Chapter One
The first rays of golden light spread across the lush, unmanicured lawn, cascading shadows across the white washed walls of the three story mansion that stood empty. The waist high weeds were browning due to lack of rain and exposure to the sunlight. At one end of the property, a dense forest provided cover for a lone hunter, who crouched low with his weapon drawn. The rustic Remington Twelve Guage Pump Action Shotgun hadn't been loaded in three months, but he carried it due to the comfort he felt from the weight of the weapon in his hand. He lowered the weapon after a few seconds, taking the time to adjust his backpack which had been empty for a week now. His blue eyes stayed ahead of him, surveying the land and always alert.
In three months, the world around him had gone to hell. He had witnessed the community he grew up in fall to ruins in a few short hours. He took to hiding in the shadows, clutching his shotgun close to his chest. In the days that followed, he had used all four boxes of his ammunition defending himself from the genetically enhanced apes that had been attacking the city, and the humans they infected with the virus known as "Simian Flu" or Apeshit-itis. The disease made apes stronger, faster, and smarter than normal, enabling them to communicate with rough human speech. When a human was attacked, via a bite or scratch of the apes, their minds devolutionized making them act like apes in all aspects.
Running his left hand through his blonde hair, the hunter breathed in deeply through his nose. He took with his breath the scent of nature around him. He smelled the moisture in the air, an indication that rain was coming. He also caught the smell of smoke, just a faint wisp of the almost acidic smell. Something was burning not far from his location and that worried him a bit. He peered out from under his tree, and saw no sign of smoke which eased his mind. The mansion before him was going to be his place of residence until further notice. He hoped it was well stocked with food and other supplies so he wouldn't have to return to the city for a while.
Inside the mansion, unbeknownst to the hunter outside, four other humans were laying low in a third floor bedroom. As with the hunter outside, the four of them had witnessed their community fall in a matter of days. The four of them had entered the mansion seeking shelter for a day, but the oldest member decided to stay on the top floor, and move as quietly as possible to avoid alerting anyone to their presence.
After their small neighborhood was obliterated by the infected humans, the oldest of the four, who had just turned eighteen, lead the other three off in search of safety. The group had gathered a small assortment of weapons, but nothing that would work against the actual apes. Firearms were the only effective weapons against the apes with their enhanced smarts, speed, and strength. Of all the weapons they had gathered, none of them had bothered grabbing a firearm.
Narrowing her green eyes, the leader stared through the window with fierce determination radiating off her body, as she calculated the options before her. She pulled her shoulder length blonde hair into a pony tail and looked to the brown haired teen to her right. She nodded to him, and she could see the fear swelling in his eyes. He shook his head, causing his messy brown hair to shake, signalling that they were the only two awake at that moment.
"Jayson," she whispered, "We should begin on the bottom floor, and work our way to the top,"
"Amber, what about Carrie and Jefferey?" Jayson asked, indicating the other two figures still cuddled together in a far corner.
"We should wake them, but they were the last on guard duty. Let them sleep," Amber replied dryly.
Amber had been friends with Carrie Moss since the second grade. They had taken dance classes together, and eventually grew beyond just friends, more like sisters. Carrie's dark brown hair fell longer than Amber's and she wore glasses. The two friends shared everything together, well, almost everything. They didn't share boyfriends.
Amber pushed the thought from her mind, because thinking about the past always made her smile. She would always think about him, her fiancee. He had been the first fatality in their own home. The apes had exploded through the door, yes, actual apes. Not the infected humans that acted like monkeys, but the actual apes. They stormed through the front door of the house she shared with her fiancee and her mother and step-father. Her step-father had been the first to be taken out, a gorilla backhanded him through a bedroom door, instant kill or so they thought. Her mother screamed, pushing Jayson up the stairs. Her scream had stunned the apes, long enough for Jayson to burst through the upstairs apartment and alert Amber as to what was happening. Her fiancee had grabbed his derringer pocket pistol and rushed the staircase. He managed to take down three apes, with well placed shots to the forehead. The gorilla that had taken down her Step-Father had already ripped her mother's throat out by this time. She lay convulsing on the floor, as the gorilla turned to her fiancee and roared. The roar was cut short as her fiancee shot him. He rushed to help her mother only find his way blocked by her step-father.
