I do not own these characters
Chapter One- A New Dawn
The hottest day of the summer so far was only in it's infancy a drowsy silence hung over the highways that led to the usually bustling area of Huntsville. Cars that usually stood gleaming brightly under the glow of the sun now stood dusty and uncared for in their garages or out on the porches. The lawns that were once emerald and lively now looked parched and yellowing. Deprived of their usual car-washing and lawn-moving activities, the inhabitants of the area had retreated back into their respective houses and most, if not all, had turned on the air conditioners, no doubt to try and battle the scorching heat of the four'o clock sun. The only vehicle left outdoors was a jet black Porsche car that swiveled through the deserted streets. There were only two people occupying the vehicle: one being the driver and the other a girl sitting in the passenger seat, gazing out of her window as they drove along.
She was a skinny, blonde-haired, rather constrained looking young woman and she wore an expression akin to someone who's mind was someplace else and couldn't care less about the world around her. Her top was neatly kempt and skinny jeans hugged her legs closely, almost looking as if it had been painted onto her skin itself. Her sweater lay next to her, folded neatly and placed on top of one of her trunks since she had no need for it after exiting the cool , air conditioned airport building nearly two hours ago. Everything about Elsabeth Árnadalr looked every bit how one would expect someone from her social class to appear and yet, she was nothing like how she seemed at first glance. True, she was never considered to be free spirited nor was she known to be easy going. No—that position belonged to her younger sister of course. But Elsa was nowhere as uptight and snooty looking as some of the other people she'd grown up having to consider as 'friends'.
'I reckon you didn't enjoy your flight then?', Kai spoke as he adjusted the rear-view mirror to get a better view of his passenger.
Kai was Elsa's chauffer and caretaker whilst she attended her university in Atlanta. He was a big, beefy man with large, inquisitive looking eyes, a non-existent neck and sparsely distributed auburn hair. His most prominent facial feature was perhaps his bulbous nose that stuck out , making sure it caught everyone's attention.
'I'll take that as a yes then…', he remarked with a sigh, bringing Elsa out of her thoughts. Silence was always a neutral option.
'The weather's not too bad this time around. I'm sure you'll be back to normal in no time, Miss Elsa.', Kai remarked, glancing at her through his rear-view mirror and giving her a small smile.
Elsa grimaced at her, trying not to be rude. But she just wasn't in the mood for any small talk. Pursing her lips, she leaned her head against the window sill and watched the landscape passing by as they drove out of the town and onto the main highway.
For a while, a strange silence hung in the air as Kai kept his eyes on the road(occasionally flitting to his rear-view mirror) and Elsa's gaze fixed upon the yellowing grasslands on the sides of the vacant highway.
'You know, Miss Elsa. It wouldn't hurt to lighten up a little. Tell me what's bothering you. Perhaps I might be of some help.', Kai remarked as he changed gears, increasing the speed at which they were moving.
Elsa let out a defeated sigh. Was she really that bad at concealing her own emotions?
'Don't worry about it, Kai. I'm fine.' Elsa bluffed. 'Just a little tired.'
For a few seconds, he merely gave her fleeting glances through the mirror as he pursed his lips.
'You do realize that I know you well enough to know when you're not telling me the truth? ', he answered.
When no reply came from his passenger, Kai decided to try and change the topic to get Elsa to speak.
'I was having quite the eventful few days while you were away, Miss Elsa.' He remarked nonchalantly.
Elsa immediately caught onto what he was trying to do but she decided to play along anyway. Being moody and slouchy to him just wasn't fair when he'd done nothing wrong.
Shifting in her seat, she straightened her back and gave her best attempt to put up an interested expression on her face. Seeing a positive response, Kai smirked to himself.
'I was just headed back to my apartment after eating out the day you left to visit back home. I wasn't feeling all that well and to be honest, I'm rather glad I hadn't taken the car out .', he continued , glancing backwards over his shoulder at Elsa as he spoke.
'So I decided to call me a cab for the night . And you know how hard it is to catch one fellow for a ride these impatient lot these millenials…. Anyway, when I finally managed to catch a cab, there was another fellow in there too and he looked mighty uneasy or summat…I could tell there was something off with the fellow—you know how I have these vibes about people. '
As he continued his story, Elsa's eyes momentarily shifted to the passing landscape around them and as she stared out the window, she caught sight of a squad of police vehicle, maybe seven of them, along with two ambulances speeding away from the city, in the opposite direction. There was even a police chopper following them, soaring a few dozen feet above the ground as they all raced away . Not giving it much thought, Elsa shifted her attention back to Kai as he continued his story.
'—and so we were only seven minutes down the avenue when all of a sudden, we saw these red and blue lights flashing madly around us and before we knew what was happening, two police vehicles came up in front of the cab and hauled us up. The cabbie wasn't looking too well at the sight of the cops. Began taking an inhaler, the poor fellow. '
'And then they came up and handcuffed the bloke sitting next to me. He was apparently running away after he'd killed his wife cold blooded. He kept crying and kicking out like a fussy baby on an airplane. And the funny part was that he kept saying it wasn't him that did it when the bloody cops had apparently come in on the scene and seen him in the act as he was dumping her body out of his truck it seems!' Kai exclaimed with a tone that showcased how much in disbelief he was.
'Man…', Elsa muttered , for a lack of a better expression to convey her thoughts on the whole story.
'It goes to show that people will up and go mad when they know their life's over…' Kai finished with a sense of mundane finality.
For a few seconds, the two of them kept silent but the silence didn't last long as Kai began another story, as if he'd made up his mind to not let Elsa to her moody thoughts again.
