THE WALKING DEAD - UNDERLAND PART 1 - WAKING
BY DANIEL WATTS
There was a distinct ticking near my ear, which seemed to pulse through my head relentlessly. Pounding deep within my skull, my dream was interrupted; something about a city street, and a car, and a lovely girl. Dissipated into the daylight air, which brushed on my face with a cool hand, the light piercing my already painful eyes. My own hands however, were numb, as I looked down the length of my left arm, I could see it had gone limp with the way I was laying, arm dangling in the pool of my house, wrinkles covered every finger, and it looked as if I'd been there for many hours. The pool filter ticking away in the distance. I turned to my right, and rattled my hand, which was slightly out of view, my suspicions were correct, I was handcuffed to my heavy pool chair. Glorious friends I have, I thought. Probably Nick, only he would cuff me so close to a place where I could drown.
I'm sure it had been a good night, James' buck's night, I obviously didn't remember much of it, I still have no idea how I ended up cuffed by the pool side. All I could think that groggy morning, was how I was going to peel myself off of that concrete, and undo the cuffs. After several minutes, I realized that the key was sat quite subtly atop the pool chair above where I was laying, I scrambled and fidgeted, dragging myself underneath to undo the cuffs, and with a clink, they came un-done. At that I sat up, discarding the cuffs. My back aching with the hours of laying upon the cold hard ground, and I surveyed the area, the pool had several whiskey bottle-sea monsters scattered throughout its depths, no broken glass thankfully. I spied a glass bong however, knocked over on the outdoor table, scattered remnants of other party paraphernalia by its side. The reasons for my handcuffing suddenly seemed a little less, or more, foggy. I approached the back door, and stared at my bearded face in the glass, I could hear the low thump of the bass still pumping inside the house, and as I slid open the door, the dragons let out its throaty cry. How the rest of the guys managed to sleep through the night with the sounds of house party music blaring through our sound system is still a mystery, but it proved possible. Toilet paper trails, the smell of alcohol and a distinct presence of filth filled the air. I decided to postpone slaying the musical beast, and instead made my way to the bathroom, down through the kitchen, passed the hall, and to my left, where I entered the small tiled room. The sink was running, god knows how long for, thankfully no plug had been put in though, and so I rinsed my face, staring up at my blue eyes, and ragged head. The face of an adult, the face of a man, whom still felt somewhat like a boy, living a fantasy, where escape was not an option. This bucks night had been a wakeup call, the idea that a mate, a mate who spent his days in high school chasing girls with no hope of every gaining their attention, was now going to be joining his life with one. I hadn't had a girlfriend since tenth grade, and even then, that relationship isn't worth discussing. I felt better though, seeing the other guys feeling somewhat the same, before we hit the drinks we had a good chat, and it was pretty evident that David, Nick, and Michael felt the same way as me.
The night started with pre-drinks at mine, and then we made our way down town into the clubs, drinking as we went, James was determined that we stay away from the strip clubs, so as far as I know we did. It got to about midnight when James' phone rang, his fiancé was crying and screaming about something, and we assumed it was a plea to drag him away from his final night of freedom. So in typical drunk guy fashion, we ignored the call and confiscated his phone. After the clubs we headed for the bar nearest our house, a few kilometres down the road. After that, everything seems slurred, aside from David's incident, he tried to pick up this girl at the pub, who was clearly plastered, and she bit him right on the neck, drew blood and everything, the bouncers dragged her out kicking and writhing.
That's all I remember really, the flickering street lights seemed burned into my eyes as I looked into the swirling water in the sink. Suddenly there was a loud thud on the wall behind the mirror, and I leapt back, surprised. Behind the bathroom, in the hallway, was the guest bedroom, I assumed one of the guys crashed in there after they went inside. I turned off the tap, and pressed my ear against the wall, maybe one of them brought a girl home. There was quiet, and suddenly, another loud bang, this time bits of dust fell from atop the mirror, which now hung askew. I decided, hangover or not, I wasn't going to have a mate destroying my house. So I left the bathroom and went around the bedroom door. Peering into the living room as I passed, where I saw Michael and Nick strung out on the floor and the lounge. I reached the bedroom door, and slowly turned the handle, looking inside. It was gloomy, and the only light came from a slight crack in the blinds, the dust swirling in the air and the blackness. I flicked the light switch and stared ominously at what lay in front of me, on the bed, two feet above me stood David, or rather, David's body, his eyes were a terrible murky white, and his mouth had streams of blood, which came down his bare chest. The small bite on his neck had festered, and was now black in parts, his veins were pulsating just under his skin.
Fear filled me, something was terribly wrong, my corpse like friend stood gnashing at me, the light on the ceiling had caught his attention and the bed springs creaked under the pressure of his weight. The booming bass of the stereo hammered with the beat of my heart. Suddenly, as if I had been invisible, David lurched forward, slipping off of the bed, he slammed his head on the door frame, and a black bruise rose on his forehead almost immediately. I sprang back, and with a moment of hesitation I kicked his head away from the door frame, and grabbed for handle, pulling the door shut with a slam. In that moment, as the music persisted with beat after beat, time slowed down, my mind was spinning with the countless horror films I had seen throughout my life, and now one was banging at my guest bedroom door. Then the music stopped, the lights in the kitchen went out too, in fact everything stopped still, and with the sudden quiet in the house, I could hear sirens in the distance, the violent snoring in the living room, and the sickening gargle of a cry, that derided behind the closed door in front of me.
"Michael, wake up, wake the fuck up man, something has happened man, something happened, something's wrong" I pleaded to the still hung over men on my floor.
As Michael and Nick began to sit up and rub their eyes, the sound of sirens grew louder and louder, and with the sirens, came screams and the distant sound of explosions, and as I explained what was in the guest bedroom, all anybody could hear was the gargling and the gnashing of teeth.