Will POV

It's strange how we notice the small, inconsequential things only in times of crisis.

It's strange how I only noticed the small specks of grass that peaked up through the roof of the building we were on now. I wasn't quite sure what type of building it was - or what it was used for.

Only then did I notice Matt's unfocused face in my vision and the ringing in my ears. What was happening?
I felt weak, lightheaded.

Blurred.

Had I finally succumbed to the infection that plagues the city - perhaps the world?
My lungs burned. Was suffocation a symptom? My morbidly curious self watched my body indifferently. Noting the different symptoms - trying to dissect what the transformation was like.

A harsh stinging feeling interrupted my inner-observations. It felt as though my blurry form had come into focus all at once in a painfully fast manner. Someone slapped me.

"Breathe, Will", Matt whispered frantically.

My brain tried desperately to decipher what he meant.
Was I not breathing?
Why wasn't I breathing?

I tried to take a breath but it came out as a strangled gasp. Instinctively my eyes shot around, looking for any source of danger that could have heard my attempt at staying alive.
There were none and the burning in my lungs worsened.

"Look at me", Matt placed his hands on either side of my face, "Breathe." He said intently.

I focused on his emerald orbs. I found peace in them. Nostalgia of a life now gone - dead. Slowly I took a deep breath, my head spinned so I stabled myself.

Get it together.

I was having a panic attack. I recognised the symptoms. So I used a breathing relaxation method I taught many of my patients. Well, ex-patients. I had no doubt that most - if not all - of them are dead.

Taking in my final calm breath, I closed my eyes and found my will. It was difficult to dig it up when all felt pointless.

My mind replayed the way the mushroom exploded. The way the coat lifted slightly. The disturbing chorus of shattering windows and thumps of bodies hitting the ground.
We were still too close to the horde for comfort.

But did that matter now? We had been exposed to whatever type of fungal infection over took the Cannibals.

Yet, I found my will. I had been through too much, was worth too much to simply accept my death. I would fight tooth and nail if I had to.

After regaining my composure, I assessed the situation with different eyes. More logical eyes - always clinical, as they should be. Sadly, I realised the problem with that, but brushed it aside.

Matt was nervous. I could tell that. The way his eyes kept snapping to the edge of the roof - observing the overwhelming wave of death across the street.
Lucian was frantic. Muttering something to himself - eyes wide. It reminded me of the first time I dissociated. The night that Jeremy ran off with our food and I sat helpless and mute. It seemed like lifetimes ago.

But recognising that look in Lucian's eyes set me slightly at ease. It was something I was familiar with, something I could focus on and deal with. I didn't want to focus on the spores that we could've all possibly inhaled.

The shattering windows were getting louder. The Cannibals were getting closer.
Everything seemed to be bearing down on us all at once - the weight unbearable. I ground my teeth together in mute frustration.

"We need to move. Now", I whispered to the others - still in their dreadful daze. My words seemed to go in one ear and float out the other.
I took a sharp breath and slapped Matt then Lucian. An attempt to make them lucid once more.
The heat of the eery morning didn't help at all. Smothering any hope or motivation we desperately tried to find.

But we would have to move - regardless of any circumstance. We had to move.
So I jumped over to the next building, landing awkwardly and scrapping my knees. I hardly felt the pain but I was sure that I would feel it later - if I could feel anything later...

The others seemed to realise what I was doing so they soon followed suit.
And so, in scorching sunlight interrupted by what looked like thunderstorm clouds, we jumped back to the starting point.
Skidding, falling and gasping in air.

Now we stood infront of the building with the wall of dead Cannibals. The putrid wall of flesh that let off the most acrid smell I had ever experienced.
The mystery of how they had gotten there remained unsolved.
But that wasn't our next obstacle. No, the next obstacle was Valarie.

Once she learnt what had happened she would try to kill us unless I convinced her otherwise.
My mind moved rapidly trying to find a solution.

The other two started their sluggish movements back into the building, our initial objective lost. I wasn't quite sure why we went out there in the first place...
I had lost myself back there - again. All that was left were desperate, clawing, scattered pieces.

Quarantine!

That was the solution! I let out a loud huff of air that made the others stop in their tracks. It was a morbid kind of pause. The kind where others think, "Now what?"

But a hopeless grin snuck on to my face. Hopeless because I didn't believe it would work. But it would keep us alive for a little bit longer. I would just have to convince Valarie that keeping us seperate and tied up for a day or two would prove we weren't infected.

But convincing Valarie was something entirely different. She would try to kill us, I had no doubt. But I had gotten some insight into how her mind worked. I knew her weak points and she knew mine.
Plus, what did I have to lose?

It ought to be an interesting conversation...

So I joined the other two and started our dreadful march into the destroyed building. Waiting for the confrontation and experiment that would inevitably be the death of us in one way or another.

_______________________________________

Things didn't go as I had expected them to. Valarie's face was blank as we filled her in on what we observed and what had occurred.

"Mushrooms, spores and seeking Cannibals?" She asked herself.

We all kept quiet and I subtly withdrew a blade from behind my back. I had expected her to jump into action and start killing us but instead she rubbed her temples and sighed.

"Tie us up and see", I said patiently. I had little hope that we wouldn't turn but I didn't want to die quite yet.
Time.
I needed time.

"Very well then", she said coldly.

I was taken aback and she noticed.

"William, you're an asset and I don't want to lose such a valuable tool. If this doesn't work though, I will have to kill you."

Then it made sense. She was still saving her own skin before anyone else's. Clever.

Elizabeth was still passed out and no one seemed to care. Not that I was any better in the caring department.
She stinked of urine and feces and the rash seemed to be spreading up her leg.

Logan was quiet, his eyes bouncing to anything but mine. I had a feeling there was something he wanted to say to me but knew that now wasn't the time.

Gloria, her kind self, looked apprehensive but I suppose even she knew that this was the best way.

So they took us two floors down, to a supply closet and tied us to three office chairs using the last of the ropes and cables we had collected so many days ago. Valarie made the knots extremely tight - not enough to cut off circulation but enough for it to hurt.

"I'm going to give you all a day. The reason being that this infection seemed to happen almost instantaneously. That means that if after a day you aren't a Cannibal, I doubt you were infected then. Good luck", Valarie said blankly.

After that, she left us there in the hot darkness. Our muscles aching from exhaustion, our hearts racing from fear and our minds numb from depression. The darkness seemed to cling to my skin and for the first time in a long time... I was terrified.

Would we turn or would we stay?