Ravenous

Chapter One

        Episode 1

            My eyes flickered toward the sky, light puncturing my cornea and enriching my fresh migraine. We had been wandering for days, five, to be exact, through the forest, searching for a good place to hold up. It was my idea, and I guess I'm to blame for their frustration, after all, how could I have been sure? How could I have been absolutely, and undeniably positive, that we would be safe? I told Amy that we weren't going to stop; we weren't going to set up camp. Not after Wednesday.

            There are only seven of us left, and I'm not sure whether Desmond is going to make it. Emily's been doing everything in her power to keep the fever down, but it's rising by the hour. He's sweating more than we can hydrate, and it can't be more than forty five degrees, not taking wind into account.

She tells me it's an infection. The half-moon shaped wound on his forearm has a yellow tint around the edges, and is scabbed over as a crimson red, still bleeding. Desmond let out a grunt as he stumbled.            "Ain't no hell like the present, eh doc?" He mumbled to Emily. "Don't talk, Desmond, you need to keep your strength."                                                                                                                                                   

            As we reach the height of the mountain, I gaze about the fields, and forests beyond. My breath escapes me. It may have been altitude sickness, or, it may have been the sudden realization that we're alone out here. Either way, I feel the sudden urge to sit down.



Episode 2



            It’s been two weeks since Amy and I saw the initial reports on the news. People eating people. But these aren't some pop-culture horror creatures, no. They’re worse. More terrifying than anything Romero could have cooked up in a script. These people are alive. They breathe, they bleed. They’re feral, non-sentient, vicious human beings.

“We need to get moving again, we can reach that house within the next couple of hours.” I said, pointing down towards a good sized farm house a mile or so out from the base of the mountain. “We can stay there for a few nights, but we need supplies, more than just food and water. We need weapons, batteries, tools, a vehicle or two…” My eyes met Amy’s, she knew where I was going with this, and she didn't like it. Neither did I. “We need to get into town.” I looked down at the glock on my waist. Was this going to be enough to make it into town? It had to be, at least until we could get some other weapons. Maybe we could find a rifle in the house we were headed for, but what good could that do when there are so many of them?

Emily helped Desmond to his feet, and Amy trailed close behind me. “I don’t see any trails, or roads leading down, so just watch your step and listen for ANYTHING that doesn't sound human.” I announced, beginning the descent. We walked for forty-some minutes before reaching the bottom of the mountain. “Alright, the house is a mile or so in this direction.” We walked slowly, keeping pace with Desmond, who was losing energy. When we finally reached the clearing, the house was in sight. A truck was in the driveway, Farm Use tags slapped onto the license plate. “Let’s get inside, make sure it’s safe, I don't see a town car but there could still be one of them inside.” I motioned Declan forward. He was an average-built teenager, the kind who joked about world-consuming apocalypses. He kept a sword, black steel with a sharp edge on him at all times. It did the job, and it did it well. We moved forward quietly, as I drew my gun, ready to open the front door.

As I reached for the handle, a loud banging came from a nearby chicken-coop, followed by snarling, and hens, screeching in pain. "Come with me Declan, and get the door." we marched slowly toward the coop, sword and gun drawn, and held firmly. Declan ripped the door open, very sharply. Staring face to face with its bloody face, I fired my weapon into its head. I reached down, and lifted it off of the ground by the tail. "Dinner." I declared. "Why would we eat that, when there's an entire coop of chickens, ripe for the picking?" Desmond questioned, weakly. "This thing already shredded them to bits, there couldn't have been more than three chickens." Amy looked to me. "Couldn't it carry some kind of disease?" She asked softly. "Of course it does, but a nice hot fire will cook it clean." Declan and Jeremy checked the house thoroughly while I cleaned the opossum. "Safe!" Declan shouted out of the second story window. Amy started a fire for me to cook on, and for the first time in over a week, we all ate at a table, like human beings.

Episode 3

“AMY” I yelled, flying through the house. I pulled the drawers out of our nightstand, and they clattered to the floor. Nothing. “AMY!” I shouted again, louder this time. Where were the keys? We needed to get out of here. I scrambled down the steps and into the living room, flipping the couch, and the chair that her mother had bought us as a housewarming gift. Still no keys. I burst through the front door, and time seemed to stand still as my brain processed what I was seeing. There she was, face down in a pool of her own blood, her arms covered in the same crescent wounds left on all of the victims. “No…” I said softly. “No, no…” Tears began to swell. “No!” I collapsed under the weight of the infected man who had just slammed into me. His teeth dig in, and I felt nothing.