Her fiancee was shocked by his appearance and was torn apart. Nothing was left. Then her mother and step-father had stormed into the upstairs apartment looking for Amber and Jayson. They found an empty apartment, as Jayson and Amber had escaped through an open window. The two of them left the only home they had known for years in search of help. They ran into Carrie and Jefferey, about fifteen minutes later. Carrie's car had overheated during the drive over, as Jefferey explained, because Carrie's lead foot kept it pegged out as she worried about Amber.
Jayson nudged her, shaking Amber from her thoughts once again. He extended a wooden baseball bat to her. She took it and smiled. The bat had been their saving grace when faced with the infected. The blow to the head seemed to be the only way to bring the once human creatures to a complete stop. The first time Amber had stopped one, it just happened to be her mother. Amber twirled the bat in her hand, confident in her abilities now that she held the bat.
"Jayson," Amber said, noting movement outside the window, and backing against a wall so she could see outside without being seen, "Get down. Someone is approaching,"
"Infected?" Jayson asked.
"Hard to tell. Whoever it is, isn't trying too hard to cover their trail," Amber stated.
"What should we do?" Jayson asked.
"Get back in the room," Amber instructed, "Barricade the door. Don't let anyone in that isn't me,"
She waited for Jayson to enter the room and shut the door. She twirled the bat once more for good luck.
The hunter noticed the front door to the large mansion was standing wide open and he instantly picked up an aroma wafting from within the building. The sweet smell brought back many memories of his departed girlfriend, who had succumbed to the plague. She always wore that sour apple fragrance because he loved it. The scent froze him momentarily, as if he expected her to walk out of the building, carrying gallon of sweet tea and a sandwich. The little things she had done for him as he completed chores around the yard are what drew him to her. He shook his head, forcing the memory to the back of his mind as he refocused himself. Raising the Remington Pump Action to his shoulder, he proceeded forward.
He wondered if the sentient apes were learning to use human items such as perfume, tools, and other such niceties, as he crept up on the porch of the home. Two rockers were toppled over, two rockers that could have belonged to a loving older couple who spent their evenings watching the sunset. To his right, he noted a discarded briefcase. Bound in leather, with golden latches, the briefcase was out of place. He recognized the odd water droplet insignia etched into the leather. A symbol from a trading card game he had partaken in playing years ago. Magi-Nation, he thought, The Sea Tribe logo. He made a mental note to return and check the briefcase later. Remembering that his gun wasn't loaded, the hunter shifted the weapon so that he held it by the barrel, gripping it as if he gripped a club. He stepped inside, slowly and cautiously. The floorboards creaked beneath his black tennis shoes, as he put to use his favored hunting technique he learned from an old Indian chief. He would step on his tip toes before lightly shifting all weight to the heel of his feet. The Indians believed this to be the quietest way to hunt and to their credit, it had worked very well for him.
Noises came at him suddenly, from all corners of the house. As if someone had suddenly started setting off bottle rockets all at once in four different places. Swiveling on his right heel, he turned in all directions looking for the source of the sounds. No source was in his direct line of sight, so he proceeded forward towards what would have once been the sitting room of the mansion. The large television would once have hosted Super Bowl parties, or displayed real life dramas as its owners watched in awe. A lazy boy recliner was hastily thrown in front of a second door leading back out to the porch. The hunter sighed deeply before falling into the recliner, his feet relieved to finally be resting.
The last time he had relaxed, had been before the pandemic started. His girlfriend, Brittaney, had arranged for him to spend an entire day playing video games. He had dozed off playing his favorite role playing game. When he awakened, she had been injured during her trip home from work. Blood oozed from a bite wound on her shoulder, and with his limited knowledge of medical arts, he couldn't identify the type of animal that had bitten her. Thirty minutes later, he registered her in the hospital and was told the wait time would be an hour to two hours. Arguing with the nurse was pointless, Brittany insisted on waiting. The two of them huddled together in a corner, and watched as the sickness began destroying everyone around them. He and Brittaney escaped but Brittaney turned an hour later, becoming feral at first. He had rebuked her attempts of attacking him, until she gained the unbridled strength of the apes.
