At some point during the night I did manage to get some sleep, it wasn't much but when I woke up the very next day I felt well rested. I woke up to the sunlight cutting through the cracks of the boards blocking the windows. When I woke up I found that twilight and Derek had already been up for some time and were sitting on the furniture waiting for me. I let out a soft moan and then a deep yawn. I brought my hands up and to rub my eyes and I stretched my legs and arms. All the noise brought me the attention and Derek. Twilight looked over and smiled, but Derek just gave me a casual look. Twilight got up from the couch and walked over to me as I got back up on my feet.
"Looks like we made it through the night without any problems..." She said. "Did you sleep well?"
"Uh...yeah, I don't even remember falling asleep." I said.
"Sleeping up against that wall must not have been very comfortable..." said Derek.
"C'mon... You and I both know there are worse laces to sleep." I said.
"I suppose there are..." He said.
"So what do we do now?" Asked twilight.
"We should get going... We can't afford to burn any daylight... We've still got a little ways to go." I said.
"Alright...we should get going then." Aid Derek. So we got up and armed ourselves to head out. We couldn't find a weapon for twilight, but hopefully we'll be fine. So once we prepared ourselves I moved the large cabinet against the door and opened up the door. The sunlight stung my eyes but I soon adjusted. I walked out and stepped into the middle of the road and looked around. We still had an entire town to trudge through. By the chill in the air and the fresh dew on the dead grass, I would say that it's early in the morning. Before we could start moving I soon heard a strange noise coming from behind us. It sounded like somebody was choking, or gurgling. I quickly turned around, as well as twilight and Derek and looked around. I couldn't see end thing, but the noise persisted.
"What is it?" Asked twilight.
"Where is it?" I asked myself holding up my gun and pressing the stock on my shoulder.
"There...behind that broken truck..." Said Derek pointing to a black, damaged, pickup truck in the driveway of the house next door. There was something behind it and it became obvious that the noise was coming from behind it. I kept the rifle pointed that way and soon a long dark figure walked out from behind the truck. It was slouched over making it appear half a tall as it should be. It arms dangled by its side and dragged on the ground, its knees bent and somehow it managed to stagger forward. It looked like one of the mutants, but somehow it was able to walk in the light. Maybe it's some kind of different mutation. There only seemed to be one, and it held its head up and looked at us with glowing eyes. Its neck was twisted and its head was upside down. Its skin was black, like it had been burnt in a fire, all across his body. Once it noticed us it let out some kind of inhaling scream and stood straight up. It was only at that point we noticed that this freakish creature must have been at least seven or eight feet tall. Its arms dangled by its side, just above the knees.
"Oh sweet Jesus what is that?" I said. I held up my gun and looked down the sight. I quickly had to adjust the zoom so that it was easier to look around and that thing just stood there making strange noises. They were weird inhaling noises, they were raspy and nasally. Once I had my optics refigured I fired one round off and it hit the mutant in the chest. I had been aiming for the head, obviously the optics were still a little off. The large caliber round hit that things chest and broke right through. The loud noise of the gun had shot twilights ears and she covered them because of the loud noise. Now the mutant let out another strange noise and started running towards us. The way it ran was terrifying. It's awkwardly long and bent legs tore across the ground and it's freakishly long arms flailed beside it. I panicked and started firing from the iron sights of the rifle, which was better in this instance. I hit it twice in the chest and then once in the forehead.
When the bullet passed through the mutants skull and out the other side it let out a nasally gurgling sound and dropped to the ground, like it had died instantly. It hit the ground with a large thud, only a couple of inches from us, but that might have been a couple of feet given its massive height. We started to back up and as we did I took off the scope of the rifle because it wasn't helping. Derek kept his pistol aimed at the freakish creature Incase it tried to get up again, but it doesn't look like it will. Twilight had opened her eyes now and took her hands off her ears. There was silence now; everything had gone deathly quiet as we looked at the warped corpse lying on the ground.
"That was terrifying..." Said Derek.
"It was loud..." Said twilight talking about our guns.
"It was...interesting." I said softly. "I guess these things aren't all the same... We should be more careful now..."
"There were a ton of things at night, but this one's all alone." Said Derek. "It's probably some different breed. Ones that can survive during the day, but as far as I can tell they move alone..."
"We should keep our eyes peeled... Check all the dark places, make sure we got our back covered." I said.
"I still have those flashlights..." Said twilight.
"That's good...we might need them, for now, I'll take one, and you hang onto the other one." I said. I took one flashlight and put it in my pocket. "C'mon...let's move." I said. "We should play it safe and try and find some shelter on the other side of town...we don't want to get stuck outside in the dark."
"I agree...let's move." Said twilight, so we did. We began making our way through the street once again and we passed by houses and burnt down buildings. There was a large wrecked apartment complex. It was a large brick building with many caged windows which had been blown out and covered. The whole place was teeming with evil presences; it's definitely not a safe place. We walked by and I could tell that the place was giving twilight the chills. We kept making our way through the town, which was a little tiring, so soon enough we arrived at the town center. It was a large open area with a small park in the middle with a gazebo and tall trees. There were shops and stores encircling the park like area, and the whole lace was uphill. There was a church, a couple shops, and deli places, and there was a town hall and a police station not far down the road that we were going to head down. Making our way up here was tiring though, and we figured that maybe we should rest. So we started to walk over, past the large dead trees, and over to the gazebo. One of the trees had filled and nearly destroyed the whole gazebo with it. We walked in and sat down catching our breaths. I checked my watch to see that it was just about noon. Luckily, summer days are longer, so we have more time than we normally have.
"Hey...crimson, do you think I could have some of the water you bought at that station?" Asked twilight.
"Yeah...actually, we should eat." I said. "Keep our energy up." I opened up my bag and passed out waters and food. The food was just bags of chips, or other quickly filling foods. I got a few energy drinks and some canned coffees but I made sure to grab some water because those kinds of drinks are very dehydrating. We had something to eat, and we both drank a bottle of water each. I took a sip of my water and stopped... We had finished eating and I put the food away and we carried our waters with us. I had stopped and focused on the town hall which was right to my back. I felt multiple presences there, but they weren't malicious or evil presences... So they were human...that still doesn't mean they won't try and kill us.
