Scarlet Memories (Book 1)

by Jessica T. Ozment

  ‘Why don’t we all head that way? Said Jeremy. It’s on the way and you can take a few guys with you to go check it out. The rest of us will head to the school and prepare it. Along the way we can look for weapons and supplies.’

  It wasn’t a bad plan. The only thing that Ian didn’t like was the part about splitting the group up. But, it was the safest bet when it came to getting the kid and the group to safety. ‘Alright, we can do that. I’ll go round up some volunteers.’ Ian set off to find four other guys to help him grab the kid from the hotel. It wasn’t much further from the school. And he felt that since they were dealing with saving a kid he might actually get volunteers.

  Ian managed to round up four other guys to help him go the extra two miles passed the school to check on Susan’s kid. They weren’t the best group but, it was better than going alone. Which he never wanted to do again if he could help it. He decided he would have to go and get a few things from his dressing room. Ian hated the idea but, knew that he had no other choice. Figuring he would be alright since it was just in and out. He walked straight back. Trying to ignore any signs there might be of Kendra and Jim’s struggle. That’s the last thing that he needed.

  Quickly passing by the break room as fast as he could, Ian finally came to his dressing room door. Slowly opening the door, he went inside and stood in the middle of the room. He only had a few moments to decide on what would stay and what would go. So, he had better hurry up. He hated being rushed. But, there is nothing like a crisis such as this to light a fire underneath you. Ian grabbed the gym bag he had thrown on the floor this morning and walked over to his fridge. He pulled out a few snack cakes, nutrition bars and all of the water that he could find. He also found some bread and a few small bags of assorted chips. That should be more than enough to get me 5 miles down the road, right? Plus, they would be passing several places along the way.

  Ian also found a few miscellaneous items that he needed to bring for the memories. Because he had a feeling he would never see this warehouse again. Even if the government found a way to control those things. He reached for a photo he framed when he first got here. It was of his mother and father. They were at a waterpark back in their hometown. Ian stared into his father’s deep green eyes. Those stern eyes….And his mother with a care free smile. How he missed them. He tucked the photo into his wallet that he kept in the back right pocket of his pants. He wanted it on him in case he lost the bag. He never wanted to forget what they looked like.

  Ian grabbed a few other things. Things that wouldn’t put a damper on the weight of the bag with everything in it. And at last he grabbed his cell phone. He swiped the screen and found his parents number. Pressing call Ian placed the phone to his ear.

  ‘Ringgggg…….riiiinngggggg……rinnnnggg…..’ This was taking forever! Why won’t they answer? He questioned. They always answer when I call. After a whole minute of letting the phone ring on their end, Ian ended the call. He would just have to try them later. Maybe they were sleeping. He placed the phone back into his pocket and started for the staging area. Closing the door of his dressing room for possibly the last time. The world didn’t need a good Actor anymore. He felt that he was writing a new chapter in his life. One full of unseen probabilities and reveries.

  The crowd gave off the look like that of a gang. They all had makeshift shivs, pitchforks and assorted metal piping. They were ready to face the world it seemed. Ian nodded to Jeremy, showing him his gym back hanging from his shoulder. The crowd was finally ready to depart the warehouse. Shuffling his feet to the front door, Ian spun around on his heels to see the crowd gathering behind him and Jeremy. Their eyes full of fear. ‘Maybe we should say something to them?’ Ian told Jeremy pointing to the people behind them. ‘Yeah, we probably should. You go?’ Jeremy pushed. He wasn’t confident enough in himself to do it.

  ‘We are about to go out there,’ he motioned with his hands to the door. ‘We aren’t sure what we are going to find out there. But, I can tell you that we need to stick together if we are to stand a fighting chance against them.’ He paused.

  ‘Hit them in the head. Whatever you do. That seems to work.’

  With that, he turned around and opened the front door of the warehouse. Ian shielded his eyes from the sun. It was extremely bright outside today. And he was very glad that he brought as much water as he could. Texas was so hot and humid in the middle of summer. He peered out at his surroundings. He could see the parking lot, which was filled with the employees of TRYFILMZ. As he turned his head to look to the right of the front door he noticed there were barely any cars passing the warehouse on the main road. And the day was getting to be a bit later on in the afternoon. Seeing that there was simply no immediate threat, Ian allowed Jeremy to follow him out into the parking lot. Jeremy held the door for the rest of the group to join them outside.

  ‘Ok, we need to head towards the interstate.’ Ian pointed north towards the highway. ‘And we need to go north to reach the school. I will be taking a detour with 4 others to help Susan find her son not far from where the school is. You guys will go with Jeremy and set up camp. ‘He motioned to the rest of the group. ‘Do you guys have any questions on what to do?’ He asked starring into the crowd of men and women. No one seemed like they wanted to question his plans. This was fine if they thought he was doing a good enough job to at least get them to the school and take care of Susan’s boy. ‘Alright, I’ll be right back.’ He told them raising a hand to wave at them. Ian walked over to the few that decided to part ways with the rest of group.

