There was something about the look in their eyes.

Crazed.

Hungry.

The whites were lined with red. Paired with exhaustion, their mouths always opened, teeth exposed to the air. The scent was undeniable. Rancid, oil came off their clothes.

I watched them as they pressed themselves against the front window. Their nails clawed the glass. They crushed each other, yanking at the door. But I locked it.

We closed ten minutes ago.

And coffee isn't that important.

"Axel, hey!"

Still cleaning the tables, front row seat to the wild construction workers clambering at Bundo's Coffee doors for an emergency cup of Joe, I glanced behind me. My boss, Gerry, stood at the register with cash in his hands. He blindly counted the bills because his eyes were on me, then the windows, then me again.

"Did something change with our online listing? This is the fourth night in a row these guys are slamming on the door."

"The internet isn't the same anymore, Ger." I moved to the next table. Someone else came to the window. A woman. Her wide eyes peered at me, almost pleading. Where did she come from?

"Shit, don't make no sense." Sighing, Gerry shut the register and locked it. "It's been a year; you think we'd be normal again. The virus is gone. We're safe. I'd like to use the Google without issues."

Man, 'the' Google.

"The virus isn't gone." I pushed away from my cleaning responsibilities and walked over to the counter. The day's cupcakes still sat there, neatly decorating their platters. Grabbing one, I bit into it and sighed. "If it were gone, we wouldn't be in quarantine zones."

"We're only in q-zones because they-" He pointed at the front door, but I knew he wasn't talking about the crowd of caffeine-craving workers. He meant the world beyond them; the cities labeled dangerous and off limits. "-are still there stealing, destroying, and eating us alive!"

I bit the insides of my cheeks. This was almost every night with Gerry. The frustrations and horrors of our reality.

A year ago, the virus hit. All of us caught it, some worse than others. I'd heard I had a mild case, but I couldn't remember it. All I knew, after six months of lying in a hospital bed, I woke up to a world divided into quarantines built to keep them out.

The infected who never recovered. The 'criminals' who snuck into our borders, stole our food, and burned our cities. If close enough, their virus mutated at the sight of us; their minds sparked red, berserk, without the ability to see reason. They attacked, killed, and ate our remains.

"If only we had q-zones to keep us from that!" Now, Gerry gestured at the crowd. There were more of them, pounding at the doors. Ridiculous shit. I understood they worked all day; they had to be exhausted. But to terrorize a small coffee shop? Nightly?

"I got it, Gerry." I finished the cupcake, tossing my rag on one of the tables. I tugged my apron off with one hand. Twirling my head around my shoulders, I rolled my arms, cracked my knuckles, and walked to the door. My tattooed reflection looked back at me.

I couldn't remember most of the past year, but I knew that guy. Me. Axel Montes, the man you didn't fuck with.

"All right." I wrapped my hand around the door handle, turned the lock, and pulled. "It ain't that serious!"

The man in front of the group pushed forward. His caution vest picked up the shop's light and glowed. He tried to make his way inside, but I put my hand against his chest. I moved him back as politely, and sternly as I couldn't without violence. "I need you and your worker friends to move back."

No one moved. No one spoke. Heavy breaths surrounded the door like winds in the eye of a hurricane. Calm, but dangerous.

I pushed him. Hard. He tumbled back into three other men. The woman who appeared out of nowhere tripped, losing her red stiletto. I couldn't figure out why she was with these guys. Were there offices close by? Last I knew, the closest one was blocks away.

"Move!" I growled.

They looked at me, confused. Their eyes passed over me, up and down, until they stepped back.

"We open at seven in the morning," I said. "And close at ten. If you're not here before then, beating down on our door won't get you coffee!"

"I should beat all of your asses!" Gerry shouted from behind. He was still at the register, wasn't he? "And if you cracked the glass-"

I rolled my eyes. The shit was annoying and uncalled for, but it was tempered glass. They couldn't break it even if they tried.

"-You all will pay to replace it!"

The man that I'd pushed lifted his hands and glanced around at the group he was with. "Hey, look, I don't know what happened. Do you?" He looked at the man on his right, who shook his head. Then he glanced at the woman, who'd kneeled to take off her shoes. She shook her head, too. "I just felt like I had to be here."

I sighed. All of them had red lines in their eyes, the white part brighter than normal. Pairing that with the dark circles damn near at their cheeks, I put the blame on sleep deprivation. Never seen it so bad, but lack of rest could make a person do anything.

I glanced back at the register. "Did you empty out that last batch of coffee?" I called out to Gerry.