         I woke with a start, sniffing loudly and grabbing my arm where I was bit. “I’m ok… I said softly. It was just a dream…” Amy woke lazily beside me. “Is everything alright?” She asked softly, pulling the blanket back over top of her. “Yeah, yeah, just a dream.” I said quietly, sinking into the bed, and repositioning myself. “Just a dream…”

         Morning came, and with it the smell of eggs wandered up the steps and under our door. “Is that real?” Asked Amy in a half woken daze. “Yeah, I think so” I said, plowing down the steps to see. “Where the hell did you get those?” I asked Declan, who was frying eggs over a wood fire in the living room. “the chicken coop, dumbass.” He said with a grin. “Go wake the others, and have Emily check on Desmond.” I went upstairs, opening doors and waking everyone, except for Emily, who was already awake at Desmond’s bedside. “He’s getting worse.” She said softly. “He won’t make it without those antibiotics.” We had already searched the house top to bottom for anything that could work.

“Well then Declan, Jeremy, and I leave within the hour.” Desmond coughed loudly. “Emily let me talk to Isaac alone for a moment, alright?” She cocked her head at him, and pursed her lips, but with much distress she left the room. “I’m not going to make it, man. I figure it’ll take time for you to get there and back, another day at least, and even if you do, I’m already infected.” He looked so sure. “What do you mean you’re infected?” I questioned. “Come on man, don’t you watch movies? It’s the bite that gets you, how else would the disease spread this rapidly?” I let out a sigh, knowing he was probably right. “Well what are we supposed to do, let you change and keep you as a pet?” I tried to give it the same whole hearted humor he would. “No…” He said softly, “I want you to kill me.”

I was shocked, more so than I should have been. Of course he wanted to die, who wouldn’t if they had the choice? “Alright, well, I suppose I’ll talk to the others at breakfast.” I said, worried of their reactions. “Send Emmie up with my plate, please, I want to talk to her myself.” I nodded, heading downstairs. I sent Emily up with her and Desmond’s food. Amy had the table set, plates, and forks. It was nice for it to have such structure to it, even if we were just eating eggs. We all sat, and my eyes met with each person individually, except for Eric. He was silent, as he has been for the past four days. None of us could blame him, the kid watched his mother get eaten alive by the infected.

         “We have something to discuss.” I said, with a strong voice. “Desmond has made a decision concerning his current state, and I think we should give him what he wants.” I explained the entire situation, and Desmond’s decision. Everyone agreed, uneasily, that it had to be done. “I’ll do it” I told them. “He saved my life, and I owe it to him.” I took a deep breath, and stood, headed for Desmond’s room. Emily was crying, clung to his arm like a child to a much loved toy. “I’d like it to be taken care of now, if possible, Isaac; I don’t want the thought of death to soak in my mind for too long.” He told me.

         The most difficult thing about it was having to walk past everyone on our way out. Desmond was near silent, and just nodded to them as if nothing was going on. We walked to the barn a few yards away from the house. Desmond laid on the concrete floor, it was a wonder he made it this far standing. “If you don’t keep her safe, I’ll haunt you, you know that right Isaac?” I laughed, smiling down at the man I was about to kill. “Don’t tempt me; it’d be nice to see you now and then.” He let out what seemed to be a mixture of a laugh and a lung splitting cough. “Goodbye, Isaac.” He said weakly. I drew my gun from its holster, and pointed it at his heart. “I’m sorry…” I choked out, as I pulled the trigger. The muzzle flashed, the bullet dug in, and he felt nothing.































Chapter Two

Episode One

I knelt down at the corner of the building, and signaled Declan to move up. There were three infected in the street ahead, crouching over the corpse of a black lab, like vultures over road-kill. Declan snuck forward, drawing his sword, he passed strait by me. “No!” I called out in a hushed voice. One of the mindless creatures’ heads snapped up at the noise, instantly seeing Declan. He flourished the dark blade, driving it into the chest of the hundred and forty-some pound beast. As he retrieved his weapon from its heart, he made a full rotation, slicing the throat of the smaller of the two, now attentive men. The other one caught him by surprise, lunging forward and taking him to the ground. He struggled against its strength, its teeth snapping wildly at him as he held it back with the broadside of the blade. With a loud bang, my sidearm threw a bullet through the beast’s shoulder. It screeched in pain, toppling back, and thrashing.

