“Hey dad?... Have you been outside lately,” I said twirling the fork in my hand. “ I think the school doesn’t matter anymore.” He looked down and sighed, then suddenly threw the stack of plates in front of him at the wall.
“I DIDN’T ASK YOU TO ASK ME IF I BEEN OUTSIDE LATELY!! JUST ANSWER THE GODDAMN QUESTION!!” He screamed at me, inches from my face. My heart pounded hard, and I fought the tears back in my eyes. I tried to put my hands up to block the view, but he slammed my hands down. Troy rose up quickly and stared dad down before he calmed down and sat down in his chair.
“Don’t scream at Keith for no reason. He doesn’t even know what he did wrong. Troy said while seething in anger. I started to feel a little better because Troy was here with me. Pat was almost done with his food already, and I haven’t even started. Dad went back to eating and Troy cautiously sat back down. Dad stopped eating and stood up. I tensed up and looked down away from him. A few seconds went by before I opened my eyes and looked at what he was doing. He had unbound mom’s mouth and was feeding her chicken. I stared in horror like watching a man feeding an alligator. Her teeth chomped down on the chicken hard enough to hear bones crack. I could see bloody teeth fall onto the plate as she was eating.
“Now slow down hun, the foods not going nowhere.” Dad said stroking her hair. Every now and again she would throw her head back to try to catch my dad, but he would move and chuckle to himself. Troy jumped up and walked over to the couch and grabbed his windbreaker.
“Fuck this creepy shit. I’m out.” He said turning his back and heading to the front door. Dad did not like what he heard. He slammed the chicken into mom’s mouth and stormed over to Troy. He grabbed Troy by his dreads, pulled him back close to him and threw his fist into his stomach. Troy dropped to the ground, throwing up freshly made dinner onto the blue carpet.
“You know what pisses me off? When your kids act like they are GROWN!” Dad said while shoving his boot into Troy’s face. His nose bled like a faucet, he threw his arms up to protect his face while dad starting hammering him with his fist.
I yelled out to dad, “stop hitting him!” My words didn’t reach him, so I picked up a chicken drumstick and threw it at his shoulder. He stopped, I could hear Troy coughing. Dad rose to his feet, my eyes met his bloodshot eyes.
“WE DON’T HAVE MONEY LIKE THAT ANYMORE, AND YOU'RE WASTING FOOOOOD!!” His voice thundered as he walked over to me. What courage I did have was now sucked out of me as he hovered over top of me.
“ I'm, -” my face was on the floor staring back at Troy whose face lit up red. My ears were ringing, and my face hurt really badly. I could faintly see a figure peering down close to me;angry, yelling. I knew it was my dad so I didn’t want to move. All I wanted to do was cry. I felt so small and powerless. My hands couldn’t stop quivering in fear. My eyes were hurting and were getting blurry, but I saw something bolt over to me quickly. I snapped out of it when I felt a thud next to me.
I jumped up, looking behind me to see dad lying on the floor holding his mouth and bloody slobber came out of his mouth. Troy was clenching his fist and covered in blood; gasping for air, standing over dad.
“Don’t you dare even think about hitting Keith like you hit ME again!! He is the only good one out of this FUCKED UP family!” Troy said panting. He then looked up to see mom who’s mouth was kept open smiley. All this action got her jumpy and antsy. She started fighting the restraints and thrusting herself forward at us until eventually falling forward on dad. Her teeth sank in deep into dad’s lower back. He let out a wail and was fighting to turn over, but mom insisted he stay there. One of her arms snapped out of the restraint and held his head down on the floor as she feasted. I was too scared to move, I couldn’t do anything about either of them because I was afraid of both of them.
Troy breaks out into a creepy laughter that sent shivers down my spine. He pulled the gun out of his waist and held it pointing at Mom. All I could do was stare. My body wouldn’t respond to the situation. I tried to mouth the words stop but it was all in vain as my brother pulled the trigger and my Mom dropped her head down not moving. My Dad scrambled to his knees holding his lower back.
“You know I can’t let you live,” Troy said pointing the gun at Dad. Dad threw his hands up.
“I’m sorry for hitting you. I was just angry. I’m sorry.” My brothers face scrunches up.
