The Struggle to Survive: Constant Danger

[David Barger]

It all started seven, maybe eight years ago. Hard to tell since the world went to shit, and we just try to live in the hell hole that used to be planet Earth. It's a nightmare now. Not like it used to be. The world is filled with innumerable dangers that could pounce on you and rip you apart. The cause? A jacked-up super virus named the Orange-eyed Plague. It works in a peculiar way, wracking the infected with fever, nausea, cramps, blisters all over the body that burst with any contact, and finally death. But it doesn't stop there. It brings the deceased back to life. After a couple of minutes, they start to stir and move. They remember nothing about their lives, friends, or families. All they know is that they are hungry. The worst part? The bright, glowing orange eyes... And they group together in ravenous packs, searching for their next meal. After most of everyone either was eaten or ate everyone else, they had to form new ways to hunt. Some mutated into new creatures that are quicker and stronger. Others grew faster and quieter, while the rest just stayed the same mindless eating ghouls. There is only one rule now though, only one law. And that is watch your back. It's a tough world out there. And it won't be getting easier anytime soon.

 

[David Barger]

"Clayton, time to get up for school. You're going to miss the bus again, and you know I can't drive you there!"
Clayton slowly raised his head and looked over at the alarm clock on his dresser.
'6:37 in the morning. I overslept again too. Maybe I can just not go to school today.' He thought as his mind drifted between sleep and waking up. He could hear his mother begin yelling at him again, her tone getting harsher and more upsetting as she went.
'I can just ignore her.' He thought as he put his pillow over his head. He heard her banging on his door, yelling at him to wake up. But Clayton didn't want to get up. He liked the soft feeling of his covers on him, and the nice, cool feel of his pillows on his face.
Suddenly, as quick as lightning, he felt himself being shaken awake, desperate hands moving him quickly back and forth. He slowly opens his eyes to blue skies and trees passing by overhead. Slowly he looks around and sees that he is in a car speeding down a back road, accompanied by two other people in the vehicle. They look scraggly, wearing torn clothes and dirty boots, and look worried. The one driving, a tall, lanky man with dark hair and eyes that stared forward relentlessly, who looks like he was of hispanic heritage about the age of 30, grips the steering wheel with an apparent rage, while the other, an Asian lady of about 25 tends to his head, which he now realizes is bleeding into a gauze wrap. She had jet black hair, and eyes as calculating as an eagle's, but as compassionate as a mother and her child. Suddenly it all came back to him. The scavenging run, the searching for medicine so the flu epidemic could be handled, the infected bursting in from everywhere, and them running through back alley ways to get back to their S.U.V. He remembered running, looking back at the swarm of zombie-like creatures, and hitting his head on a low hanging pipe, knocking him unconscious. How Joseph and May, vaguely remembering their names, had managed to get him to the vehicle he would never know.
"Are you okay?" Clayton could make out her say to him, his head still pounding from the blow. He quickly nods and looks over his body.'Good, no bites or scratches.' Quickly surveying their faces, Clayton had a growing pit in his stomach.
"Joseph... May... did we get the medicine?"
They look at each other, Joseph avoiding eye contact with Clayton, and resuming staring at the road. May reluctantly turned her gaze towards Clayton, and his worst fear was realized.
"We failed, and now the medicine that the camp needs is gone, and they have no way of surviving the illness that have gripped them. Clayton numbly layed back down and closed his eyes, wishing that his dream would return, knowing it wouldn't. A sharp pain stabbed him quickly in the chest. "My sister might die without those meds.."

 

[David Barger]

"Bumps, bumps and more freaking bumps. You know what I miss the most about the old days? The maintained roads. Could drive for hours on end. Now I can't stand it." Joseph grumbled, his hands weakly gripping the steering wheel. He had been driving for the past two hours, through winding, rough backroads, avoiding major highways and interstates. Nobody ever goes on the interstate, because they are filled completely with cars. Cars full of those creatures. Clayton watches Joseph drive them quickly around dusty turns and over creaky bridges. He thinks about the camp and how his sister is battling the flu along with the rest of the camps afflicted. The first case showed up around a week ago, and has quickly spread out to most of the camp. The people who weren't sick either wore masks to be around the sick and help them or went on scavenger runs into the city. Both jobs were dangerous but the city takes the gold medal for death trap. Buildings full of rotters, streets littered with dead bodies and barricades left behind from the military trying to keep the infection in some parts of the city, and the occasional mutation rotter. They are all different, but have one goal. To rip the living, limb from limb.
"Okay well I'm tired of this B.S." Joseph moaned, quickly slamming on the brakes and pulling into a grocery store, violently waking May in the process. She had been napping in the back seat for most of the ride, occasionally getting up to check Clayton's bandage, and looked oddly cheerful cuddling up to her razorsharp machete.
"What in the hell is wrong with you? I could've been hurt or worse!" She exclaimed, anger prevalent on her face.
"I was hungry, and I have to take a dump. So I pulled into this Thrifty Mart. Feel free to sit in the car, but I'm gonna go get something to eat." Joseph said as he stepped out of the vehicle, pulling his 12-gauge out with him."Coming?" He said right before he shut the door and checked out how many shells he had. The S.U.V. door slid open, and May and Clayton both hopped out brandishing their own weapons. Clayton had a solid black 9 mm handgun, which had the initials C. R. carved into the side. May unsheathed her serrated machete and gave it a quick look over to make sure no damage had happened to her baby from the sudden stop. Content, she pulls out a large flashlight, the kind that a guard would use, and checked to see if the batteries were still good.
'Good old May, always so prepared and wary about everything. Maybe I should look at my ammo count before we go blundering in here.' Clayton thought as he removed the clip from his pistol and counted the shots he had.
"I've got 6 bullets guys, Joseph, how bout you?" Curious to see how many he used earlier today while escaping the city, knowing that he had taken 9 shells with him before.
"Um I've got 4 shells plus the one in the chamber so 5 shots. We have some of those boxes of shotgun shells in the back of the car but we should probably save them for later. Besides we are just popping in and out." He replied quickly. 'Probably wanting to get to the bathroom.' Clayton remembered gleefully. Joseph started towards the door, but Clayton, ecstatic about making him hold it, asked him about safety and how they should use the scavenging method like last time to clear the area first.
"Man forget you, I sure as hell ain't gonna die in a damn Thrifty Mart." was the response that Clayton got as Joseph walked up to the door and pulled it wide open, walking slowly in with his gun raised to his shoulder. Clayton grinned and looked over at May who was looking at them both in disapproval.
"Well let's get in there." He said to her and walked in tandem to Joseph, May close behind.