Declan was free of the infected man’s grasp, but not of his own frustration, and anger. His right leg reared back, and barreled at full strength until his boot connected with the creature’s ribcage. Following the sickening snapping noise that came with the breaking of several bones, was the deafening blast of the creature’s cry. It was comparable to a nail on a chalkboard, but with the decibel level of a gunshot. Other cries followed in the distance, but these weren’t of pain. The cries that followed were of undeniable and unalterable rage. “What the fuck was that?” asked Declan, regaining his composure.  I didn’t speak, rushing forward and grabbing his wrist, I pulled him onto the curb and broke into a shop, which was pitch-black inside, due to boards on the windows and door. “If you ever get that reckless again I swear to god I’ll eat you alive myself.” I muttered quietly. “Were they responding to it?” He asked, ignoring my scolding. “I’m not sure…” I peeked through a crack of light shining through the boards. There were seven, five men, two women. “You summoned the shit-storm, kid.” I muttered. He looked out, and it was quite obvious at that moment that he was utterly terrified. “I don’t know how we’re going to get out of this any time soon.” I muttered. We had to leave Jeremy at the diner with the girls, who else would look after them? If only we had some walkie-talkies, or something of the sort to keep connected.

         “We may as well look around, it’s a small town, and I didn’t see many broken windows in the shops, maybe this place wasn’t looted.” I pulled out the small flashlight that Amy had given to me before we left the diner and turned it on. The room lit up, and the shop made itself known. The door had been locked tight, but it’s still nothing short of a miracle that it was untouched by the looters. I smiled at Declan. “We do this the safe way, alright? No charging in there swinging at a crowd of mindless killing machines.” I ordered. “We let them come in the front door; if they funnel in they’ll be easier to manage.” He nodded. We had stumbled into a pawn shop; wall to wall with every miscellaneous item you could imagine it possible to kill someone with. I smashed the display case on the front desk with the butt of my handgun. I reached in, pulled the lightweight short sword off of its stand, and secured its sheath to my belt. “Isaac, do you think you might want this too?” He said, eyeing the small buckler, around a foot and a half in diameter. “Absolutely” I said, grinning from ear to ear. I secured the steel buckler to my left arm, and unsheathed my sword, facing the door, ready for combat. “Open it.” I ordered. “I want you to stay close; don’t get in the middle of things. Just spot me, in case I fall, or I’m overwhelmed.” Declan nodded, opening the door, and springing behind me.

The first of the infected to notice the door open wandered forward curiously. When I caught its gaze, it rushed without warning, charging toward me at full speed. I gripped the ground with the toes of my feet, and sprung forward, putting all of my weight into the buckler, and slamming into the mindless man’s chest. He toppled back, falling to the floor, and gaining the attention of the rest of the group. Raising my sword, I drove it into his chest, retrieving it, and slicing into the shoulder of the next. As it fell, I used my shield to bash into the skull of the female that followed. She died on impact, and the next followed. As it lunged forward, I ducked to the right, pushing off of the wall with my foot and launching the infected towards a prepared Declan with my buckler. The creature’s body fell, and its head followed soon after. The battle continued, six bodies lay dead on the floor. Declan let out a celebratory ‘whoop’ grinning madly at me. My body relaxed, and I slid down the wall. “Well, let’s see what we can find in here and-“ The weight of the large infected male is what silenced me. The 210 pound man leaned into my buckler, holding me to the floor. I couldn’t support the weight for much longer, but then again, I didn’t need to. I heard the metallic clink of Declan’s sword connecting with my buckler, through the back of the large creature. I was silent, adrenaline coursing through every vein. “Note taken, never forget the count.” Declan said with a shaky voice.