'Oh! I have another good one for you,Miss Elsa! This one's a little less depressing and a bit more hilarious if I do say so myself. This other—', he said as he looked at Elsa over his shoulder as he spoke, his eyes completely off of the road in front of him.
As he continued his story, Elsa's gaze momentarily shifted away from Kai's face to something that caught her eye . It was ahead of them, fifteen feet away . It slowly trudged onto the wide roadway and it did not seem to be in a hurry whatsoever. A person. He seemed to be a high school jock or something, Elsa guessed from the sports jacket and crew didn't even turn his head at the sound of an incoming rapidly moving vehicle and by the time Elsa's brain registered what was happening, it was too late.
' KAI!' Elsa yelled , pointing ahead, her heart racing as Kai cursed and tried to serve out of the way of the pedestrian to no avail.
Elsa couldn't make much of what happened but she was sure she heard the sound of their vehicle slamming hard into the person in front of them before it screeched and wheeled towards the iron railing on the sides of the road . She barely had time to blink before the front of the vehicle crashed into the railing and due to the pure momentum at which they were traveling, the vehicle flipped over vertical and rolled over the safety railing .
Everything happened so fast. The vision around her was getting too hazy and she couldn't make sense of anything that was happening. Her trunks and everything else next to her began flying around in the back seat. She barely managed to catch sight of the windshield cracking and giving way before she felt herself flying off from her seat . The last thing she felt was a sharp pain on the crown of her head and then the world around her went black.
The first thing she felt was the throbbing of her right temple and a vague numbness on her head. As soon as he brain began processing information, she came to realize that she was lying down and from the feel of the leather pressed up against her cheek, presumably on the seat of the was a dull ringing in her ears and the salty taste of some liquid on the right edge of her mouth.
Letting out a soft disembodied groan, Elsa's eyes slowly flitted open, struggling against the weight her eyelids were exerting, begging her to close them again. Her vision was foggy and everything around her was rather bright and hazy. She slowly began moving her neck, and immediately took notice of the pain that shot through her body as she tried to do so. Blinking a few times to try and adjust her hazy vision, she noticed the dented ceiling and the fact that she was lying on the glass window with her neck and face pressed up awkwardly against the seat at a right angle. Slowly shifting around , she noticed her trunk lying open on top of her feet.
"Urgh… God…" she mumbled as she jogged her memory, remembering the crash.
There was the distinct scent of kerosene in the air and from the looks of it, it was midday. She probably hadn't been knocked out that long since it didn't look like time hadn't passed at all. Her throat felt peculiarly dry and parched. And the bottle she'd carried with her lay next to her, cap open and it's contents long gone. Great.
Forcing herself to ignore the pain shooting through her body, she sat upright and yanked her trunk off of her feet, freeing herself . Having done so, she shoved it aside . She looked up to notice that she'd been right about her guess and she was sitting on the window of the car which was pressed down on the grassy ground. Craning her neck around towards the driver's seat, she noticed the absence of her guardian.
'Kai? Are you okay?' she called out weakly.
No answer.
The windshield was shattered to pieces and the front door seemed to be torn off it's hinges. Slowly, she tried to stand up in the car and reached out towards the doorknob of the door above her. The knob moved but the door did not open. She tried again, yanking it rapidly but it yielded the same result. Letting out a sigh of defeat, she decided to try and crawl her way out towards the front seats of the car . Having done so, she stumbled out of the door and onto the yellowing grass, almost loosing her footing but managing to hold on.
She needed water but there didn't seem to be any department store for miles. She dug her hand into her jeans pocket and pulled out her phone, only to find that the device, strangely enough, had run out of charge. The only thing she saw was her own disheveled reflection staring back at her. She couldn't see much because of the sun's glare but she managed to catch sight of the cut on her forehead and the dried blood the had oozed all along the side of her face and into her mouth. Ew. So that's what that salty liquid was.
She walked around the wreckage of the car that was far beyond any hopes of repair to find no sign of her guardian anywhere. Where the heck was he?
Elsa held her hands up over her brows to provide some shade to her eyes as she squinted, looking around the vicinity for any sign of him.
"Kai!" she called out , but no answer came.
Kai was nowhere to be seen, she had no charge on her phone and there were no vehicle that seemed to be passing by on either sides of the road. She decided to prioritize and try and find some place where she could call for help . Scouring the landscape, her heart skipped a beat as something that looked like a house came into view, at least a kilometer away. It didn't look like much they had to have a phone she could use to call for help at least.
Deciding to head there first , she moved towards the back door of the upturned car and yanked hard at the door . It took her several frustrated attempts to finally break it open and she reached for her backpack, cramming everything she needed for the moment. Having done so, she began trudging along towards the house that loomed in the horizon , ignoring the shots of pain in her leg with each step.
It seemed like she'd been walking for hours and the only other sound that her ears picked up besides her own panting was the sound of her feet shifting across the hot tar road. As she drew nearer, she noticed that the place was something like a ranch of sorts, with a horse stable at the back and everything. There were no vehicles there however, besides the one tractor that lay forgotten near the backyard.
The house was rather plain simple looking, with wooden walls and floorboards and a vacant swinging chair in the front. From what she could see through the window, the lights were off and there was no sign of any life or sound that came from within the walls.
She reached out a knocked on the front door but as soon as she rapped her knuckles the first time, the door simply creaked and shifted open a few centimeters.
'Um.. Hello?Anybody home? I need a little help! ', Elsa called out cautiously , knocking on the door a second time. No answer came. Strange.
'Can I come in?' Elsa called out a little louder this time, just to check if she actually was alone and wasn't intruding into someone's home.
When no reply came, she took that as confirmation of her theory and moved the door fully open, stepping inside and shutting it behind her. If nobody really was home, she could maybe find a phone and call for help and leave before anybody found out she was here. And she would leave a few dollars for her use of the phone. It wouldn't really be stealing then, would it?
