Feeders

I remember when this first started.

It was a cold, bitter winter night. I was 15 at the time. My father was up watching television, mother was asleep, and I was playing video games online. I was supposed to be in bed, it was a school night. Dad said I could stay up ten minutes more. I just needed to beat this boss. Police sirens rang out. I, nor my dad, thought nothing of it. It was normal.

Wrong.

I shut off the video game and went upstars. I heard screaming outside. I peeked out my window, but it was too dark to see anything. I brushed my teeth, used the bathroom, and shut off the light. Not more then three minutes later my father was shaking me. " Get up, Rob! " he said. " Get dressed, hurry! " he shouted. I saw a knife in his hand. It was bloody. I grabbed my jeans and the gray long sleeve shirt I was going to wear tomorrow, and put them on. As I began tying my shoes, I heard many gunshots ring out.

I started down the stairs, but then ran into my moms room. I immediatley fell to the floor. I saw my mom, but she was dead. All her skin was turned to a very pale gray, her eyes were dead, but they were glowing white. She looked like something out of a zombie movie, but only she was gray. My dad grabbed my shoulder. I realize now. The knife my dad had. He had.....Oh my god.

He grabbed his shotgun, loaded it, and we both ran to his car. I tried my cell phone with no luck. My dad drove us to the nearest subway. These ' things ' were everywhere. We got out, and he shot one blocking our only entrance to the subway. Blood splattered onto my shirt, but I didn't notice it. I was worried I could loose my life any second. We made it down, and found a few cops blocking the entrance. My dad spoke to him, and he let us enter.

We sat there with about 5 other people for close to 10 minutes. The chief informed us a subway was coming to get us. He said it should arrive in about 5 minutes. I was glad, me and dad were getting out of here, but then it hit me. No more home. No more mom. I almost broke down, but I didn't. It hurt so bad I didn't cry. I heard the subway coming.

The subway pulled up, and my dad told me to go on. He was going to see where the chief wanted us to get off. I sat toward the front, and saw the driver. He was broke out in sweat, even though it was freezing outside. I hadn't even noticed it, but I had forgotten my jacket.

Suddenly my dad yelled, and I turned. The other 5 survivors had gotten on. Those ' things ' had overrun the subway. I cried out, my dad was being attacked by them. These things could run at amazing speeds. My dad yelled to me, ' Son, keep going! " I saw the chief. He then aimed his pistol at my dad's head and shot him. I yelled out, " You bastard! " I banged on the window, and the driver began going. The chief jumped on. I swore to myself I was going to kill him. He shot my dad. I met the chief's eyes, and I never felt so much hatred. Then it happened. I broke down crying.

The subway ride was the longest of my life. I sat looking out the window. One of the survivors, a man named George, offered me an extra jacket he had brought in his survival kit. George was a middle aged doctor. It was a relief to have a doctor aboard. I took the jacket with gratitude, despite the situation, and asked George if he knew anything about these ' things ' . He said he had no idea what caused it. He took today off of work to go see his mother in law that lived on this side of the city when these ' things ' attacked. He said the media was calling them Feeders. I asked him why. He said they needed human meat to live.

George showed me another survivor, her name was Julia. She was in her twenties, and attractive women with a black dress and a leather jacket on. She said she was working at Babe's Bar when the attack happened. She managed to recover a handgun and an extra clip of ammo from a fallen cop. Then it occured to me. I had no weapons. I had nothing to defend myself but my own two fists. I was sure if I looked around hard enough, I would find a weapon. But I didn't have time to look.

" Oh my god! " yelled the driver of the subway. I looked out, and saw the next section of the track was swarming with those Feeders. I asked him if we could plow through them. He said maybe the first part, but we would be swarmed with them by the time we reached the middle. We had passed a stop about a mile back. But we were nearing the one the chief told us to get off at.

