As I stated before, my writing has taken a different turn. I will be putting One Small Wish on the backburner for the time being until I have a point where I can dedicate more time to the story. It is one I feel very passionate about and to try to rush it around my schedule would be a mental injustice for me, even if people hate it. But my dream to write is far from dead......
Tonight, I began work on another idea I kicked around for a d20 system game once upon a time and I considered it as a story at one point and now it has come together in my head. The book will be entitled The Stranded and it will be the story of a different type of apocalypse, not one of zombies or meteors or weather patterns going berserk, but a silent one where the people left standing will be faced with a world slowly falling apart as the things we take for granted slip away, how they will handle the simple task of survival and what each will do once society and morality disappear. I am currently only two pages into the book, but I am feeling very passionate about it. I am looking forward to filling in the cracks around the path and deciding how the world will rebuild itself and who is willing to make that happen.
As for One Small Wish, I will still be kicking it around a bit as I shape up the flow I want it to take as I expand the story longer. I have only sent the rough drafts of that book to one person and while they liked it, it is now only half the book. I hope The Stranded proves enough of a success that this can become my way of paying the bills so I can eventually throw myself 110% into OSW.
Now the tricky part. It will be a while before I am ready for this, but I will be looking for a few proof/beta readers once this project nears it's finish. I will keep this close to the belt and wait until I am comfortable with it as a finished product before I bring in anyone to read it, but it's better to look now. If interested, you can e-mail me at kennethlashley@gmail.com and I will take the 1st 5 people I feel comfortable enough with to proof it. My primary concers with that process are:
Holes in the story
Issues with any turns taken
Able to read and critique quickly
The ability to be objective and honest
I will be looking for readers of different genres for this process as well, so if and when you contact me, include your favorite genres. I want this to be as right as it can be and able to be picked up by anyone and enjoyed. Again, it will be a few months before I will have the finishing touches on the ending (projected), so if you volunteer now and cannot then, no harm and no foul.
Monday, May 20, 2013
Sunday, May 19, 2013
10 Aftermath
"So how bad is he? I mean, are we going to be safe like this?" Matthew tries to speak with Marty as he tries to get the pump at an old roadside gas station working without the other hearing. They both know the dangers of William being in this rough state and how his body regenerates. Matthew's concerns are for the people they have rescued and does not want to be driving back when this thing decides the truck is a buffet.
"He's in rough shape and I am keeping an eye on him, but I don't think we need to worry. He doesn't act like he is in pain, but he is also barely able to move. I was not leaving him behind like this after everything he did back there, but I guess you think I should have, right?" Marty stands giving him a stern look trying to hide the fact that she wonders if she will have to do more damage before they reach Oasis.
"Look, I'm more than grateful for what he did. I'm just thinking about what he is now and that is dangerous. No one at Oasis would have made it close to that raider hellhole let alone burned it to the ground, but what if he.... changes? If he went through all that back there and still got up and walked, then how are you going to protect the rest of us?" Matthew stares at Marty intently awaiting and answer she cannot give.
"Just get the pumps working and get us on the road. We are sitting ducks out here in broad daylight." Marty turns and walks back to the rear of the truck to check on William and trying to ignore the facts he has thrown in her face. Making her way back, she pulls herself up the back of the truck to find the fourteen or so rescued still huddled to the front of the bed in slight fear of the man propped against the bed, his cold blank eyes unable to even blink as the fire burned most of his face including his eyelids completely. Marty climbs in and hunkers down in front of him to see how conscious he is of himself and how his mindset is.
"How are you feeling William? Any pain? Can you move yet?" Her eyes show concern for him as he moves his eyes slightly to survey the people in the bed nearly cowering at the sight of him. William begins to force his mouth to open as the slight crackling of burnt skin is the only sound to be heard as his melted lips peel apart.
"I told you not to try and save me. You should just drag me out right here and leave. If the hunger starts, I will break loose and kill everyone here. Right now my body is locked up from the burns, but it won't matter then. It's why I don't move right now, but if I start to move you either dump me or grab that shotgun up front and finish me."
"Matthew will have us on the road soon, then we will get back to Oasis and Andrea and the others will get you fixed up. No one is leaving you or killing you William, not after what you did. Now just relax, sleep if you do that, whatever it takes to get through this trip. You're going to be okay." Marty rubs his left shoulder trying to comfort him and that is one of the few parts of him remaining undamaged as she looks at the tattoo on the skin, the patterns of the lines not enough to tell what it used to be, but the first five letters of a name still able to be read, Shann.
"When you heal, does that come back as well?"
"Just the skin. That arm used to be covered, but I lost everything from the elbow down a long time ago. Bits and pieces along the way as well. Maybe it's best that it all go away." William turns his eyes to look out over the hills trying to distance himself from the young lady who tries to show him compassion. The last two years have been filled with people who have tried and died for it. William has no intentions of adding Marty to that list. After another hour wait, Matthew manages to get enough fuel pumping to get the truck on it's way.
As the group make their trek, a few of the rescued attempt to try understanding William as he simply looks to the horizon warning them to leave him alone. He is fighting the burning in his stomach that signals the coming uncontrollable hunger. He knows he should try to throw himself from the truck, but the current state of being makes him worry he will give in once he starts to move. The trip takes longer than expected as the sun begins to sit and another 10 miles left as the burn he feels gives way to sheer pain. He will not make it and he knows now what he has to do. The crackle of burnt skin begins filling the air as Marty climbs from the front seat making her way back to William who fights to pull himself up and over the gate.
"William, what are you...." Marty's words are cut short by the growling words that echo in every one's ears as he continues to fight his way over.
"Stay back or flip me over, but don't you dare stop me. I have to get out now, the fear in the air is making me crazy and I can't fight much longer. I need to get away from all of you." Marty leans down trying to stop him as instinct takes over. He grabs her jacket and pulls her down in an attempt to pin her, climbing onto her ready to feed. Fear overwhelms the passengers as they run back pulling him off the young lady.
"Throw me out, NOW!" Marty tries to scramble to her feet as the two men are able to roll him over the tailgate, the sounds of breaking bones drowned out by the truck as she sees him flop along the ground a few times. The last sight of William she sees is him pulling himself to his feet, his body appearing slightly broken as he struggles to walk towards them. In that moment, Marty Daniels realizes what he truly is, but fear is the last thing she can feel. Her mind quickly rationalizes another scenario of what William Daniels is and she knows none of them have seen the last of him.
"He's in rough shape and I am keeping an eye on him, but I don't think we need to worry. He doesn't act like he is in pain, but he is also barely able to move. I was not leaving him behind like this after everything he did back there, but I guess you think I should have, right?" Marty stands giving him a stern look trying to hide the fact that she wonders if she will have to do more damage before they reach Oasis.