She was now standing in a plain looking living room with a sooty fireplace right across the room. There were a few sets of wooden furniture lying around haphazardly in the room and the wooden floorboards creaked as Elsa stepped forward. A magazine lay open on the floor and a few framed photographs of a family of four sat on the mantelpiece atop the fireplace. A middle aged man and woman with graying hair, a teenaged son with brown hair and a young woman who didn't look much older than Elsa. All in all, they had the looks of a simple farming family. Elsa hoped they weren't on their way back from wherever they were as she moved along the room, towards the landline telephone set she spotted on a wooden table near the fireplace.
She reached out and picked up the phone and just before she was about to dial, she paused. Then she continued. She chose to try calling her mother's phone instead of her father(he probably wouldn't have picked it up anyway). She clicked and waited. For almost a whole half minute, there was no sound that came from the earpiece .
'Shit.. ', she cursed under her breath, this time trying Anna's number and again, there was no response. The phone was dead. What the hell was happening?
In a fit of frustration, she slammed the phone down a little too loudly and clenched her teeth. It was then , when she stood there not knowing what to do that her stomach growled loudly and her brain registered the insatiably hunger clawing at her insides, something she just was too distracted to notice up until now. But she didn't have any food in her backpack. On instinct, her eyes shifted towards the dining area , where the circular wooden table and chairs stood invitingly .
As she stood there, arguing with the voice in her mind that was egging her on, her legs began to develop a mind of it's own and began to carry her towards the kitchen area, where the refrigerator stood passively, waiting for her to open it.
She struggled a little to yank it open, for she was too dehydrated and weak from starvation but the moment she laid eyes on the contents within, her stomach developed a mind of it's own and began controlling her arms , grabbing at anything it could find .
And before she knew what was happening, Elsa was already seated and the dining table, a plate in front of her, wolfing down cheese and jam sandwiches one after the other, all the while gulping down the bottle of milk next to her. By the time her stomach felt contented , she'd already downed over nine loaves of bread and anything else she could find. Feeling a little bad for pillaging on the food of somebody else , she reached into her bag and placed a fifty dollar note under the plate for when the family came back and found the food supply gone. At least they'd have enough money to replace what Elsa had just wolfed down.
As she washed away the dirt and dried blood on her hands and face in the sink, all of a sudden, she thought she heard the floorboard outside creak. She turned off the tap and stood silently, listening intently to make sure her mind hadn't just made up the sound. Then it came again. And this time it sounded like someone walking over the wooden flooring outside the house. Wiping her hands quickly on her jeans, she slung her backpack over her shoulder , making her way towards the front door, making up various ways in her mind on how to apologize to the family for breaking into their house .
But as she reached the front door, to her confusion, there was no family standing there in the doorway with looks of shock on their face. In fact, there was no one there. She was sure she'd heard someone moving around—walking around . She moved forward and pushed the door open, walking out onto the front porch. As she looked around the yellowing grounds, her heart almost skipped a beat. There was in fact, someone there at the house besides her. But it was not anyone she recognized from the family photograph from earlier. That being said, it wasn't someone she didn't recognize either. His oval figure, thick neck and balding head with patches of ginger were all too familiar even if he stood with his back to her.
'KAI!' Elsa exclaimed in a mingled sense of happiness and disbelief as she trotted down the five stair steps and onto the graveled front yard where he stood.
At her voice, Kai began to turn around towards her . As she laid eyes on him, she couldn't tell what it was but something in her gut began prodding her, telling her something was not right. Her eyes traveled up his face , pausing momentarily upon seeing the dirt and blood stains on his disheveled clothing and on his hands. She involuntarily stopped in her tracks as her bright blue eyes met with Kai's bloodshot gaze. There was a pungent smell ripe in the air and , strangely enough, it seemed to be coming off of Kai himself . It took Elsa a few seconds to notice the things different about him. For one, his usually plump , smiling face was now wearing a vague, vacant expression and his eyes were sunken inwards, glassy looking and unfocused . His skin seemed slightly yellowing and waxy and bore the look of an unhealthy, sickly person.
As his eyes fell on her, his mouth twitched and drooled in an inhuman manner, as if craving for something. The pungent smell leaking off of him made Elsa's stomach churn and she had to clench her teeth to not vomit on the spot . As she watched, Kai slowly began edging towards where she stood , rooted to the began limping, rather dragging his feet and bared his yellowing teeth at her like a carnivorous animal would to it's prey. As he dragged himself to her, a low, coarse growl elicited out of his throat . Elsa gazed at him in a confused manner as Kai stared back in a way he had never done before.
When they were a bare five feet away from each other, Kai lifted his arms up, outstretched as if he was struggling to do so. With every step, his raspy breath grew closer and closer and as Elsa stood there, gaping at the sunken face in front of her, he grabbed at her arm with his gnarly, blackened fingers and began pulling it towards his mouth as he bared his teeth open.
While her mind was frozen in a state of shock, her body took control and in a spur motion, Elsa swung her backpack at Kai, bashing it straight into the side of his face with enough momentum to send him stumbling backwards. Once she was free of his grasp, Elsa began backing away as Kai regained balance and began advancing on her, this time his intention a lot clearer as he growled menacingly at her and clawed at the air as he stomped over.
Her heart hammering against her chest, Elsa backpedaled and bolted back the way she came, heading straight into the kitchen , trying to find a hiding place from whatever it was that was stalking her. Droplets of sweat began collecting along her skin as her eyes failed to find a suitable area. Turning on her heel, she was about to run back out the entrance door, only to screech to a halt upon seeing the creature dragging itself into the living room of the house.