We hit the zombies, and the subway came to a jolting halt. We all fell forward. The subway inched on. I could hear the bones cracking. Blood splattered the windshield, blinding our view. The driver got up, and grabbed the .357 Magnum he had been holding onto ever since he saw the feeders on the track. " Get to the back! " he yelled, running for the back. I ran to the chief, " What do we do, do we go to the stop we need to get, and fight those feeders? " I asked. The chief said he was going to try that first. He was about early 40's, and a little bit overweight. He ran to the back, we all did. We hopped out. But suddenly something with wings and blood stained fangs landed infront of us. I ran back inside the car, and got to the middle. I heard gunshots. The chief was trying to hold it off. It killed 3 surviors, but George and Julia were running toward my position.

I smashed the window out with my elbow, and jumped down. The subway driver was with us too. We ran, dodging feeders. Chief said there was no way we would make it, and he turned back. The thing with wings had gone. We turned, but the feeder with wings appeared behind us. It had a very sharp, pointed tail, and it swing it, I ducked, and so did George, at the last second, but it impailed the subway driver's back all the way through his stomache, where it came out. The driver dropped his magnum, and the thing with wings began devouring the driver's head.

I grabbed the fallen gun, and ran along with George, Chief, and Julia. Gun in hand, we moved in silence. Then suddenly I punched the chief, and stuck my gun to his stomache. " You bastard! Why did you shoot my dad? " George and Julia tried to calm me down, but it did no good. I was zoned in on making this bastard pay.

" Son, try to understand, there was no hope for your dad. I was helping him! " I smacked him with the end of the pistol, " Help him by blowing his f****** brains all over that station? " I yelled. George pulled me off the chief, and took my gun away. He stepped inbetween us. " No more of this! We have to get along, otherwise we won't live! " The chief grabbed his face where I hit him, and I looked away. I did not feel satified.

We walked along in silence again, the chief and I on opposite sides of George and Julia. " Hey, chief? " said George. " Any idea where we are gonna go after we reach this stop? " he asked. The chief shook his head. " No, George, I don't. But I'm hoping there won't be too many of these things. Then we can make it to the city gates, and hopefully get out of here alive. " he said.

Julia shook her head. " No, we need to wait it out. If we can make it to dawn, these feeders can't survive in daylight. " she said. Chief stopped. " What....did you just say? " she repeated herself. The chief got irritated, " No, smartass, how did you find that out? " She shivered, " Um, there was this guy-Hey! " Chief grabbed her. " How do you know this? " He yelled into her face. She shoved him off. " Okay, okay. I worked for this underground science experiment group. V.S.E.G. " she said.

" V-SEG? " I asked. " What the hell does that mean? " She looked toward me. " Viral Scientist Experimental Group. " she said. " But I left just as this virus became known. Someone made it a very long time ago, I mean, 1940's. And now, in 2007, noone had heard of it, until V-SEG discovered a large sample underground. Buried. In a locked chamber. I don't know who the hell got down there, or how the hell they found it, but I also know, in that chamber there is a cure, which they took. That's all I know. " she said, walking ahead of all of us. Chief shook his head, and I turned to George. " Follow her? " I asked. He looked behind us. " We better. " he said, speeding up.

I could barely understand it. Not 6 hours ago I was happy, playing a video game. Now it was like I was in Resident Evil or something. It all seemed to unbelievable. But it was real. Right here, right now. We made it to the stop. A few stray feeders were waiting for a ride. Chief shot them in the head and killed them. I now understood why chief had shot my dad. He was saving dad from the suffering he would've endured. I now feel extremely guilty about attacking chief. I pulled him to the side, and told him how I felt. He said he understood, and would've done the same thing, given my age and what I had just seen and gone through.

We took a pit stop. There was some weird guy that had food. I didn't ask him much, but apparently he also sold weapons. He was dressed in a black hoodie and dark jeans with chains. I grabbed a bag of chips and a bottle of water. I checked my watch. 4:56 A.M. If Julia was right, we only had about 45 more minutes before the crack of dawn. I finished my food, and talked to this guy selling stuff. He showed me the few guns he had. One was a small .22 pistol, a 9mm Beretta, and a 12 Gauge pump action shotgun.