“As much as I want to shoot you for that, it's more of the fact you're infected. You’ll end up turning into her.”
I jump up and yell, “Troy, please don’t do this.” But he ignores me and stares down my Dad for what seems like hours. He puts the gun away, Dad sighs and drops his head in relief.
Troy then pulls out his mangled bat and says, “I won’t give you the pleasure of a quick death.” Dad tries to look up, but the force of the bat slams his head down crashing onto the floor.
“Toy pley stup, agh, stup.” Dad mumbles as the bat bounces off his body. Troy relentlessly hits down on dad with no mercy. Finally, Troy runs out of breath as Dad lays motionless on the ground.
“Go eat up,” Troy said with his back turned and his bat lying at his side. “Tomorrow is going to be a long day.” I slowly got up, feeling numb. My body moves like a programmed machine to the table to eat. The rest of the night was silent.
No Escape
Pat woke me this morning at the crack of dawn to let me know it was time to head out. My muscles remained stiff in rebellion to not get out of bed. My room felt different than it has been before and I felt like a stranger in my own home.
“Hey, Pat can you pack food? I asked. “I am going to gather what I can here.”
I descended down from our bunk bed and attempted to wake up Keith, but I could see the whites of his eyes through the darkness.
“Have you been up all this time?” I said to him while taking a seat on the bed.
“No, I kept having nightmares. Mostly more about Mom than Dad. I just kept telling myself the whole thing was just a dream, but I know everything DID happen yesterday.” he said looking down at his hands. I put my hand on his back to try comforting him, and his back was soaked in a cold sweat. I almost regret doing what I did in front of him like that.
“C’mon let’s wash up and get ready. I’ll let you wash up first. He nodded and slowly, dragged himself out of bed, and went into the bathroom in the hallway. I started packing up things I thought would be useful into my red duffle bag. Afterwards I took a shower. It was good to see the hot water still worked. We ate a quick breakfast and headed out through the balcony. Some Gluttons tried to break down the door last night with all the excitement. This morning there were double the amount there was yesterday. I almost regretted using my gun, but we managed to sneak by using Dad as bait. I made sure Pat and Keith went ahead, so they didn’t see.
I took back the lead. Keith followed at a slow trot and Pat watched the rear. The morning air was cold, and the silence around us made it an almost unbearable walk. Dad’s car was wrecked, so we had to walk our way out of town. I decided it would be best to head north, figuring maybe we would find better help that this small city had to offer. After a few miles of walking, we came close to the edge of town, but my fear came to fruition.
Hoards of people swarmed at the enormous walls that led out of town. I kept asking myself where everyone was. Salisbury was a small town, but I knew not everyone died. We sat at the rear waiting to see what would happen. After forcing my way through to get a closer look, it seemed they were checking people one by one for the infection. This loud crowd did not like how slow the process was going. Every now and again you would see people start fighting to get ahead of the line. From above you could see armed soldiers holding assault rifles staring down on us awaiting orders. I thought by leaving early we were going to avoid all this. I pushed my way back to the end of the line but all I saw was Pat, who was looking in all directions.
“Where the hell is Keith,” I said barely able to hold my temper. In a panic, Pat shrugged and avoided e
ye contact.
I pushed him to the ground and stood over him full of rage and said, “YOU ONLY HAD ONE JOB! Watch Keith. You better hope he is alright.” I turned, storming away.
“Shows how useful you are,” I said, refusing to look back at him. My gut wrenched as I frantically searched for Keith. The sound of a gunshot ran through the air as silence swept the crowd. A man in the middle of the hoard of people lowered a gun to a small boy he had a firm grip on. He gestured for people to move out of his way so he could make it to the front of the group.
I couldn’t see too well, but I had a firm belief the small boy was Keith. I pushed and shoved after him to make it up front but the panic made it hard to move.
The man looked up at the towering wall and said, “I will be let through, or I will shoot this boy. I do not want to end up as FOOD for these monsters!”
“Let me Go!” Keith screamed out before being whacked by the gun. “Shut up and stop moving,” the man said thrusting Keith around. My mood was already bad, and he just made it worse. I pulled out the gun from my waist and held it out pointing dead at the back of his head. I held the gun steady to make the shot but before firing someone bumped into me and the bullet shot an armed soldier on the wall in the shoulder.