Now panicking, she stumbled backwards and leapt up the staircase and threw herself into the first open door she laid eyes on, slamming it shut behind her. Her chest rose and fell rapidly as she backed away from the door until she was pressed up against the wall. Her mind was too caught up on trying to make sense of what was happening that she hadn't noticed that she was standing in what looked like the master bedroom of the house.
As she stood there in the nervewracking silence, the only sounds her ears picked up were that of her own ragged breathing and the slow, unsavory creaks of the creature coming up the stairs . As she looked around the room from a way out, her she laid eyes on something else in the room that made her mouth dry.
She let out an involuntary scream and paced backwards in cold terror as she spotted another creature that bore all the same characteristics that Kai had. The only difference was, it was trapped, strapped to the iron window bars with thick rope . In her sudden shock, she stumbled backwards knocked over the lamp shade that stood on the bed side table. As it crashed to the floor, the sound echoed through the room and not a moment later, the door burst open and the creature that looked like Kai stood in the doorway, it's raspy breaths quickening as it laid eyes on Elsa. Then it all happened too fast.
Within seconds, the grotesque, rotting figure of Kai was on top of her, snapping menacingly at her as Elsa did whatever she could to keep him from sinking his teeth into her flesh. Her heart thrashed against her ribs as she scream in terror, fighting the thing on top of her. As she struggled against his massive body weight, out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a hunting rifle lying on the floor a few feet away from the creature that was tied up to the window.
Mustering up all her strength, she kicked out at Kai, her foot planting itself squarely on his chest and sent him stumbling backwards , colliding into the door behind him which snapped off it's hinges under the momentum. Seizing the opportunity, Elsa scrambled to her feet and leapt over the bare mattress , onto the other side and grabbed the gun. Having done so, she spun on her heel a little too fast, tripped over herself and fell onto her back as Kai advanced on her, his arms outstretched. As her back hit the floor, a loud , resounding 'bang' echoed through the walls of the house.
For a few seconds, nothing happened. There was a strange sense of stillness in the air. Then, Kai's knees gave way and his pungent body crashed onto the floor, his head inches away from where Elsa sat crouched, her back pressed up against the wall. Elsa didn't move. Her clammy palms still tightly gripped around the rifle in her hand. She expected Kai to get back up and claw at her again but he didn't move. Not this time. There was a large, gaping hole in the center of his forehead, out of which a thick, blackish liquid oozed out , trickling down his brow and onto the floor. She stared at the unmoving body , too shocked to react . Unable to hold it in any longer, she threw up in front of her, repulsed at the sight . Wiping her mouth on her jacket sleeve, her eyes traveled down to the gun still in her grasp. She let out small shriek and tossed the gun aside onto the bed , eyeing it with terror. She killed Kai. She'd killed someone.
As the realization dawned on her, she wrapped her arms around her knees and began sobbing into her pants. She'd killed a man. Worst of all, someone she'd known all her life. It had all happened so fast that she didn't know what was happening. Her sobs seemed to have awakened the other creature in the room and he also gave of a pungent, rotting stench as he moaned and clawed mindlessly at the air, trying to reach at Elsa. She jerked in fright and shifted herself as far away from it's grasp as possible.
She blinked back the tears and gazed at the thing as it sat there on the opposite end of the room, clawing. She hadn't noticed it before but now she recognized him. He was the teenaged son from that picture of the family that owned the house. If this was what happened to him, she didn't want to think where all the others were. Her gaze shifted to a point just above the creature's head. There sat a marker board placed on the window sill with the words ' Do not get close' etched onto it and it looked like it'd been scribbled on in a hurry.
Her eyes traveled down to the unmoving body at her feet. No. She wasn't a killer. Whatever the thing was, it certainly could not be Kai. He'd never hurt her, least of all try to eat her alive. Plus, it had a rotting scent to it. It almost bore a scent similar in some ways, but a lot more distinct to a dead body. What the hell was happening?
Licking her lips which were almost cracked dry, she quickly moved out of the room, not turning back and hurried down the stairs and out of the house. The longer she stayed there, the more sick she'd feel.
Once outside, she took in deep lungfuls of the open air , trying to dispel the disgusting smell of rotting flesh from her nostrils. Having caught her breath, she decided to try and get to the city to find out what the hell was happening. There had to be answers there. It had to be some new kind of sickness or something. She gazed around the yard and mentally cursed as there was no vehicle around the area for her to use. Well, there was the tractor still there but that really was not an option. As she stood there, racking her brains on how to get to the city, she heard the distinct neigh of a horse coming from the barns around the back of the ranch.
As she made her way towards the back yard of the ranch, a moderate sized barn came into view and along with it came the distinct scent of manure and hay. The stables looked pretty empty and there was wet hay strewn all over the dank ground. She let her ears lead her towards the stall that contained the one horse still left in the barn. It was a black stallion who's sleek coating glistened in the few rays of sun that managed to sneak inside. Catching sight of Elsa, the horse blinked and let out an impatient snort, as if wondering why she wasn't opening the door.
Her gaze shifted down to the floor around the animal and noticed the stacks of hay and bucket of water still unfinished. So that means it hadn't been that long since the family who lived in the house had disappeared.
Slowly opening the door, she edged inside, trying her best to calm down and not let her mind wander back to the images of the rotting creatures upstairs in the house. Her tense energy would just rile up the horse as well.
As she attempted to near the animal, it neighed and reared up, shaking it's head.
'Heeey..It's-It's alright boy.I'm a friend.. Y-You wanna get outta here?' Elsa remarked quietly, trying to sound calm.
After a few failed attempts to get close to him, Elsa now stood there, gently rubbing his face to let him know she meant him no harm. As she stroked his face, she noticed the saddle propped up on the stable wall.
