PetrA

Chapter sixty-five: Ellie

Ellie sat by the fire trying to get warm after an entire day outside in the cold. Her mind was spinning as she thought about what had happened. She had a hard time remembering exactly what she had done. She could remember everything right up until the moment she'd stepped up to stand beside Timothy and told them to back off. After that, it was all dark and murky. "Here drink this." Stella said handing her a cup of warm water. She looked unnaturally pale, "What happened?" Ellie asked taking the cup between her hands. "Ellie..." Stella began, "What happened?" Ellie asked again this time a sense of dread settling in her gut. Stella looked at her with sad eyes, "You better see it for yourself." She mumbled. Ellie got to her feet with some help and followed Stella into the same building as where Daniel was still bound up to a thick pipe. Ellie ignored Daniel who sneered at her, and went straight for the curtains that had been set up recently.

Ellie pushed one curtain aside and stopped mid-step. On a mattress in the corner was Gemma, her leg wrapped in an already bloody bandage. Her strawberry blonde hair was plastered to her forehead with sweat as she shivered despite the warmth from a fire burning in the corner of the room. Ellie knelt beside Gemma, "Gemma?" She asked taking her hand. Gemma's eyes were open and unfocused. "Ellie?" She asked weakly her eyes finding Ellie. "Gemma what happened?" Ellie asked staring with at her friend. "It bit me. She bit me. Can you believe it?" Gemma laughed weakly. "A dead bit you?" Ellie asked. Gemma shook her head slowly, "She bit me. The leader of the Eaters..." Gemma held on tight to Ellie's hand as she looked at the person beside her. "I'm sorry Cody." She whispered. Her eyes closed, but she was breathing, barely. "The infection is spreading slower than if you're bitten by a dead." Stella said removing the bandage as she began to wrap a new one around the bite. Ellie almost threw up when she saw it. "But how? How can Gemma get infected if the woman was alive?" Cody asked his eyes glistering with tears.

Ellie looked at the newly bandaged wound and frowned, her own eyes stung, but she was determined not to cry. "An Eater... They eat living people, and dead?" She asked looking up at Marcus who looked just as pale as Stella did. He nodded, "If they eat dead, and they haven't transformed they must be immune." Ellie said her scowl deepening. "But how did Gemma become infected?" Cody asked loudly his voice breaking. "When they eat dead..." Stella said slowly pausing as if thinking of how she was going explain it. "They carry the infection. Parts of their bodies had already started to rot or at least it looked like it. The virus lives in the brain, as the rest of the body rot." Ellie said as she saw images of those people in front of her eyes, their deformed bodies and green splotches of skin. "I believe that when they began eating dead people, their body became so much like a Munchie's that they wouldn't be in any danger of getting eaten themselves." Stella said slowly as she put the pieces together. "That still does not answer my QUESTION!" Cody roared. "Cody." Ellie said looking up at him. "They carry the infection. They can infect people, just like a Munchie can. That bite from the woman tore a part of Gemma's leg off. The woman was a fully formed munchie because she was immune and the virus didn't kill her, but by eating people that was infected and probably have been infected for months she slowly transformed her body into something that was only half alive." Ellie said slowly standing up. "That bite is just as bad as if Gemma had been bitten by a real Zombie." Cody was crying. "If not worse. I've seen people change and usually it doesn't take long, but it's been hours since she was bitten." Stella said.

"From the bite to death vary from person to person." Marcus said suddenly. "It can take anything from under a minute to two days, but Stella is right. The infection usually spread faster than it's doing with Gemma." He said. Cody glared at him, "Isn't there a way you can save her then?" Stella and Marcus looked at each other. "I'm sorry Cody, but there is nothing we can do." Ellie closed her eyes for a moment. "Not now at least." Ellie muttered sadly looking down at Gemma.

Cody isolated himself after what happened. For several days Gemma went in and out of a conscious state, but her fever was worsening up by the hour, she kept throwing up whatever she ate and the wound on her leg was so badly infected that the skin around it had already begun to rot. Ellie could hardly bear to be around her friend in fear of breaking down, but she had to. She couldn't and wouldn't abandon her friend, not now, not ever. Ellie sat by Gemma's side and tried to get her to eat something, but it was in vain. "Ellie..." Gemma said looking up at her with slightly glazed eyes. "It's no use." She said struggling to speak. Ellie tried again to make her eat but Gemma refused. "It's no use." She said again. Ellie dropped the food and looked at her friend, as she understood what she was saying. "It has been fun, Ellie." Gemma said. "I couldn't have asked for a better friend than you." She smiled weakly up at Ellie one last time before she took her last breath. "Gemma?" Ellie said shaking her friend. "Gemma, GEMMA!" Grant shoved the curtain aside. He was holding his gun, "Ellie get away from her." With much difficulty, Grant managed to drag Ellie away from Gemma. Ellie watched as Gemma slowly turned and turned her head towards her growling and snarling. Ellie looked away as the bullet went through Gemma's head. She let out a sob and crawled over to her friend. Somebody put their arms around Ellie's waist and gently pulled her away. "They have to burn her body." Ellie sobbed as she buried her face in Kim's chest. She was gone. Gemma was gone. Ellie did not see who dragged Gemma's body out of the building, and she didn't think she could take it either.

Ellie watched as Cody placed Gemma's body on top of some logs of dry wood. He looked down at her one last time before walking away. He stood alone as Grant started to pour gasoline over the body and logs. Grant turned to Ellie when he had finished, "I think that Ellie should light the fire." He said. Ellie stepped forwards taking the matches from his hands. She looked down at Gemma one last time, before she turned around to the others. "I know that many of you did not know Gemma." She said stuffing her hands into her pockets. "But I did, Cody, Mary and Marlene did. We knew Gemma, we probably knew her better than most. Henrik, Joachim and Kim also knew her." She looked at them all in turn trying hard not to cry. "We all went to school together." She said wistfully thinking back to her first couple of weeks at the school. "I remember my first few weeks at the school, I had just moved there. I was the only one in my class who didn't know anyone." She said quietly. "I sat alone, I didn't talk to anyone. I was afraid, afraid that they'd reject me like most did." She barked a harsh and hollow laugh. "But Gemma... one day, I can't remember how or when, she just dragged me down to the cafeteria forcing me to leave my little corner in the classroom."