"What is it?" Asked twilight.
"Don't look at the town hall...there are people in their..." I said. "Derek nonchalantly looked around and his eyes passed, no suspiciously, over the building.
"Did you see anything?" I asked.
"A scope flare...they've got a rifle up there, probably aimed at us..." Said Derek. I could tell twilight was getting nervous.
"Hmm...They've probably been watching us for some time..." I said. "They haven't killed us yet...so they probably aren't bandits or looters, but just some ordinary survivors..." I said.
"But they don't know what we're like." Said twilight.
"That's true..." I said.
"We can't just walk over there..." Said Derek.
"Hmm...Or can we?" If said getting an idea. "Follow my lead..." I said standing up. "C'mon...we have to find some shelter... We barely managed to get away from that last freak... We need to scavenge supplies and look for a place to spend the night before it gets dark...once that sun sets we're as good as dead." I said making my way out of the gazebo.
"Yeah...you're right..." Said Derek. "I'm sure that there's someplace here that we can scavenge or take refuge in."
"Alex...why don't you check out the town hall..." Said twilight. "I and Derek will check out those shops over there..." She said gesturing to the shops the other way. I smiled at her quick wit and she smiled back.
"Yeah..." I said. "Sounds good... Yell if there's trouble..." I said. With that the two of them headed off to the shops on the other side of the plaza and I made my way to the town house, I started walking forward and I was completely prepared for them to just put a bullet in my head. As I made my way I could see the flash of the scope in the upper right hand window, and through a crack in the glass and the curtains I could see a man holding a riffle aimed right at me. I started making my way over and I was surprised that when I got to the door I hadn't even been shot at once, but I know they can see me. I felt their eyes on me, through the gaps of the curtains and the cracks in the wood. I went to go grab the door knob and open it, but I suddenly had a flashback of the last house, and moved my hand away. I looked at the knob and laughed. "This door knob isn't going to electrocute me? Is it?" I asked out loud then knocking on the door. "I know there are people in there; I could see the flash of your sniper scope..."
"Go away..." Said a voice,
"Yeah, buzz off... Damn bandits." Said another voice, a woman's voice.
"We aren't bandits..." I said. "We're just refugees... We need a place to stay the night...we've got supplies that we're willing to share or barter." I said. I had noticed that both Derek and twilight never really went to search the other stores and instead came walking over here when they noticed me talking to the building. They started making their way over when the voice on the other side of the door yelled something.
"Hey...tell your friends to stop." He said. I motioned back to Derek and twilight to stop and they did so. They weren't that far away from me though, only a few feet.
"Hey...we're just travelers... We need to take refuge here...it's just one night." Said Derek.
"How can we trust you?" He asked.
"I don't know...you tell me." I said. There was silence for a moment and then he spoke up again.
"I'll tell you what...we'll take you in for the night... But you have to do something for us, first..." He said.
"Anything..." I assured them.
"Down the road to the left is a police station... Inside there should be rations, as well as guns... But we don't want to risk heading in there without any idea of what's inside... We sent in one man a while ago, but he hasn't come back, now the rest of us are too frightened to head over there." He said.
"So if I get the rations and the guns for you, you'll let us stay the night?" I said.
"Yes..." He said. "But just to make sure you don't run off with them yourself... We want the girl to stay here with us..." Said the man. As he said so the doors opened and two men with guns came out. One was a middle aged man with a beard; the other was a younger man with short black hair. They both had handguns. I don't trust this very much, and I could see that twilight was a bit nervous.
"No..." I said. "I'll go alone...take them both...I'll come back with the guns..."
"Fine by me." Said the man on the other side. He seemed to be a more, rotund man with a suit on, probably assuming the role of mayor. The men with gun motioned for twilight to move in, and with her Derek walked in too. He looked back at me and gave me a smile and a wink. The man with the suit looked at me and smiled.
"You have my word that no harm will come to either of them, so long as they behave..." He said. "It's only business...I promise you. If you don't come back before sunset, we'll assume that you've died... And we'll kick your friends out... Is that fair?" He asked.
"Sunset huh..." I said checking my watch. "That's six whole hours...plenty of time."
"Good...then I'll be expecting to see you soon." He said retreating back into the town hall leaving me outside all alone. I'm not sure what I've just roped myself into, but I can already tell that I don't enjoy that man. He comes across as one of those kinds of people who only managed to survive by taking advantage of others, and I'm sure he has too. I ignore the thought, knowing that there wasn't anything they could do to twilight or Derek even if they wanted to, they have magic on their side, and the others don't. With that comforting thought in mind I started to make my way down the street and towards the police station. Once I had stepped up to the front door I could already sense the evil presences on the other side. I took out my flashlight and used some duck tape that twilight scavenged to tape the flashlight to the underside of my barrel so I had a steady source of light. I walked up to the door and slowly opened it up with the flashlight on and the gun pointing through the crack of the door.
The sunlight filtered in behind me and poured into the room creating screams and shrieks behind the door. The thumping of scattering footsteps filled the air and then all was silent. I didn't see any of them in the darkness, but they were drawn away from the light. My best bet of going about this would be to tear down the boarded up windows, and shed as much light into the room as possible. I looked around I waved my flashlight around. I moved it to the left and caught something in the beam of light. One of them was there and it quickly let out a shriek and shielded itself from the light. I fired off a round straight to its skull and the mutant dropped to the ground, still. From the steady stream of light coming from the door, with only my shadow breaking it apart, I could see the front desk, dirty and covered in dust. Behind it I could see two doors, and a sign talking me they were to the office area. There was a window on either side of the door I came through. I quickly move to the left and started tearing down boards covering the window, gradually letting in more light until the left side was lit up as well, not by much, but it was good enough to see and to keep those things away.