About ten minutes later, she was back out on the highway, her fingers secured around the reins as she steered the horse towards the direction in which the big city was located. There was nothing to be seen for miles and the hot sun was not helping either. The horizon seemed endless and permanently out of reach. Not a single vehicle, car nor truck could be seen . Where was everyone?
After almost three hours , Elsa had drained the last droplet of water she'd taken from the ranch before leaving. And she didn't have any spares left. She could just make the horse run towards the city, but that would just make him grow tired and that's not something she wanted.
Try as she might, she couldn't shake the image of those—things back up at the ranch. There was no way it was Kai, was there? It defied all logical thinking. For one thing, whatever it was, it lacked all common human behavior. Then there was the fact that it's skin seemed like it was decaying. And also, it tried to eat her alive. There was a voice in her mind that propped up the thought that maybe it was just a hallucination from the hunger she'd been experiencing .
Letting out a sigh, she placed the bottle back into her backpack and zipped the bag shut. Upon looking back up towards the horizon, something in the distance caught her eye. It was on the opposite lane of the highway . Squinting her eyes to get a better look against the setting sun, her heart skipped a beat as she recognized the familiar shape of a public bus . With a renewed sense of relief, she whipped the reins and the horse obeyed, picking up speed and galloping faster up the tar road.
After what seemed like hours, they were finally beginning to near the area and from what she could see, it hadn't moved an inch yet. Probably parked there or something. But why would anyone park their vehicle in the middle of the road though?
Elsa yanked at the reins as they drew close to the bus. To her bewilderment however, the bus was not alone in it's stationary position. From what she could tell, at least a dozen more vehicles of all shapes and sizes were lying there on the road, unmoving. Some of them had their doors wide open while others seemed slightly run down. But that was not the strange part. None of them had any occupants. There was not a single human being in sight.
Her lips slightly parted as she gawked at the scene in confusion. She leapt down from the horse's back and walked forward to the metal divider, tying it's reins up before climbing over the railing to the other lane.
Elsa could feel a shade of terror clawing at her as she walked around the area, wide eyes staring at all the vacant vehicles. Her breath grew quicker. This wasn't right. It was as if every single human on the planet had disappeared or something. She'd never felt more alone than she did at the what she could see in front of her, there were unending lines of abandoned vehicles lying in front of her, stretching into the horizon.
With quick pace, she hurried back to the horse and mounted it, whipping the reins , forcing it to gallop faster towards the city as a sense of uncertain dread began oozing it's way inside her. After what seemed like hours , the tall skyscrapers of Atlanta came into view and for a second, Elsa a feeling immediately sprung up inside her that gave her the feeling that something was wrong. Not just the vehicles had been abandoned but the trains on the other side seemed stationary as well. There was not a single noise to be heard apart from the sound of the horse's hooves striking against the road as it galloped.
As they neared the city, she yanked at the reins, slowing down the horse into a slow trot as she glanced around the area in dread. No police men at the checkpost. No people bustling around the checkpoint department stores despite the fact that they had the 'open' sign visible on the door.
The situation and dread only got worse as they entered the city. It was as if time itself had stopped. Nothing moved, except for Elsa, the horse she was on and a few ravens that were flying around the area, low to the ground. The streets were empty and pieces of waste paper and debris were strewn around the area, billowing around randomly in the occasional breeze that came by.
As the wandered closer into the heart of the city, Elsa's gaze fell upon a quarantined zone in the middle of the square with a vacant helicopter lying there , unused. There was even an unmoving war tank that lay there, parked onto the sidewalk, precariously close to the wall of a building as if it'd been put there carelessly. But why were all these military vehicles here in the middle of the city?
As She gazed around in horror, the sight that welcomed her were the many cars and other automobiles laying in random positions, doors open and windshields smashed in(some of them at least). The unnerving silence began to bear down on her and she had already pinched herself thrice to make sure she wasn't still back in her crashed car, hallucinating. No. Something was definitely wrong. Even the horse seemed to have sensed it, since it was getting rather nervous and riled up, turning it's head in directions she hadn't made it to turn.
'It's alright boy... Calm down. We'll figure out what's going on..' Elsa mumbled, trying to calm down the horse. But she knew she was speaking empty words. She herself was probably a lot more scared than the horse was.
Wastebins lay upturned on the roads, spare tires, clothes and all sorts of other items lay strewn carelessly around them. It looked like a hurricane had hit the area and everyone had evacuated someplace else or something. And it didn't help that her phone charge was non-existent at the moment either.
As she moved in deeper into the concrete jungle, the sights only got worse. Vehicles were stacked up on each other. Some buildings had their doors and windows all boarded up and sealed off and it looked like it had been done in a hurry. Lampposts lay on the ground, it's bulb shattered onto the pavement. The traffic signals did anything but blink red, orange and green. Some of the vehicles even looked like it had scorch marks on it, as if it'd been set on fire. It was like they'd wandered into a ghost town or something.
She decided to head into one of the stores and find a powerbank to charge her phone first before continuing any further. Dismounting from the horse, she moved towards the derelict looking store , approaching it cautiously .
'Hello?Anybody here?', she called out.
No answer came. Heading inside, she ransacked the area but to her dismay, there was nothing worthwhile to take from there for use. It was as if the place had been raided. Almost anything and everything in there was gone, except for a bunch of useless toys and cracked television sets.
Just then, she heard the horse neighing frightfully and as she whipped around , she caught sight of it, backpedalling and galloping away.
' NO! PLEASE! NO! COME BACK!' she cried and bolted out the store, her heart hammering in her chest. She couldn't let the animal go. It was her only way out of here if something was wrong like what her gut was telling her.