"Look, I'm more than grateful for what he did. I'm just thinking about what he is now and that is dangerous. No one at Oasis would have made it close to that raider hellhole let alone burned it to the ground, but what if he.... changes? If he went through all that back there and still got up and walked, then how are you going to protect the rest of us?" Matthew stares at Marty intently awaiting and answer she cannot give.
"Just get the pumps working and get us on the road. We are sitting ducks out here in broad daylight." Marty turns and walks back to the rear of the truck to check on William and trying to ignore the facts he has thrown in her face. Making her way back, she pulls herself up the back of the truck to find the fourteen or so rescued still huddled to the front of the bed in slight fear of the man propped against the bed, his cold blank eyes unable to even blink as the fire burned most of his face including his eyelids completely. Marty climbs in and hunkers down in front of him to see how conscious he is of himself and how his mindset is.
"How are you feeling William? Any pain? Can you move yet?" Her eyes show concern for him as he moves his eyes slightly to survey the people in the bed nearly cowering at the sight of him. William begins to force his mouth to open as the slight crackling of burnt skin is the only sound to be heard as his melted lips peel apart.
"I told you not to try and save me. You should just drag me out right here and leave. If the hunger starts, I will break loose and kill everyone here. Right now my body is locked up from the burns, but it won't matter then. It's why I don't move right now, but if I start to move you either dump me or grab that shotgun up front and finish me."
"Matthew will have us on the road soon, then we will get back to Oasis and Andrea and the others will get you fixed up. No one is leaving you or killing you William, not after what you did. Now just relax, sleep if you do that, whatever it takes to get through this trip. You're going to be okay." Marty rubs his left shoulder trying to comfort him and that is one of the few parts of him remaining undamaged as she looks at the tattoo on the skin, the patterns of the lines not enough to tell what it used to be, but the first five letters of a name still able to be read, Shann.
"When you heal, does that come back as well?"
"Just the skin. That arm used to be covered, but I lost everything from the elbow down a long time ago. Bits and pieces along the way as well. Maybe it's best that it all go away." William turns his eyes to look out over the hills trying to distance himself from the young lady who tries to show him compassion. The last two years have been filled with people who have tried and died for it. William has no intentions of adding Marty to that list. After another hour wait, Matthew manages to get enough fuel pumping to get the truck on it's way.
As the group make their trek, a few of the rescued attempt to try understanding William as he simply looks to the horizon warning them to leave him alone. He is fighting the burning in his stomach that signals the coming uncontrollable hunger. He knows he should try to throw himself from the truck, but the current state of being makes him worry he will give in once he starts to move. The trip takes longer than expected as the sun begins to sit and another 10 miles left as the burn he feels gives way to sheer pain. He will not make it and he knows now what he has to do. The crackle of burnt skin begins filling the air as Marty climbs from the front seat making her way back to William who fights to pull himself up and over the gate.
"William, what are you...." Marty's words are cut short by the growling words that echo in every one's ears as he continues to fight his way over.
"Stay back or flip me over, but don't you dare stop me. I have to get out now, the fear in the air is making me crazy and I can't fight much longer. I need to get away from all of you." Marty leans down trying to stop him as instinct takes over. He grabs her jacket and pulls her down in an attempt to pin her, climbing onto her ready to feed. Fear overwhelms the passengers as they run back pulling him off the young lady.
"Throw me out, NOW!" Marty tries to scramble to her feet as the two men are able to roll him over the tailgate, the sounds of breaking bones drowned out by the truck as she sees him flop along the ground a few times. The last sight of William she sees is him pulling himself to his feet, his body appearing slightly broken as he struggles to walk towards them. In that moment, Marty Daniels realizes what he truly is, but fear is the last thing she can feel. Her mind quickly rationalizes another scenario of what William Daniels is and she knows none of them have seen the last of him.
Saturday, May 18, 2013
09c The Monster and The Demon
William Daniels makes his way along the other wall of the raider camp, his mind focused on the task at hand. Making his way to the section of wall furthest from the gate, he removes the three glass jars of blood he collected before setting out. His original plan was to use this as bait to lure the infected away from the grocery the group had been cornered in, but now the use becomes the opposite. Lure them towards the camp they are held in as he breaks the bottles open and splashes the contents on the outer wall. The infected around the wall quickly flock in onto the wall pushing to reach the scent of food.
Moving around the wall quickly to keep from being caught by the panicking infected, he makes his way under the watchtower he will use in his favor. Throwing a line up hooking the top, William quickly pulls himself up the wall before near discovery by a raider walking the wall. He quickly draws a jagged edged knife pushing himself up and running the blade deep into the guards temple and dragging him over. William pauses to plant a small pack of C-4 and detonator on the supports of the tower built into the wall before climbing upon the walkway. Five men stand between him and the opposing tower he needs to rig as well. He begins moving quick and steady to the next guard, grabbing him from behind and snapping his neck before throwing him over the wall.
The next he realizes he will never reach as he draws the small one-handed crossbow from behind and taking aim, waiting for the man to turn. As the guard turns, William pulls the trigger sending the bolt through the air and with uncanny accuracy, piercing the guards windpipe as it travels. He moves quickly to reach the guard and throw him over before quickly vaulting over a small table planting the knife he draws mid-vault into the back of the next guards neck. The next in line turns to see William rise up from laying the body over heading towards him. William pulls a small throwing knife and whips the blade through the air, again with dead accurate aim driving the blade through the underneath of his jaw before running in and throwing him over.
The last climbs down the ladder and begins walking to the potential barracks becoming one less problem now but one more in a few minutes for William. Making his way to the second tower and planting the last charge, William notices the plastic gasoline cans sitting by generators where the towers should fall. Pulling his crossbow back up and drawing three shafts, William pierces each can as gasoline begins pouring onto the ground. With everything set up, William starts to go back over the wall and simply knock at the gate until he sees a large man emerge from the largest structure in the camp, his armor condition suggests he is the lead raider in the camp, but it is raiders face that catches his attention. William knows he has to be seeing things, but decides he has to be sure first.
Jumping down from the walkway and quickly knifing the single raider beside his landing, he begins the fearless march across the camp as raiders begin closing in on his march. The man who caught his eye looks over seeing the visitor and starts to laugh at first until he sees the man walking towards him and quickly calls for the others to hold their fire, confirming William's idea of who this man was.
The two men meet in the middle as William looks slightly upwards into the now smiling man's eyes. The raider smiles and begins to extend a hand stopping short as he realizes William is here on business. The silence between the two men begins to rattle the surrounding raiders as neither man now seems comfortable as they stare each other down.
