SHE WAS a sitting duck, unmoving.

Valerie knew she had to move before the clicker decided this room was worthy to be searched, but she felt paralyzed.

She couldn't think, her thoughts revolving around her bite wound. It looked like a messed up bite for sure, the skin torn and bloody but normal, as if made by normal teeth and not those full of the cordyceps.

She wasn't supposed to think either, her mind was supposed to be filled with the urge to sink her teeth in human flesh, her mind was supposed to start losing control of her body functions, she was supposed to start losing humanity like she's seen it happen before.

Yet, here she was. Breathing, thinking. Surviving.

Valerie closed her eyes at the building panic she felt clawing it's way up her body and her throat, hugging her knees to her body and hiding her face in her knees as she rocked back and forth to calm down.

It's alright, she chanted mentally, it's alright, it's alright, it's alright....

Maybe, she thought, lifting her face and resting her chin atop her knees as her breathing slowly steadied, staring straightforward. Maybe it's because it was in my leg unlike Rebecca's who was bitten in her neck.

Her father told them that sometimes, people didn't turn right away, the process was slow in some people and faster in others. Maybe because the bite in Rebecca was closer to her brain, she turned faster. Valerie's was in her leg, close to her ankle. Maybe the infection was spreading slower.

Yeah, that must be it. In a couple of hours she'd be joining her family on the after life.

The thought as morbid as it was, it reassured her enough to feel the panic subsiding slowly, unwrapping her arms around her legs, rolling down the hem of her jeans to hide the disgusting bite from her eyes.

Now, all she had to do was get away from the clicker, find somewhere quiet enough to end her life before the cordyceps took it itself.

Grabbing her bloodied switchblade in her hand, Valerie stood from her crouching position, straining her ears to pinpoint the location of the predator.

Silence. She couldn't hear it anywhere.

To some people that should have been reassuring, but not to Valerie who will no longer trust in the silence. It was how her and her sister were ambushed and doomed in less than 24 hours. Silence meant she didn't know where to safely sneak out to without risking exposure. Silence meant that if she chose a path, she risked choosing the one the infected took and retreating meant even more of a risk.

Valerie contemplated her next move as she stared at the doorway, her grip tight and sweaty in her knife and she didn't know it was from blood or she was so nervous that her hands turned sweaty.

Probably both.

She rearranged her grip on her switchblade while holding her bat in the other. Her father's riffle would be risky to use as she was unsure if the clicker was on its own. As far as she knew, they don't usually travel alone.

Before she could take a decision, fate had other plans for her as the sound of voices reached her ears.

"-heard shooting last night"

"-sure it was here?"

Valerie snapped her head towards the broken window, immediately lowering herself to the ground. Her heart began to pound again as she crawled to the window, peering down to the outside, gasping as she dropped to the ground again.

Neither her nor the clicker were alone.

She shoved her switchblade inside her pocket as she listened to the conversation outside of the building.

She didn't know who they were but the hostility she heard was familiar.

Moments before she and her sister had been separated from their dad, finding apparent solace in the comfort of a still standing building, they had been shot at by these guys. Her father had made it his mission to lead these guys away from them so they could find a way out safely.

These guys had killed the infected that had attacked them, but once that threat was gone, they set their sights on killing them.

Valerie had the feeling these guys were more dangerous than the infected. Infected had a sole purpose that made them predictable. Guys like them, they had consciousness, they thought rationally and strategically. They could either kill you on sight or torture you to insanity, making you wish you were dead, living in hell instead of feeling the secure embrace of death.

Valerie didn't want to die by their hands.

"Think" Valerie whispered to herself, gripping her bat with two hands, crouched just under the window, shoulder leaning against the wall. They were still outside, discussing on how they were going to investigate the building.

They didn't know, she realized, hearing them discussing anything they could come across with. Not once they mentioned infected. They thought the building, like what she's seen of the city so far, was clean.

With a grimace, she figured that like her and her family, infected found a weak spot in their defenses to sneak into the city.

