bit. Luis set her down by the wall, letting her lean on it, and stroked her on her hair. The girl didn't cry anymore but her eyes were blank and devoid of the spark of life.

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The black man stood up, his fists clenched tightly. He turned to Francis and growled: "You fucking BASTARD!"

Luis put his whole force into a punch aimed at Francis' face. The blow caught the biker unprepared and he crashed into the wall.

Francis grunted and clumsily raised himself from the floor. He spit out a little blood on the floor and faced Luis.

"What was that all about dickhead? You want to fight? I'll give you a fight!"

"Bring it on, tough guy!" Luis shouted as he threw himself on Francis.

However, Francis didn't wait for Luis to strike first and the black guy was met with a chair flying in his face. On the last minute, he was able to dodge it and the chair crashed into the wall behind him where it shattered into pieces.

"So you want to play dirty, huh? Well, two can play at that game!"

With those words, Luis pulled out his pistol and aimed it at Francis at the same time Francis aimed his pistol at Luis.

Suddenly, a shout echoed through the store.

"Stop it!"

The two fighters turned after the source of the voice. Bill was raising himself on his elbow and was looking directly at them.

"Have you lost your mind, both of you? We need to work together to survive. Can't you understand it?"

"But he-" Francis and Luis spoke at the same time but Bill raised his hand.

"I don't want to hear your excuses."

The angry men calmed down and holstered their weapons. Luis shook his head and touched his forehead in frustration.

"What am I doing? This is so messed up."

Francis put his hand on Luis' shoulder and said: "Hey man, I'm sorry. I don't know what got into me. I was behaving like a dick. Can you forgive me?"

"Sure pal. I lost my cool too. Sorry." Luis said while giving a weak but encouraging smile.

Francis scratched himself nervously and looked at Zoey: "Hey Luis, about Zoey-"

Suddenly, the ground shook furiously and the wall at the far end of the store shattered.

Pieces of debris flew around and dust twirled in the air.

"TANK!" Luis shouted as soon as he recognized the shape standing in the hole in the wall.

Francis immediately pulled out his pistol and shot several times at the creature, even though he knew it was useless.

"RAAAAWWWWR!" The infected colossus roared mightily.

Bill propped himself up against the wall and yelled: "Grab Zoey and get out of here!"

"That's fucking crazy! You won't last a second against that thing!"

"I can barely move, I'd just slow you down! I'll buy you some time! Take care of the girl! She can't do anything in her current state."

Luis argued back but Francis didn't hesitate and ran to Zoey. He helped her stand up and shook with her.

"Zoey! Zoey! Get your act together! You have to get out of here!"

Francis shouted at Zoey and shook with her but the girl didn't respond. Desperate, Francis grabbed Zoey's arm and pulled her with himself to the exit. When he reached the door, he bumped into Luis who was also trying to escape. Francis knew it's the only logical decision even if it means leaving Bill behind.

The three survivors ran out of the building when a chilling scream resounded from the store. There was no doubt it was Bill's voice. When she heard the scream, Zoey's eyes widened in shock and she shrieked: "NOOOOO!" Before any of the guys could do anything, she broke into a sprint and disappeared in a nearby alley. Luis and Francis looked at each other for a second before sharply turning around and rushing back to the store, their guns readied.

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Zoey was sprinting through the alley, ignoring any infected in her way. She bumped into them without slowing down. Her mind was blank. She blindly ran forward, masses of infected swarming behind her. Suddenly, she saw a safe room directly before her. Instinctively, she ran for the room but as she reached the door she realized something is terribly wrong. From inside the room, she could hear a weak wailing. There was no doubt about it being a cry of the witch. The girl tried to bring herself to a stop but her legs tangled and she stumbled right into the room. The witch shrieked and stood up. She swiped her hand but Zoey crashed into her, sending them both to the floor. The witch hit the floor with Zoey lying on top of her. Zoey was sure she was going to die but to her surprise, the witch didn't react violently. It was only then that the girl realized their lips are interlocked. Suddenly, she felt the witch's tongue enter her mouth and the infected girl hugged her. Zoey stiffened, completely baffled by the sudden turn of events. The witch kissed her passionately and it was only then that Zoey realized the truth. The witches don't cry to attract their victims. They cry because they don't have any love. With this revelation, Zoey stroked the witch's hair and kissed her back. She felt the pale girl's hand on her breast. She moaned softly and gave herself in to the pleasure.

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Unbeknownst to either of the girls, there were two men standing in the door to the safe house, watching them. It was Luis and Francis, both bloodied and bruised but without any serious injuries.

Francis turned to Luis and asked: "You know what I don't hate?"

Luis smirked and replied: "I think I know."

Francis laughed at the second man's remark. "Yeah, you probably do. Too bad we don't have a camera here. That would be awesome."

Suddenly, Francis felt someone place something in his hands. He looked at it and saw it was camera.

"Hey thanks Luis. Where did you find it?"

Luis frowned and muttered: "Where did I find what?"

"The camera of course."

"I didn't find any camera."

"Then who put this in my hands?"

The two men slowly turned around and looked behind themselves.

"RAAAAWWWWR!"

"Oh shi-"