A sound from the stairway snapped from him from his thoughts, as he jerked the shotgun up, readying it. A baseball came into view, swinging wildly and blindly around the corner. He stifled a laugh, placed the shotgun across his lap and began making ape noises.
The sound of apes startled her so much that she dropped the baseball bat. The wooden bat rattled loudly on the polished wooden floors, causing Amber to let out a small shriek. Immediately after shrieking, she heard the sound of laughter as her cheeks flushed red. Judging from the sound of the laughter, whomever was laughing hadn't spoken in a while. The laughter was hoarse and scratchy, as if being forced out of a parched mouth. She turned the corner, and saw HIM.
He was dressed in a white hooded t-shirt with no sleeves. He wore a white bandanna around his neck, and blue denim shorts. The only tattoo visible was on his shoulder, a tribal marking of some sort. His blonde hair was cropped close, but looked as if he had cut it with a knife instead of clippers. His eyes were hidden behind a dark pair of sunglasses. Across the denim jeans he was wearing was a shotgun, thought Amber didn't know anything about other than the fact that it was pump action. She glanced down, averting her eyes to see his black tennis shoes before clearing her throat.
"Who the hell do you think you are?" she asked.
"It's common courtesy to introduce oneself before demanding the name of another," he spoke, and his voice was the same as his laugh, hoarse and scratchy.
"I'm Amber Collins," she retorted.
"Alex Ruler," he said, stretching a bit, "and if you don't mind, I'm gonna take a nap here in the recliner and I'll be on my way,"
"I do mind," Amber shot back, "You can move on now, or you can answer my questions. I have a group to protect,"
Amber instantly regretted mentioning the others. She saw interest flicker across his face, and as he removed his sunglasses, she swore she could see a plan forming in his mind. His eyes, there were color of a sapphire sky. Averting her eyes again, to avoid him seeing her red flags going off, Amber waited for him to answer her question.
"Look, Amber was it?, I'm not going to harm anyone. I just need a little rest. I've been on the move for four days now. I was tracking a meal ticket when I lost the remaining three shells for my gun. If you could please just allow me to sleep a few hours," Alex replied through a yawn, "I'll be gone before you know it,"
"I'll give you until sundown," Amber mused before storming off.
Moments later, she was asking herself why she was being rude to the first sentient human they had seen in weeks. After explaining to Jayson, Carrie, and Jefferey about their visitor, the four of them set to work. As they worked, making the third floor livable for the four of them, Amber kept an eye on the stairs. Her mind would occasionally drift towards the man down stairs and think of his story. Shaking her head, she continued working.
Alex woke, his neck crippled with pain that ran down his spine. He hadn't slept like that in a long time. When his eyes flashed open, his mind took a few moments to register his environment. He saw the large screen television, the deer mounted on the wall, and the photograph of three people he didn't recognize. Rubbing his face, he yawned.
"Okay, Okay," he whispered to himself, "Get a grip, Ruler. You've lived through the Ape Apocalypse, now you've got to survive. The only problem is, you've got a blonde Xena defending this house,"
He groaned and pulled himself out of the lazy boy, almost dropping the shotgun across his lap. Instinctively, he caught the gun with his left hand and brought it up to his shoulder as if preparing to fire it as a young man appeared at the bottom of the stairs.
"Whoa," he gasped, his voice letting his age be known, as his hands went to the air, "Amber sent me to retrieve you,"
"Oh really?" Alex asked, lowering the gun.
"You are Alex, right?" the kid asked, flashing a grin.
"Yeah, that's me. Let's go see what Xena, Blonde Warrior Princess want with me, shall we?" Alex asked, as the kid laughed.