As a plan formed, Valerie quietly and still in a crouch, returned to her hiding place, straightening as she walked to the door. Her steps were silent and the only sound she could hear was the one of her heart beating in her chest. She peeked through the hallway, straining her hearing again for the clicker, wincing when the voices from the outside echoed in her ears. These guys were loud.

She wouldn't be surprised if they stirred the aggressive side of the infected.

Bitting her dry lips, Valerie knelt down, searching on the floor for anything that could be of use, seeing a chunk of wood laying near the door. Shrugging, she picked it carefully, looking side ways before choosing a path, still as quiet making her way down the hallway, holding both the bat and the chunk of wood in between her sweaty hands.

The end of the hallway came soon and she had to crouch again as one side led to a broken window, not wanting to risk being spotted. She took a turn to the other side, seeing it lead to the main lobby, though she was still a few floors up. Valerie took a moment to reconsider her options, listening closely for anything that could help her.

There it was. The clicking.

Valerie tensed momentarily, glancing over her shoulder to the broken window, thoughtfully.

Right now she had two threats looming over her shoulders. Both threats to each other. These guys didn't know the building had a clicker. They thought they were going to find a trespasser. The clicker was hungry it didn't care who it took.

So...

Plan in mind, Valerie turned away from the window, peering out from the wall she was hiding to spot the clicker who found itself one floor down from her. She was safe, for now.

Footsteps echoed inside the building, the hostile guys finally deciding to venture inside the building. Valerie hid behind the side rail, peeking down through the bars. She glanced at the clicker who stirred agitated. It had been walking passively, having lost track of its first target that had been her, now again it's senses picking upon the sound of new prey.

Valerie examined the clicker's path, seeing it was a direct one down the stairs to her second threat. Nodding to herself, she grabbed the chunk of wood, raising up silently as she readied herself to throw the wood, timing the moment of the hostile guys for when they got closer enough to be ambushed by the infected.

Steadying her breathing, Valerie waited to see their shadows creep closer to throw the wood hard enough against floor, holding her breath as she watched the wood soar through the air until it splintered against the ground, echoing loudly in her ears.

The sound was deafening even through the silence, everyone tensing in anticipation, the chattering of the hostiles ending abruptly as Valerie hid back down again, seeing their shadows creep closer to the sound.

Valerie slid her gaze to the erratic infected as it screeched its awful clicking, startling the guys as the creature ambushed them from behind. She forced herself to watch the infected tearing a chunk of one's neck, immediately silencing him through a gurgle as blood rushed down and sputtered from his neck, his companion startled enough that his gun almost slipped from his hands, clumsily struggling to lift it to shoot at the clicker, managing one shot into its shoulder before the creature was lead away from its prey into the arms of the loud guy making him scream in fear.

By this point, Valerie had to close her eyes, swallowing the guilt as another bang rang in her ears, opening her eyes as she noticed the limp form of the clicker being pushed aside, revealing a bloodied guy as he choked and fought to stay alive as blood gushed down from his neck in an alarming rate.

His eyes were glossy and unfocused as he stared up to the ceiling, his breathing ragged until slowly his energy began to fade, leaving a pale empty shell of who he used to be.

In matter of seconds, silence returned back to full force, forcing Valerie to let out a shuddering breath she didn't know she was still holding, standing up and placing a hand in her chest, her heart hammering in her chest; her bat clattered on the floor as she gripped the rail with white knuckles as she took deep breaths to calm the fear darkening the corner of her eyes, tucking her head to her chest.

She was alive.

She was still fighting for life. She was here. Her heart was still beating and her lungs were still cycling air to her brain. She wasn't dying in anyone else's terms.

It took minutes or maybe hours for her to steady her heart and to shove aside the panicking still hovering over what she knew was her impeding doom.

Once composed, Valerie took a long deep breath, rolling back her shoulders, kneeling to grab her bat as she slowly made her way down the two flight of stairs, passing by the three bodies without a second glance, leaving the building.