~*~
“This place used to be a church.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
They sat on the floor, backs leaned against the wall. The moon shone through the stained glass, dying her pale skin a blue-green. His hair was messy and unkempt, the result of only one shower in two months- and that had been cold, hurried and rushed.
“Ryan, what are we gonna do?” she whispered after a long silence. She was tired, her body still weak from Pennsylvania, her head aching from where it slammed against the car door. Her mind was filled with images of blood splattered across the walls and floors of her living room; civilians screaming in panic on the streets as the hallucinations took over; and the most frequent picture in that slide show, of her brother, only 14, taking a gun from the waistband of his jeans, shoving it stiffly against his temple, face blank. His eyes closed and he pulled the trigger, falling to the ground. She had stared at him, frozen in shock, as blood began to pool from his head, staining the white tiles of the hospital floor a dark, black-red. That specific scene played over and over in her head, waking her up at night often, a scream caught in the back of her throat, her heart pounding.
“I dunno, Avi” he finally replied. The cuts on his hands still stung but at least breaking the window open had gotten them in, where it was warm and safe. He winced as he placed his hands on the floor, pushing the shattered glass pieces deeper into his palm. There was no antiseptic, no band-aid, no nothing. They hadn't bothered looking for a CVS or Rite-Aid; at this point, they were all 'turf' to whatever gang this neighborhood housed or emptied of anything useful anyway. Rubbing alcohol, band-aids were the first things gone, taken by frantic mothers who poured the searing liquid on their children, on the imaginary cuts only they could see. Their children sat wondering why Mommy was putting Band-aids on them when nothing was wrong. But even that was before, before society virtually collapsed on in itself.
“I'm hungry,” she said softly, interrupting his train of thought.
His eyes darkened as anger began to suddenly pulse through him, almost immediately and for no apparent reason. He knew subconsciously that something was wrong with him, having anger knock on his door so suddenly, but lashed out anyway.
“Well, so am I. Get used to it. There's nothing I can do. If I go out, I'll get shot by some gang member or attacked by them. They'll kill me, then come back for you. Now shut up and go to sleep. If they hear us, they'll come and you've seen what they do to the normal ones, like us. You've seen.” His hissed harshly, making her regret saying anything in the first place.
It was quiet again.
A little while later, after she had gone to sleep, curled up against one of the broken pews, he looked up at the ceiling. How everything in this place got ruined but the intricately designed statues of heavenly angels amazed him.
He stood, pushing himself off the ground, making his hands sting and throb even more. He brushed off the thin layer of dirt that had coated the back of his pants like Pixy Stix to a lollipop, the very same candy he used to love when he was younger, when life was better, average, normal. He grabbed his jacket from the floor, a wet spot where he wrapped the sleeve tightly around his hand to stop the bleeding earlier, and placed it gently over her.
He hadn't meant to burst out at her, it was just the frustration from the day. Her eyes were closed and her breaths came deep and steady, unlike the nights where she woke shaking and he had to hold her to his chest, her tears dampening his shirt. Those nights came more and more frequently since they came to the city, hoping to find the safe house everyone they met constantly talked about.
When they were in Virginia, the junkie hooker who was immune to the virus told them it was right outside of Pennsylvania. They left for the north right after she has died, gotten the disease from a “customer” regardless of her immunity. That's when they realized that the immunity applied to the air-borne version of the disease only, not the blood strain. They'd been more careful about getting cut after that, until tonight.
Ryan went back to find the comfiest area of the floor that he could, the area with the least broken glass, wood splinters and generally, dirt. He settled himself by the door, in case someone came in the morning or something, regardless of the fact, that if someone came while he was by the door unconscious, there really wasn't much he could do. He glanced back at Avi once more, before letting his eyes drop closed.
~*~
They woke early and left soon after, heading West.
They'd gotten to the border of New Jersey when they attacked. It was the first time Avi had seen one of them and she hadn't even screamed, her body was just shaking from fear. They were so pale white, translucent and they walked like ghosts, almost floated. Their lips were cut up and bloody, so scarlet red in comparison with their skin. It seemed like thousands and thousands were there but in reality, there were only five or so. The scariest thing about them, the thing that made them so dangerous, were their eyes. They were pure white, no pupil, no color at all and were so blank, it was if they were soulless. Ryan has seen what they could do to someone without them even feeling it. For the kill, each of them had something different. Ryan had seen one take a rusted black knife and just stab at the victim's face repeatedly with a blank expression on its face; he'd seen another gnaw at the victim's neck and face, placing bites and tearing skin till he died; and the horror stories he heard were even worse.
The person never screamed though, never fought back or against them. They were too busy, staring deeply into the monster's eyes. Just as Avi was doing.
~*~
Edited for a contest, I know it doesn't make much sense but I basically gave up on this anyway.
so, KEEP WRITING! 
I will warn you to avoid clichés though because there is a good amount of zombie and virus stories floating around the place. You don't want to end up having this story compared to them. Just a heads up there. Overall though, I do genuinely like this. I can certainly see it going places!
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