"William Daniels.... William Fucking Daniels. I honestly didn't think you and Shannon made it back to Houston, let alone expect to see either of you again. How is my little sister anyways? Is she....?" The raiders words would have been potentially welcomed if not for his position or William's infected status as he coldly answers and says his peace.
"Dead? Nearly two years. She got bit as we came off the plane. She thought the world of you Terry, so what is this shit? You decide the best way to survive is torture and murder other survivors? I thought my situation was fucked up, but this is disgraceful. This would break her heart if she had survived." He stares at Terry as his eyes begin to pierce the six foot eight man before he shrugs off the feeling and smiles.
"No time for pleasantries then? So be it. I guess you walked in here all by your lonesome to save those scavs from the market, huh? How do you plan to do that anyways? Last time I saw you, you were some tender-hearted lovestruck little whelp, now you think you grab a gun, put on some big boy pants and you are a hardcore bad ass?" Terry tries his best efforts to stare down the man in front of him, realizing it has no effect, but refusing to yield.
"Two years change people. You know why I'm here and you know what's going to happen. We can do this the easy way or the hard way, but it's going to happen?" William never takes his eyes off Terry as his cold dead eyes quickly tell his brother-in-law someone has to die this night.
"The easy way being I let them go and just let you walk out of here like nothing happened, right? You know I can't do that, but for old times sake and since you made my sister happy, I won't let one of them kill you in the next minute and do it myself." Terry gives a sinister sneer as William raises his hand to reveal a detonator as he watches the raiders surrounding him raise their weapons from the corner of his eyes.
"I actually lied Terry, there is only this way." William presses the button on the detonator as the two watchtowers explode and collapse behind him, the flames of the explosion quickly igniting and sending up a wall of fire burning. Dropping the detonator and reaching behind him, William draws his short sword from under the scabbard in one hand and a .45 in the other quickly decapitating two raiders and shooting down another three. Terry slings the rifle on his back around as the explosion behind them shakes the ground rattling the raiders as William continues his dance of death impaling another raider before taking a shotgun blast to the back and falling to the ground.
A second explosion from the gate proves distraction enough for William to rise as he returns to his slaughter. Snapping his gun around firing two more head shots and a third to the chest dispatching another three raiders, he hears the sound of exploding bone as he turns to see a raider fall with a wound to the head as he sees a few more fall. Looking to the window Marty sits for the briefest of moments before returning to the fray, finding Terry has gone out of sight, but happy to see the back wall gave as infected begin to flood into the area working as his army with no need to attack him.
The crashing sound of the truck battering the gate is followed by screams and ringing gunshots as the raiders in William's sights begin fighting infected as they flood in. Before William can join in thinning the raider's numbers, he staggers backwards as the force of the spray of bullets pushes him back and eventually to the ground. It takes a few moments for him to raise his head to see Terry back in sight holding an AK-47 and smiling until he sees his former brother-in-law raise back to his feet. The two men begin moving straight at each other, William's steps slightly slower but just as sure as Terry's as the two draw knives and begin swinging at each other. The fight is mostly quick slices until Terry finds his opening burying his knife deep into William's side and pulling him close.
"What the fuck are you?" Terry screams into his face as William pulls his arm free burying his own blade into the man's exposed shoulder pulling himself in closer.
"Death, plain and simple." Shoving Terry back and to the ground before pulling the knife out, William catches sight of three runners heading towards the wall of fire as the sound of gunfire rings out drawing their attention. William dashes towards the three quickly burying the knife in hand in the skull of the first one he reaches as he realizes he will never stop the other two. As the lead runner jumps up into the flames, he sees Marty on the walls walkway as the two give a nod to each other as she drives to stop the leader as William catches the other, tackling him into the wall of the building, quickly grabbing the runner's head and bashing it repeatedly into the wall slowly pulverizing the skull. The lack of screams from the other side tells him Marty got the other as he starts to turn to rejoin the fight he started. Before he can, he feels the stab and skin break as the tip of a machete comes through his chest. He realizes Terry has come back up and on top of him as he feels himself lifted into the air by the blade.
As he tries to free himself, one last bullet fires from the other side of the flames piercing William's shoulder and travelling through grazing Terry head. The graze does little to effect him as he draws back with William to throw him.
"Whatever you are now, I'll see you in hell one day." Terry gives a quick heave and flings William into the burning debris of the watchtowers. Inside the flames, William fights to get his bearing to get himself out of the fire as a sharp explosion from just below him sends grenade shrapnel and debris from the barricade into his back piercing his skin and sending him back down into the fire. He scurries to bring himself up, the truck has yet to make it out and Terry is after them. He climbs up the burning supports to find Terry walking through the gap in the fire with a grenade launcher with the truck in his sights. As he raises the weapon up, William gives one last push to fall out of the fire with knives in hand as he lands on Terry driving them deep into his back. He continues stabbing the man he used to call family as he gives him the last words he will ever hear.
"You asked what I am, I want you to die knowing. Shannon bit me and I only halfway turned. I feed, but I'm not one of them. I speak, but I am not human. I thought she made me a monster, but I see now that I am the demon who slays the monster. I am death." The last word sends both blades deep, one severing Terry's spine, the other breaking through his skull and splitting brain in two as William releases the knife forcing himself to stand and walk. The flames that now burn across his skin engulf his line of vision and crackle in his ears leaving him oblivious to Marty's scream to him as he struggles to simply walk away.
Moving around the wall quickly to keep from being caught by the panicking infected, he makes his way under the watchtower he will use in his favor. Throwing a line up hooking the top, William quickly pulls himself up the wall before near discovery by a raider walking the wall. He quickly draws a jagged edged knife pushing himself up and running the blade deep into the guards temple and dragging him over. William pauses to plant a small pack of C-4 and detonator on the supports of the tower built into the wall before climbing upon the walkway. Five men stand between him and the opposing tower he needs to rig as well. He begins moving quick and steady to the next guard, grabbing him from behind and snapping his neck before throwing him over the wall.
The next he realizes he will never reach as he draws the small one-handed crossbow from behind and taking aim, waiting for the man to turn. As the guard turns, William pulls the trigger sending the bolt through the air and with uncanny accuracy, piercing the guards windpipe as it travels. He moves quickly to reach the guard and throw him over before quickly vaulting over a small table planting the knife he draws mid-vault into the back of the next guards neck. The next in line turns to see William rise up from laying the body over heading towards him. William pulls a small throwing knife and whips the blade through the air, again with dead accurate aim driving the blade through the underneath of his jaw before running in and throwing him over.