The old man's eyes widened. "What?" he scoffed. "You are not thinking-"

Yes, I was thinking. It wasn't like we could use the coffee. It'd be thrown out anyway. So, if these guys could use it, then I should do my good deed for the day.

"Give me a minute." I nodded at each of them as I shut the door. Then I turned for the register. I moved behind Gerry and grabbed four Styrofoam cups. The coffee pot by the wall was full and still hot. I could smell it.

"You're not giving them coffee," Gerry hissed.

I turned off the machine and poured caffeine into each of the cups. "I am."

Gerry turned, leaning against the counter as he watched me. "I should fire you."

"But you won't." I pushed the coffee into a cup holder. "You're the one who taught me kindness. Why wouldn't I do this?"

"Kindness?" Gerry gasped. "What I did for you was different! You were fresh out of the hospital, no job; a kid who survived the virus-"

"A kid with a felony that came with a record as long as the toilet paper rolls no one could find." I raised my brows.

Gerry clamped his mouth shut. He inhaled sharply. "I took a chance," he whispered. "Your honesty got you the job."

"No. Desperation and lack of people did, don't lie. I appreciate what you did for me, and still do, but this is just coffee, Ger." I lifted the cups and turned back to the door. "We can give them coffee."

A scream came from outside. When I looked at the door, the group was gone. The empty night swallowed the neighborhood and I barely saw anything with the streetlights.

I slowly put the coffee on the closest table and approached the door with caution. "Where did they-"

The scream came again. Louder. Bloodcurdling. I rushed to the door with my heart pounding in my chest and yanked it open.

"Shit," I hissed, scanning the area.

Nothing. Shadows of the night. Cars parked on the streets. The nearby businesses were either gone for the day or like Gerry and me, picking up the day's mess.

Stepping out onto the sidewalk, I looked left and right. From inside, Gerry screamed at me. "Axel, if you don't bring your ass back inside! If there's screaming, you don't follow it! Common sense, man, common sense!"

I knew that was common sense. But it was a scream. And what if someone was in trouble? The infected from outside our q-zone could've got in. It happened all the time, and as much as we, inside the zone, cried for better protection, it was useless. We needed to look out for ourselves.

So, when the scream came again, I hurried forward. I passed the dead leaves piled together at the edge of the sidewalk. I ignored Gerry, who opened the door to scream louder. "Axel!"

Someone was in trouble and that was more important than my eyes.

I came to a stop. The woman who was at the shop. Her stiletto lay abandoned. When I reached for it, I felt the blood, sticky around the ankle.

My heart was about to erupt. My brows pinched together as I held the shoe in my hands. I straightened and looked up. If she was hurt, she couldn't have gone far. Where was the trail? There had to be a trail of blood somewhere.

"AXEL!" Gerry screamed. "I CAN SEE THEM! COME BACK!"

See them? Who? I looked back at the shop and saw shadows scurrying around the back of the building. They were fast and frantic; the silhouette at the end stumbled into the wall.

They broke in again, didn't they? I wouldn't be the one to watch what happened on the news. If I stopped them before they stole something, did damage, or worse, hurt someone, then that'd be better than giving free coffee. I'd be a hero for a night. And after the life I lived, I'd take it.

Still holding the stiletto, I decided it could be a weapon. Especially when another shadow rushed in, hurrying from my end of the street and following the first pair; I needed a weapon.

"CLOSE THE DOOR, GERRY!" I shouted at my boss as I started back across the street. "LOCK IT!"

He did but pressed himself against the glass. His voice was muffled as he said, "What about you?"

I shook my head. What about me? This was nothing. Infected aside; stealing, robbing, anything illegal was what I did. Never murdered anyone, but if I could stop someone from doing that tonight, then I was straight.

As for possibly becoming sick again... I prayed I had enough antibodies to keep it away. I didn't want their mutated virus.

"Be careful!" I heard Gerry from behind as I slowed my pace, carefully creeping along the side of the shop. The stiletto's heel grazed across the brick. I pulled it back to keep from making noise. And then I heard them around the back.

"Come on! We gotta go!" a man shouted. "They been chasing us for a minute and that one? He's mutating!"

Snarls carried in the air. What sounded like bones cracking followed. I wasn't sure if I wanted to run or continue my slow approach. The infected broke in and were mutating. Great. Fucking great.

"No, I can't! We need this!" a woman's voice responded.

Why does her voice sound so familiar?

"Fucking leave the bread, Riley! It ain't worth this shit!"

Riley? My Riley? No.

