“This should be more than enough,” said Nick, peering over the top of his load.
Annaliese agreed and they started to make their way back towards the restaurant. With tote bags wrapped around both of his arms and a pile of plush toys balanced in front of him, Nick was having a tough time seeing. It made him think about how Deana used to make fun of the way he would always be so determined to get all the shopping bags from the boot of the car to the house in one single trip.
Guess I haven’t changed completely.
Up ahead, he heard rustling. It sounded like Annaliese was heading into the hedges that ringed the park’s outer pathways. He was just about to ask her what she was doing when he heard her cry out.
Nick dropped the bags he was carrying and looked around frantically. As he did so, he ended up treading on a stuffed dolphin. His ankle twisted and he cried out in pain.
Annaliese was struggling on her back with an infected on top of her. There was a second infected person coming out of the bushes; a Chinese guy with broken spectacles.
Shit! What do I do?
Nick knew that if the infected Chinese man made it over to Annaliese he would have no problem sinking his teeth into her as she struggled with the woman. Nick would have to take the man down first.
Here goes nothing.
With a rapidly swelling ankle, he lolloped towards the Chinese man and leapt into the air. He planted a sloppy flying kick in the best impression of Bruce Lee that he could manage. The man went stumbling backwards into the bushes and Nick landed and hissed out in pain. He spun around to see that Annaliese had the infected woman around the throat and was trying to bring up her knees as a barrier between them.
Nick went to help her.
He grabbed the infected woman around the waist and tugged her backwards. At the same time, Annaliese kicked out her legs and struck the woman’s abdomen. The extra momentum sent Nick reeling backwards to the floor with his arms still wrapped around the woman’s waist. He held on tightly as Annaliese hurried to her feet.
“Keep her there,” she shouted.
“Yeah, no problem,” said Nick, sarcastically.
Annaliese disappeared out of sight. The infected woman thrashed about in Nick’s arms. He suddenly felt alone…abandoned.
Then Annaliese reappeared and dove at the infected woman in his arms. She swung her arm and cracked the woman across the face. Nick felt the body go limp and quickly dumped it to the side. He scurried back to his feet and saw that Annaliese held a jagged rock in her hand. It dripped with blood.
“Very effective,” he said. “Think you can-”
Annaliese’s eyes went wide.
Nick was tackled from behind by the infected Chinese man. He fell to the floor face down and struck his head on the pavement. Immediately his vision dimmed and his hearing buzzed as though his ears were full of flies.
He was hardly aware of what happened next as he lay on the floor impotently. Sounds of a desperate struggle ensued, but he was unable to do anything.
I need to help, Anna.
Or she needs to help me.
There was a wet sound.
And then silence.
Nick was still dazed when the struggling stopped. He wanted to roll onto his back and see what was happening, but every time he tried to move, a wave of nausea flooded over him. His head clanged like a kettle drum.
I think I’m going to puke.
A hand clamped down on his wrist and squeezed. The breath caught in his chest as he lay there, still powerless.
“Come on,” Annaliese told him. “I handled it.”
Nick blinked and tried to stop his vision from tilting. He took a few deep breaths before he was able to place his palms on the pavement and push himself up. Annaliese helped him to his knees and then, slowly, onto his feet.
He wobbled a bit and she grabbed a hold of him. “Whoa, you okay? You took a pretty big bang on the head, there. I can already see the swelling coming up.”