Chapter Three
1698 Words
I knew I was asleep, because I was floating. In real life, people don't do that. Hovering about a foot off of the ground, I was encased in a thick fog; Unable to even see my hands in front of my face. Though I couldn't see, I could feel the tips of my toes sliding across the ground beneath me. I was moving slowly forward but towards what? Or who? As I moved through the fog, sounds began to fill the silence around me. Familiar sounds. I concentrated on the noises and was able to make out my own voice.
"Carson, baby, I don't want to hurt you!" As I heard my own voice screaming the words, the memories rushed through me. I felt adrenaline coursing through me as I was bombarded with horrible and confusing visuals. Oh no. I shot Carson! Why did I do that?! Why was he acting like an animal? We hadn't had the greatest relationship, it had felt like it was coming to and end anyways, but he had never been violent before. Not even when he was drinking. None of what happened made any sense. The image of his teeth digging into my leg caused a pain response, causing me to reach down with a gasp and grabbing my leg. When nothing hurt, I was shocked to find, upon removing my hand, that there were no marks. Temporarily I had forgotten that I was dreaming. The memories that filled me were consuming all rational thought. Carson was dead, a stranger just died to save me, and last I had remembered I was in a truck driving away from my home. I had obviously passed out from the pain at some point because I didn't think I would have fallen asleep voluntarily under the circumstances. I was vaguely aware that I was still slowly floating forward but it didn't really register.
Almost as if conjured by this slight recognition, the fog began to clear. I glanced warily around me, finally beginning to come out of the shock I felt. My dad would be so disappointed in my reactions to recent events.
"He would be, wouldn't he?" A voice rang out. I jumped slightly at the sudden noise, searching for the source. "You don't need to see me quite yet." The disembodied voice said. Obviously my thoughts weren't solely mine right now, I had an audience. At this thought a chuckled resounded around me, echoing through the vast emptiness.
"Who are you? Where are we?" A million questions ripped through my head, but those were the most important.
"Let's just say, I'm someone who can help you. This morning was just the beginning but it opened the door to your destiny. You're gonna need me if you want to survive." His voice seemed to come from everywhere all at once.
"How do I know I need you, if I don't even know who you are?" I asked.
"You know me. You simply don't know it yet. You have always known me. I was that voice in your head, guiding you, your entire life."
"Okay, I have had just about enough with this cryptic conversation. I'm ready to wake up." I closed my eyes tightly. Wishing I could go back to last night, just cooking dinner and watching the news.
"Wishful thinking, but it doesn't work that way. You'll stay here until I decide otherwise." When he said this, his words changed. It was like the words themselves were knives, slicing at my skin. I felt like the air had gotten so thick. "Now, you should know that you aren't in any position to disrespect me or negotiate right now. Listen to my instructions and I'll let you wake up." This wasn't a request and something in my gut told me to play along. "Smart." He replied. This conversation felt very one sided.
"Then what are your instructions? I want to wake up."
"Head west. Even if you must travel alone, head west."
"Okay, where am I supposed to go, out west?" I asked, not wanting to push this unknown man whose voice made all my hair stand on edge and my stomach tie into knots.
"Just head west. It isn't a hard to understand request. Head west and you will know when you have reached your destination."
"Okay, so just head west? Anything else?" I was sure he was about to become irate again and just when I expected his reply another voice boomed around us.
"Go! Go, Laura! You must wake up!" At this new mans words, I felt myself fading from this dream world. The last thing I heard was the first man screaming angrily before I woke up and violently vomited all over myself.
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After waking up and promptly emptying the contents of my stomach all over my lap and the floor of this truck, I had a pounding headache. We had pulled into an alley and the three of us just sat in silence, the sour smell of bile overtaking the cab.
"I'm sorry about the smell." I said, breaking the silence. When nobody said anything, I continued. "Thank you for showing up earlier. I don't know what was going on with Carson, but you know it was self defense right?. We should probably contact the police."
"The cops aren't gonna be any help. Even if they survived." This came from the stranger who had rescued me. He turned to look at me. Studying me seriously for a moment. "That was a hell of a shot. Was that a fluke or are you a consistent marksman?"
"My dad taught me to shoot. Used to compete in marksmanship competitions." I told him. "My name is Laura." I stuck my hand out towards him. He stared at my hand and I lowered it as I realized it was covered in blood and vomit.
"Name's Branson." He nodded to the guy in the passenger seat, who had remained silent up until this point. "This is Scott." Scott turned and nodded at me before setting his eyes on the alley outside once again. His eyes scanned all around us, watching for an unknown threat.
"So, how did you end up in my house rescuing me?" I inquired.
"Saw a kid being dragged into your neighbors house, we stopped to help. Didn't make it in time. Heard you screaming. Guess we were just in the right place." He glanced down at my mangled shoulder. "We're gonna need to clean that soon, your leg too. Don't want to risk an infection."
"For all we know, she's gonna turn into one of 'em too." Scott muttered underneath his breath. Oh wow, he speaks!
"We could just go to the hospital." I said slowly. "I mean, I'm sure we'll need you to give a witness statement or something but if you could just drop me off and leave me your-" He snorted, cutting me off.
"Look, Princess, I don't know if you saw something different than I did, but there is no hospital. There aren't any cops, the military abandoned us, and the damn dead aren't dying. We're gonna have to take care of this ourselves." He had such a serious expression on his face, making me pause. Was he right? I mean, what did I even see?
"You're crazy. Carson was just out of his mind. He- he did some crazy drugs or something and didn't know what he was doing. He was gonna kill me and you saved me and I murdered him. That's what happened. So now we just need to go to the hospital and they'll call the cops and we can get this all figured out." He just didn't know what he was talking about. Oh god, was he insane? Did I escape one maniac and just end up with another one?
"I'm not gonna sugarcoat this for you. Something f****d up is going on. It wasn't just your boyfriend, its everyone that was sick. My mom died two weeks ago from this damned virus and today, she showed up at my apartment and killed my sister. She f*****g ate her face. right in front of me." A faraway look settled into his eyes. "I had to use a baseball bat, on my own mother. She was gonna eat me too." He got very quiet when he spoke this. "I don't understand it and I don't know what they're becoming, but they are not human anymore. Have you ever seen a human being survive a bat to the side of the head, their brains leaking onto the floor? Cause I sure as s**t haven't." I couldn't believe this, it was too insane. I couldn't help but think about what he was describing though, remembering my encounter with Carson. I had stabbed a knife into his chest and he didn't even react. I had kicked him in the face, hard enough I heard bone crack and most people would have been unconscious, and he just kept coming at me. Maybe it really had been intestines hanging from his blackened mid section. My mind raced, trying to comprehend what had happened and what Branson had told me. Was this real? Were people really turning into some kind of monster? If so, what were we supposed to do? Where were we supposed to go?
"Go west." The thought slithered through my head with a will of it's own.
A loud bang and the shaking of the truck, startled all of us. Scott began to yell.
"Go Branson! Let's burn rubber! Get us the hell out of here!" Branson peeled out of the alley. I looked out the window and was horrified to see what had banged against the truck. There was a woman stumbling slowly after us, face twisted in a scowl. That isn't what was so scary though. She had her left arm dangling by just the tendons, bones broken and flesh torn, but just dangling there.
"What is happening?!" I shouted, as we pulled onto a main street and began to look for another place to go.
"I don't know sweetheart but it damn well feels like the end of the world."
- Writer