She chased after the fleeing horse as it rounded a city block out of view. But immediately after it'd done so, the gut wrenching sound of the horse crying for it's life exploded in the air. Elsa slammed her heels and came to a sudden halt, almost toppling over forward due to the momentum. The bloodcurdling neighing of the horse continued echoing through the ghostly city. What happened?
Creeping towards the corner of the building, she poked her head out and her heart dropped and she had to clap a palm to her mouth to stop herself from screaming out in terror. There, almost fifteen feet in front of her,was almost a hundred, if not more , of things that looked identical to the creature that attacked Elsa back at the farm. Tears stung her eyes and she watched them tear into the helpless horse, gathering around the poor creature like a pack of hungry, animalistic wolves. A small squeak escaped her and her lungs froze for a second as she caught sight of two of the creatures slowly turning around in the direction of the new sound. A cold, unshakable feeling of fear washed over her as two creatures locked eyes with her.
Stumbling backwards, Elsa bolted away, her heart hammering into her chest. As she ran, she tripped over a traffic cone lying on the ground and felt herself falling forwards. Her brain was too numb with fear that she failed to react quickly and as a result , a sharp pain shot up her right arm as it collided hard into the pavement, breaking the fall.
Ignoring the pain, she whipped around to find not two, but at least fifteen of the creatures following her, their hungry moans filling the air . Struggling to find her feet , she sprinted through the streets as fast as her legs could carry her. As she rounded a corner, a scream of terror escaped her lips as she came face to face with another group of those creatures, at least fifty of them, all of them gazing straight at her. Realizing what stood in front of them, the creatures began growling menacingly and began dragging themselves towards her.
Stumbling backwards in fear, she began running in the opposite direction, willing herself t run as fast as she could. She did not know where she was running to but all she cared about was putting some distance between her and those things.
Then, all of a sudden, a yellow taxi cab came out of nowhere, screeching to a halt in front of was so sudden that she almost crashed into the vehicle. Everything was a blur and it was all happening so fast that she didn't even question the good fortune as the door swung open for her.
'GET IN!' she heard a male voice yell and she didn't need more persuasion as she threw herself into the seat next to the driver and slammed the door shut.
She caught sight of at least a hundred or more of those creature hurrying towards the car, deep hunger etched on their rotting, disfigured faces. She heard the sound of wheels screeching against the tar road and within seconds, they were off. She had no idea where they were going or who was driving but she didn't care. At least he wasn't trying to eat her alive.
The view outside was a blur as the vehicle sped through the empty streets, rounding a corner and slowing down into an alleyway before the driver slammed his heels into the brake.
'THIS WAY!', the male voice remarked hurriedly as they leapt out of the car.
He led her towards a fire escape ladder attached to some old building and she did not take notice of who she was with until the two of them were safely lying on the rooftop of the apartment, panting their lungs out.
He didn't seem to be much older than she was, in fact, he might even have been her own age. He wore a black baseball hat paired with a grey pullover and black jeans and had a satchel slung over his shoulder hapazardly. He bore the look of someone you'd want to talk to and want to get to know.
'Quite …. Quite a grand appearance …you made there.' He panted , rubbing his chest uneasily as he got back to his feet.
'The name's Tadashi. ' he grinned at her, holding out his hand.
'Elsa' she responded weakly, shaking his hand.
'Thanks for …back there.' she panted, struggling not to give in to her knees that yearned to buckle and lie back down on the floor.
'Your welcome. Now come on. It's not safe out here.'
Together, the two of them proceeded through the rooftop, as Tadashi tried making light conversation along the way.
'So why'd you come to the city? That's the last thing a rational person woulda done.' He remarked as he leapt over a nearby rooftop ledge and held out a hand to help her.
'I-I didn't know the place is overrun by those… things.' She responded as she leapt across into his arms.
'You're kidding?' he answered, cocking an eyebrow at her as if she'd lost her marbles.
'W-why d'you think I'd be kidding?' she responded, a little annoyed.
'So you're saying you didn't see those things anywhere? Didn't run into them until now?' he remarked as he walked forward , looking down to the streets nearly ten floors below to see an army of the satanic creatures making their way towards the alley where they'd parked the car.
'Um. N-no. I was-I did run into one of those things before. My driver. I woke up in my car crash and he was gone. And.. he tried to eat me. ' Elsa responded vaguely, leaving out the part of her accidentally shooting Kai in the head.
'Whoa.. You were in a car crash?' , Tadashi gasped.
' What are those things?' Elsa interrupted him, blurting out the question that was eating away at her mind. He was the first human being she'd run into since waking up from the car crash and she needed to know what the hell was happening around her.
For a few seconds, Tadashi didn't respond, as if he mulling the question over in his head.
"Uh.. to be honest.. I'm not so sure myself. ' he responded as he led them down a short metal ladder and headed towards a metallic trapdoor that he yanked outward . 'They just turned up outta nowhere . All I've seen is if you get bit by one of those things, you die and you come back as one of em. '
Elsa felt her chest tighten as she entered the trapdoor, climbing down a ladder as Tadashi followed her through, closing the door after him. Was this the case everywhere? Were all the cities overrun by those creatures ? She felt a knot in her stomach as she thought about Anna and everyone back home. Were they safe or were they—no. They were safe. They had to be safe. First thing she'd do once she got some charge on her phone was to call her sister and make sure they were all safe. She tired not to think about the other scenario.
The two of them made their way down the abandoned building he led them towards a large, two way metallic door with the label 'Transaction office' written on top. Opening the door, he stood aside, letting Elsa in before shutting the door after them. Having done so, he finally let the bag on his shoulder down, throwing it onto the floor as if relieving himself of a burden.
