Authors: S.G. Harkness
Episode 5
I wake up late morning, and it’s sunny outside. The first night in the house felt like an eternity. I wash up, and I get something to eat and drink. I can’t just sit at home and hope. It’s time to explore the rest of the new world. I pack up, and I’m ready to roll. I take an assault rifle, a sword, and a grenade with me. I can’t find the key to the car so I will have to walk. I step out of the house, and I’m on my way out.
It’s a long walk, and the scenery is unpleasant. The destruction is everywhere. I make it to the city. As I explore the city, I see dead bodies everywhere, and it’s absolutely disgusting. I wonder if all this destruction was caused by a rebellion against the government. I don’t need many supplies, but the more, the better. I should take anything I can find. The new world is a lonely one, and I want to find survivors. I want to know what is happening in the world. I’m looking for good people, but I doubt I will find anyone.
Walking helps me think. I seem to get places faster as my mind wanders. I reach a hospital, but it looks run down. It’s definitely a must since I could use more medicine just in case I get sick. I plan to load up on all sorts of medication, syringes, and anything that can help heal wounds and diseases. I’m no doctor, and I’m no nurse. I’m still going to take everything I can. I approach the front door. I might get lucky, and the automatic slide door might open for me. The automatic slide door doesn’t open, which is no surprise.
I use the front door to enter the hospital. The hospital has a very offensive odor. It’s so dark and musty inside. I have to use my flashlight
, and there are a lot of corpses on the floor. A lot of them look like they were shot up, and some of them look chewed up. The reception desk has two dead women sitting face up on their chairs. Both of them look like they were shot in the head, but I don’t see any other wounds on their bodies. I ring the desk bell several times to wake up the hospital, but something tells me that I shouldn’t have done that.
I slowly open the door to one of the examining rooms, open the drawers and manage to score some basic medical supplies. They are not exactly what I’m looking for, but it’s better than nothing. I continue to walk around the hospital. I walk into another room, and I find drugs that I can’t pronounce. This must be a good thing. I wonder why the names of all these products have to be so difficult to pronounce. I load up my backpack with as much as I can. I take syringes, swabs, and almost everything that I see. I leave the room and search more rooms. I walk in a room with two dead patients who are hooked up to medical devices, and the smell is unbearable.
They are as dead as they can be, and they are both missing their eyeballs. That’s fucked up. There must have been a lot of crazies in this hospital. I make my way to other rooms in the hospital, and I enter another room. It looks like a surgery was performed on someone. There is a scalpel buried in their head. The body is cut open and has a bad smell. This patient must have had their surgery during the chaos. That was a horrible way to die. I search through the drawers, but I don’t see anything worth taking.
I continue to search another room. It looks like a doctor’s office. I search the desk, open the drawers to find dirty magazines, and I wonder what kind of doctor worked here. This is creepy, and I hope he is dead. I walk into another office. I find a dead body. It looks like a nurse tried to kill herself. It looks like she overdosed on something. There is a needle stuck in her arm, and it looks like she was hit hard in the head. I search the room, and I find medication. I take all of it. It’s time for me to leave since I have enough to carry.
I make my way out of the hospital. It’s really dark outside, and it looks like a storm is coming. The rain comes down hard as I journey back home. The journey back home seems peaceful. There is something about this moment that is relaxing. I usually hate walking in the rain. If there is anyone out there, I can spot them instantly. That’s how lifeless the world is now. I’m used to seeing movement all around me. I will enjoy this peaceful moment while it lasts. I can’t wait to get home and dry off. I hope I don’t get sick from walking in the rain. I continue to make my way home, and it seems like I’ve been walking for a long time. I think I see movement ahead of me. I can’t believe what I’m seeing.
