The Journey: Chapter 3

Chapter 3



The woods seem like they'll be a rather good idea. I can only see about three of them walking ahead of us but they probably won't be a problem. We just have to do this quietly and carefully to avoid them. Perhaps hiding behind trees until they pass. Sarah is still convinced that this is a bad idea and we should just stay put in the house the until help comes. The only problem is who knows if help will ever come. That and the fact that I have to make sure my family is okay. I already had to do that to my older brother. I'm really hoping that I won't have to do the same to my family.

About a quarter mile into the woods, I see one them moving in our direction. I'm not sure if he saw us, but I'm sure if he did he'd be letting us know by now.

"Shh," I said to Sarah. "I see one of them up around that tree. Just hold still."
"Okay." she said.

I made my way over to an old oak that gave me enough cover to hide behind until that thing got close enough for me to eliminate it. I carefully cocked my gun and waited until the time was right.

"Fuck." I said.

There was another ten feet away that I hadn't noticed because I was so concentrated on the one that was coming our way. She starts to make those god awful noises. I shoot her and she drops like a bag of dirt. Now, the other one. This isn't going to work. I look behind me and see more of those things coming our way. They must have heard her and the gunshots from the road.

"Come on, we've got to run!" I shouted to Sarah.
"To where?" she asked.
"Anywhere away from here. Let's go."

We took off and ran as fast as we could. The woods are swamped with those things now. After running about a mile. I saw a clearing ahead. As we got closer, I saw a shed.

"Head for that shed." I told her, "It's our only hope for hiding for a minute."
"Okay." she replied, "We have to do something. I'm feeling really tired right now."

We finally made it to the shack and searched around it. I tried to look through the windows and see if there was anyone inside. I can't quite tell, the windows are really dirty. If there are, they won't be soon.

"Of course it's fucking locked." I yelled to her.
"What are we going to do?" she asked.
"Stand back."

I'm took a shirt from inside my bag and rapped it around my hand. I punched straight through the little window on the door. I figured that is easier to fix and patch up than if I would have blown out the lock with my gun. I reached through the window and unlocked the door.

"Come on, let's in. But be careful. We don't know if any of them are in here." I said to her.

We got in there and the place is a mess. Beer cans, old food.

"This place smells awful." she said, almost gagging while we looked around.
"I know, but it's better than being out there with those things." I told her.
"Don't know how much better. Oh god, maggots."

Looks like somebody was having a party. Perhaps their paren't had left town and this is where they chose to party to avoid wrecking the house. I'm sure the party didn't last too long though once those things came knocking. But there is no blood in here. It just looks abandoned.

While Sarah was patching up the window, I took a look around to make sure there isn't any suprises waiting for us. All clear. Only problem being, we only have enough food to last about three days and whoever left last left the fridge standing wide open and the food all went bad.

I find a radio but it doesn't work. It smells like somebody spilled beer on it. Either there was really clumsy people in here or they were in quite a hurry to take off when all of this started going down.
I'm thinking a bit of both.

"Did you here that?" Sarah asked me. Who was by the this point lying on the couch looking completely exhausted.
"Here what?" I asked.
"It sounds like there is somebody outside."
"I didn't hear anyhing. Just relax and take it easy."

I looked outside and didn't see much of anything, except for a couple of those things. Then I did here something. Like a thump. Then I heard what sounded like a gunshot. I peaked through the window on the front door but saw nothing. I thought, "There around the back." I headed towards the rear of the shed and see nothing back there either. Suddenly there is banging on the front door. But no one was saying anything.

"You had better say something, or I AM going to shoot.

Still nothing.

"This is your last chance. I'm going to count to three.

I peak out the window one more time. Only this time there is a person looking at me. His eyes aren't fiery red or evil and he's carrying a gun.

"Let me in, man." He finally said.

I open the door and let him in as fast as possible and lock it again.

"Why the hell didn't you say anything?" I asked him.
"I was trying to be quiet." he said, "Those things are all over the place."
"You were about two seconds away from having your brain splattered..."
"But you didn't. Let it go. Who are you guys anyway and what are you doing in my cousins shed?"
"We were looking to find some refuge. We're trying to make it back to my house a few miles away from here, in Bethlehem."
"Bethlehem? Why would you want to go there? That place is crawling with those things."
"How do you know?"
"Because I just came from there. I searched most of the houses trying to find survivors, but with no luck. They had all already been turned into those things."
"Jesus. Are you sure?"
"Quite. I searched for hours trying to find people. But no luck."

About that time, Sarah's got her head covered on the couch and she looks like she's sleeping. Her leg was uncovered and hanging over the edge of the couch. The infection from her scratch getting worse by the minute.

"What happened to her? Was she scratched by them?" he asked me.
"She said she wasn't, but I'm not sure. She's been fine until now. Yesterday she saw her entire family get killed. Slaughtered by those things. If I knew for sure that that scratch from her leg was from one of them, I would have done her in yesterday."
"Damn, that's terrible. By the way, my name is Mark Tuppin."
"I'm Jason and that's Sarah."
"Nice to meet you, to bad it's not under better circumstances."

From out of nowhere, Sarah started screaming at the top of her lungs.

"No Aunt Beth, don't make me stay here another night. Uncle Leon, he likes to touch me. I can't take anymore of this."

Then she calmed down again, but still breathing heavily and fell back to sleep.

"I think it's pretty safe to say she's infected." Mark said.
"We don't know that for sure. She may still be in shock. We'll just wait to see what happens."
"Alright, but we'll have to keep a close eye on her. I don't want to take any chances."

