Chapter 21: Brighter Days
They'll come for you…
Ever since I had that nightmare, I couldn't shake that one memory…. That one line. We had failed at obtaining the SUV outside. The keys weren't inside and neither of us knew shit about hotwiring it. We were in luck though, as we found another SUV down the road with the keys in the ignition, the person whom owned it seemed to have been attacked; We found the blood on the ground.
Raquel had decided to drive on account of my obtaining a head injury, just for safe measures. We rode down the short path that was Wellington Rd., and took a right as we exited onto 601. The couple of miles that spanned from Family Video to the school seemed as if it went on forever, and it was clustered in evidence that something had gone horribly wrong. The Bi-Lo had been raided and parts of it were aflame. The windows were busted out and trash was strewn throughout the parking lot, it looked as if it had been hit hard with looting. Fires also loomed high in the skies from the neighborhood they lay behind it.
The road temporarily relieved us from atrocity… that was until we came upon the church. The old white building which sat across from a local fire station had been destroyed… No… not just destroyed… Defiled. The cult had hit it pretty hard. Bodies hung crucified all over the lawn, including a homeless man hung to the cross on top of the church. He also had a crown… of thorns or barbed wire… I couldn't tell from that far away. The same macabre decorations that littered the mall, were reflected here. Somehow though… it seemed worse here. There was intent here. Spray-painted in red across the stone garden which made the church's sign, the words "GOD IS DEAD" were displayed.
We then made it to the intersection where Troutman's Barbecue stood to our right. I hated the building. I hated it before, and I hated it now. There was always an ominous feel within its walls. A very talented artist, with whom I was personally acquainted, had died before finishing his last piece in the very building, an entire back wall was painted to show the various stages the restaurant had been through throughout its long history. He had been putting the last touches on the work, he died of a heart attack. He was never able to finish the art, the very sight of the painting filled me with sorrow. I think the saddest part about it is, that not only was his last work finished… it was the vision of someone else… he hadn't even been allowed a final epitaph within his work.
It wasn't but seconds until we exited off onto the highway that would bring us out directly in front of Central Cabarrus. We drove down in silence. We passed my friend Ryan's old neighborhood on our right. It had gone down in flames as well… and being that it was mostly comprised of double and single-wides… it burned fast. We continued on towards Central, passing the intersection of Zion Church. I began to feel anxious all of a sudden, wondering what laid in store for us at the school. Wondering what kind of shape it would be in. As we passed over the horizon and neared the school I was pleasantly surprised… scarily, pleasantly surprised to find it not only still standing but untouched.
We pulled into the school parking lot, where the car rider line was so that we could get a good view around most of the building… but we would have to check around back ourselves. We finally parked the car near the ROTC building and got out. Guns in hand, we walked onward up the cement path that led to a large courtyard, the door to Norse Cove, and another courtyard which held a solitary trailer in which I had frequented as my first English class in high school. We passed by it to check the back wall of the building. Walking around the school and up the awkward slope of the ground was difficult but we finally got around and scoped things out. Nothing was amiss. No stragglers or hordes in the parking lot… no Para-militant group waited to rob, rape, and kill us at gunpoint, and no other random unknown death contraption we had yet to face awaited us in back.
We continued onward and gave everything else a good thorough one-over, checking all the trailers for any occupants, living or dead… or both for that matter. We found nothing until we got to what I believe was trailer 1 or 2 where I had attended Mrs. Fawcett's English class sophomore year. I turned the knob on the door to find it locked. I stepped back and proceeded to kick it in, but the door wouldn't give. I looked at Raquel with a sheer "What The Fuck?" Expression before we heard something move from the other side. A small wooden door slid open at eye level, which I swore to God hadn't been there when I first looked, and I saw eyes looking at me from within. "What do you want?". I stood, still amazed at the small door for a second before answering. "We're here to take over the school…". It was then that craziness crept into the eyes we were looking at, "You aim to kill them people?" I looked over to Raquel. She shrugged, which caused me to look back in confusion. "Um… What people?". The woman grew hysterical and screamed at us, "They kicked me out! Said I was wrong for killin' that woman, but she was a zombie I tell ya! A zombie!". "Yeah… there's a few zombies in the world.. Um.. When did they kick you out?" She calmed down again, and I continued to listen, intrigued as this woman continued on. "It was 'twards the beginnin' of all this… The woman might notta looked like one… but I tells ya! SHE WAS A ZOMBIE!". I looked over at Raquel… she too noticed that this woman was apparently… Bat-shit crazy. But we didn't know what to say. I finally decided to go check on these "people" if they were even still around… or ever were for that matter. We walked away and the woman shut the tiny door on us. Once we were a safe distance away, I looked at Raquel. "How the fuck did she get that little door in the big door… those things are pretty much hollowed out aluminum. Hell… for that matter… I might not be the incredible fucking Hulk… But I'm pretty god damned sure my foot should've kicked that motherfucker in." Raquel laughed a little and sighed, "I know… I'm still confused myself. Lets just go see these people and decide whether or not to stay or get the fuck out of here.". I nodded and we walked on. We stood in front of the main doors of the school and nostalgia hit us like a fuckin' brick. It was like the first time we had ever stepped foot here. It hadn't changed since those days and we still felt like the kids who went there. As we stepped forward and grabbed hold of the doors I uttered a single phrase: "I fucking hate this idea suddenly…" Raquel just nodded.. And we stepped inside.