It looks like I’m not alone in the new world. I’m not hallucinating. I stop walking and stand still. The rain continues to come down hard and makes visibility difficult. I still notice movement ahead of me, even though the bad visibility makes it a little difficult to see ahead. I notice a strange man sitting on a park bench. I continue to walk closer to get a better look. I slowly approach him as the rain hits down hard, and it doesn’t seem to disturb him. I can only see the back of him. He wears a baseball cap. I don’t think he can hear me approaching. I don’t want to startle him, so I take my time to come around him.
I can see the side of his face as I slowly approach him. I’m across from him. He wears sunglasses, jeans, and a leather jacket. He’s a built man, has a beard, and he looks like a wrestler. He slowly turns his head towards me, as I get closer to him. I should try to start a conversation with him.
“You’re the first person I’ve seen since the chaos. What’s your name?"
The man slowly stands up and slowly comes near me. He doesn’t want to answer me. I stand still as he approaches me. I should keep talking to him, and maybe he will listen.
“Are you feeling ok? Do you live around here? Do you speak English?”
The man is getting closer, and I’m nervous. He raises one of his arms at me as he slowly approaches, and he starts making loud choking sounds from his mouth. I start to back away from him. He sounds very sick, and I don’t want him to touch me.
“Hey, I don’t want you too close to me. I don’t know you. What’s wrong with you?”
The man gets closer to me, and I slowly back up. He tries to grab me, but I swing my right arm at him. He manages to grab my shoulders with his hands. He grips me really tight. He won’t back off me. He bends closer with his mouth open, and he looks like he’s going in for a kiss. I swing a hard punch and hit his face. He steps back, and he manages to have one hand grabbing onto me. I hit him again, his sunglasses fly off, and he lets go of me. His face is turned away from me.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to hit you so hard! What is wrong with you?”
He turns his head slowly towards me, and he starts to make growling sounds. I suddenly notice his blood-red eyes! My mouth drops. Holy shit! The guy looks like a fucking zombie! I try to calm down. I take deep breaths. It looks directly into my eyes. Its evil red eyes stare at me, and it starts to make a strange hissing noise from its mouth as it approaches me. I quickly back away, and I grab my assault rifle. I never dealt with a zombie before. I don’t know if I should negotiate with it, but it could work. I could be wrong about the whole thing. This guy might not even be a zombie. He could be just sky high on crack. Anything is possible. On second thought, if it looks like a zombie, acts like a zombie, and walks like a zombie, then it must be a fucking zombie. Whatever it is, it’s not friendly. I will give it a chance. I should try to see if I can find out what it wants.
“If you come any closer, I will shoot you in the leg! I swear I will do it!”
I point my assault rifle at its legs as it raises its arms at me and approaches a lot faster with its mouth open. It’s foaming at the mouth.
“I swear I will shoot you!”
I fire a warning shot in the air as it continues to approach me. I fire a shot near its foot, but it continues to approach me. I finally aim at the zombie’s leg. I shoot several shots at its legs, and it falls to the ground. It slowly stands back up and continues its assault. I aim at its body, fire several rounds and it falls back onto the ground. The zombie is on its back, but it rises up again! It stands up and quickly pursues me! I back away as the zombie approaches me with aggression.
I slip—on the wet ground, and fall on my ass! I drop my assault rifle as the zombie manages to gain some ground, and I try to reach for my assault rifle, but it’s too late because the zombie is on top of me!
I struggle as it grabs my hair with its strong hands. Its mouth is wide open, and it starts to come closer for some contact. I can’t seem to reach my rifle, so I hold the zombie back with my left hand, and I’m almost face to face with the zombie as it presses its way closer to bite me! Its blood-red eyes are furious! It has a horrible stench, and I can’t hold the zombie any longer. The zombie is too overpowering, and my left arm starts to buckle as I take my right arm and search for my knife. I’m sitting on my knife, and it is almost impossible to reach.
I strain my right arm to pull the knife out. I scream—at the top of my lungs in order to pull the knife out. My right arm suddenly swings out with the knife in my hand, and I swing my arm, and I bury—the knife in the zombie’s head! The zombie falls on my exhausted body, and it weighs a ton. I cry out in relief as the rain continues to pour down. I’m so tired from the struggle that I will rest on the ground for several minutes.
