One Night/In Hell

The darkness wrapped around me like covers around a frightened child, suffocating all feeling from me, choking off all senses except for hearing. I stood stock still, my ears picking up the faintest sounds around me. Every creak of the trees dancing in the wind, every croak from a frog seemed amplified a hundred times, and a hundred times more horrifying then ever before. My mind was on the verge of insanity. Then I heard it, the sound that would bring everything back to me. Fear rushed up from my feet up to my brain, kick starting it like a dead car battery. I suddenly felt everything, the crisp night air, the acid pumping through the veins in my legs and in my lungs, the pain in my hand from grasping the riffle so tight for so long, the countless scratches on my face that were handed out by the relentless trees in the forest where I now stood. I took in a deep breath, and ran.
            The edge of the forest was getting nearer and nearer. The blackness of the forest was fading to the dark grey of a suburban night. Street lamps cast strange shadows over abandoned front lawns. Every shadow seemed to breath, to move, to groan, to be alive. I could not tell if what I saw was real or my imagination, but I knew that I was not planning on sticking around too long to find out.
            I burst out of the forest, quickly leaving the tree line behind me. My breath was coming in quick, painful bursts. I knew I could not run all the way to town. It had to be a mile if not a little more. I had been on my high school’s track team, but there was a big difference between running in a sporting event and running for you life. Breathing seemed a bit more difficult when you were looking over your shoulder every few second to make sure nothing was behind you. I made it to the sidewalk and stopped running. If the shadows were really alive I would have to deal with them. I had dealt with countless ones already hadn’t I? After taking in a few deep breaths I turned and walked towards town.
            I finally made it to the top of the Miller Street hill, a perfect view of the small downtown of Farmer’s Hill. This was a small town with a population of around 800, where everyone knew everyone and gossip ran rampant. Downtown consisted of one road aptly called Main Street, which had only one stop light which was never turned on. Lining both sides of the street were small shops, the post office, bank, and at the far end exiting town the gas station. All the shops were privately owned and all had an apartment over top that the owner lived in. The rest of the Farmer’s Hill residents lived either several miles out on small farms, or in one of three neighborhoods; Stony Ridge half a mile to the west backing up to Mabel’s Creek, Farm Meadow half a mile to the east backing up to Rush River, and the one I stand in now, Jack’s Corner a mile to the south backing up to a Evergreen Forest.
            From my vantage point on top of the hill I looked down on the small town. What I saw froze my blood. What I had been hoping for were people, anyone who could help me. What I saw was destruction. Wrecked cars littered the street. One was park in James’ Barber shop, another had taken out a telephone poll casting the town in an eerie darkness. Trash cans were strewn about, litter rolled across the street like tumble weeds in old Westerns. The town was in silent chaos, but most frightening of all was that it seemed completely abandoned.
            For an instant I thought that it might be better to turn around and head back the other way when I remembered the sound I had heard in the forest, the liquid gurgling moan of the undead. Looking over my shoulder I realized I was not insane. The shadows were alive. I watched as several monsters stumbled out of the shadows onto the road., one pulled himself across a yard with his hands as he was missing the lower half of his body. Horrified I watched as he slid under a street light, revealing the bloody remains of my old math teach. They had not seen me on the hill yet, this fact alone had me moving down towards the town before I remember telling my feet to move.
            I got down the hill faster than I thought possible and found myself standing at the threshold of town. The General Store was now on my left. I slowly made my way to the door and found it unlocked. I entered the dark building and made my way flashlight and battery isle. I found a heavy duty metal one that could double as a weapon, grabbed a few spare batteries and turned it on and set out to finding provisions from the store. The beam came out in a ghastly yellow, causing everything outside of its range to grow even darker than before. I found myself more afraid with the light on than with it off and chose to only use it as needed. As I searched the store I could not help but think back on the events of the night leading up until now, as this was the first time I was not running or shooting since it all began. I thought back on the farm, on my father, my sister, and how happy we had been just an hour or so before now.
            My father owned a small farmer just five or so miles outside of town. My mother had died a year earlier and my father and sister were left to take care of each other. We had come to having a nightly ritual and tonight had started out no different than any other night. The chores had been completed, and we had all settled down around the table for dinner. After that would be time spent around the television, then off to bed. Watching TV was when we first noticed a change. Every channel had a news broadcast about some epidemic going around, and urging everyone to stay indoors. We watched for about a half our, listening to what the news people were calling the worst epidemic every recorded in history with hundreds of people dieing. One station was saying that many people were making claims that they had witnessed the dead coming back to life. One man claimed to have seen his son, who had died from a broken neck after a car accident just a month before, walking around his back yard. He said the head was dangling as if tied on by a rubber band.
            My father did not want my sister watching this and told her she was going to have an early bed time tonight. I got her up to get ready for bed when she spotted through the window two men in our back yard. My dad went out to ask them if they needed help when four more had come from around the house and grabbed him. He fought two of them off, but was unable to fight them all. The four that had him started to bite at him. My dad began to scream. A scream mixed with horror and pain. I ran for the deer riffle, but by the time I had returned it was too late. I saw my dads body laying on the ground. I watched as these six men ripped at his body, tearing chunks of flesh off and devouring them.
            My sister was screaming now and tired to run to him. I grabbed her and pushed her towards the front door. I turned one last time to see my father before following her. She reached the door before me, grabbed the knob and turned it. The door burst open and a man stammered through grabbing her up. I ran for him but froze terror once I saw him. He was a ghastly creature. The flesh on the right side of his face was hanging off. His shirt was torn open and part of his rib cage protruded from his skin. In an instant he had his mouth around my sisters throat. A short scream sprang from her tiny mouth, then was quickly shut off as his teeth cut through the skin and crushed her wind pipe. I smashed the butt of the gun against the top of his head. He dropped my sister and stammered backwards. I raised the gun and aimed right between his eyes. I pulled the trigger. His head exploded spraying blood and gore all over the wall next to the door. I ran to my sister, scooped her up and yelled for her to be ok, to not die. Blood was gurgling out of the wound in her throat, and after a few brief moments I watched as the life left her eyes. I can not say how long I stood there holding her, crying. A noise from outside pulled me out of myself and I looked up to see what looked like a dozen more of these decaying creatures moving through the front yard. I had to leave. I laid my sister down and bent to kiss her forehead for the last time. I shot at the closest ghoul and he fell, at that moment I ran, slamming the gun into anything that got too close. I am not sure how many I killed or how many I just knocked down, but now, alone in this store, I almost wish I had let them get to me. At least I could be with my father and sister.