Chapter 1: Just Another Night.
Luke Benson sat down on the floor in the living room of the old, run down, abandoned house. He needed some time by himself. Luke knew though, that too much time by oneself could get one into deep trouble. Especially in days as dark and cold as these. Luke was an average man, if there is such a thing, twenty-five, single, nice paying job, everything a red-blooded blue collar man could ask for. Up until recently.
It started years ago. First, the mid-western city of Raccoon was infected. Slowly, the city was entirely contaminated by a deadly virus. People were transformed into horrible abominations. In the end, a nuclear device was detonated in Raccoon. It only took a matter of weeks before Umbrella, a pharmaceutical company, was brought into question over the outbreak. Eventually, the US government was able to gather enough evidence to hold Umbrella responsible and shut them down for good. Or so we thought. Turns out the government of the US made a deal with Umbrella in 2003 and became their personal backer. Behind the iron curtain, Umbrella continued to develop new viruses to be used as biological weaponry. But unfortunately, anything can be sold, even secrets, foe the right price. In 2006, top secret information "leaked" and soon many other countries had Umbrella's technology.
Hundreds upon hundreds of experts kept saying that the new weapons should never be used and that all samples should be destroyed. No one knows for sure which side dealt the first blow, but it began in the worst place imaginable, New York. Soon, the whole world saw on their televisions the horrors of the virus. The US quickly retaliated on the suspected attackers, Iran. Soon, there was more news of the virus being used in warfare. Containment efforts were made, but all was in vain. Within a week, London, the next week, Berlin, then Tokyo, Moscow, Warsaw, then finally, it reached the US. The outbreaks began in 2006, it was now 2010. All communication was cut off. The world became a barren desert. The virus had a decaying effect on plants, there was hardly any grass or trees. The sky became clouded. It was never warm, never dark enough to be night, not bright enough to be day. The infected roam the empty world nonstop, they do not grow tired, they are never hungry nor thirsty, all they know is to spread the virus. Then when they have spread it to another host, they move on to the next one. When there are no more hosts, they will walk the Earth forever. Only the strong and willing survive now.
Luke was one of the willing. The strength was in the next room in the form of his new found partner, Raymond Elser. Raymond was strong and a good fighter but not too bright. He wore a blue bandana on his head and Luke would sometimes say that he wore it too tight. For the past few days they had been holding up in an old house on the outskirts of a small, Nevada town. The dust rolled outside, guided by the unforgiving and bitter wind.
Luke noticed a small music box sitting on a dresser. Luke approached and slowly opened it. A small iron ballerina rose from the box and began to rotate on her small platform. Chimes began ring out slowly and soon gained tempo. It was Luke's favorite song, "Somewhere over the Rainbow." Luke sat down on the floor closed his eyes. The music played gently and Luke drew in a deep, satisfying sigh.
For the first time that day, a grin streaked across his face. He went off to a better place. A happier place. He was a young boy now. It was the middle of a hot summer in his hometown. He and the other children ran out into the street as a heavy rain began to fall. The water was cold and refreshing on their hot skin. They laughed and played in the street, innocent, without cynicism, without fear, and with all the world laid out in front of them. The peace was broken suddenly by Raymond's footsteps, and suddenly Luke was back on the cold floor of the abandoned house.
Raymond looked at Luke strangely and said, "I found some peaches in the cupboard. You want some?"
Luke, snapping out of his blissful state, said, "Do you really think those are safe to eat?"
"They were still in the can when I found 'em." Said Raymond. He pulled out his knife and opened one of the cans. He began to eat the peaches with his bare hands.
"Do you want any?" he asked Luke.
Luke shook his head.
"Why are you so quiet?" Raymond asked munching loudly on the peaches.
"I've just been thinking." Luke responded.
"About what?" asked Raymond.
Luke drew in a deep sigh and said, "What's the point of this? Of running around, going from place to place, avoiding the infected, fighting the infected, for what? There is no point in us resisting. We're going to be killed by those things eventually. There's no end in sight, no light at the end of the tunnel, just this damned cold sky over a damned cold horizon."