To the left was a branching off hallway which had a sign. That way led to the living quarters. I've been in a police station before; I used to be a cop before joining the military. There should be sleeping quarters, lockers, and if I'm right, the armory must be that way too. I moved to the right and took down the boards covering the right window. Now the whole foyer was lit up. To the right was another passage way, which lead to the prisoner holding cells and interrogation room. It's possible that they might have a gun closet of something there as well, but it's most likely locked, but breaking into it should be hard. I slowly started to make my way forward and stopped behind the front desk. There was nothing of use there. I decided amongst the three possible routes and decided to keep moving forward, into the offices. So I slowly opened one of the doors, it wouldn't matter; they both lead to the same place. I opened the door and walked in carefully. It was dark, and suddenly something had jumped out of the darkness and clung to my back. I let out a surprised yell as it then dug its claws into my back and shoulder. I yelped in pain and threw it off me. I pointed my flashlight and fired my gun.
The room now filled with thudding footsteps and shrieking and I quickly moved my flashlight around the room. The room was soon filled with flashes of light and a moving strafe of my flashlight as I quickly whipped around the room and fired a single shot whenever something was caught in the beam of light. I fired multiple times, not sure whether or not the bullets actually hit anything, but with how fast they were moving towards me, I still hadn't been attacked yet. The loud crash of the bullets in the gun was then replaced by an empty clicking sound, and my heart skipped a beat. I immediately forced myself back outside the door and closed it shut behind me. A powerful force rammed against the door almost forcing me forward but I kept my ground and kept the door closed. A few hands, claws tried breaking through the glass if the door. One of them was bashing its skull against the glass too. I quickly fumbled about; I kept the door as closed as possible and attempted to reload my weapon. I ejected the empty clip and pulled a fresh one out of my pocket. Once I cocked the loading mechanism I jumped back and the door broke open. I aimed my barrel at the door...and I began firing away.
1...2...3 shots, I kept firing bodies hit the ground and fell out of the doorway, and began shriveling up into the sunlight behind me. 6...7...8 more shots and I kept squeezing the trigger as fast as I could. I couldn't even hear the sounds of sheiks anymore, just the blaring sound of the rifle. 10...11...12 the last shot of the clips was then followed by a few empty clicks before I realized my ammo was out. Luckily the bullet penetration on these rounds helped clear out multiple enemies with one shot, especially since I had them in a choke point. The whole room was filled with silence. I stood there, waiting...for something. I quickly reloaded my gun and started moving towards the office area. I shone my flashlight around, I looked and scavenged past the pile of dead bodies I had so quickly created, and searched for signs of life...there was nothing, it was all clear. I took a moment, walked into the room, opened up all the windows and doors and let in as much light as possible. There was much in this room other than cramped desks with old worn computers and yellowed papers and folders. There weren't any other doorways leading to other places, luckily. I took this moment to open my bag, take out those boxes of ammo, and refill the empty mags.
Once I was sure I was ready I made my way out into the main foyer. I used my senses to check the area; I could only feel a small handful of presences left in the building. There mustn't be more than five or six, so I'll be careful. I decided to check the holding cells and made my way to the right. I flicked on my flashlight and started making my way down a hall. There were two doors to the right, and a set of double doors to the right. One of the doors on the left lead to an interrogation room. I quickly checked it and it was empty. I opened up some windows along my way brightening up the whole hallway, except the area past the double doors to the right, which I'm guessing are the cells. The second door to the left looked like some kind of closet; it might be a gun closet. I tried the door and it was locked. The door opens outward, so I can't kick it in. I looked around and pointed the muzzle of my gun to the lock. I shot the lock and the whole knob fell right off onto the floor. The door creeped open and I looked inside. I was right, it was a gun cabinet.
Inside there were multiple suits of Kevlar armor and a couple rifles and shotguns. There was a rifle bag hanging up there, I took it out and stuffed it with everything in the closet. There were a total of five rifles, and two shotguns, and a lot of ammo, which I honestly, helped myself too as well. There were actually three shotguns, but I took one of them and managed to stuff it in my backpack, we need it, and there will probably be more guns than people in that building. I suppose that I could pass this off as being everything in the station...but curiosity compels me to keep looking. I then passed across the hall and pushed open the two large double doors. I made my way into the cell area and there was a bad smell in the air, not like death...but close to it. There were no sources of light, so I had to rely on my flashlight. I felt evil presences around me. I walked over and started shining my light into the cells. The first two were clear, but then the third one had a mutant in it. He banged and screeched against the bars until I shone my light at him and he quickly shot back, practically ramming the wall and shrieking. The same thing came from the remaining cells. There were only five cells, three of which were inhabited, but not by humans, or, normal humans. I knew I wouldn't find anything of use in here, so I made my way out and back to the foyer. Next I made my way to the living quarters.
I shone my flashlight down the hall and it was clear, but long too. There were six doors, three on either side of the long straight hallway, and lockers between each of the doors like some kind of school. At the end of the hallway was a single window which was boarded up. I started making my way slowly down the hallway, and luckily all the doors were closed. I made my way to the window and tore off the boards letting in a flood of light which turned the hallway into a safe zone. As I had made my way down I managed to make out signs on the doors. Two doors on the left, towards the end of the hall where I currently was, were the living quarters, the last door closer to the foyer was a lounge and kitchen area. The two bathrooms to the right of me were bathrooms, and the last one closer to the foyer was the armory. I check the two bathrooms, both empty. I made my way to the first living quarter, closest to the window. I opened up the door and shone my light inside. I shone my light and there was a loud screeching from the room. I shone my light towards the sound and it was one of the mutants that had bolted towards me. The light caused him to stops dead in his tracks and I pulled the trigger, and he fell. The room was cleared, and I opened up the windows, letting in light.
The next room was the same, except it was empty. I decided to check the armory last, and made my way to the door to the lounge and tried opening it, but it wouldn't open. It wasn't stuck, or locked; it was like someone on the other side was trying to pull it closed. I tried pulling and it started to open up a little and then my grip slipped and the door slammed shut. I tried using my sense to see if I could sense anything on the other side, but I couldn't sense any evil magical presences in the area. There could be somebody on the other side, perhaps they're friendly.