I asked him how much he wanted for the .22 pistol. He said he didn't get much business, and if I gave him what I had, he would also throw in some extra ammo. I gave him the $20 that I had from allowance the weekend before. He sold me the gun, as well as 12 bulets. The gun held six, so I had an extra six bullets on backup. I tucked it away. Julia came over, " Are you 21? " she asked. " Please, there's no license checks here. " I said. We walked out into the street. Chief was wrong. There was a very good amount of feeders out here. One was even shooting acid at us. We quickly ran into Coach's Bar and Grill.

Chief aimed his handgun around, and a man appeared from under the counter. He stuck his hands in the air. He was a buff man, wearing a tight leather jacket, and had droopy black hair with gel in it. " Whoa, easy there man. I'm not like those....things. " he said. " Name's Loe. Loe Smill. " he said. I jumped over the counter, seeing he had a machine gun made my eyes go huge. " Heh, easy kid. I see you've already got some self defense. I had to grab this just as this infection hit. " he said.

George looked up to him. " Infection? Wait, you mean there's also people turning INTO these things? " he asked. " That's what the television says. I've managed to get a small one running. But the signal's been out for an hour now. They said if you're bitten, you get cold, and then, like an hour later, you just collapse. You wake up, get a terrible headache, fever, pass out again, then your skin goes...well...you can imagine what happens next. " He said, cocking his machine gun. " Seeing as we're on the edge of the city, if we go a little further east, there's a small military camp set up there. Problem is, you have to go through a friggin' scientist lab to get to it. And that damn place is screwed to hell. " he said, lighting up a cigarette. " Care for one kid? Heh, oh yeah, no minors. " he said, offering the rest one. Only Julia accepted.

I looked at the clock. " 20 minutes until the crack of dawn. If we hide out here until day, we can make it to that facility, then to the military base. " I said. Julia nodded. " Yes, but can we make it that long? " Loe smiled, pointing to the door. " Yep, I locked up the door real good and - Oh shit! " he yelled. Apparently when we entered, we forgot to lock up. One of the feeders grabbed the chief. " Chief! " I yelled, shooting the feeder in the head. It went down. Chief jumped over the counter, as did the rest of us.

" There's a back exit through the storage room to the right. Go ahead, I'm gonna blow these feeder's asses to hell. I'll meet you at the facility, go for it! Good luck! " he yelled, opening fire on the feeders. We all ran through the storage room. One of the feeders blocked our path, and Julia shot it. Probably not the best thing to be looking at, but she's one hell of a shot. We made it to the back, but the door was locked.

" God damn it! " yelled cheif. George kicked the door open. " Damn! " said chief. " You could've been doing that to feeder's heads, and saving me some ammo! " George chuckled, and ran out first, the rest of us following. Chief shot two of the feeders. We aw the facility, but the front was packed with feeders. We ran into a geneal store to rest. 10 more minutes. We thought we were safe until dawn.

Wrong.

The feeder with wings and the razor tail appeared. George got a mad look in his eye. " Fallen Angel. " was all he said. I turned to him with a question mark on my face. He turned to me, " That's what they call it. I managed to get Mr. Loe's TV to work while you were talking to him. They call it Fallen Angel. " and that's all we got from George, because it came crashing through the front window. It knocked down chief, and locked in on Julia. " Damn! " she said, shooting at it. It tackled her through the back wall. George grabbed a flashlight, and shined it on the Fallen Angel. It hissed from the light, and flew away.

We ran to Julia. We helped her up, she was very weak. She grabbed her gun, and we ran out. We had to get to the facility. 7 minutes left. We could see hints of the sun on the horizon. I ran and shot one feeder in the head. Chief finished his clip on feeders, and put in another one, but put his gun away. " Get back! " he yelled, taking out a grenade. " Shit! " I yelled. He threw it into the middle of all the ones infront of the door, and it exploded. They all went up , and came down in pieces.