Raymond thought for a moment and said, "Maybe it's because there is hope. There is always hope. Hope that maybe one day when we wake up the sun will be out."
Luke sighed, "I think I might be fresh out of hope."
"Bullshit." Said Raymond, chuckling.
"How can you tell?" asked Luke humorously.
"Because if you didn't have any hope, you wouldn't have gone with me." Said Raymond. "Besides, everyone's day's gonna come eventually, regardless of the state the world is in."
Luke knew that Raymond had a point. And that didn't happen often. Luke just shrugged his shoulders and continued to look out the window. He saw figures moving slowly out of the desert towards the house. Slowly but surely they were moving. Their groans and moans grew louder and louder.
Luke drew in a deep sigh and said, "They finally caught onto our scent again."
Raymond glanced out the window. "Damn. Well, we have two choices. We could pack up and move out now, or, seeing as how there's not too many, we could probably kill these, and stay for an extra day or two."
Look thought for a while. "It would be nice too stay a little longer..."
"Alright then, it's settled." said Raymond. "Who gets the shotgun?"
"Rock Paper Scissors for it" said Luke. After a quick game, Raymond ended up winning the twenty gauge shotgun and loaded six shells. He had another eight in his pocket.
Luke got the .38 revolver. He made sure all six chambers were loaded.
They aimed their weapons out the window.
"Shoot now?" said Luke.
"Wait till they're closer. We need to squeeze every round." Said Raymond.
Luke drew in a deep sigh and thought to himself, "Here we go again….."
Luke and Raymond kept their guns aimed steadily at the approaching infected.
"Now?" said Luke.
"Wait for it." Replied Raymond.
The assailants slowly got closer and closer.
"Now?" asked Luke impatiently.
"Wait just a little bit longer." said Raymond
Raymond wanted to conserve all of the ammunition possible. They waited until the infected were so close that they could reach out and touch them.
"Now!" Said Raymond, full of vigor.
Raymond gave out a terrible war cry and began emptying shell after shell into the bodies of the infected.
"OOOW! Come on you bastards! AHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAA!"
"Raymond! Don't waste ammo!" shouted Luke as he began to carefully place headshot after headshot into the infected.
Their moans and cries were unbearable. The fight did not last long, only a few seconds. When all was done, the bodies of the infected lay torn by gunfire on the hard, dry, ground.
Luke and Raymond stood quietly for a moment after the shooting ended. The wind howled and the dust rolled. The cold air bit at their skin. The clouds in the sky darkened their faces.
At length, Luke said, "You alright?"
"I'm good." Responded Raymond as he checked his shotgun.
Luke emptied the chambers of his revolver. He had two unused bullets. He discarded the used shells and loaded the unused bullets into the chambers. Luke pulled out four more fresh bullets and loaded them as well.
"How is the shotgun on ammo?" asked Luke.
"Got one shell left in the gun, six more in my pocket." Responded Raymond
Raymond pulled out five cartridges and loaded them into the shotgun.
"Now I've got one shell in my pocket, and a fully loaded, six shelled, pump shotgun in my hand." said Raymond, looking fondly at the shotgun.
"Alright. Damn. I'm starting to get hungry. You got any more of those peaches?" asked Luke
"Yeah, man. There are a few more cans in the kitchen."
They both walked into the kitchen. Luke opened the cupboards and pulled out a can of peaches. Luke opened it with his knife and began to eat with Raymond. Neither of them said a word. Luke's mind wandered again as Raymond furiously slurped up his peaches.
"Don't eat so fast. If you eat too fast, you'll eat more than what you need and you'll get sick." Said Luke.
Raymond paused for a moment looking at Luke. After a few seconds he went back to eating, slower this time. After a few minutes passed, Raymond was finished with his jar of peaches and Luke wasn't even halfway yet.
Raymond licked his lips, looked at the unfinished jar of peaches set in Luke's hand and said, "Are you gonna finish those?"