The last climbs down the ladder and begins walking to the potential barracks becoming one less problem now but one more in a few minutes for William. Making his way to the second tower and planting the last charge, William notices the plastic gasoline cans sitting by generators where the towers should fall. Pulling his crossbow back up and drawing three shafts, William pierces each can as gasoline begins pouring onto the ground. With everything set up, William starts to go back over the wall and simply knock at the gate until he sees a large man emerge from the largest structure in the camp, his armor condition suggests he is the lead raider in the camp, but it is raiders face that catches his attention. William knows he has to be seeing things, but decides he has to be sure first.
Jumping down from the walkway and quickly knifing the single raider beside his landing, he begins the fearless march across the camp as raiders begin closing in on his march. The man who caught his eye looks over seeing the visitor and starts to laugh at first until he sees the man walking towards him and quickly calls for the others to hold their fire, confirming William's idea of who this man was.
The two men meet in the middle as William looks slightly upwards into the now smiling man's eyes. The raider smiles and begins to extend a hand stopping short as he realizes William is here on business. The silence between the two men begins to rattle the surrounding raiders as neither man now seems comfortable as they stare each other down.
"William Daniels.... William Fucking Daniels. I honestly didn't think you and Shannon made it back to Houston, let alone expect to see either of you again. How is my little sister anyways? Is she....?" The raiders words would have been potentially welcomed if not for his position or William's infected status as he coldly answers and says his peace.
"Dead? Nearly two years. She got bit as we came off the plane. She thought the world of you Terry, so what is this shit? You decide the best way to survive is torture and murder other survivors? I thought my situation was fucked up, but this is disgraceful. This would break her heart if she had survived." He stares at Terry as his eyes begin to pierce the six foot eight man before he shrugs off the feeling and smiles.
"No time for pleasantries then? So be it. I guess you walked in here all by your lonesome to save those scavs from the market, huh? How do you plan to do that anyways? Last time I saw you, you were some tender-hearted lovestruck little whelp, now you think you grab a gun, put on some big boy pants and you are a hardcore bad ass?" Terry tries his best efforts to stare down the man in front of him, realizing it has no effect, but refusing to yield.
"Two years change people. You know why I'm here and you know what's going to happen. We can do this the easy way or the hard way, but it's going to happen?" William never takes his eyes off Terry as his cold dead eyes quickly tell his brother-in-law someone has to die this night.
"The easy way being I let them go and just let you walk out of here like nothing happened, right? You know I can't do that, but for old times sake and since you made my sister happy, I won't let one of them kill you in the next minute and do it myself." Terry gives a sinister sneer as William raises his hand to reveal a detonator as he watches the raiders surrounding him raise their weapons from the corner of his eyes.
"I actually lied Terry, there is only this way." William presses the button on the detonator as the two watchtowers explode and collapse behind him, the flames of the explosion quickly igniting and sending up a wall of fire burning. Dropping the detonator and reaching behind him, William draws his short sword from under the scabbard in one hand and a .45 in the other quickly decapitating two raiders and shooting down another three. Terry slings the rifle on his back around as the explosion behind them shakes the ground rattling the raiders as William continues his dance of death impaling another raider before taking a shotgun blast to the back and falling to the ground.
A second explosion from the gate proves distraction enough for William to rise as he returns to his slaughter. Snapping his gun around firing two more head shots and a third to the chest dispatching another three raiders, he hears the sound of exploding bone as he turns to see a raider fall with a wound to the head as he sees a few more fall. Looking to the window Marty sits for the briefest of moments before returning to the fray, finding Terry has gone out of sight, but happy to see the back wall gave as infected begin to flood into the area working as his army with no need to attack him.
The crashing sound of the truck battering the gate is followed by screams and ringing gunshots as the raiders in William's sights begin fighting infected as they flood in. Before William can join in thinning the raider's numbers, he staggers backwards as the force of the spray of bullets pushes him back and eventually to the ground. It takes a few moments for him to raise his head to see Terry back in sight holding an AK-47 and smiling until he sees his former brother-in-law raise back to his feet. The two men begin moving straight at each other, William's steps slightly slower but just as sure as Terry's as the two draw knives and begin swinging at each other. The fight is mostly quick slices until Terry finds his opening burying his knife deep into William's side and pulling him close.
"What the fuck are you?" Terry screams into his face as William pulls his arm free burying his own blade into the man's exposed shoulder pulling himself in closer.
"Death, plain and simple." Shoving Terry back and to the ground before pulling the knife out, William catches sight of three runners heading towards the wall of fire as the sound of gunfire rings out drawing their attention. William dashes towards the three quickly burying the knife in hand in the skull of the first one he reaches as he realizes he will never stop the other two. As the lead runner jumps up into the flames, he sees Marty on the walls walkway as the two give a nod to each other as she drives to stop the leader as William catches the other, tackling him into the wall of the building, quickly grabbing the runner's head and bashing it repeatedly into the wall slowly pulverizing the skull. The lack of screams from the other side tells him Marty got the other as he starts to turn to rejoin the fight he started. Before he can, he feels the stab and skin break as the tip of a machete comes through his chest. He realizes Terry has come back up and on top of him as he feels himself lifted into the air by the blade.
As he tries to free himself, one last bullet fires from the other side of the flames piercing William's shoulder and travelling through grazing Terry head. The graze does little to effect him as he draws back with William to throw him.
"Whatever you are now, I'll see you in hell one day." Terry gives a quick heave and flings William into the burning debris of the watchtowers. Inside the flames, William fights to get his bearing to get himself out of the fire as a sharp explosion from just below him sends grenade shrapnel and debris from the barricade into his back piercing his skin and sending him back down into the fire. He scurries to bring himself up, the truck has yet to make it out and Terry is after them. He climbs up the burning supports to find Terry walking through the gap in the fire with a grenade launcher with the truck in his sights. As he raises the weapon up, William gives one last push to fall out of the fire with knives in hand as he lands on Terry driving them deep into his back. He continues stabbing the man he used to call family as he gives him the last words he will ever hear.
"You asked what I am, I want you to die knowing. Shannon bit me and I only halfway turned. I feed, but I'm not one of them. I speak, but I am not human. I thought she made me a monster, but I see now that I am the demon who slays the monster. I am death." The last word sends both blades deep, one severing Terry's spine, the other breaking through his skull and splitting brain in two as William releases the knife forcing himself to stand and walk. The flames that now burn across his skin engulf his line of vision and crackle in his ears leaving him oblivious to Marty's scream to him as he struggles to simply walk away.
Friday, May 17, 2013
09b A Girl and Her Gun
Marty Richards climbs through the window on the second floor as she makes her way across the floor slowly. A hole in the floor allows her to actually see the infected these raiders have herded into the building to use for their own recreation, an act she finds appalling in itself. The infected are not responsible for their own action, but these men they will soon be engaging are and the fact they consider prolonging the existence for amusement triggers a sense of impending pride as she will soon be executing several of their ranks.