"What the hell dude? You were gone nearly four goddamn hours we thought we'd lost ya!" a male voice chided and within seconds, Elsa was almost harshly knocked over as Tadashi found himself in a bone crunching hug. Elsa watched as Tadashi returned the hug, smiling sheepishly at her through the thick, matted shoulder length brown hair that belonged to the person tackling him.
'An' who's yer friend?' a second male voice, a lot more huskier and deeper , remarked and Elsa craned her neck to find a rifle pointed at her. 'She bit or summat?'
The owner of the rifle was a big, beefy man. He was twice Elsa's size in both width and height. His massive arms were the size of Elsa's whole torso and his thick, gnarly fingers were gripped tight around the rifle, ready to shoot her down. The fellow looked to be in his mid-to-late forties at least, for he had a worn down and mature appearance about him. His thick, matted flaming red beard fell to his chest, covering his non-existent neck and it was a matching set with the unruly hair that he hid inside the cap he wore . His small, squinty emerald eyes glared at Elsa , as if sizing up her threat as she stared down at the barrel inches away from her face.
'I-I'm—', Elsa began stammering in fright but was saved as Tadashi jumped in front of her, putting himself in between her and the redneck.
'Mister Haddock, No! She—she's fine! She's not bit!', he exclaimed in a shocked tone.
For a few seconds, did not budge, pursing his lips as he continued to glare at her. The tension hung precariously in the air, like a bullet loaded in the clip, ready to fire.
'Dad.' The girl standing behind the beefy man remarked quietly.
Then, the man, Mister Haddock,let out a sigh of relief, his shoulders relaxed .
He shifted his gaze from Tadashi towards Elsa, giving her a stern, detestful gaze before heading towards the satchel Tadashi had been carrying around.
'Sorry 'bout my dad. I know he can be a real tough bite tuh swallow. The name's Heather.' The girl who Elsa understood to be Mister Haddock's daughter, remarked, approaching her.
She was about the same height as Elsa and of relatively similar build. Her jet black hair was in stark contrast to that of her father's flaming red and if she didn't know any better, Elsa would've never guessed the girl to be related to the man. The only real similarity she bore with her father was the bright green eyes.
'Elsa. Nice to meet you.' She responded, returning the smile .
'Didn't think I'd meet someone new with all the shit goin on outside.', A male voice remarked .
The young man who'd tackled Tadashi into a bear hug approached the two girls. He was a few inches taller than Elsa and had a very free-spirited air about him. His matted hair fell untidily onto his face and stuck up in all directions , like someone who hadn't run a comb through it recently . Elsa hazarded a guess that he was probably Mister Haddock's son, for he too had the bright green eyes . But , similar to Heather, everything about him from his brown hair to his smaller stature and freckled face was in stark contrast to his father.
'Unique name—Elsa. I'm Harry. ' , fellow responded with a grin as Elsa nodded.
'But apparently everybody here calls him Hiccup.', the third male in the room spoke up, walking over with a grin plastered on his face. His orange hair was barely visible, poking out of the beanie he wore on his head. His clothes mostly looked oversized and didn't seem to fit him correctly and the fellow had an overall lazed back aura of someone who came off as a slacker.
'That's Fred. Try not to get too close with him. He says he hasn't changed his underwear in over two months. ', Tadashi chuckled .
'I wear it front, then I wear it back. It's called recycling. Look it up!' Fred chided hotly, defending himself.
'An you've already met my dad.' Hiccup remarked, nodding towards who was inspecting the items within Tadashi's satchel with his brows furrowed in deep thought.
'Gone for hours an' I thought yeh woulda brought a lot more than this, boy.', Mister Haddock responded irritably as he placed bottles containing capsules and a few bakery items.
'I looked round five blocks. Most of the department stores are almost empty or infested with those things. Somebody got to the stock before I did. That's… that's all I managed to get .' Tadashi answered bleakly as he removed his hat and rubbed the beads of sweat collected on his head.
'Shit… Goddamit!' Mister Haddock cursed , punching the table so hard that Elsa momentarily thought it might give way.
'Come on dad. Let's try the east wing of the city block. Gotta be more food there.' Hiccup spoke up, walking towards his father who looked like a mountain when compared to his son.
'So how'd ya find her?' , Heather perked up, her gaze directed at Tadashi.
'I was tryin to figure a way back to you guys when I noticed a dozen of those things walk right past the store I was in. Then I heard a horse crying and I could tell it was probably nearby. Long story short, I found a blonde being chased by at least a hundred of those creatures. '.
'By the way, Fred,' Tadashi remarked, turning to the fellow, 'I found ya these. .'
He threw him a packet of some item Elsa did not recognize and the two of them walked away , leaving the two girls alone.
'While those two talk it out, wanna help me unpack ?We haven't eaten in over a day. Could use some food.' Heather whispered with a smile.
'Um.. Yeah. …' Elsa nodded as Heather handed her Tadashi's satchel to hold while she began picking out the food items. But the moment Elsa held the bag in her hands, she let out an involuntary gasp as pain shot through her arm.
'You alright there?', Heather inquired in a concerned tone as Elsa dropped the bag to the floor and held her wrist gingerly.
'Uh… I.. I think I might've twisted my hand or something. Fell over when I was running away from those things.',Elsa responded , clenching her teeth as the pain lingered.
'Let me take a look at it. Maybe I could help.', Tadashi responded as he walked over to the two of them.
As he held out a hand, Elsa hesitated, looking down at her wrist.
'S'okay. He minored in medicine. He's as good a doctor as any we've got.' Heather remarked encouragingly.
Tadashi took her hand and tenderly rolled back the sleeve of her denim jacket.
'Ouch…', Heather mumbled as her wrist came into view.