Riley was just a name. Anyone could have it. But my heart hoped it could be her. I thought she was gone, dead, taken from me by the virus.

With that hope, I pushed off my heel and hurried forward.

"It is worth it!" she shouted.

I wanted to look for the woman as she screamed again, but once I got to the alley, my gaze fell on someone else. The worker's caution vest; the very same man who slammed against the shop's door. He stood, hunched, fingers stretching and curling, repeatedly, into large fists. He bent in one spot. Heavy breaths shook his back, heavy, snarling; spit fell to his feet.

He couldn't be infected. I just spoke to him. I was going to give him coffee. He had looked tired but fine. Had those who broke into the q-zone got him? Infected him? Was that it?

"Hey, my man." I reached for his shoulder to turn him around. He snapped in my direction. His eyes flooded with blood; red tears streamed down his face. His teeth had changed; his gums were black and bleeding. When we locked eyes, I thought he could see me.

He didn't.

Instead, he lunged.

"Shit!" I jumped back and instinctively swung. I used the stiletto to hit him. The pointy heel met his temple. He stopped in an instant.

Still standing, I watched his mouth open. He gasped and breathed out. A trickle of blood slid out from the stab on his head, and another streamed out of the corner of his lips.

I stepped back as he moved forward. One. Two. Then he fell, blood spilling onto my white shoes.

"Axel?"

My head shot up at the sound of the woman's voice. My name. She said my name.

"Riley?" Even in the dark, I knew her. Her curly hair, her beautiful brown skin. The moonlight did her eyes injustice; they were brighter in daylight. Mesmerizing.

Fuck, I missed her. I thought she was dead, that she didn't make it. But to see her standing in front of me...

Her flesh smells divine.

"Riley!" There was a man behind her. The moment I stepped forward, he whipped out a gun. His thumb settled on the safety. "Get away from him!"

She quickly looked back at him before returning her gaze in my direction. She was confused. Sad. I saw it all in her expression. Who the fuck was this guy and why was he telling her what to do?

Blood. Thick, sweet, fulfilling blood.

"Axel," she whispered, "I thought you died."

A small smirk tugged at my mouth. I lifted my hand toward her. "I thought you died."

The man hurried forward, grabbed Riley's arm, and tugged her back. The gun stayed pointed at me. "Stay the fuck away from us, man," he hissed. "Stay right there."

My brows pinched together. Was he in charge? I knew the infected moved in groups, but I didn't know they were organized.

Thinking about it, this meant she was infected. My Riley. My ride-or-die. If she'd been pushed out of the q-zone to protect us inside, it made sense. It was for everyone, me, and her. Our lives. It didn't make it hurt less.

I couldn't rile this dude.

"Hey," I lifted my hands defensively. "Riley's my girl and-"

"Man, I don't give a fuck if she is, was, maybe your girl. I need you to stay," he pulled her back, "don't follow us, don't smell us, just let us leave."

"Jimmy, stop," she hissed.

Jimmy was a bitch. Why would I follow them? They'd eat me, kill me if I did. But Riley was with them. And she was hungry. The bag of bread she'd been struggling to get earlier lay on the ground between us.

"This what you need?" I inched forward and reached for it.

Salty. Skin.

Riley moved forward, too. Or at least she tried to. The second she stepped; Jimmy tugged her back.

But it was close enough. I caught a whiff of her smell. Sweet, gentle lotion; like Summer's evening.

I rolled my head around my shoulders.

Taste.

I opened my mouth and cracked my jaw.

Taste.

My eyes snapped in their direction and for a second, I saw red.

TASTE!

"Here." Stepping back, I tossed the bag forward. Riley reached out and caught it. A packaged loaf of bread slipped out, tumbling to the ground. As she bent to grab it, I watched her.

She was infected. And the closer I got to her, the weirder I felt. My skin tingled, burned, and there was an itch in the back of my throat; a thirst I couldn't quench.

"Thank you, Axel," she whispered, looking at me with her wide eyes.

Jimmy tugged her back. "You're boyfriend's dead, Riley! Let's go!"

Choosing not to chase them, I watched as they walked deeper into the alley. The night's shadows swallowed them whole. I hoped with them away from me, I'd feel normal again.

But I didn't.

I slid my tongue over my teeth. My gums were tender. And I wanted nothing more than for her to come back... so I could tear into her flesh.

You infected me, Riley.

*

The first chapter is complete! 2646 words!

This is my first attempt at horror, and I'd love feedback as to how I'm doing <3
If you can, great, thank you! And thank you so much for reading!

To all other ONC participants, good luck! <3 We got this!