Reaching the window she will be working from, Marty begins setting up her gear awaiting her signal whatever it may be. A quick reassembling of the PSG-1 and preparing the RPG, her mind drifts back to a time before the outbreak when she was a teenage girl looking to escape the craziness of her father. The man was a militant doomsday prepper who never accepted she had no desire to be a part of his madness. While other 10 year old girls in her school were playing house or dress-up, Marty was being forced to beat her faster time reassembling an M-16. While a small part of her is thankful for that now, she still finds herself wishing she had a few normal moments.
As she sits and waits, Marty takes a moment and works through her own mind to occupy her time. Before the outbreak, she was in her third year of college as a psychology major who now uses self-analysis to ease her own tensions. The lingering issue in her thoughts this time are the man she follows, William Daniels. She runs through the events of the day and begins trying to piece together her current impulse to find his approval of her ability in the heat of battle. Since the outbreak everyone has questioned and doubted her usefulness with a gun and it never phased her, but this time and this person she feels a need to hear him say "I was wrong". Her mind races through every event unable to find any link that should create the need.
Her analysis will have to wait as Marty sees William climb on top of the opposite wall. Lifting the rifle to view, she finds herself in complete admiration of his precise and deadly assault along the wall as he remains completely undetected by any on the ground as he works his way under her line of vision when a memory comes to her mind and she realizes the answer to her quandary.
It was spring break at college as Marty arrives home to check on her father. Doris, her mother, left years ago leaving her father to raise her on his own. While she had issues with the way she was raised, Marty still worried about her father on his own. She was always expecting to go home from school and find he had blown himself up by accident, living so far out in the country and having few friends she always expected no one would know he was gone until she came home.
As Marty pulls up to the house, she checks her phone to see no texts before shutting her mp3 player off before exiting the car and heading to the door. Out of the corner of her eye, she notices her horse, a small but sturdy Thoroughbred lying on it's side. Stepping back off the porch, Marty walks over to make sure the animal is okay noticing a soured odor in the air before the shock of what she finds. The horse has been ripped open and it's organs spilled on the ground due to part of it's underside missing.
"DAD!" Marty screams out in a panic hoping for an answer from him as she wonders if whatever attacked the horse might have gotten him. A loud banging begins from the inside of the barn as the door bows on every beat until it gives way. Marty begins stepping towards her car before she sees her father step out of the barn slowly. Relieved he is alright, she begins running to him as he raises his head in her direction and gives out a shrill scream before charging her. Marty stops in her tracks when she notices the condition of her father, his skin pale and vein-covered and his eyes appear almost white. It feels like a scene out of a horror movie to her as she silently curses herself for never listening to the radio and missing the news that zombies became real life.
Instinct kicks in as Marty runs for her car to reach the 9mm her father insist she take with her that she brings with her to appease him. She is taken to the ground as the creature who used to be her father tackles her to the ground unable to keep her down as she quickly escapes. Reaching her car and grabbing the gun, Marty turns without hesitation and shoots right between the eyes of this monster, his momentum so fierce to reach her that his body falls forward knocking her down. In her panic, she begins digging the heel of her shoe into his head repeatedly stomping before realizing he was dead before tumbling into her.
William comes back into sight as she comes out of her thoughts and grabs the RPG aiming it at the wall to the back of the compound before lowering to the desired area he asked on the ground. Holding the weapon steady, she watches as he seems to discuss something with the leader of these raider before raising his hand up with a detonator in hand. Pushing the button, she sees the fire of the explosion shoot out from the watchtower beside and across from her as they collapse. Striking the ground, both burst into flames creating a wall of fire between William and the raiders and the front gate. In the panic of the explosion, William draws two knives and begins attacking the disoriented raiders as Marty fires the first rocket. The blast causes the wall to weaken just enough that the horde of infected on the other side knock it down. As she reloads, she sees infected file out from below her before turning the RPG to the opposite wall and fires, seeing the large hinges crack on the gate.
Throwing the RPG aside, Marty quickly grips and aims the sniper rifle as she picks her shots and doing a head count on raiders on the gate side of the wall of flames. Thirteen, giving her the time it takes Matthew to crash through the gate to use the other twenty-two rounds she has to help William. As she fires with complete precision into each raiders head she aims at, she takes a small degree of solace in realizing she seeks the approval of this one man who is infected and living to make up for the approval she wanted from the father who turned and never gave her the chance to receive.
Catching the sight of lights outside the wall, Marty turns her attention to the gate side and begins firing, quickly picking off the three raiders camped around the cages. A single raider points upwards seeing the slight spark of light from the barrel as she fires, taking aim on the man but never getting the shot off as the metal gate comes slamming down upon him as she sees the cargo truck in her sights. Standing up and looking out the window, Marty drops to the walkway of the wall and pausing to turn and assassinate two more raiders to cover William before spinning around and doing the same to a raider almost on top of Matthew as he makes his way to the cages.
Picking her shots carefully, the young lady continues moving side to side covering the two men until the sight of one raider burying a machete into William's side forces her to scream out. The scream attracts the attention of a few infected as they begin running at the wall she stands upon. Three gunshots from the other side of the flames forces one runner to turn and run into the wall of fire, quickly igniting but climbing and leaping nonetheless. Marty turns the rifle to fire to find it has jammed. She quickly runs to pass the flames as the burning infected man leaps through the air towards the truck. Marty draws her pistol unsure of range and leaps from the fifteen foot wall firing as she draws nearer to the ground.
Quickly standing and gaining her composure, she is happy to see the burning attacker down rather than her comrade. Staring at the man who holds the woman he came to Oasis with and has yet to admit how he feels to her, Marty feels pity for him but pushes it aside for the time being and begins yelling at him.
"Get her in the truck and get us out of here, NOW!"
Throwing the tailgate open, Marty climbs into the truck and reaches down to help rest Maryia into the back of the truck. She looks at the unconscious woman and hopes whatever happened to her will fade in time as Matthew slams the tailgate drawing her from the thoughts to see a straggler about to grab Matthew. She quickly raises her gun shooting it through the head before covering her emotions to save face.
"DRIVE, NOW!"
As Matthew starts the truck and begins to turn the truck, Marty hears the familiar sound of a grenade launcher just before the explosion that rips the barrier created by the fallen watchtowers into pieces. he turns hoping to see William Daniels running for the truck, but instead finds the leader of the raiders walking through the gap in the flames. Reaching down to grab the hunting rifle lying in the back of the truck as he raises the launcher in their direction, Marty spots the burning figure coming down off the barricade with knives drawn and landing on the armed man, both knives buried into him before hitting the ground. Marty can barely hear his voice as he slices and stabs the raider before he stands and begins staggering towards the truck. Marty quickly surveys finding a fire extinguisher as she scream out William's name.
