Suicide Run (The Infected Book 5) by Justin Gowland

my eyes blurring my vision. Again, the sand started to pull me down. My body was tiring and I knew that I wouldn’t be able to keep this going for much longer.
    The lifeboat station stood off to the left and I headed for the doors. There was a menacing gloom around the building giving it a blurred outline. Running hard, the sand slowly became harder and I began to put more distance between myself and the shadow. Hitting the door, I shoved it open with my shoulder and ran inside slamming it closed behind me. As the door closed, I heard the slamming of a body against it.
    Backing away from the door, I ran up against something that swayed away from me in the darkness. I spun around to see what it was and out of the darkness the infected face of Amy peered back. Her eyes were gone and the green slime oozed out of the empty sockets. Her teeth had been smashed out of her mouth and only jagged yellow stumps remained. One cheek was shredded down to the bone and about half of her hair had been ripped out leaving the blackened muscle underneath showing. She reached out for me with withered grey hands that looked more like claws than fingers. My breath caught in my chest, I couldn’t scream as she dragged me to the ground and buried her head into my neck. I could feel my flesh getting torn away from my body and my warm sticky blood stream down and pool under my back.
    Gurgling I asked “Why?”
    The infected Amy raised her head, I saw pieces of my flesh and muscle caught in those yellow stumps and my blood running from the sides of her black lipped mouth. Amy smiled and said “Because you had to be the hero!”
    Her head whipped forward again and my lungs filled with enough air for one last scream.
    I woke up drenched with sweat and the sleeping bag gathered in a pile at my feet. I sat up and looked around the moon lit room. Spirit was still lying down with her new friend and Amy, the non-infected Amy, was softly snoring on the other couch. Swinging my legs around, I sat up and looked toward the window. I could see the moon behind wispy grey clouds. Standing, I walked over and looked outside. Nothing had changed except for the position of the moon in the sky. The nightmare had shaken me because I had never thought of myself as hero, let alone the thought of Amy as an infected. I had always been told that nightmares and dreams were the mind's way of telling you things that during the day it usually ignored.
    Standing there I heard a soft knocking noise coming from outside the room Amy and I were sleeping in. I opened the door to where the lifeboat was and the knocking was slightly louder.
    The clicking of nails on the floor had me turn round and I could see Spirit and her little friend following me. Spirit stopped beside my right leg and the pup on my left. I knelt down between them and placed a hand on their backs. I could feel a rumbling coming through my hand from Spirit and realized that she was growling, albeit very quietly.
    I whispered “Is it the infected, girl?”
    Spirit turned her head and a small huff escaped her lips.
    My first thought was ‘Shit’ quickly followed by how the fuck I am going to wake everyone without alerting the infected? Standing slowly, I walked back to where Amy was sleeping. Spirit and the pup headed toward the reception area and stood together at the door. Crouching down beside Amy, I placed my hand over her mouth. Her eyes flew open and she tried to pull my hand away.
    “Try not to make too much noise. There are infected outside.” I said, letting go of her mouth.
    “How many?”
    “I don’t know. I haven’t had time to look outside.”
    “Ok, I’ll look. You go and tell Chris and the others.” She whispered.
    Heading toward the gantry that allowed access to the lifeboat I quickly looked down the steep ramp and saw shadows moving around the sides. Clambering on board the lifeboat, I headed for the nearest door and pushed it open. I had to feel around with my hands because inside the