“ Fuck!” I turned and tried to shoot once more, but I was out of ammo. The soldiers peered down on the crowd searching for the source and found a man holding the boy to be the only person with a gun. They all aimed at him at the same time, but the man became more nervous.
“I WILL shoot this boy if I can’t get through.” He said jerking Keith up closer to act as a shield. Suddenly, a person jumped through the crowd and knocked the man over. Then a man wearing a green jacket lowered down and shielded Keith. This further enraged the man with the gun who opened fired on the man with the green jacket who in return was shot to death by the soldiers.
A grey mist began to sweep through the air and one by one people began dropping to the ground. A panic erupted and fights broke out for as people tried to get out. I used my sleeve to cover most of the mist, but I started getting light headed.
“Keith.... Keith!” I said hoping he would hear me so I wouldn’t need to go in any further but I heard nothing back in return. I had to make it to the front to get my little brother. Piles of bodies started littering the street as more and people dropped who couldn’t make it out fast enough. I finally got to the spot where I last saw Keith and there he was; laying there, unresponsive to my calls.
The mist’s sweet perfume made my knees drop to the floor and my body finally crumble under the weight of exhaustion. I reached over to the man wearing the green jacket and with the last of my strength pulled him off my brother. His body rolled, and a sudden shock overtook my body. It was Pat who saved my brother. His eyes bloodshot as blood oozed out of his nose and mouth. I was grief-stricken by all the horrible things I said and felt about Pat, and I knew it was too late to take it back. I closed his eyes and looked over to my brother who seemed to be still breathing. I smiled and closed my heavy eyelids.
“Thank you and good night my loyal and only friend.”
Why
My eyes awoke to a bright white glass room. My clothes were gone, and no one else was around. Next to the black bed, was on a tray of multi-colored fluids in needles. A thin layeredsheet of paper covered my body, and I felt very weak. I stumbled to get off the bed falling immediately to the ground. My legs felt like noodles, and my head felt like two people pushing against my brain.
I maneuvered over to the grey door and tried to open it, but it was locked. A small rectangular hole under the doorknob was open. My hand was just low enough to reach in, and after reaching for about 5 minutes, I managed to turn a heavy metal knob sideways to secure my freedom. The hallway was silent. The only thing that raced through my mind was where is Troy and what happened to Pat.
As I walked the desolated hallway, some space suit men in yellow walked by, and I found cover hiding in rooms or underneath medical tables that stored equipment. I starting thinking I was in a sci-fi movie, it was cool at first, but now it’s scary. I continued walking south until I heard what seemed like Troy’s voice and someone else's. I peered around the corner to see a man hovering over my brother writing on a clipboard. He would scratch his gray hair as he talked and his height made him look like there were two people in the trench coat. My brother struggled and yanked on the restrains as if they were bound to give way, but it was in vain. The man chuckled to himself and wrote down more notes.
“What the hell do you want with me?” Troy said grunting and twisting in the bed.
“Where is my brother, Who are you guys?” The man leaned forward close to Troy’s face looking into his eyes and used his hand to force his mouth open.
“I am Doctor William C. Blackwell. I work at this facility to try and understand this strain of the virus. As for the company, I am not at liberty to disclose that information. But do not worry we have plenty of time to get to know each other.” Mr. Blackwell picks up a needle and fills it with blue liquid. He moves closer to Troy. Troy starts to move and thrust around. He pauses a couple seconds before injecting and looks up at Troy pushing his circular glasses up on his face.
“Did you say, brother?” Mr. Blackwell’s smile widens as he looks back at his clipboard.
Troy leans his head forward and bears his teeth in anger, “The ONE I was with that is six years old!”
“I don’t remember us having any similar patients.” Mr. Blackwell says while walking to a white desk covered in paperwork. My brother’s face looked satisfied when he heard that. He then turns and walks back over to Troy’s bed.
He reads, “Patient 0327 was reported to be brought in with a younger adolescent boy appearing between 5 and 9 years old. After little testing the results indicate no similar DNA match between patient 0327 and 0334.” I couldn’t understand what the man was saying. What the heck is DNA? I crawled into the room closer and stood behind a metal machine that was making funny
noises. I was about 6 feet away and now didn’t need to strain my ears to hear.
