Chapter 4

Darkness. All that surrounded him was darkness. He was floating. He didn't even know if there was a ground. He didn't see it. He didn't feel it. Now that he thought of it, he didn't feel anything—and it seemed right. A flash from the clouds above caught his eyes. He looked up to see fire slowly filling the sky. His eyes fell as he heard a soft splash, and slowly realized that he was standing on water. And as he kept staring, he felt himself become the water—the water to extinguish the flames.

"Aaron…Aaron…wake up. There's a problem." Emily's voice broke through the shroud of Aaron's dreams. He hadn't even realized that he had fallen asleep. He blinked his eyes slowly to clear his gaze. He looked around outside the car, and only saw fog.

"What's wrong?" He mumbled, turning his gaze to meet Emily's. She looked back at him, a look of worry on her face.

"We're out of gas." He looked around again as she said this.

"Well, I'm sure we can just walk from here. We have what we need to protect ourselves. And we can't be that far from the outskirts of town." She looked back at him, the lines of worry increasing on her face.

"That's just the thing. I know I said I've lived here all my life, and I know my way around, but…for some reason, I have no idea where I am. I can't find my way out of this town." Aaron followed Emily's gaze as she looked out at the fog that seemed to be swallowing the car. Lines of concentration appeared on Aaron's forehead as he thought of their options. Emily looked on as he sighed, obviously unhappy with his solution.

"We've got no choice. If we stay here, the creatures will eventually find there way in. Or we'll just die from starvation and thirst. We've got to walk and find a way out of here." He reached into the backseat, grabbing their makeshift weapons, and handing Emily hers. He turned to the door, pulled it open, and stepped out into the fog. He took a little stretch, surprised at how cramped he had gotten from the ride. A yawn started to slip out of his mouth, but stopped as he noticed a figure appearing out of the fog.

"Emily?" he said loudly, trying to find out where she was. He knew that she couldn't have walked away and be heading back in the short time it took him to get out of the car, but he didn't want to believe what he thought—and knew—this shadow was.

"What?" Aaron jumped at the sound of Emily's voice right by his side. He looked at her, and slowly moved his gaze to the figure in the fog. He started to perceive a familiar sound coming from his pocket. His hands tightened around the rod he was holding, and he brought it up, taking a batter's stance. He cautiously moved forward, not wanting to wait to see what he was about to face. The static shriek emanating from his pocket slowly grew in intensity as the figure slowly came into focus. He beheld what he believed to be the same creature that Emily had seen earlier. It was a horribly disfigured human form, which seemed to be covered in quivering flesh. Aaron took two more steps forward, coming within striking distance of the creature. His hands tightened around the rod, as he got ready to swing. But as he took his back swing, the creature released some kind of gas from the area where its head might have been. The scent of rotting, burnt flesh bombarded Aaron's senses. He took a few steps back to escape the smell, pulling his arm in front of his nose. He took a deep breath through his sleeve, placed both hands back on the rod, took a step forward, and swung. The metal made a sickening, mushy 'thunk' as it made contact with the creature's head. The thing stumbled back, seemingly cringing in pain, but seemed otherwise unaffected. Aaron stepped back, took a quick hop-skip forward, and swung at the beast again. Its 'head' lolled back and the creature seemed to stop, apparently stunned. Aaron twirled the rod around in his left hand, grasping it like a javelin. He took one last step forward and thrust the rod through the creature's chest. A wet gasping sound escaped from an unseen mouth as the monster crumpled to the ground. Aaron, taking a cue from his previous run-in, walked up to the monster, brought his heel up, and let it fall hard on the creature's head. A satisfyingly squishy crunch met his efforts. He turned to Emily, a smile of triumph on his face.

"See, we'll be…" his voice trailed off as he saw the look on her face. The same look slowly dripped onto his features as he looked behind her at the myriad figures—a circle of them—coming towards them. The static of the radio, which had become white noise during the fight, was now excruciating. Aaron turned quickly to the downed monster, pulling his rod out with a 'smack'. He turned to Emily, took two quick bounds to her side, grabbed her hand, and took off through a gap in the grotesque shadows. He didn't know where he was going; he just wanted to make sure that Emily was safe. But as they kept running, more and more of the figures seemed to emerge from nowhere. The shriek of the radio in his pocket grew incessantly louder as the creatures seemed to surround them. Aaron put his head down and ran harder, grasping Emily's hand tighter.

"Aaron…" Emily gasped. "Aaron, I don't think I can keep up!"

She's right. This isn't working, Aaron thought to himself. We need to find somewhere…a building or something…to hide in. As if in answer to his thoughts, a large rectangular shadow emerged out of the fog. He took off at a sprint, throwing his hand out in front of him. He instinctively reached for a doorknob, but found that there was a bar. He pushed as hard as he could and threw open the door. He brought his other hand forward, practically throwing Emily in, ran in, and turned. His eyes widened at the sight. A wave of creatures was closing in around the building, all deadly focused on getting at the two of them. Aaron grabbed the bar next to him, and pushed the door closed. He let out a large breath, which he realized he had been holding for a while. Looking quickly around, he saw a stack of boxes, ran over to them, and pushed them in front of the door. He turned around to face Emily.

"That's not gonna hold them off for long." He said between heavy breaths. "We have to find another way out of here." He surveyed the room for an exit. It was a tiny, cramped, empty room. A small window at the side of the door revealed that the monsters were getting closer. The only exits were the door they came through, and a small door on the opposite wall.

