• What? This can't be right! What's happening to me?

    Avril crouched on the ground, her flesh burning and hissing. Pain was coursing through her body, more pain than she'd felt before. She tried opening her eyes, but they were glued shut by the drying blood seeping from inside her eyelids mixing with... well whatever was pouring out of her mutated skin. She tried lifting her hand to stop the blood flowing from her neck, but was stopped when she realised her hands were much heavier than before. The pain in her fingers made sense as she felt her now long finger nails.


    Did it hurt him like this? Did he suffer like this too?


    Mark silently watched, unsure as to whether he should go to Avril's side or break down crying. He wasn't so inhuman yet, he still had his heart. Being without her for a week had been more than he could bear, yet watching her writhe in pain was far worse. Had he really harmed the girl he loved so badly? His sin was selfishness, and he'd soon pay for it.


    A few feet away, Avril had stopped moving. She breathed deeply and dug her fingernails into her pale, thin arms. She finally opened her eyes and caught her reflection in the pool of blood on the floor. Her blood. She looked into eyes she did not recognise, and saw the damage done to her body. Her raven black hair was now a dirty white, her skin paler than before. She had been beautiful that morning, yet now she resembled a teenage annorexic. She closed her eyes, wishing it all away. Then, still breathing heavily, she rose to her feet. Unsteady and stumbling, she rushed at her former lover screaming out of anger. Mark simply stood there, closing his eyes.


    Forgive me.


    They loved each other once, more than most people love one another. While the news was filled with strange tales of dead towns and mutating viruses, they were living in their secret heaven. They had their own brand of romance, strange things said like a code. They were seemingly mis-matched, Avril was intelligent and successful while Mark never really amounted to anything.

    When tales of zombies were all over the news, most people began frantically gathering supplies. Mark laughed at them.
    "What's the use of wasting all that money, if the zombies do get here those morons won't be able to do ****. They might as well enjoy their little lives"
    "People are cheap, they need hope. If they're going to die they might as well delude themselves" Avril responded.
    "I suppose. Well, if the zombies get me I'm getting you too. Then I won't have to be without you, and we won't be alone."
    Avril giggled and smiled. Mark was strange, but in a nice way. They fell asleep smiling, while the TV showed a world in the grip of panic.


    When Avril woke the next day, Mark was not there. She was alone.