“We already ran blood work and as you just heard have no blood relatives in this facility. You got my hopes up for nothing.” Mr. Blackwell says as he walked back over to Troy taking a seat on the leather stool next to the bed.
He picks back up the Blue needle and slams it into Troy’s chest. Troy screams out in agony, but Mr. Blackwell puts his hand over Troy’s mouth and makes the “shh” sound.
“We just started and it's your own fault for getting me excited.” Mr. Blackwell grabs a yellow needle and slams it into Troy’s neck. A muffled cry breaks through Mr. Blackwell's hand. At this point, I have had enough of this. I dash in and grab a green fluid needle off the metal tray of different colors and thrust it into the back of Mr. Blackwell’s knee. He falls forward on top of Troy and lets out a wail of agony as I push the green liquid into his wrinkled skin.
“What the HELL did YOU inject me with?” Mr. Blackwell yelled at me while his face started twitching. I run towards the door being sure to keep my distance. Mr. Blackwell stumbles over to me slowly before pausing to go to his desk. He rummages around looking like he is grabbing something and collapses.
“When the heck did you get here? How did you get free?” Troy asked jerking around in his straps. I started walking over to him stopping halfway before turning around to shut the door. I turned the metal lock to make sure no one can get in, run back to Troy, take advantage of his bounding and tickle him.
False Hope
Our moment of peace was broken by the sound of a blaring alarm. Keith threw his arms up to cover his ears, sounds of men’s voices flooded the hallway. I turn to Keith and started thrashing my body around. I figured it would be pointless to try having a screaming battle against an overhead alarm system. The restraints managed to hold me in place but my brother was able to still see my wiggling body. He drops his hands from his ears, scrunching his face to the unpleasant noise surrounding us. His nimble and smal
l fingers worked fast to try loosening the leather straps tightly holding my limbs secure. The voices outside became louder and louder. It was almost undeniable that guards were most likely outside.
“Hurry, I’m pretty sure Blackwell pressed an alarm!” I said freaking out. He got my left hand free and I jumped at the other arm and undid the leather restraints on my right hand and other straps. I grabbed Keith and rose him above my head.
“Move that square panel board and drop it to the ground.” Keith looked up and fiddled to loosen the square until it dropped to the ground. I lowered him but then a metal bookshelf caught my eye. This room was pretty empty except a desk, bed, bookshelf and medical cabinets hanging over a sink. Hiding spots were limited but it looks like that shelf was our only hope.
“Keith go grab the other side.” With a great yank, we started pulling this metal shelf. We were pulling as hard as we could, and Keith was trying his best to move the heavy shelf. It dragged slowly on the white vinyl floor. It moved about a foot out before Keith and I shove ourselves behind it. The door busts down with the sound of men storming inside the room.
After a good two minutes one of the men there yells, “they escaped into the attic crawl space. You must capture the subjects dead or alive. Send some men up there, everyone else keep searching.” As one of the men said that, Keith tightly grabbed my hand and I could feel his heart beating out of control. It made me a little nervous as well. The sounds of boots stampede out of the room leaving me, and Keith left with coming up with our next move.
After a good ten minutes, I peeked my head from behind the metal shelf. A guard had his back turned standing right in front of us. There was another at the door. Slowly I crept forward, aimed the gun from behind and shot the gun at the door. The guard took firm control of his weapon and fought me desperately to not let go. Keith jumped behind him, bent over, and I pushed. There’s a reason that trick is still around, and it’s because it works. He fell over grabbing and bringing me down on top of him. A shot rang through the air as my eardrums rang unforgivingly. Blood splattered over my face, and the guard on the ground ceased moving. I got up slowly the blood rushing through my veins still pumping rapidly. I wonder if the drugs were the reason why I feel so exuberant. I pulled the assault rifle off of the dead soldier and ran to the door fanning Keith to follow. He nervously crept past the dead bodies and met me. The hallway was quiet and empty; it seemed endless among the white corridor.
The Dead Series (Book 1): Dead Nightmares Page 6