It had turned a little pinkish in color and had swollen a few centimeters. Tadashi squinted his eyes as he examined the injury , lightly rubbing his index finger over it .
' Just a little muscle tension .You probably exerted too much weight over the thing , causing the tendons to rupture.' He responded after a few seconds.
'Speak English, doc?', Heather smirked at him .
'Nothing too serious. It'll heal on it's own. Just take a few painkillers and I'll put some crepe tape on. Might cause some irritation. ',Tadashi responded with a smile.
'Bad news…' Hiccup sighed as he walked to the group. 'The supplies tha' dashi managed to grab us can probably only keep us goin for a day at most with all the people we got and the only area we're yet to check out is BTS avenue—and tha's nearly ten blocks out.'
Just then, the muffled sound of a gun shot crackled through air in the room, followed by two more and then again. It kept on coming.
'Shit…', Heather cursed, glaring upwards at the ceiling .
'Fuckin asshole.', Hiccup cursed as he bolted out of the room, grabbing a baseball bat lying on the table.
The group hurried up the way Tadashi and Elsa came, bolting back up the dingy fire exit and clambered out of the trapdoor out onto the rooftop . Heather and Elsa were the last to pull themselves out as Hiccup charged towards a new fellow who stood on the ledge of the rooftop, a shotgun in his hand. He managed to take one more shot down onto the streets before Hiccup yanked him backwards and pulled the gun out of his hands, throwing it aside.
Elsa thought Hiccup to be quite courageous, since the fellow he was crossing was no geek. He stood at a towering six foot or more, easily challenging in the size department. His big, hulking physique made anyone look like a midget next to him. He had a gruff, arrogant demeanor about him but the most distinct feature about him was not his long, unruly flaming red hair nor his uncouth appearance. It was the eyepatch over his right eye and looking at him made Elsa feel rather uneasy, to say the least.
'What the hell are ya doin, ya big turd!? They're attracted to sound!' Hiccup roared at the behemoth in front of him . And as an answer, he received a solid right hook across his face, being lifted off his feet and being thrown backwards.
'Don't you take tha' tone with me, punk! I wuz havin me a good target practice until your whiny lil ass decided to show up!', the fellow chided as Hiccup lay on the ground. He continued to kick out at Hiccup, forcing the fellow to grunt in pain with each kick as everyone else pleaded with him to stop.
'Patchy stop! Please!', the others cried as the fellow, whom Elsa now knew to be 'Patchy', go ontop of Hiccup and whipped out a short barreled pistol, pointing it straight at his face.
'Please!Stop hurting him!', Heather pleaded as Fred held her back.
Patchy didn't budge, instead glaring down at hiccup, both of their chests heaving . A tense silence hung in the air, only broken by the sound of Heather's pleading whispers. Everyone was too scared to move, afraid that the lunatic might release the bullet if they budged. Then, Patchy clenched his teeth and spat onto Hiccup's chest, rubbing it all over his shirt.
'Yer lucky yeh've got a pretty lil dessert for a sister,yeh prick. I think I'll have me a few scoops of her goodies after—' Patchy was saying but Elsa, thankfully, did not get to hear what he intended to do with Heather as a giant hand came from behind him and within seconds, Patchy was on the ground ,his massive foot on top of his chest and a rifle inches away from his face.
'Talk bout me daughter like tha again, Stabbington.I dare yeh. There's us an' then there's those things. You continue with this charade an' you'll be out on the streets by yerself. Do I make meself clear, asshole?', Mister Haddock growled, his finger twitching on the release catch of his rifle.
'Screw you, old man…', Patchy hissed at Mister Haddock , only to have the far stronger man exert more force onto his chest, making him cough weakly from the pain.
'Do I make meself clear', Mister. Haddock growled through clenched teeth.
'Ngh… Yessir..' , Patchy grunted under the strain.
Then, as if just for personal satisfaction, Mister Haddock landed a solid kick across Patchy Stabbington's face, sending him tumbling sideways, howling in pain.
'You alright, son?', Mister Haddock remarked, as he stumped towards Hiccup, who had a disdainful expression on his face.
'I had it, dad. I didn't need your help.', Hiccup hissed, much to everyone's surprise and he stormed off,holding his ribs.
'Well ..Um.. that … happened..', Tadashi remarked awkwardly as Fred went and handcuffed Patchy's hands together to prevent him from doing any more damage.
But Elsa's attention was someplace else. After all the shouting and struggling had finished, she'd noticed a dull, murmur noise that came from down the streets. Tadashi and Heather glanced at each other apprehensively as she neared the edge of the rooftop ledge.
As she gazed downwards, her eyes widened in shock as the view became clearer and more apparent. Elsa's heart dropped as she took in the view below them. The streets down below were flooded with an ocean of those satanic creatures. Their dreaded, sickening moans stung the very air . There were too many to count, stretching out far into the horizon. There was not a single area free of the creature that they could use to escape at this point.
'Oh god….' Elsa whispered , her eyes darting around in horror as the feeling of hopelessness that had subsided momentarily began rising in her again, clawing at her insides like a repulsive, unquenchable parasite.
She had no idea there was so many of them. There was no way out .
Well, there's chapter one, folks! And by now, you've probably realized that this is a zombie apocalypse story, lol. I know some elements of this chapter is similar to the beginning of the walking dead tv show. But I promise you, that's just for this episode, to get the story going. And yeah, I will be making some changes to the characters in the story. For example, I decided to make Heather and Hiccup actual siblings, not just a stupid cop out like the tv show did.I hope you found this chapter enjoyable to read !
Please leave any constructive criticism and fav/follow this story if you enjoyed what you read so far!
And thank you for checking out my story!