We entered the dark facility. I shot another feeder, trying to only shoot the ones in our path, conserving ammo. Suddenly Julia fell. We woke her up. " This is it.... " she said. " This is the V-SEG Headquarters. Please, don't make me go.... " she said. We moved her into an operation room. George turned on the flashlight. Suddenly three feeders came in through the opposite door. Chief shot them, but one didn't go down. It had a hood on. It removed it, showing it was actually a female with long, dark brown hair. She turned and saw Julia. " Ah, Julia. Remember me? Crystal? " she asked. George got a confused look in his eyes, and turned to Julia. " She's the one who got me fired. She's the one who conducted the finding of the virus.. " Julia got up. She cocked her handgun. Crystal laughed.

" Hey guys, bet you didn't know your friend Julia is the one who FOUND the virus! " she said. All of us looked to Julia. She nodded. It was true! I couldn't believe I trusted the woman who started this! She was the ultimate one responsible for the death of my parents then! " It's true. " she said. " But I didn't set it loose! That's when they fired me, I didn't want to test it. But they did, They tried it on dogs, cats, monkeys, they even tried it on a little boy! " Crystal got mad. " Shut up bitch! We did it to see if we found a revolution, or the next link on the food chain. You're right, we didn't set it free, but the person who did is right behind -" suddenly a tail impained through Crystal's stomache. It swung her away.

The Fallen Angel came in, and knocked Chief aside. I ran to chief's side. The Fallen Angel appeared over Julia, and George shined his flashlight on it, but it used its tail to cut off two of George's fingers on the flashlight hand, causing him to go down. It stoof over Julia, but suddenly it went down. Loe came on, machine gun blazing. Loe waved to me, and I nodded. George kicked on the lights. I was blinded, and then saw George's hand. I went up to him, but he grabbed the flashlight and hit me on the head. I fell and went down hard. I aimed my pistol, but he kicked it away. He punched Loe out.

He got on top of me. I turned to face him. He was holding something. I read the lable. ' Cure. ' Oh my god. It was him! Crystal said the one who let loose the virus and took the cure was behind Julia. It was George. " You mother f-" he grabbed my face. " You think this is a shock? Guess what else I set loose. He shoved my head into the Fallen Angel's. I almost died. It was my dad's face. George turned my dad into a monster! George held up the cure. He also had the virus. He grabbed the virus and stuck it in my leg. He injected it into me. I felt so helpless, I cried.

I trusted this man! And now he wanted to turn me, like my dad, into a moster. He punched me, and got up. He tied his bad hand up. I needed that cure..but I felt so weak. Suddenly the tail pierced George's right thigh. It was the Fallen Angel! It was alive, George grabbed the cure, and the Fallen Angel swung George and tossed him out down a stair well. The Fallen Angel got up, and looked at me, and nodded. Then daybreak hit, and my dad faded away.

I helped the others. Julia, Loe, Chief. Suddenly military units swarmed the place. I put my hands up, so weak. " I'm taking you into custody. " One told me. I shook my head. " Please. I've been infected. " he raised his gun at this. I shook my head. " I have about one hour. Please, let me search for this cure. If I don't make it in time, I'm sure you'll have fun killing me tonight...please. " I pleaded. He said alright, and he helped doctor me up a little. Julia came over to me, and handed me a needle. " This will supress the development of the virus. Maybe for an extra hour or so. There's only two of these. Crystal had the other. It's better then nothing. Sorry I lied to you. " she said.

I injected it into my arm, and looked at this group of people. "You all, thank you for helping me. But now I've got two hours to find a cure. If I don't, I join my dad on the other side. I hope I find it. " I said. Chief got confused. " Whoa sonny, we're gonna be there every second helping you find this son of a bitch! " I smiled, but deep on the inside, I wasn't sure I'd make it.