"Hello? Is there anybody in there?" I asked. I tried opening the door again, but it was persistent. I was getting tired of this. So I gripped the doorknob with both hands and planted one foot on the wall. I pulled at hard as I could and the door started to slowly open with great effort. I felt a snap and the door jerked open a little more, then another and another. With each snap the door opened up a little more, like it was being held closed by a bunch of rubber bands or something. There was a loud snap and the door forced open and I flew back falling on the floor. I prioritized aiming my gun at the door before everything. I was a bit dizzy, but once I came through I was able to see what had happened. The first thing that caught my attention was the door. There was some kind of weird slime on it. I looked at it and it looked like it had been attached to something, but in had snapped it when I pulled the door open and now...it's bleeding? I pressed my hand against it and felt the most horrifying chill run down my spine. The substance covering the door was exactly like human flesh, it even had hair and small blemishes like moles and freckles.
I shone my light inside of this room and was disgusted with what I saw. The room was filled with human flesh that stuck to the walls and furniture like gum. It was like a sloppy and gooey mess of human flesh. I saw it pulsing, and saw tendons attaching from the muscles and skin to furniture. It was like a gooey web of flesh. It looked like a wad of gum the size of a small car exploded in the room and splattered and stretched to all the corners, except the wad of gum was made of flesh instead. Blood was pulsing through it, and the skin term merged when I touched it. It was alive, and very disturbing. I immediately decided to keep away from this room. I closed the door and paused for a moment. I waited for my head to clear and then checked the armory. I opened up the armory and it was clear. I opened up a window in the back and it lit up the room. The room was full of weapons and ammunition, there were quite a lot of hand guns and rifles missing, but there were still plenty left. I filled a couple rifle bags full of enough guns and ammo to supply a small rebellion. I took a few handguns and ammo boxes for myself. Then I remembered that I was supposed to get some rations, but I didn't see any...they must be...in... That room. I thought about the lounge and the walls and web of flesh. I shuttered and figured that I should at least check.
So I made my way back across the hall and slowly opened up the doorway to the lounge. I had half expected some kind of huge, fleshy arm to reach out and grab my face or something, but nothing happened. I shined my flashlight inside; this stuff doesn't seem to mind the light. I actually found it weirdo that there were larger clumps of the stuff near the windows where the light flooded in. And what's more, when I moved my flashlight away from a strip of flesh to the bare ground I could see it following the light; it was just sort of...oozing towards the beam of my flashlight. This stuff must like the light. It's like a plant, but made of flesh...Jesus this stuff is fucking weird. It creeps me out. I made my way inside and started looking around for anything that seemed like they could be rations. I was carrying four rifle bags full of ammo and weapons, so I was having a hard time moving around. Maybe they don't need rations, if I tell them that there were none to be found I'm sure that they'll believe me, I'm sure that all of these weapons will be enough to satiate them. I turned and left the room of flesh and made my way out of the police station. I checked my watch, only an hour had passed.
I started making my way back to the town hall carrying the bags of weapons. As I was making my way down the street to the town hall I noticed something. Straight across the plaza from the town hall was a church, a large white church with a bell tower and white chipped paint. I noticed in the top off the bell tower, which actually had bells in it, there was a flash. It wasn't the light bouncing off the bells, but a flash...maybe a lens flare? Are there people in the church too, they could be focusing a rifle on me. I stopped and looked at it, but there was strangeness to the flashing, it wasn't like it was focusing, but... I thought for a second... Wait...mores code! Somebody in the church must be flashing a message to me. I paid close attention to it.
"Town hall...stop... Trap... Bandits...?" I said, the message repeated after that. Sending a message in mores code through a rifle isn't easy, maybe there's military in there. I held up my hand in the air and made the shape of a gun. I pointed it at the town hall and waved. I then signaled an "OK" at the tower and the signaling stopped. I prepared a short plan in my head and walked over to a car broken down by a strip of stored. I laced two of the rifle bags there and kept them out of sight and started moving towards the town hall. If it does turn out that the people in there are bandits, then once trouble starts we'll make a mad dash for those car, use them as cover and grab the bags, then beeline it towards the church keeping cover behind the line of wrecked cars. That should work out well enough. But I decided to be a little more cautious. I made sure I wasn't in line of any of the windows of the town hall before opening the two bags and modifying the guns.
By modifying I meant that I started to take out all of the firing pins in the guns. They wouldn't notice unless they took the guns apart themselves. Being in the military, I know how to dismantle a gun and put it together faster than a five piece puzzle. I kept all of the firing pins in my pocket and put all of the guns back in the bags and made sure I got them all. I zipped the bags back up and started to make my way back to the town hall with the two bags of sabotaged guns. If it turns out that what I think I know is wrong, then I'll fix the guns, if not...then they won't be of use to them. I finalized my plan just as I raised my hand and knocked on the door of the town hall. "Hey...I'm back." I said. The doors opened and I walked in.
"Good you're back..." Said the man from before. The town hall looked dusty, like everything else. A stage with a podium at the end and chairs and seats in front of it, some tossed aside to make room for bedding and sleeping areas. It seemed like a good place to set up a refugee camp. Flood lights were at every window for the night and the door knob on this end had been hooked up to a car battery and a small conduction engine, most likely also taken from a car. I saw twilight and Derek sitting down and when they noticed me they're smiled. Twilight noticed I had been injured, but it wasn't that bad, just some scratches on my back and shoulders. I looked around at all of the people in here, they were poorly armed, but they didn't look like refugees. They weren't very innocent looking or dirty, and they didn't look weak...and now that I'm so close to them, I can feel an evil presence in them. It would appear that I have been tricked. "I take it you found the guns and rations?"
"I found some guns in a gun closet; others have already raided the armory! It was empty... But there were plenty of weapons inside the gun closet." I said tossing down the other two riffle bags.
"Very good...and the food?" He asked.
"There was none to be found..." I said.
"I was sure there would be some in the lounge..." Said another man walking up beside their leader.
"The lounge...well...it's not very searchable..." I said.
"How so?" Asked the man beside the leader.
"I think that's best left to be seen..." I said. "At the least I cleared the place out of those things...so if you want to go search it yourself...go right ahead..."
"Okay...that seems fair enough... You can have your friends back..." He said gesturing for twilight and Derek to come over and join me. They walked over and stood next to me. I subtly shifted my stance and held my gun at a more, easily moveable position.
"So...when did you settle in the town hall?" I asked.
"Oh, we've been here for some time now... A month at least." Said the leader as two other men picked up the bags and they started looking through them.