  ‘I know you guys have to do what you need to. You have families to think about. Please just be careful’

  He offered a hand to the ‘leader’ of the group, John. He was a film editor. And he definitely looked as though he could take care of himself. He had that sort of rugged look. John took his hand and shook it tightly. There was an understood respect shown between the two and Ian wondered if their paths would ever cross again. He truly hoped that they would be able to reach their families and friends. And he prayed that they would not have to deal with one of those things.

  They then got into their cars and drove off leaving the rest of them to fend for themselves. Now they needed to figure out who was driving with whom. There were about thirty people left in Jeremy and Ian’s group. So, it was time to figure out transportation. They needed to resolve this issue quickly for the day was depleting quickly. And no one wanted to be out at dark.

  Ian walked back over to the crowd of people. They all looked ready for the road. So Ian began. ‘I assume all of you have a vehicle. We will only need to take enough vehicles to carry all of us. That way we can conserve gas if we need to.’ Most of them nodded in agreement so he continued. ‘We need people with SUV’s and Van’s to walk forward. There were three who did. One short older man and two younger guys from editing. ‘Ok, that’ll take care of almost half of us.’ Jeremy said.

  Things were looking up. The least amount of cars they had to use the better. ‘Now trucks and Jeeps…’ He asked motioning for them to move forward. Two stepped up. They had one of each vehicle.

  ‘I’m going to need you and your truck for a run to get Susan’s son.’ Ian told the guy who stepped forward claiming he had the truck. ‘He is by himself in a hotel room about 2 or 3 miles passed the school. It won’t take us long and we will be coming right back to the school.’

  There was an uneasiness that draped the crowd. Not a single person there wanted to think of any child in danger’ let alone one of their close friend’s children. That’s already hard enough to think about.

  ‘And we are going to do all of this before dark.’ He said, trying to snap everyone back from thinking about the situation. ‘We need to actually hit the road if we want to make that deadline.’ He hoped into the truck that the four of them would be using. ‘Everyone organize who will be riding with whom. Make sure we aren’t over crowded because we need to conserve gas. Once we fill up the vans, SUV’s and trucks, then start packing cars. S
houldn’t have to go through too many cars.’

  Ian then pointed at the four guys that would be going with him. Ricky from the Makeup department, Spencer from Janitorial, Jason from Props crew and Eddy from Jim’s office crew. They stepped forward in front of Ian. They were an odd bunch to put together. But, Ian had to take what he could get. And it wasn’t like they were going on a ride or die mission. They were just picking someone up who happened to be stranded. We can do this… Ian thought assuredly. He suddenly felt an overwhelming bout of confidence.

  ‘Let’s hit the road!’ He told them.

  Spinning his head around to behind the truck he saw Jeremy talking to the rest of the group about how they would follow him straight to the camp. Jeremy seemed to be making it a heavy point to not stray from the rest of the group. This would be a key point within the group. Never doing anything alone. This would greatly represent what Ian was trying to do. And explain why he was taking the other men with him.

  With that, Ian stepped inside and closed the front door to the red extended cab truck that he and the others would be using as transport to the hotel. One by one each of the four guys got into the truck. They had loaded the car down with their bags and headed in behind Jeremy. He was in one of the vans. They would then follow Jeremy to the school and continue on the same path, where they would shortly see the hotel from the highway. He decided earlier that Susan would be the driver in their vehicle. She knew the route the best because she traveled it every day. Ian noticed that Susan had a new sense of meaning and direction in her mannerisms. Her body language assured him that she was ready to take this on.

  They followed Jeremy down to the highway. It wasn’t very far from the warehouse really. And for everyone else in the group, this would be the first time they had witnessed the dead things out in the open. There were so many abandoned vehicles on the highway. Many with their doors still eerily wide open, as if someone would step out at any moment. Tons of broken glass shattered all over the road. Random belongings thrown carelessly to the ground. It looked like a war had come and gone through this area. The men in the car were the first to notice them. There were a few left inside of cars, locked away never to escape. Their bodies surely stinking from rot. Eddy noticed first.

  ‘What the hell?’ Eddy whispered seeming to ask himself. ‘Is that…’ He trailed off.

  It was apparent that they were indeed the same creatures from the video they watched earlier that day. Everyone in the truck stared hard at the thing walking aimlessly between the cars. It continued on its path until it heard the sound of the vehicles coming towards it. It raised its head. The flesh was already looking sunk-in and bruised. It turned its head a bit more and they could see half of the jaw was missing. That would explain the color and condition of its flesh. He (Before it became the creature it was a male.) looked much worse for wear than Kendra did. From what he could remember anyway. It all seemed to happen so fast that he could barely remember some of the details. And he never really wanted to remember them in the first place.

  The creature began shuffling towards the sound of the groups vehicles. Its slumping body looked very restrictive with its movements. The arms would lay against its side with only the hands twitching to grab at flesh. This one looked as though it had a leg injury before it died. The thing that now controlled its body used it to move about; causing the body to walk on the side of the leg in an odd area of the calf. The things hip popped up unnaturally on the side of the wounded leg.