Reaching the window she will be working from, Marty begins setting up her gear awaiting her signal whatever it may be. A quick reassembling of the PSG-1 and preparing the RPG, her mind drifts back to a time before the outbreak when she was a teenage girl looking to escape the craziness of her father. The man was a militant doomsday prepper who never accepted she had no desire to be a part of his madness. While other 10 year old girls in her school were playing house or dress-up, Marty was being forced to beat her faster time reassembling an M-16. While a small part of her is thankful for that now, she still finds herself wishing she had a few normal moments.
As she sits and waits, Marty takes a moment and works through her own mind to occupy her time. Before the outbreak, she was in her third year of college as a psychology major who now uses self-analysis to ease her own tensions. The lingering issue in her thoughts this time are the man she follows, William Daniels. She runs through the events of the day and begins trying to piece together her current impulse to find his approval of her ability in the heat of battle. Since the outbreak everyone has questioned and doubted her usefulness with a gun and it never phased her, but this time and this person she feels a need to hear him say "I was wrong". Her mind races through every event unable to find any link that should create the need.
Her analysis will have to wait as Marty sees William climb on top of the opposite wall. Lifting the rifle to view, she finds herself in complete admiration of his precise and deadly assault along the wall as he remains completely undetected by any on the ground as he works his way under her line of vision when a memory comes to her mind and she realizes the answer to her quandary.
It was spring break at college as Marty arrives home to check on her father. Doris, her mother, left years ago leaving her father to raise her on his own. While she had issues with the way she was raised, Marty still worried about her father on his own. She was always expecting to go home from school and find he had blown himself up by accident, living so far out in the country and having few friends she always expected no one would know he was gone until she came home.
As Marty pulls up to the house, she checks her phone to see no texts before shutting her mp3 player off before exiting the car and heading to the door. Out of the corner of her eye, she notices her horse, a small but sturdy Thoroughbred lying on it's side. Stepping back off the porch, Marty walks over to make sure the animal is okay noticing a soured odor in the air before the shock of what she finds. The horse has been ripped open and it's organs spilled on the ground due to part of it's underside missing.
"DAD!" Marty screams out in a panic hoping for an answer from him as she wonders if whatever attacked the horse might have gotten him. A loud banging begins from the inside of the barn as the door bows on every beat until it gives way. Marty begins stepping towards her car before she sees her father step out of the barn slowly. Relieved he is alright, she begins running to him as he raises his head in her direction and gives out a shrill scream before charging her. Marty stops in her tracks when she notices the condition of her father, his skin pale and vein-covered and his eyes appear almost white. It feels like a scene out of a horror movie to her as she silently curses herself for never listening to the radio and missing the news that zombies became real life.
Instinct kicks in as Marty runs for her car to reach the 9mm her father insist she take with her that she brings with her to appease him. She is taken to the ground as the creature who used to be her father tackles her to the ground unable to keep her down as she quickly escapes. Reaching her car and grabbing the gun, Marty turns without hesitation and shoots right between the eyes of this monster, his momentum so fierce to reach her that his body falls forward knocking her down. In her panic, she begins digging the heel of her shoe into his head repeatedly stomping before realizing he was dead before tumbling into her.
William comes back into sight as she comes out of her thoughts and grabs the RPG aiming it at the wall to the back of the compound before lowering to the desired area he asked on the ground. Holding the weapon steady, she watches as he seems to discuss something with the leader of these raider before raising his hand up with a detonator in hand. Pushing the button, she sees the fire of the explosion shoot out from the watchtower beside and across from her as they collapse. Striking the ground, both burst into flames creating a wall of fire between William and the raiders and the front gate. In the panic of the explosion, William draws two knives and begins attacking the disoriented raiders as Marty fires the first rocket. The blast causes the wall to weaken just enough that the horde of infected on the other side knock it down. As she reloads, she sees infected file out from below her before turning the RPG to the opposite wall and fires, seeing the large hinges crack on the gate.
Throwing the RPG aside, Marty quickly grips and aims the sniper rifle as she picks her shots and doing a head count on raiders on the gate side of the wall of flames. Thirteen, giving her the time it takes Matthew to crash through the gate to use the other twenty-two rounds she has to help William. As she fires with complete precision into each raiders head she aims at, she takes a small degree of solace in realizing she seeks the approval of this one man who is infected and living to make up for the approval she wanted from the father who turned and never gave her the chance to receive.
Catching the sight of lights outside the wall, Marty turns her attention to the gate side and begins firing, quickly picking off the three raiders camped around the cages. A single raider points upwards seeing the slight spark of light from the barrel as she fires, taking aim on the man but never getting the shot off as the metal gate comes slamming down upon him as she sees the cargo truck in her sights. Standing up and looking out the window, Marty drops to the walkway of the wall and pausing to turn and assassinate two more raiders to cover William before spinning around and doing the same to a raider almost on top of Matthew as he makes his way to the cages.
Picking her shots carefully, the young lady continues moving side to side covering the two men until the sight of one raider burying a machete into William's side forces her to scream out. The scream attracts the attention of a few infected as they begin running at the wall she stands upon. Three gunshots from the other side of the flames forces one runner to turn and run into the wall of fire, quickly igniting but climbing and leaping nonetheless. Marty turns the rifle to fire to find it has jammed. She quickly runs to pass the flames as the burning infected man leaps through the air towards the truck. Marty draws her pistol unsure of range and leaps from the fifteen foot wall firing as she draws nearer to the ground.
Quickly standing and gaining her composure, she is happy to see the burning attacker down rather than her comrade. Staring at the man who holds the woman he came to Oasis with and has yet to admit how he feels to her, Marty feels pity for him but pushes it aside for the time being and begins yelling at him.
"Get her in the truck and get us out of here, NOW!"
Throwing the tailgate open, Marty climbs into the truck and reaches down to help rest Maryia into the back of the truck. She looks at the unconscious woman and hopes whatever happened to her will fade in time as Matthew slams the tailgate drawing her from the thoughts to see a straggler about to grab Matthew. She quickly raises her gun shooting it through the head before covering her emotions to save face.
"DRIVE, NOW!"