"Did you ever have any trouble with bandits?" I asked. Twilight and Derek seemed a little suspicious of my question, but what was even more suspicious was the change of expression on the leaders face, and the rest of the people in here had grown quieter. I gave a passing glance to twilight and Derek and Derek knew that I was onto something, twilight was still working out the details, but she got it too.
"Well...no, we haven't really..." He said. He sounded rather nervous.
"Do you get along with the people in the church?" I asked. A question that seemed to surprise him even more.
"Yes, we do..." He said.
"You know you ask a lot of stupid questions..." Said a man holding one of the new rifles from the bag. I noticed that the only two guns that they have in here that should actually work are now on the table, the rest of them held the new rifles in their hands.
"I have one more question." I said.
"Fine...but this is the last one..." Said the leader.
"When were you planning on killing us?" I asked. The question surprised him. "Right now...in our sleep... When our backs were turned?" I said. "Did you even know that there were people in the church...? Or did you think that you had killed them all?" Without hesitation he quickly took one of the rifles and pointed it at me. Not a second later did he pull the trigger, but there was no terrible boom followed by pain and blood, just an empty click followed by a look of fear. The next thing I knew the other had started pulling their triggers at us, but nothing but empty clicks. "Looking for these?" I asked holding up a handful of firing pins. Derek laughed a little, but twilight looked mostly relieved. I saw one of the men reaching for one of the two working pistols they had and before he could grab it I pulled my riffle over and shot both pistols destroying them. I saw a man running down some stairs with a rifle in his hands and I quickly aimed at him and fired, promptly hitting him in the chest and he died. I then moved my riffle over to the crowd of people and they dropped their guns and put their hands up in the air.
"Okay...now... Let's just...calm down for a moment." Said the leader.
"For that one split second... You were ready to kill me...weren't you?" I asked. "If only you knew..." I said. I reached into my backpack from where I was and pulled out the shotgun that I had taken for myself and tossed it over to Derek who grabbed it and examined it. He loaded it and smiled.
"Nice..." He said. He then walked over to one of the men and picked up the rifle at his feet and walked back over. "Here Twi...you can use this...these ones don't have much recoil in them... So it should be easy to fire..." Said Derek.
"But I thought these didn't work." Said twilight.
"You'll need this..." I said handing her a firing pin. "I'll put it in later, for now use this." I said handing her the handgun that Derek had given me earlier. She held it in her hands and kept the rifle strapped across her back.
"She acts like she's never seen a gun before." Said one of the guys.
"I've never fired one if that's what you're asking..." She said.
"Simple...just point it at somebody, and pull the trigger, but make sure you hold it strong, there will be a bit of kickback." I said.
"Okay..." She said.
"Alright... So...what should we do now?" Asked Derek.
"Well...we could exact some wasteland justice... After all, I'm sure that they didn't find this place empty..." I said. "You drove out a bunch of people here...didn't you, killed them and took refuge here...?" I asked them pointing my gun through the crowd of people.
"Hey...it want personal... It's for survival..." Said the leader.
"Explain to me how killing others is considered survival...?" I asked.
"So is that it...you're going to kill us too?" Asked another man in the crowd.
"No...Not really..." I said. "We're going to leave... Have fun with your broken guns..." I said heading towards the door and pushing it open. I signaled for twilight and Derek to follow me and we left the building. I smiled and lead them over to the car where I had stashed the other two rifle bags. I took cover behind there and grabbed the two bags that I slid under the car. Twilight and Derek ducked under with me.
"How'd you figure out they were bandits?" Asked Derek.
"The bell tower..." I said pointing to the church. We all looked up and I signaled to the bell tower with a thumb up. Then there was a responsive flash of light. "See it?"
"The flash?" Asked twilight.
"It's mores code." I said.
"It looks like he's trying to talk." Said Derek. "What's he saying?"
"Let's see..." I said waiting for the code to repeat then I started to read it. "Flower...shop... Stop..." I said. They must want us to go to the flower shop. I looked around and found a flower shop a couple of buildings down. There was a broken window from which I saw a flash. It was somebody with some kind of glass shard or something. I signaled for twilight and Derek to follow and we made our way to the flour shop. We rushed over and entered through the broken window, once inside we looked around. It was dusty and dank in here. There were no flowers, except for fake plastic ones which had lost all color. I looked over and saw a man standing against the doorway seeming like he had to duck and cover. He had camouflage jeans and a black shirt on. It was cut up and dirty and his pockets looked like they were full of useful little things. He was middle aged with dirty brown hair and a slim figure. He looked athletic, like a scout for the military.
"Over here..." He said signaling us. We made our way over and greeted him. "It's a good thing you made it out alive...but why aren't they pursuing?"
"They won't be shooting at us any time soon, at least not without these." I said showing him the handful of firing pins. He smiled and chuckled a little.
"Nice job..." He said. "We heard gun fire... That must have been you."
"They still have that sniper..." Said Derek. He looked out at the building and at the very top window was a flash and then a bang. Derek quickly pulled back in and barely missed getting shot. "Yep...still there."
"I thought you killed him..." Said twilight.
"I killed the man, but not the rifle... Right now that should be their only working weapon." I said. "Those are the bandits than ran you guys out right?" I asked.
"They are... They only had three guns and managed to overpower us." He said.
"How many guns do you have?" Asked Derek.
"Just one...the rifle...and it's out of juice..." He said.
"Good thing I saved these..." I said jiggling the two riffle bags.
"You're a life saver man..." He said. "We just me do get back without getting wasted, and maybe we'll stand a chance of surviving longer."
"They said there was food inside of the station... But we couldn't find any." I said.
"That's okay... In hindsight we should have moved to the church first..." He said. "They were having some kind of canned food drive before the explosion... So we've got plenty to go around. And we have water from the deli down the street... We've got plenty of food and water to last us a long time."
"How many of you are there?" I asked.
"Only six...there used to be more, at least twenty of us." He said.
"How do we get to the church from here?" Asked twilight.
"We'll have to cut through the shops." He said. "We can move behind them, but there's a gap between the shops and the church."
