Level 1.3

A Chapter by Church

Jim tries to escape his campus only to be followed.

Heart pounding in his chest, he refused to look behind him. He didn’t need to. Their screams marked their progress. And they were closer now. Much closer than he would like. It was still the only ambient noise that he could hear over the sound of his heart.

Making a hard right, he saw one of the things lunge right past him. If he hadn’t turned, it would have knocked him right off of the bike. Swallowing, he continued to pedal like mad.

He knew where he had to go. There was a forest not too far away from campus. No one went there, that was why he had liked it. People might have fled there now that this infection had started, but he doubted there would be more there than on the roads away from campus. You would have to be insane to go on those roads now.

Something touched his shoulder briefly. He felt the fingers of the infected attempt to grasp and then fall away. Then there was another scream right behind him and to the left as the infected who had lunged at him turned to make another attempt.

Slamming on his brakes, Jim slid his bike into a turn. As he did so, he brought his crowbar up and swung with the bike. The blunt end of it slammed into the head of the closest infected. It crumpled quickly. The other infected still behind him screamed and jumped at Jim.

Immediately, Jim let both himself and the bike drop to the ground. The infected's leap carried it over Jim and into the other. Without looking behind him, Jim hurriedly picked his bike up and began to pedal away.

He heard more screams, but they were farther behind him. He planned to keep it that way. Ignoring his legs’ protests, he continued to pedal as quickly as he was able, trying to put as much distance between himself and campus. He didn’t know how many had gotten out of there, how many were holed up, or even how many had gotten infected. Truth be told, he didn’t give a damn.

He was just happy to be getting out himself.

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