We found a couple of unopened beers and figured now is as good of a time than any to have one. Maybe it'll settle our nerves a bit. Mark goes on to tell his story of how he ended up here.

"Well, after I started hearing stories about how the dead was coming back to life, I figured it was just bullshit. Some bored kid on a radio trying to get some attention. Then I noticed all the strange things happening. People attacking and eating each other. I mean, some of the people I saw were really fucked up man, blood all over them, gaping wounds on their bodies. Just really serious shit.

I started thinking, and I couldn't believe I was believing this, that maybe it wasn't bullshit. Something bad was going on. I started to think about my uncle who died six months ago. What if he became one of them. He was a parapalegic and the thought of him being stuck, aware, in his grave was too much for me so I decided I would dig him up just to make my peace at peace. I was his only family and he was my only family member that I really cared about, so I grabbed my gun and shovel and went to take care of it.

I got to the cemetary and I saw that most of the graves dirt were pushed up,
not dug. And I freaked. I finally, carefully, made it to my uncles grave. It was one of the few that wasn't disturbed. I just started digging, and I kept digging while watching over my shoulder to make sure none of those things snuck up on me.

Finally, clunk. I was there. I braced myself and prepared myself as best as I could and opened the coffin. There was was. Looking as peaceful as he was when we buried him. He wasn't as discolored as I thought, but I still choked up when I saw him. I just stared. Then I saw what I had to looked twice at. He moved, just a little bit, but he moved. His eyes opened and just looked at me. He started to reach his arms out to grab onto me. Without really thinking much, I shot him and he slumped back into his grave.

About that time, I felt a hand brab me by my arm and saying, "Come on kid, we gotta go. There coming." It was the grounds keeper. He help me out of the hole and we started to run, but didn't get to far. One of them jumped out from behind a tree and grabbed him. They tore him to pieces. I started to run and I kept running until I finally got here. I still can't believe I had to do that."

"I understand man. I had to eliminate my brother too. It's not easy." I told him.
"I know." Mark said.

Sarah was still lying on the couch while we were trying to figure out our next move. Then suddenly she jumped up and was standing on the couch, screaming incoherently. She started ripping off her clothes then hunched over, making a loud moaning sound and started puking up blood. Seemed like there must have been gallons of it. She looked up at us. Her eyes were no longer the pretty sky blue they were, but they were red. She started moving towards us and Mark shot her point blank.

"Fuck man, now we definately have to get out of here."

Then I noticed it. A hatch door on the floor. I couldn't believe I hadn't seen it before. We had to shoot the lock off but inside we found another gun and a damn radio. I had never been so happy in my entire life. Maybe now we can find out what's going on.

After about five minutes, we got something. A voice. Finally we could get an idea as to what's going on...

"Are you telling me John that this is not an isolated incident... that it's.... world wide?

Yes, that's correct. We have recieved word from Montreal, Mexico City and as far east as Germany and Russia stating that they have similar occurences going on.

What do you believe could have caused this mess?

I firmly believe that it is some sort of government experiment gone completely wrong. Of course they still have yet to comment about the severity of the situation that we are facing, but the President is supposed to speak soon about it. We don't know if it was caused domestic or if it is foreign. We do know that people are strongly advised to stay in their homes, if secured enough, or to travel to the emergency stations that have been set up all over the country. These things are highly contangible. Even as much as a scratch or the smallest of nibbles from one of these can and will infect you.

How do we stop them?

Most people have found success stopping them by burning them or shooting them in the head. Really anything that destroys their brains. They exhibit all of the signs of early primatic behavior. Only if they to survive, that doesn't calm their urge to kill. They will continue to kill and destroy anything in their paths, until all life has ceased to be. Then they will rot.

What some viewers want to know is are they dead or alive?

I believe the answer to that seems obvious, they appear to be dead, but they feast as though they are trying to survive. The staff at my laboratory have collect a few the "specimens" for further examination. No heart beat, no blood flow and no breathing has been observed in any of them. It seems as though they are indeed "walking dead" or zombies as many have quoted them to be.

Well... thank you doctor. We have just received word that the president is ready to speak so lets switch over to that feed....

Pres. Deez' voice:
My fellow Americans. We are being faced with a challenge of biblical proportions. It has been confirmed that this is not an isolated incident. There have been reports from all over the globe that this has spread. We do not know how it started. We do not know how to end it. We do know that it is now a matter of survival and we must fight our way through to beat this. The Marshall that went
into effect yesterday evening has now been lifted. Do not expect help from official goverment posts. It is now every man for himself. Build your own villages and safe havens if that's what you wish. If you are alone and you are a survivor, remember that there are other survivors out there. It's a matter of finding them and rebuilding a system to insure survivor. I myself now step down as the president of our great country. God bless and good night. Good luck America. Be kind to each other.

Well, there you have it. Our esteemed president giving up hope. On a personal note, I guess that's what happens when you elect a democrat into office. The world collapses and they're the first to run........

We just stood there for a second and looked at the radio. Unbelieving what we had just heard.

"Jason, that's means that we're completely on our own." Mark said
"I know, we just have to make it back to my house. There's guns and supplies there. My dad was in the army. He'll know what to do."
"I'm telling you that I just came back from that area and there's no one left."
"Well... I have to find out for myself. You can come along or you can stay behind. The choice is yours. My family means more to me than any other people on Earth. I'm going now. You had better make up your mind pretty quick."

Mark just stood there for a second thinking what he wanted to do. If they are the only survivors in the town at this point, then there's no reason to separate and be completely alone.

"Ok man. Let's go." he said.