"We should hurry..." I said. So we made our way to the back of the flower shop where there was a back door that lead outside behind the shops. We moved down the small back street with dumpsters and recycling bins until we reached the edge. We reached the edge of the last building and there was a large road cutting off the path of cover. On the other side of the road was the church. We could see the side of it, and there was a bulkhead leading to the cellar. We watched and waited then soon the bulkhead opened up and I saw a woman prop it open and signal us to move. A shot was fired and it hit the metal bulk head creating a loud bang. But luckily the metal door was thick enough to act as cover.
"We'll have to make a dash. But luckily we can stop at the car there..." He said pointing to a car flipped on its back in the middle of the street.
"We should make the run in teams of two..." I said. "Two people rush for the car, and then when they rush towards the bulkhead the other two rushed towards the car."
"That's smart..." Said the man. "So...who's first?" He asked. There was a short moment of silence.
"I'll go..." Said twilight.
"Are you sure?" I asked.
"I'm sure..." She said.
"I'll go with her..." Said Derek.
"And we'll go last then." Said the man looking over at me. I looked at twilight but she seemed very sure of herself.
"Alright..." I said. She smiled and she and Derek prepared to run out towards the car. She looked back at me and I gave her a confident smile. "Run fast, keep low, and don't apt running, throw yourself at the ground... It's better than getting shot."
"Okay..." She said. They both kept their eyes forward and waited. I paused. And then the man spoke up.
"Okay...go now!" He said and Derek and twilight both took off towards the car. Twilight was surprisingly fast, but not even five feet past the edge of the shop there was a loud bang. A bullet hit the ground not five inches from twilight leg. They kept sprinting and there was another shot when they were close to the car. The shot hit the rear light and it shattered. They dove behind the car and took cover. Two more shots fired off both hitting the car, but couldn't penetrate. We waited; twilight and Derek caught their breath and looked back at us. Me and the other man got ready take off and run. We looked towards twilight and I gave them a signal to move forward. They both got ready, and the second they sprinted off we took off as well.
We tore down the road and a there was a shot that fired from the town hall. I felt it graze by me, but just barely. I kept sprinting and I noticed that twilight and Derek had made it; the distance from the car to the church was shorter than from the car to the store. I made the mistake of not paying attention and something caught my leg and I tripped. Another shot fired and I felt a stinging pain in my right hand. I tumbled forward and rolled behind the car and landed on my back and let out a yell of pain. I moaned in pain and started breathing heavily. The other man was unharmed, but the sniper managed to shoot my hand. I looked at my right hand and there was a large gaping hole in my right hand that was bleeding profusely. I let out another grunt of pain and stayed on my back.
"Are you okay?" Asked the man kneeling right next to me. He saw my hand and cringed a bit. The bullet severed multiple ligaments and tendons, so I couldn't move any of my fingers, save my thumb. I let out a few heavy breaths followed by moans of pain.
"At least he didn't get my legs..." I said smiling a little. I'm not going to lie...this hurts like a bitch.
"Can you pull it together for the last dash?" He asked.
"Yeah..." I said getting up without using my right hand. I got ready to sprint forward and so did he.
"Ready?"
"Yeah..." I said, he signaled me to move and we both bolted towards the bulkhead. There were three more shots; two of them almost hit us. But we got to the bulkhead and the last shot hit the door of the bulkhead. Once we got in the woman standing by quickly shut the doors closed and the noise from outside was drowned out. We walked down and small wooden stairwell into a large open, and dimly lit room. There were lots of beds and tables and chairs. There was a stage in the front with a large cross on the back of the stage wall, and a large statue of the mother marry up front, there were a few people down here, only five of them, including the woman and the man. The other three people here didn't look like much. There was another woman and her son here and a sister, a nun, kneeling and praying at the mother marry.
"This is all there is..." Said the man walking up to us. "The last one of us, my friend Owen, is still up in the bell tower keeping watch." He said. "My name is John, John Williams..."said the man holding out his right hand to me looking for a handshake. I looked at him but it only took a second. "Oh...right..." He said. "You should get your hand checked out." He said. "Sister Gertrude!" Shouted John slowly jogging over to the sister kneeling at the statue. She noticed him and stood up and turned to him. She was an older woman, probably in her sixties wearing a nuns garments and a golden cross across her neck.
"What is it child?" She asked. She had a very gentle voice.
"There's a man here that needs help." He said.
"Let me see..." She said walking over to us. Twilight and Derek had pulled out a seat and helped me sit down. Twilight knelt down by my side and Derek stood next to me. "Oh dear..." She said kneeling down and gently holding my hand.
"Is it bad?" Asked twilight.
"It's a nasty wound...but it will heal." She said. "John...please get the first aid kit in the classroom..." She said.
"Is there anything I can do to help mother?" Asked the woman with her child. I feel like she meant mother in the religious sense, but she could be her legitimate mother, they do look slightly similar.
"Yes...please, get some food and some water for our guests." She said. "They must be hungry..."
"Yes mother..." Said the woman walking over to her son. "Let's go Kyle...we need to get food."
"Okay mom..." Said the kid who couldn't be any older than ten. He walked with his mother and they walked over to a small classroom like room where I could see lots of food and packages of bottled water stashed and stored away. It wasn't long before John returned with a red first aid kit. The sister thanked him and opened up the bag.
"Okay child...this may hurt..." She said opening a bottle of rubbing alcohol... This is the worst part. She poured it over the wound and I covered my mouth to keep myself from creaming aloud from the pain. Once I settled down she started to clean up the wound, I kept my hand over my mouth until she began bandaging it up. Once it was covered with a thick layer of cloth it started to hurt less. My fingers and thumb poked out of the bandages which were as thick as a cast.
"That was a nasty blow..." Said John. "Can you move any of your fingers?"
"My thumb... And my index finger...a little. And my pinky but that's no use, my middle and ring finger are shot though...literally." I said earning a small laugh from twilight and Derek.
"Firing a gun might be tough with that wound, and that's necessary to survive out here. So you might want to think about shooting lefty..." He said.
"Thank you sister, for helping my friend..." Said Derek.
"Thanks are not needed; I only help those who truly need it." She replied. "If you need a place to stay, and food to eat then you are welcomed to stay as long as you wish..." She said.
"Thank you. But we only need to stay the night." I said.