I push the zombie off me, and I’m on my back. I stay put, and I let the cool rain relieve my exhaustion. My right arm is strained. I’m done for the day. My right arm is killing me. I’m never going to negotiate with a zombie ever again. I can stay rested on my back for hours. The rain feels like a good massage. I would feel much better if the zombie wasn’t next to me. I will rest here for a little while. I close my eyes and enjoy the moment of relief.
Enough time has passed by. I should get moving, so I gather my things, and I make my way back home. I just killed my first zombie. The world must be full of zombies, and I wonder where the rest of the zombies are hiding. It’s getting too cold, and it’s too rainy to walk all the way home. That zombie took a lot of energy out of me. I feel weak and tired, but I know there’s a mall in the area. I don’t want to get sick since there’s still a long way to go. I need to find some shelter to get dry and warm up.
The superstore still has a lot left over from what I can see from the outside. I cautiously enter the superstore. It’s dark, so I take my flashlight out and make my way deeper into the store. I make my rounds to make sure the place is secure. I find sleeping gear, and the sleeping gear is exactly what I need since it’s chilly inside the superstore. I take all my clothes off, and I notice that my nipples are very hard.
I dry up my naked body with some towels. There just happens to be a comfortable looking jogging outfit. I quickly put on the jogging outfit, some new socks, and runners. This is more like it. I walk down to the food section to take what I want and stuff my face. I take advantage of the sweet drinks and junk food to replenish my energy. I find a lantern, and I use it to light up the area, but I don’t want it too bright because I don’t want to attract the crazies. This is the perfect place to rest, though I won’t live here since it’s not secure. I need my rest, so I start to get ready for some sleep. I’m so comfortable in this sleeping bag. I could use a nice massage right now.
It’s too bad that there are no good men around here. They are probably all dead, and that’s a shame. It doesn’t matter how tired I get because I still have needs to fulfill. I have time to pleasure myself, so I’m going to pleasure myself with a passion, and I’m going to make this sleeping bag soaking wet. I close my eyes and imagine myself being caressed by a gorgeous man. I take my time, touch my body, and start to let myself go. I spend several minutes catching my breath. All this excitement gives me cravings for junk food, so I get up and gather up a lot of sweets. I wish I could find ice cream. That would make things perfect. This night is very satisfying. I feel much better; however, I should get some sleep. It is peaceful right now. My eyes are getting heavy, and I hope to have a beautiful dream.
I wake up from having a sweet dream. I slept so well that I must have been asleep for at least seven hours. I leave the superstore. The superstore will be my resting place if there’s a next time. The sun is out; the sky is blue, and I’m shocked that it’s not raining. I should get settled in my new home since I have enough supplies to survive the winter. I’m on my way home. It’s a peaceful journey home. I’m surprised that I haven’t bumped into any trouble. I will have a lot to do when I get home. I will do my best to prepare for the next several months. I reach my house, walk inside, and I start to prepare for winter, since I don’t plan to take any trips outside until winter passes. I secure the house, ration out all the wood, food, and prepare everything else for the long winter months ahead. I will test out the fireplace and get the wood burning before it gets too cold.
There is enough firewood to last several winters. I don’t even want to feel a snowflake. I look forward to cuddling by the fireplace for the next few months. I’m pretty sure the smoke from the chimney won’t attract attention, and I doubt that anyone will be roaming around in the winter. Survivors may try to seek shelter until winter passes. I assume the dead will have a hard time roaming around in the snow, and I hope that they freeze. I predict a long and vicious winter. I walk to the basement to collect firewood, prepare the fireplace for the first fire, and I pack the fireplace full of firewood. I take my lighter to burn some paper, place the burning paper under the firewood, and I can already feel the warmth of the fire. It feels great, and it’s a beautiful display. I sit by the fireplace, and I will relax for a while. It’s just a matter of time before winter finally arrives.