"Come on," he said, nodding his head towards the door. He took three large strides over to the door, and pulled it open. A staircase lay on the other side. Aaron stared to the top of the staircase, uneasy that he couldn't see where it led to. As he slowly brought his eyes down, they caught sight of a sheet of notebook paper. He kneeled down to pick it up, slowly surveying it. It was written with a very plain ink, in a very plain handwriting. A handwriting that looked strangely familiar.

"What is that?" Emily's voice drifted to his ears. He crumpled up the paper quickly. He wasn't sure why, but he didn't want Emily to see it.

"Nothing," he said, shoving the wad into his pocket. "Just some empty sheet of paper." Emily raised her eyebrow questioningly. "Don't want to litter," Aaron joked. She shrugged, not really concerned to pursue the issue. She raised her eyes to the staircase, sighing and smiling.

"Well, I guess there's no other way to go," she said, stepping in front of Aaron and walking up the stairs. Aaron's hand slipped into his pocket, carefully grasping the wad of paper. He thought of reading it, but decided against it. He followed Emily up the stairs, keeping his eyes towards the top, and grasping his weapon.

They emerged in a long, dank hallway. Plain, oak doors lined the walls. A bright, red exit sign glowed from the far end, beckoning them to approach. Emily turned back to Aaron, a confused look on her face.

"I know this place." She spoke slowly while surveying the entire length of the hallway. "But this isn't where it was." Aaron let his eyes wander; taking in everything he could see. The hallway was lit fairly well, a few swinging lamps overhead warding off the shadows. It looked fairly clean though it looked as if it hadn't been touched in years. All the doors were closed firmly, concealing the secrets that lay within. Strangely, Aaron knew this place, too, though he didn't know why. He couldn't think of a time he had ever been through there. The fact that Emily recognized it as well only complicated matters. To the best of his memory, he had never seen Emily in his life, and yet they seemed to have both been through this place. He said nothing though, as to not stir any false hope in Emily.

They took off towards the other end of the hall, hoping for a way out. But as they slowly came to the exit sign, they realized that it had been a false prophet. In place of the door was a crude drawing of one, as if it had been put on their by a child. Aaron and Emily ran their hands up and down the wall, in disbelief.

"What the hell?" Aaron said slowly, his hand running over what should have been a doorknob. He turned to Emily, who was already facing the other direction. He followed her gaze unsure of what she was looking at. Fright fell onto his face as he saw one of the doors near them slowly opening. He felt his hands tighten instinctively around his weapon, and saw Emily grasping hers. They inched towards the door, preparing for whatever it was they were about to face.

They breathed a sigh of relief as a girl a few years younger than them looked carefully out at them.

"Please tell me your not one of them." Her voice was devastated with fear. Her arm shook violently, as she held tightly to the doorframe.

"No," Emily spoke up, not wanting to frighten the girl more. "No, we don't know how we got here and we're just trying to find a way out."

The girl took a slow, fearful step out of the door, coming face to face with the pair. She had long dark hair that covered her left eye. She was dressed in a form-fitting pink t-shirt, and dark black bell-bottoms. She stood facing them, but refused to move out of the doorframe. Emily took a cautious step forward, and to the girl's side.

"How long have you been in here?" Emily said incredulously. She looked the girl in the eye, as if asking for permission. She stepped into the room as the girl nodded back. "It looks like you live here."

"I do live here," the girl responded quietly. "It's my dorm room. But this isn't where it's supposed to be." She paused for a second, her eyes falling to the ground. "Maybe this is my punishment."

Aaron was still standing outside the door. He looked in at Emily, wondering if she had heard what he had. His gaze turned back to the dark-haired girl, wondering whether she had truly just spoken. Not wanting to make things awkward, he moved on to a simpler question.

"So, what's your name?" The girl's eye's rose to meet his.

"Samantha, but my friends call me Sam."

"Samantha" Aaron repeated slowly. A small chill raced down Aaron's back. The two of them stood staring at each other, an uncomfortable silence growing between them.

"Hey, what the hell is this? It might come in handy for later." Emily's voice broke through the space between Aaron and Sam. He pried his eyes away from hers, throwing them down to the ground. In the process, he caught glimpse of the folded sheet of paper, he had found on the stairs. As Sam turned into the room, to help Emily with what she was doing, he grabbed the note, unraveled it, and looked over it much more carefully then he had before. It looked to be some journal or diary, written by some kid. He read it over in his head.

Mommy and Daddy got in a fight again today. It mad me sad. I don't like it when they shout. Daddy kept telling Mommy that everything was alright, but she just kept yelling that nothing would be. She would talk about God then Daddy would get scared.

I heard my name, too.

I don't think Mommy likes me…

Aaron slowly folded the sheet up as he finished. He looked up and noticed that Emily had been looking at him while he had been reading the note. Her eyes darted away as she realized that he was looking at her. He laughed a bit at the childish game they were playing, and took a step forward to help with the search.

Pain. A blinding pain in his head. He dropped to his knees and grasped his head tightly, as if trying to keep it from flying apart. A high-pitched buzzing noise filled his ears, growing louder as the pain grew steadily in intensity. He looked up at the room but found it impossible to focus on anything. The pain felt like it was slowly pouring down his back to every inch of his body. Two blurred shapes moved towards him—Emily and Samantha. He heard their voices over the buzz, but couldn't make out what they were saying. He dropped to the ground, his body convulsing from sheer pain. He couldn't see. He couldn't hear. He couldn't feel. He couldn't breathe. Everything around him was slowly fading away. Pain was becoming the only thing he knew. His eyes slammed shut in a futile effort to ward off the pain. The pain had seeped to every extremity. His world was falling into darkness.

His arms fell limply to the ground as the darkness consumed him.