This Is It

• Dea Vidovic, Grade 7, St Alban's Secondary College
• Short Story
• 2015

Excellence Award in the 'The Write Track 2015' competition

The sky was already dark, shadows lurking in the corners of my eyes. I walked along the once busy highway. My arm was sore; it felt like the axe in my hand weighed a tonne. I had bruises all over my skin. Blood dripped from my cut chin to the ground below. My throat was so dry; it felt like I swallowed glass.
I grabbed my small radio from my pocket and was scanning through the channels, hoping to find something interesting. I found a station but it was the same old news as it was 2 weeks ago: A new vaccine has gone wrong, sending people into a rampage. We have been sent reports that the victims who are infected are…eating people. If your friends or family are infected, run from them, just run. The hospitals are already full of people; there is no more room… Grab as much food and supplies as you can and stay inside. We will be broadcasting every week.
I was tired and weak. I could go no more. I stopped for a moment, bending over and catching my breath. I was about to collapse; I could feel my knees just about buckle underneath me. Just as I was going to give up, I heard a rustling over to my left. I straightened up, gripping my axe tighter, ready to attack. I waited… no one came.
I started walking again, thinking I was crazy; the sound was just my imagination caused by the lack of food and water. After a few seconds, I heard the sound again. This time, I walked to where I thought the sound came from. I turned to the direction of the sound… and walked straight into a brick wall. “Crap!” I stepped back, clutching my nose to see if it had starting bleeding. Thankfully, I didn’t have to worry about a bloody nose.
I was about to turn around, to try finding the route I was taking just before, when something huge crashed into me, pinning me to the ground and knocking all the wind out of my lungs. I couldn’t see who, or what, the thing was but judging by the snarling and grunting, I guessed it was one of the infected. I lifted my knees up to its chest and kicked with all my strength, knocking the thing off me. I swung my axe into the air, hoping to hit it, but I collided with nothing but the wall, again. I fell to the ground. I felt the thing fall on top of me.
This is it, I thought, this is where I’ll die. I had no more strength to withstand it from biting me. I let the thing go and felt the sting of its teeth biting into my flesh and chewing down to the bone. I wanted to scream, but nothing came out of my throat. I felt my eyelids closing on their own, as if welcoming me into a deep, deep sleep. I let them.