As Matthew starts the truck and begins to turn the truck, Marty hears the familiar sound of a grenade launcher just before the explosion that rips the barrier created by the fallen watchtowers into pieces. he turns hoping to see William Daniels running for the truck, but instead finds the leader of the raiders walking through the gap in the flames. Reaching down to grab the hunting rifle lying in the back of the truck as he raises the launcher in their direction, Marty spots the burning figure coming down off the barricade with knives drawn and landing on the armed man, both knives buried into him before hitting the ground. Marty can barely hear his voice as he slices and stabs the raider before he stands and begins staggering towards the truck. Marty quickly surveys finding a fire extinguisher as she scream out William's name.
09a A Boy and His Truck
In the darkness that engulfs Fenton, Missouri this evening, Matthew Blake sits quietly perched on the back of the driver's seat watching and listening as the thirty minute mark passes. The thin, twenty-something man pushes his ratty uneven bangs out of his face as he once again glances over to the three raiders hanging over the horde of infected that reach for them. He had walked over once remembering William Daniels words about mercy towards these men as he watched the fingertips of the infected brush along the men's feet. The conflict in Matthew's heart was painful as he looked at the men knowing they had two fates awaiting them, either hanging from the light posts and starving to death or the infected finally reach them and eat them alive. His conscious told him he should let them down and give them a fighting chance until he remembered why they ended up here to begin with. These three men were instructed to bring the party back or kill them, either option was acceptable. It was enough to make him walk away and back to the truck.
Turning his attention back to the hillside leading to the camp, his mind drifts to the people they need to rescue, one in particular being Maryia Jennings, the only camp member he knew of before the outbreak. The two attended high school together never speaking as he admired her from far away. Maryia was a cheerleader and the envy of most teenage boys, but Matthew had a chance to glimpse who she was behind the image. They had met one Friday night in September their senior year when she had drove to the rougher part of downtown Saint Louis depressed and looking for anything she could use to forget when she saw Matthew sitting around with a few friends assuming someone was dealing. They ended up spending the night talking over a few joints about life as the two realized while viewed differently, they had quite a lot in common as Matthew simply tried to help her with the things floating in her mind. The two promised to be friends after that, but as Monday rolled around the two quickly fell into their designated clique and never spoke until graduation, but always exchanging a smile that always said "Hello, you understand, goodbye".
When the outbreak first occurred, it was mere chance that the two managed to be in close proximity of each other. Maryia had simply stopped to have her car checked as it was overheating and Matthew was the mechanic on duty. She sit on a stool talking about her first year of law school as the two caught each other up to speed on the things they had been doing since graduation. Matthew smiled as she claimed his life had been more interesting as they saw the first attack happen by the gas pumps as a small group of infected ran up pouncing on a woman pumping gas screaming for someone to save her child as the flesh was ripped from her body. The two ran to the open bay door to find one of the infected leaning in the open window as a young girl's screams echo in their ears. The two ran and spent the next year watching each other's backs until a salvage party found them at a roadside diner and took them to Oasis.
While he silently prays to himself she has not been harmed, a blast echoes out from the horizon as Matthew slides down quickly starting the truck and driving like his very life depended on it as two more loud bangs echo out. He drives along with the gas pedal on the floor as his mind races through what he may find when he reaches the raider camp and the hope that Maryia is safe and unharmed, but in his heart, he doubts she will be both.
The gate comes in sight as the truck barrels down the road at full speed. Matthew slides his seat belt on as he draws closer seeing the blazing fire coming from inside the gate and along the outer wall. Nearing the gate, he can now see the quick snaps of light from a second floor window of the building the compound has been built around as he braces himself before the truck slams into the metal gate and batters through. As he brakes hard to stop, Matthew takes in the sights of his surrounding as screams echo out from under his wheels and across the wall of fire that used to be two watchtowers along the wall that now lay in rubble cutting the camp in two. Unable to see through the fire as screams and gunshots continue to fill the air, Matthew hears the screams of people from behind him turning to find a few of his people locked in cages along the wall by the gate.
Matthew grabs two pistols from the front seat as he climbs out to try and free them. He sees bodies of raiders pinned under the debris left behind from the gate as he runs towards the cages, every raider that comes between him and the prisoners is met with a raised pistol before seeing the side of their head explode as he realizes Marty is covering him. He is shocked by the lack of raiders in his area and wonders where the majority are as he reaches the cages yanking on the doors.
"THE KEY, FIND THE GOD DAMN KEY!!!" The scream of an unfamiliar man inside the cage rings out as Matthew simply raises his gun and shoots the locks off the doors. As the gates swing open and the sea of people begin pouring out, Matthew is barely aware enough to try stopping the panic of prisoners that run through the gates and out into the open. He remains oblivious to the screams of the escaping being tackled and eaten outside the gates as he tries to scan the faces looking for Maryia. Five of the seven people they came to rescue stop a few of the others convincing them to climb into the back of the cargo truck as Matthew finally catches sight of Maryia lying in the back of the central cage as one of their own attend to her. Her clothes ripped and bloody as she lay slightly whimpering in her uncoscious state.
"They used her as an example to the rest of us, but gave no warnings. They just drug her out the door in front of us and....." Matthew covers the young man's mouth to silence him before reaching down to scoop her up and carrying her out to the truck as the woman attending to her tries to wrap a blanket around her. Their walk is cut short as a burning infected runner comes leaping through the fire dividing the camp with the truck in his sights. William begins to scream out for help as it turns in his direction before a shot rings out sending the burning runner to the ground as a quick grab and drag comes from behind as Marty's voice rings out.
"Get her in the truck and get us out of here, NOW!"
Marty hops into the back helping Matthew load the young lady before Marty quickly draws her pistol shooting down the few infected coming through the gates. Slamming the gate shut, Matthew runs to the front and quickly cut off by an infected who quickly grabs him before its head suddenly pops as Marty screams out one more time, "DRIVE, NOW!"
As he throws the truck in gear and begins to drive, an explosion erupts from behind as the watchtower debris begins flying out and a man comes through the parting flames. Matthew looks up in the mirror to see the rather tall man carrying what appears to be a grenade launcher. Making sure he is lined up with the gate, he glances again as the man raises the barrel up in their direction before another man on fire pounces from behind taking him down with a blade stabbing him repeatedly. The burning man stands and begins walking towards the truck as Matthew hears Marty scream out William's name.
Turning his attention back to the hillside leading to the camp, his mind drifts to the people they need to rescue, one in particular being Maryia Jennings, the only camp member he knew of before the outbreak. The two attended high school together never speaking as he admired her from far away. Maryia was a cheerleader and the envy of most teenage boys, but Matthew had a chance to glimpse who she was behind the image. They had met one Friday night in September their senior year when she had drove to the rougher part of downtown Saint Louis depressed and looking for anything she could use to forget when she saw Matthew sitting around with a few friends assuming someone was dealing. They ended up spending the night talking over a few joints about life as the two realized while viewed differently, they had quite a lot in common as Matthew simply tried to help her with the things floating in her mind. The two promised to be friends after that, but as Monday rolled around the two quickly fell into their designated clique and never spoke until graduation, but always exchanging a smile that always said "Hello, you understand, goodbye".