"No, you can have 'em." said Luke.
Luke handed his jar over to Raymond. There was more silence.
At length, Raymond said, "I figure, that fight probably bought us a little time, but more are sure to come. So, I think in two days at the most, we can pack up all the food we can and head out."
Luke drew in a long sigh and said, "Tell me, Raymond, when is tomorrow? Ever since this whole thing started, I have not seen one running clock. They're all stopped. There is only the clouds in the sky. Can hardly even tell when it's day or night."
"Well, I guess it's when we wake up after we go to sleep for a long time." said Raymond, oblivious to Luke's rhetorical intentions.
There was more silence.
Luke then said, "How long have we been traveling around together?"
Raymond paused for a moment to think about the question. He then said, "I don't know. I haven't been paying much attention. I'm guessing at least two weeks."
"How long do you think we can last?"asked Luke
"I don't like to think about that." responded Raymond
"Why not? It's inevitable."
"Why are you so hooked on this topic?" asked Raymond, pausing his eating. "I don't think about that because the moment I do I'll stop moving, and then I'll die; which is going to happen to you if you..."
Before Raymond could finish, they heard gunshots in the distance. Both of their eyes widened with hope, a brief, nearly unbearable, moment of hope. To them, gunshots meant people. What they wouldn't give to see another living face again!
They ran to the window to see where the shots came from. They didn't see anyone. The shots came again.
"Over there!" cried Raymond. He pointed to a house in far in the distance.
Without a word, they both ran as fast as they could out the front door and made a dash for the house, weapons in hand. They were breathing hard and were running on pure adrenaline.
The house became clearer and clearer as they got closer to it. It was an old, rusty, shack.
Two more shots came from the inside of the shack. Then there were no more.
"Hello!" shouted Luke.
No answer came from inside.
Raymond kicked opened the door and aimed his shotgun. It was dark inside. Luke entered the shack while Raymond covered him from the doorway.
Luke felt around the walls for a light switch. When he found one he clicked it on immediately. The light revealed a man hunched over on a desk with a pen in his hand. He was surrounded by dead infected.
Luke walked slowly over to the desk. Before he got there, an infected person rose from the floor. As soon as he rose he was finished off by a shotgun blast from Raymond.
Luke turned around and saw Raymond holding the smoking shotgun. He cocked it and tightened his bandana.
Luke made a nod which said, "thank you"
He went over to the man on the desk. Luke bent over and looked at his face. The man was dead. Or so he thought
The man raised his head slowly making a groan. His eyes showed a blank expression as if he was about to say,"Kill me." Luke shot him in the head without the slightest hint of hesitation. Blood splattered all over the desk and onto a letter that was on the desk.
Luke drew in a sigh of relief and picked up the blood stained letter.
It read:
Dear Patricia,
I don't know if you'll ever get this, but I will write it anyway. Maybe, when the infection has passed, you will come across it. I am so sorry, but I will not be joining you or the kids in Pittsburgh. I hope you all will have a good life. I wish you the best. All I ask of you, is to not cry. Do not mourn me. Live on. Be happy. In the heat of summer, I want the children go swimming, thinking only of the water on their skin. When the leaves fall in autumn, I want the kids to gather them up and play in them, not remembering their long gone father who is not there to rake the leaves up again. In winter when the snow falls and covers the grass, I want them to decorate a Christmas tree, like we have in the past years. And when the kids are asleep, and you are in bed and feel that side next to you is cold, do not weep. For I will be there. I have to go now, goodbye, I love you, I have always loved you, I will always love you……………………… even in the coldness of death.
Luke folded up the letter and put in his pocket.
He drew in a sigh, closed his eyes, and said, "One man goes to sleep forever…" Luke looked at the chambers of his revolver, "Another man is short one bullet…." He looked at the letter again. "One fatherless family mourns a loss…." He looked out the window at the howling horizon, "And a world full of darkness does not stop to care…." Luke gave another sigh. "Yep. Just another night."