Episode Two

We had trouble with seven of them. Five fully grown men, and two women, putting every ounce of energy they had into trying to kill us. Now, peeking around the corner into a damp alley, I wonder how many are in the mass. I speak as quietly as possible. “Declan we’ve got to go another way, there are too many.” He nodded, and we trailed off in another direction. Picking off the few infected we passed, we made it to an electronics store. “Put all the batteries you can find in your bag, we can come back for more later.” I told him, scanning the shelves. I grabbed three sets of walkie-talkies. “I don’t know how these shops weren’t looted.” I said quietly. Virtually every store in town was fully intact. “Do you think maybe this disease spread so abruptly no one could gather supplies?” Declan was silent, he didn’t really question how it happened; the only thing he had going on in his mind at that moment was what he needed to grab. “Flashlights and laser pointers, these things will respond to them, just like any animal.” I told him. “Do you think this would work?” He asked, holding up a hand Taser. “They have a nervous system, and you’ve already proved that they feel pain with the little fit you threw earlier, so I don’t see why it wouldn’t” I nodded my head towards it and held out my hand “Toss it here and look for more”

I slipped back behind the counter, opening drawers and scanning shelves. “You think we could use an old CB?” Declan asked me from the back room. “That could come in great use, might even help us find another group.” I told him. He fit the small radio into the large compartment of his backpack. “That’s about all I can carry” He told me, “especially after everything we grabbed from the pawn shop.” I nodded. My bag was full too, and I’m sure his bag was starting to feel just as heavy as mine. “Now comes the hard part.” I told him “You know how to steal a car?”

We started down the street, going from car to car, checking locks, and hoping for the best. “Don’t go for any stupid shit, mustangs and hummers are all good and well, but we need something that’ll save gas.” I told him. “Electric cars are a no-go as well, the power’ll go out in the city at any moment, and even if we find a generator we’ll be burning twice the gas to charge it.” A low growl came from around one of the corners. “Shh-shh-shh” I motioned for Declan to hide behind the car, and snuck forward, drawing my sword. “That didn’t sound human, Isaac, well, I mean-“ I shushed him, swinging around into the street, facing down the alley.

Two green eyes glowed from the darkness. They were a couple feet off the ground. The growling continued, followed by a grimy bark, making the identity of the creature known. “It’s just a do-“ I began speaking, but stopped as soon as the demonic-seeming creature began its charge. “SHIT” I shouted swiping at it with the face of my shield. I connected with its head, sending it flying a few feet with a whimper. “Animals can be infected too?” I prepared myself for the dog to attack again. As it stood, a line of drool followed its mouth, dripping to the ground. It charged again, this time, jumping up, and attempting to knock me over. I blocked it’s body with my shield, and attempted to push it off. As it fell it whipped it’s head, snapping at my arm, and catching a portion of my shirt. I forced my sword into its neck, and twisted it. The dog let out a sharp cry, followed by a momentary thrashing, before falling over, dead.

“We need to get out of here, in case the others heard. Just break into one.” I ordered. The hilt of Declan’s sword rose, coming down directly into the front window of the car. And with the shattering of the glass, came the alarm, blasting away at our eardrums. Even louder, though, were the screams of rage in the distance. “GET IN, GET IN!” I shouted, unlocking the doors from the inside.



Episode Three

The car roared to life, as I accelerated, the large group of infected erupted from the corner, headed for the middle of the road. “Shit, hold tight we’re about to hit one!” I yelled out, slamming on the gas. The front right corner of the midsized Sudan slammed directly into the hip of a large male, throwing it over top of the car. It landed in the road, bouncing once, and struggling to get back up. We were gone long before it could scramble to its feet. We flew out of town, headed for the Diner where the others were waiting. “If animals can be infected too, do they pose more of a threat to us than the people?” Declan asked. I shook my head. “Absolutely not, humans are the highest populated creatures on the planet, the more there are, the more dangerous they’ll be.” He nodded. “But, if we were to come across, a bear, or a mountain lion, wouldn’t they be more dangerous at that moment?”

“We don’t have time to worry about that right now, we need to get back to the diner with these supplies.” I told him. “Tell me what we’ve got.” He began looking through our bags. “Batteries, a couple of handguns, ammunition, a baseball bat, some knives, your sword and shield, Toilet paper, antibiotics, bandages, a couple first aid kits, and a Taser.” I sighed. “That’s all? You didn’t find anything else?” He pulled out the CB radio we had found in the electronics shop. “Well there’s this, but I don’t know if it even works.”

I eyed the radio. “We’ll see when we get to the diner, just pack everything up.” I slowed down, and came to a complete stop outside of the diner. “Take your pack inside, I’ll grab mine, and the radio.” I said. He nodded, carrying his pack inside. I gathered my things, taking a closer look at my short sword, and buckler, now that I had the chance. They were both made out steel, lightweight, and strong. I smiled. “What a find…” I got out of the car, and entered the diner.