  The vehicle that Ian was riding in slowly crept by the creature. They could have been going at the same pace. It reached out at the truck trying to take hold of it. But, there was nothing solid for it to hang onto, so, it just fell violently to the ground beside the highway. It took it a second to get itself of off the ground and walk back towards the approaching vehicles. No one dared open their doors or roll their windows down with it inching its way towards them. Everyone kept up their pace and followed suit behind Jeremy.

  ‘What do you suppose caused all of this?’ Jason asked the other men. He still donned a concerned look on his face because he was watching the car behind them pass the creature. They all seemed very concerned with its whereabouts. And for good reason of course. It could have been the most famous person alive and no one would go near it.

  ‘I don’t know. But, what I do know is that we probably need to avoid them at all costs. It looks like they are attracted to sound.’ Replied Spencer, his voice was shaking a little.

  ‘They aren’t very fast though.’ Ricky added. ‘But, it looks like there isn’t much that will keep them down either.’

  Ian noticed that Susan didn’t look at the creature as they passed. He could tell that her mind was set on one thing and one thing only. Her only son Jaime. Ian hoped beyond measure for her, that he was alright. He didn’t think she could/would survive without him. Getting there, to the hotel and finding him safe and sound was the only option. And maybe they could get more supplies for their return to the school?

  At that moment everyone could plainly see a small horde of the creatures gathered in a field on the side of adjacent highway. They were all gathered around something that no one could see. Many of the creatures were drenched in what looked like dried blood and bits of flesh. And a few of them had gashes and missing limbs. It was a sight for sure and completely paranormal. It was when they nearly passed the horde that they finally saw what was at the center. A small calf from a nearby herd. All of its legs were pulled clean off. There was so much blood covering it’s almost all white body that it brought the redness out that much more. No one was paying that much attention to the road lying in front of them. It was only when Susan pulled her gaze forward that she saw the motorcycle laying in the middle of the road. She swerved to her right as quickly as she could. The truck jerked violently throwing the group forward. The truck ran off of the highway and into shoulder of the road. A few of their heads smashed against the car windows. Seconds later, Susan found herself in the direct path of a giant oak tree. There was no time for

  her to miss this obstacle however, and the truck

  slammed squarely right into the middle of it.

  Chapter Three: Sam

  Samantha Thorne was sitting in her kitchen eating a bowl of cereal that she had just fixed for herself moments ago. She dipped her spoon into the bowl and scooped up a scrumptious bite of cereal flakes. The taste of sweetness was over bearing her taste buds as she took a generous bite. Through her open window, Sam watched as her neighbor walked out of the front of the hotel door. He was carrying a few luggage bags with him. It looked as though he were checking out of the Hewett today.

  It was Monday and Sam knew that Monday’s were the best for people watching. She would sit here for hours on Monday just watching people come from far and wide to stay at her hotel. he was working at a local restaurant as part of the wait staff currently. She wasn’t making very much money. But, this hotel was all that she had. And everything that she owned was here with her in her hotel room. It was an extended stay hotel. So, many of the occupants would stay much longer than a week. She usually got to know tenants pretty fast.

  Sam took her bowl and spoon and placed it into the dishwasher. She turned the knob to the ON’ position. The familiar sound of the dishwasher filling with water and sloshing around began. Sam walked back into her living room. She looked out of the hotels front window. She could see more people coming and going. Today was her one day off from work and even from her online college courses that she had been taking. She would sit back and relax the day away. Hopefully, she could get in a bit of light reading later. Sam had recently started a new book. And today was the perfect day to really get in a fair amount of reading.

  Sam sat down on her comfortable bed and opened up her book. She began reading. A few moments pass by and Sam hears a knock at her door. Who could that be? She thought as she sat her book down onto the table next to her bed. There was another soft tap at her door.

  ‘Coming!’ She rang out.

/>   She wasn’t used to visitors stopping by. Maybe it is the bellhop with a message? She wondered. Sam walked to the hotel door and peered through the peephole. She almost thought that there wasn’t anyone there. At first glance the hall appeared empty. So, Sam stood on her tip toes and looked a little further down. Finally, she saw a little brown headed boy standing at her door. He was almost too short to be seen. Sam wondered what he could want. She had seen this boy before. He was with his mother usually. She had actually seen them check in a few months ago. And by the looks of the tag that her mother wore around her neck, she worked with a filming crew. Sam opened her door.

  ‘Hey little guy. Can I help you?’ She asked looking the kid over, searching for anything that could be wrong with him.

  He was a slender lad with dark hair and blue eyes. He wore a shirt that read, ‘My dog ate my homework.’ Hahhahah! Sam laughed to herself as she read it. He had a concerned look washing over his face.

  ‘Are you ok kid?’ She asked stepping down closer to his level. He couldn’t be more than 9 or 10 years old. Poor thing. Her feeling of compassion came out of nowhere. She thought. The boy’s look soon faded and he opened his mouth to speak.

  ‘I’m trying to get a hold of my mom.’ The boy said, raising his cell phone up to her hands.

  ‘But, every time I try to call there is no answer. My mom always answers. Except when she is filming. But, she always text me before she does that and after she is done. She still has be text her even through that!’ He cried.