"Only the night?" Asked the women who held open the door. She had walked over and stood next to John. "It's pretty dangerous out there... Sure there might be plenty of places where people have taken refuge, just like us, but not all of them are as welcoming."
"We've noticed..." Said twilight.
"I couldn't help but notice that people seem a bit scared of the army around here... Can you tell me about that?" I asked looking specifically at John.
"I can..." He said. "You've probably already guessed, but I am ex-military, so is my friend Owen up in the bell tower." He said. "People are afraid of the military because they thought they might try and abduct people and experiment on them because of these strange radiation affects...but I can assure you none of that is happening." He said.
"But the military isn't help much..." Said the woman next to him.
"We could at least be grateful that they decided to build a wall instead of bomb the hell out of this place to begin with." Said John.
"Why did they build a wall...I don't know much of the story that happened here, so could you tell me?" I asked.
"Yeah..." Said John.
"When the explosion went off, it wasn't a normal one, it didn't destroy everything in its path, and instead it was like a wave of radiation instead of the explosion itself."
"The blast destroyed all technology...well, all the big stuff anyway. Stuff like flashlights and these generators still work. But cars and trains don't work anymore, there's no more power, but the plumbing still works oddly enough. Not everybody was affected by the blast. Strangely, only certain people were, and it didn't matter where they stood either. Some people were safe while the person standing right next to them fell to the ground dead."
"So what was it like?" Asked twilight.
"It was terrifying..." Said the sister. "There was lots of mass confusion and chaos... I remember people trying to flood into the church..."
"People that were affected by the blast died instantly, while others... Like us, we unscathed..." Said the woman.
"The military started ordering people to evacuate the entire state, so there are some lucky people, who lived in towns close to the border like this one; they were able to get out. We couldn't drive, so we had to walk, and that took days. After about four days, that's when everything went wrong. The dead bodies littering the ground started to rise up again, like zombies... But probably worse."
"That's when they built the wall..." Said the woman.
"How come you guys didn't escape?" Asked twilight.
"I stayed with the church to help..." Said Sister Gertrude.
"The rest of us came from the inner cities, closer to the center... We didn't have time to escape. Believe me we tried, but before the wall was built, there were brocades, fences. All of America poured its whole military force into keeping this place contained..." Said the woman.
"We tried to get through, but they threatened to shoot anything that got close...so we went back." He said. "It started off simple at first. The ghouls, that's what we call them, the ones that walk around at night, were the first things to come along." He said.
"Then they start changing..." I added.
"Yeah. Slowly, but now there are some that can make their way around in the daylight. There are some of them who are really long and tall with freakishly long legs and arms." Said the woman.
"We've seen one of those." Said twilight.
"We call them sandmen..." He said. "The reason is because they like to come out during the morning the most. They usually are alone, and not often too dangerous because they're surprisingly slow."
"Then there are suiciders..." Said the woman. "They most often walk at night, but have been known to survive during the day. They like to scream and sprint at people and then explode." She said. "Their explosions usually vary, but still are deadly."
"There are hellhounds too...dogs that have mutated..." Said John. "Day walkers, basically the same things as the mutants that walk around at night but...well, during the day." He said thinking of some more. "Those are the basic kinds...but there are all sorts of special mutants that have changed in ways completely different from the rest."
"Like how?" I asked.
"Well... It was just a few weeks ago, before the bandits attacked..." Said the man. "There was some strange creature that walked through the town center... Scared the crap out of us."
"It looked like some kind if spider thing... But it was like a skeleton of a spider, bones covered its flesh like armor, it was creepy... We have t seen it since." She said.
"Word sometimes gets around from other travelers of strange things that aren't normal in the wasteland like that..." Said the woman who had returned with her some holding some food and water. "Here...drink these, and eat... They might be cold, but we don't have any more material for firewood." Said the woman. She handed us each a can of food and a bottle of water, and we started eating and drinking. I drank some of my water and let out a sigh.
"Thank you..." I said gesturing to them all. "You have our gratitude."
"The churches doors are always open to those whose hearts and souls are pure..." Said the sister.
"We just need to spend one night...then we have to be off..." I said.
"Speaking of which... Where are you heading off to anyway?" Asked John.
"The next town over, towards the west..." I said. "Ashton..."
"Oh...no, you can't go there." Said the woman.
"Why not?" I asked.
"Well, the way it works is that usually all the mutants are more concentrated near the center and the big cities... But there's something in Ashton that draws them all in to that town... It's a festering cesspool of mutants and freaks... Everybody knows not to go there."
"Well... That's where we need to go." I said. Her words gave me some hope though. If there's something drawing the mutants there, then maybe there is a portal there, maybe my premonitions were right.
"What's in Ashton that you need to get there so badly?" Asked the woman.
"Home..." I replied staring at the ground with hollow eyes.
"I'm sorry to hear that... They said that there weren't any survivors from Ashton... They said that everybody there had been killed..."
"I'd rather not talk about it anymore...if you don't mind." I said.
"Sure...we'll drop it." Said the mother who held the hand of her child.
"You three should get some rest...especially you... A good sleep will help heal that wound right up." Said the sister.
"Yeah...that sounds good... I'm starting to get tired anyway." I said getting up from the chair.
"Take whichever bed you want...we don't have any assigned sleeping places...so feel free to lay wherever." Said the woman who had previously held open the door.
"Thank you..." I said getting up and walking over to a bed at the very back. It was just a bunch of thin sheets and crappy pillows and a cut forger laid on the ground, probably all scavenged from some kind of furniture shop or some homes. I laid down on the bedding and rested my head, I felt eyes watching me, familiar eyes, but I ignored them. The others talked while I slept, and I fell asleep almost instantly. And it was that night that I had the most terrifying nightmare I've ever had. Through the darkness, I felt consciousness, awareness, the dream was lucid, and I knew I wouldn't forget it.
I stood there, in a Barron wasteland with nothing surrounding me but the mountains and dunes of ashes and bones. Skeletons and bones littered the ground, mixed into a desert like terrain of ash instead of sand. There was an burning moon up in the sky. Not the sun, but the moon, burning and turning to ash. The sky was blood red; the clouds were black, like smoke from a fire. The ground trembled under my feet and the skulls and bones chattered and shook under me. The vibration end slowly caused me to start sinking into the ash but I kept on the surface. Soon a large object started to rise from the ground and the ash right in front of me. It was some kind of archway. A tear opened up and the archway continued to rise as a thousand screaming souls escaped from the rift and flew into the air towards the burning moon.