It was strange having someone else to laugh at his wisecracks. The last group he had hunkered down with, no one liked his jokes. It was almost like humor had died with the rest of the infected humans. Alex followed the kid upstairs, already forming a plan to convince Amber to let him stay with the group. The kid led him to the third floor of the house, which leveled out into a hallway, that branched into three bedrooms and a sitting room. The sitting room was windowless, and that's where Amber was waiting for them. Around a oil lantern, Amber had gathered her group, as the kid led Alex into the meeting. He took his place by Amber's side as Alex scanned the room, the faces of the other two people in the room.
"Carrie, Jefferey, Jayson, this is Alex Ruler. Alex, these are my people: Carrie Moss, Jefferey Clarke, and Jayson Collins," Amber said looking to Alex.
"Hey," Alex said, as he bounced on his heels, "Look I know you said for me to leave at sundown, but I just woke up not five minutes ago,"
"Easy cowboy," Jefferey stated, standing up.
Alex studied the man before him. Not much taller than Alex, who stood roughly five feet seven inches tall, Jefferey looked like a tough kid from the wrong side of the tracks joined bodies with Marty McFly's Dad in 1885. Jefferey made it clear by standing between Alex and Carrie that he claimed her.
"Hey McFly!" Alex shot back, "I'm leaving okay,"
"We want you to stay. You have a firearm. We don't," Amber pointed out, "Safety in numbers,"
"So you only want me for my gun?" Alex asked, smirking a bit, "Then you'll be sad to hear that I used the last of my ammunition last month. I carry it for looks and comfort,"
"What good is a hunter without bullets?" Jefferey asked.
"McFly, I suggest you sit down and let the adults talk," Alex said, causing Jayson to crack a smile. "I've survived for a month without ammunition or people. I think I can handle myself, I just needed some rest,"
"Look, you are welcome to stay with us. Perhaps we can even work together and make this house liveable and protect it from the apes," Amber stated.
"If the apes are what you are worried about, this house ain't gonna protect you. The Infected are the brute force, the shock troops of the ape army,"
"You mean the Humonkeys?" Jayson asked, curiosity getting the best of him as Carrie, Jefferey, and Amber all looked at him, "What? I heard a guy from that town a few days back calling them that,"
"Whatever! The point is, Alex Ruler, we need someone who can teach us how to survive without using the same methods we were used to using. None of us here know how to hunt, how to live off the land. You certainly know something to have survived a month without ammunition," Amber said.
"Okay, you get lessons in living...but what is in it for me?" Alex asked.
"You get companions who are just as far up shit creek as you are," Carrie offered.
"You get someone who can trade wisecracks with you," Jefferey stated.
"You get a friend," Jayson said, sheepishly, which left Alex to turn to Amber.
"And you offer?" Alex asked, raising an eyebrow.
"You a room in this house, a good meal, and everything they offered you, Biff," Amber shot back.
"Took you that long to figure out which movie I was quoting huh?" Alex asked, smiling, "I guess you guys have a teacher. I'm going to teach the kid how to hunt, McFly will learn how to protect himself using his surroundings, and you two females will learn how to move silently,"
"Works for us," Amber stated.
"But let's make one thing clear, I don't answer to anybody. As long as you are out with me, you listen to me. If my instructions are not followed, you could very well die," Alex said.
"Right. We only have one rule anyways," Amber said, "We follow it very well considering that Jayson is my brother, and Carrie and Jefferey are a couple,"
"Let me guess...No one makes a move on you? Don't worry, Xena, I'm not gonna be your Hercules," Alex said, "Jayson, could you show me to this room I was offered, please?"
With that, Alex turned sideways to allow Jayson to lead him to his room. The room was at the end of the hallway, a small room with a twin bed and a single nightstand. Jayson stayed around for a bit, waiting to see if Alex needed anything. Alex smirked as he tossed his empty bag on the bed.
"Alright, Jayson. Your first lesson begins in the morning," Alex said, sitting on the edge of the bed, "Get some rest. I'll be waking you around dawn,"