• Chapter One:”Are you dead or are you sleeping?”

    “Idiot, can’t believe we’re actually doing this.”
    I kept on walking.
    “You know how stupid this is? You’re gonna get us KILLED.”
    I kept on walking.
    He shook his head. Silence protruded for a multitudes of minutes until he finally spoke, “We’re going to need weapons.”
    I gagged in the inside for a second, swallowing a heartbeat that skipped a bit off beat.
    “You know. Guns?”
    I screeched to a halt. Images rolled back. My brother and me hunting in the fall. Messing around in Halo with my friends. Watching my mom wrap her lips around the same gun I used to bring home our trophy buck as she slowly converted. I never liked guns much.
    He looked at me nervously, knowing what it took to calm me down each time I heard a gunshot after Absolution. Once it took me several days to recollect my thoughts, I even ran away from Rudder leaving him alone for the entire day. I came back knowing he was the only memory before Absolution. He was fallen apart when I got to him, apparently searching me for hours. We had sat there for hours cradling ourselves in the corner of a shack in the dark.
    I sucked in the damp air and nodded. “Yeah.”
    He looked suspicious still, not comforted by the dead air being broken. “Are you okay?”
    I used my thumb and index finger and massaged my temples, coughed, and nodded. Without looking, I turned and continued walking, “C’mon.”
    A few hours past.
    The sun drooped down to take it’s rest for the day, tired from grasping the planet with its arms.
    “See that cabin over there?” Rudder pointed outward in the direction we’ve been walking. “Let’s check it out and chill there till the sun comes back.” He twirled his bat around and took practice swings, instantly shunning me back to when he took me to my first round in the batting cage.
    I took out the binoculars I had in my windbreaker’s pocket. Half of it snapped off back when I had fallen over and landed on a half finished brick wall. I used the intact side of the binocular, surveying the area.
    “Well? What do you see?” He scooted closer to me.
    “The shadows from the trees behind it make it too dark.”
    He rose up, “Well, looks like it’s time for plan B captain, les’ go.”
    Nodding, I used my knee as leverage and slung myself up from the dirt. I grabbed a log similar to his bat. We walked casually to the door, the cabin was made out of logs in the area apparently, tree stumps crowded around the cabin house.
    Upon entering the cabin, horrid smells assailed our senses, nauseous odors, bombarded, driving me into a daze. I could see the small chimney fire was hastily put out, ashes strewn across the hardwood floor. Following the horribly dense smell, I found myself looking at an older man, seems about middle age, a woman of the same appearance wearing a frilled summer dress, a young woman. All dead. Their blood was splashed across the log walls, now a dull deep crimson. The bodies were now rotting, the limbs didn’t seem pointed in right directions, or at least the limbs still attached to their bodies.
    What really caught my attention was the teenage boy, who was, also dead, in the corner by himself. I stared. His face was distorted, sagging inward. But his eyes, his eyes were strangely intact, white eyes, and a deep blue iris. I couldn’t peel away from the face. He looked sad. Weary. His face emanated an emotion, indescribably. One that showed a thousand dead faces, all looking back, their lives forever gone, all screaming to be remembered. I blinked, and found myself in front of a mirror. I slumped back and closed my eyes. Last things I heard before the burning need to sleep plagued my mind, was Rudder rummaging through their pockets and looking around.
    “Goodnight Mop.”

    Chapter Two: “Isn’t the sun beautiful today?”

    A wooden creak was a slap across my face, putting me into full alert. I looked around and it was just Rudder pacing back and forth. A small vial gleamed in his hand as the sun rose back from its slumber. A small label was stretched out across the small vial.
    “What’s that?” Rudder looked at me, surprised I was awake.
    “Look.” He passed me it very gently, like when my aunt had passed down her newborn daughter to my mother after my aunt had given birth.
    I glanced up at Rudder, grabbing it. My heart skipped out of my chest before slamming back into my chest. The shadows all of a sudden seemed a bit taller. The trees a little bit more ominous. “Wha…” All I could do was stutter. “Is… Is this real?”
    Rudder massaged his temple as I always do, which he only does when under large stress, “I… I don’t know.” He hissed through his teeth, his eyes strained looking for an answer that doesn’t exists deep within the caverns in his mind. Eventually he screamed, and kicked a small wooden chair across the room, the chair splintered apart on contact with the cabin walls. “I DON’T KNOW!”
    Now I was burrowing my face in my hands. Small droplets of tears pooled at each eyelid. I let the vial roll a few inches away from me.
    The words on the label were as bright as the living daylight.
    Cure.
    Absolution.

    “We have to go back!” Rudder was screaming now, completely infuriated.
    “What about Landon!? And Sheila!?” I was screaming too, right into his face, “Are we just going to forget that we ever heard of them!?”
    “You idiot, this could be the end of this nightmare! Don’t you understand!?”
    “It could be anything, a small medicine for small infections, not Absolution!”
    “But how are you sure!?”
    “I don’t know! But neither do you!”
    “You ******** idiot!” His hand flew up in the air, and wavered as he hesitated.
    I looked back at awe. He was going to hit me. My mind went numb. Possibly the only person left in the world that cares about me, was about to hit me. My awe dissolved into spite immediately. I shook my head and spit at his feet. I burst through the doors in absolute anger.
    “Mop!” He stepped towards me, “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to!” He fell on his knees as I stormed away. “********…” He slumped back and massaged his temple. “********, ********, ********…” He hunched over into his knees and slowly wept.

    All that transpired in my head was anger and hatred. My childhood guardian turned on me. The one who comforted me through both of my parents’ deaths, Absolution and before. The one who looked out for my every move into harm’s way, just threatened me. If you can’t trust the only one you have left in your life, who do you have left? I looked around the forest and noticed an infected. She was pacing back and forth between two trees, as if she was confused on which way to go. I approached her, and while stepping to her I looked around. A convenient tire iron laid in the leaves. I propped it into my hands and moved towards her. Her face snapped towards me.
    “Why do you run?” Her mouth moved in awkward directions as she spoke.
    “Because I can.” Spittle dragged down her chin. Millions of flies burst out into the multicolored warped open sky from every orifice of her skin. Her eyes were only one solid color, black. I stared into a empty abyss, which is only abled to be filled by her insatiable hunger for blood spilt. But she was calmer. She gestured for me to sit by her at the tea table, where a bright plaid table cloth was placed underneath man ornamental tea pots. She poured a black liquid, where inside white creams swirled around. She gestured me to drink and I did. The dark substance coated my mind, leaving a numb, but satisfied feeling. I looked down into my cup, as the liquids inside rose up and consumed me in a geyser of the alien drink. I tried to scream, but I didn’t find a reason to scream. Nothing came out anyways. I rolled around in the void, twirling.I looked up and was met with the face of the female infected, both of us floating. I smiled at her, and kissed her cheek. After the small peck, I swung my tire iron as hard as possible, crashing through her head unleashing all the contents inside across the void.
    I wiped the tire iron on my pants and closed my eyes. I placed the tire iron across from me, and fell asleep.