The rumbling stopped and the archway stood there, as tall as a building. On one side of it was an angel wearing a dress carved into the stone of the archway. She had heavenly wings and a mighty sword which she pointed to the top of the archway. On the other end was a fierce looking demon with twisted and torn wings and claws. He wore only a loin cloth and had a devilish smile. He held in his hands a twisted scythe which arched over to top and the tip of the scythe met the tip of the angel's blade. Together they both formed the archway. And in the center of the archway, filling the space was a doorway. The doorway had something carved into it though. It was a sort of tree; it then was the tree of life as described by Socrates and Aristotle. From heaven, and the roots of history, is born new life. Paths of life burst out like branches, and each leaf is a soul, a single life, placed somewhere on this tree. One side leans towards good, the side of the angel...the other leans towards evil. Once the leaved wither and die they fall towards the afterlife, where the source of life, and the roots of history grow.
I stood there, unable to speak or make sound, unable to move, unable to look away or even blink my eyes. The screaming souls still flew up into the sky and soon fire started to rain down from the sky. Hot cinders and falling embers danced in the sky and fell to the ground. Suddenly I finally found the will to move forward. As I took my first step there was a loud boom, and so the doors began to slowly open outward. I kept walking forward and through the cracks of the door shone a brilliant light. I kept walking and walking as the doors opened up to nothing but light, and soon I stood right in front of the doorway. The light was blinding, but soon faded away and I could see the other side. And what I saw... Was myself.
I looked in and saw myself, like looking into a mirror. But as I kept looking I could see that this wasn't I, but what I used to be at a different time. Before all of the scars, before all of the complications. It started off as me, but slowly the years would shed off of the other me's body. And soon, I was staring at my child self. He looked up to me. Big hazel eyes, shiny black hair, and a small childish body. This was before I knew the terrors of life. This is me before I lost all of my innocents. Before my sister, my parents, my career, the war, the arch, and before I moved to the other world... Before all of the adventure. My childlike self, which couldn't be more than ten, look up at me and he smiled... I felt like crying. I felt like saying sorry...I felt like I didn't deserve that smile, but I couldn't force any of those emotions to the surface. I simply looked at him with hollow, haunted eyes, eyes that begged the question of 'why?' I wondered how he could look at me like that...but before I could ask, he spoke.
"It's okay..." He said, his voice slightly faded from the deep humming of the gateway. Behind him was a swirling vortex of light and darkness all together. "You don't have to be sorry... It's not your fault."
"But..." I managed to choke out.
"You've made a lot of people happy...but you made them sad too..." He said. "All you have to do is say sorry..."
"But...it's hard..." I said. "It's so hard to... Say sorry." I said finally breaking down and falling to my knees, falling to his level and weeping. Tears rolled down my face and hit the dry ashes under me. "It's so hard to say sorry, when you have so much to be sorry about."
"Sometimes it is..." He said. "Sometimes it's not easy...and maybe they won't forgive you... But perhaps knowing that you care, is forgiveness enough... Perhaps then you can rest." He said. "All you have to do is say sorry...but who should you really be apologizing to?" He asked. I looked at him and he gave me a stern look.
"I should apologize to you..." I said. "I've take. Away your innocence... And because of it... I've taken it from so many other people too..." I said. He looked at me and then smiled.
"You try and shine light on other people, but by blinding them as so, they can't see that your soul has been drowning in darkness the whole time." He said. "You're starting to run out of breath... You can either learn how to swim...or you can embrace it." He said.
"Teach me then...show me how to swim..." I said to which he smiled. He held out his hand and with the other one gestured to the other side of the gate.
"I'll show you... But you have a lot of swimming to do, a lot of darkness to wade through, hold your breath a little longer, and soon you'll breach the surface...and maybe then...just maybe...you'll know how to say sorry...and to truly mean it." He said helping out his hand further. I reached out my own hand and grabbed his and he began to pull me into the light. I moved forward and then fell through the portal, and into the light. All around me light shone brightly, the other side was no longer visible, and it was falling, and I hit something, a black kind of liquid. I felt myself becoming engulfed in the thick liquid.
As I sunk I felt myself loosing air, but I didn't try to move until I had started to drown. I flailed and I kept trying to swim to the top, but the more I flailed the deeper I sunk. I thought that it was over, so I stopped knowing that any moment I lose all air and die. Then something grabbed my hand. The sensation shocked me to life and I looked up to see my childlike self holding my hand and smiling. I felt like all the air had returned to my lungs, like I took a nice deep breath of fresh air. He looked at me and smiled, and I felt a sensation rush over my body, something like assurance. He smiled at me and started pulling me up and he said.
"Come...I'll show you how to swim..." And so we swam. I felt myself moving closer to the surface as I wadded through the thick black substance that tried to pull me down. Instead of flailing hopelessly I moved with precision, with caution and care and I felt myself moving towards the surface. I smile as the thick black substance began to grow thin, and what felt like slime, no felt as light as water, and the swimming became easier. I moved closer and closer to the surface even faster now. And soon the light shining on the other side became visible and I swam as fast as I could. I moved as close to the surface as I could, and I noticed that my childlike self wasn't here anymore, he wasn't holding my hand, I was swimming by myself, I looked back into the darkness to see him floating there smiling at me, he wasn't moving, but sinking. I felt like turning back and grabbing him but he said something and stopped me.
"Don't look back at your past..." He said still smiling. "The mistakes of our past might govern our outcome... That much is true..." He said. "But there's always the possibility of change, everyone can change. All you have to do is keep swimming and don't look back, or you'll drown, and instead of living for others, you'll end up drowning in darkness with your past... Keep swimming, you've nearly reached the surface." He said as blackness soon covered his body and slowly pulled him down. "Just keep swimming." Were his last words as he soon disappeared into the darkness. I turned back around and swam upwards. Closer and closer to the surface until... I breached the darkness and felt a warm light covering my whole body. I took a deep breath and smiled...
Finally I can breathe...