When the outbreak first occurred, it was mere chance that the two managed to be in close proximity of each other. Maryia had simply stopped to have her car checked as it was overheating and Matthew was the mechanic on duty. She sit on a stool talking about her first year of law school as the two caught each other up to speed on the things they had been doing since graduation. Matthew smiled as she claimed his life had been more interesting as they saw the first attack happen by the gas pumps as a small group of infected ran up pouncing on a woman pumping gas screaming for someone to save her child as the flesh was ripped from her body. The two ran to the open bay door to find one of the infected leaning in the open window as a young girl's screams echo in their ears. The two ran and spent the next year watching each other's backs until a salvage party found them at a roadside diner and took them to Oasis.
While he silently prays to himself she has not been harmed, a blast echoes out from the horizon as Matthew slides down quickly starting the truck and driving like his very life depended on it as two more loud bangs echo out. He drives along with the gas pedal on the floor as his mind races through what he may find when he reaches the raider camp and the hope that Maryia is safe and unharmed, but in his heart, he doubts she will be both.
The gate comes in sight as the truck barrels down the road at full speed. Matthew slides his seat belt on as he draws closer seeing the blazing fire coming from inside the gate and along the outer wall. Nearing the gate, he can now see the quick snaps of light from a second floor window of the building the compound has been built around as he braces himself before the truck slams into the metal gate and batters through. As he brakes hard to stop, Matthew takes in the sights of his surrounding as screams echo out from under his wheels and across the wall of fire that used to be two watchtowers along the wall that now lay in rubble cutting the camp in two. Unable to see through the fire as screams and gunshots continue to fill the air, Matthew hears the screams of people from behind him turning to find a few of his people locked in cages along the wall by the gate.
Matthew grabs two pistols from the front seat as he climbs out to try and free them. He sees bodies of raiders pinned under the debris left behind from the gate as he runs towards the cages, every raider that comes between him and the prisoners is met with a raised pistol before seeing the side of their head explode as he realizes Marty is covering him. He is shocked by the lack of raiders in his area and wonders where the majority are as he reaches the cages yanking on the doors.
"THE KEY, FIND THE GOD DAMN KEY!!!" The scream of an unfamiliar man inside the cage rings out as Matthew simply raises his gun and shoots the locks off the doors. As the gates swing open and the sea of people begin pouring out, Matthew is barely aware enough to try stopping the panic of prisoners that run through the gates and out into the open. He remains oblivious to the screams of the escaping being tackled and eaten outside the gates as he tries to scan the faces looking for Maryia. Five of the seven people they came to rescue stop a few of the others convincing them to climb into the back of the cargo truck as Matthew finally catches sight of Maryia lying in the back of the central cage as one of their own attend to her. Her clothes ripped and bloody as she lay slightly whimpering in her uncoscious state.
"They used her as an example to the rest of us, but gave no warnings. They just drug her out the door in front of us and....." Matthew covers the young man's mouth to silence him before reaching down to scoop her up and carrying her out to the truck as the woman attending to her tries to wrap a blanket around her. Their walk is cut short as a burning infected runner comes leaping through the fire dividing the camp with the truck in his sights. William begins to scream out for help as it turns in his direction before a shot rings out sending the burning runner to the ground as a quick grab and drag comes from behind as Marty's voice rings out.
"Get her in the truck and get us out of here, NOW!"
Marty hops into the back helping Matthew load the young lady before Marty quickly draws her pistol shooting down the few infected coming through the gates. Slamming the gate shut, Matthew runs to the front and quickly cut off by an infected who quickly grabs him before its head suddenly pops as Marty screams out one more time, "DRIVE, NOW!"
As he throws the truck in gear and begins to drive, an explosion erupts from behind as the watchtower debris begins flying out and a man comes through the parting flames. Matthew looks up in the mirror to see the rather tall man carrying what appears to be a grenade launcher. Making sure he is lined up with the gate, he glances again as the man raises the barrel up in their direction before another man on fire pounces from behind taking him down with a blade stabbing him repeatedly. The burning man stands and begins walking towards the truck as Matthew hears Marty scream out William's name.
Thursday, May 16, 2013
A few explanations on Part 08 and William Daniels.
I do hope those visiting are enjoying the story so far, but if you feel like something is missing, feel free to voice your opinions. While this story is practice for me, I want it to be entertaining for those who visit. Now, onto a few things about this last part and our "hero".
This part may seem to end oddly, but there is a reason for this. The next three parts will be telling the story of this rescue from the eyes of each person involved. This is something I want to toy with for my own use to see if I can weave one large scene together from multiple views without several parts overlapping, but rather just a detail or two. I do this to push myself to be more creative with each character and interlace their actions around one another from a distance. If it sucks and enough people tell me so, no harm and no foul, I will simply rewrite a Part 09 and go from there.
As for the character of William Daniels, I realize I have barely went into much about his physical appearance other than cold glares and detail about his "zombie self". I have done this subconsciously on purpose for one reason... I want the look of the character to be so ambiguous that any reader can potentially see themselves as William Daniels (maybe Wilma if you need the gender reversed) . This idea came to me from the old "choose your story" books of the 70's and 80's where the only word that described the primary character was "YOU". Like the last issue, if enough let me know this doesn't work I will change this in time.
And lastly, I know there is very little feedback on this page to date. I would love to hear from the readers and potentially discuss good and bad points, so if you have a Google+ account, you can leave comments on any post (If you choose, I think you can leave them anonymous) and if you want to keep it simple and away from others eyes, you can use the e-mail this blog is attached to, with is kennethlashley@gmail.com . As I work on my book to put on sale, I would love to hear anything I am doing wrong in my writing so I can release a quality product that readers can enjoy.
This part may seem to end oddly, but there is a reason for this. The next three parts will be telling the story of this rescue from the eyes of each person involved. This is something I want to toy with for my own use to see if I can weave one large scene together from multiple views without several parts overlapping, but rather just a detail or two. I do this to push myself to be more creative with each character and interlace their actions around one another from a distance. If it sucks and enough people tell me so, no harm and no foul, I will simply rewrite a Part 09 and go from there.
As for the character of William Daniels, I realize I have barely went into much about his physical appearance other than cold glares and detail about his "zombie self". I have done this subconsciously on purpose for one reason... I want the look of the character to be so ambiguous that any reader can potentially see themselves as William Daniels (maybe Wilma if you need the gender reversed) . This idea came to me from the old "choose your story" books of the 70's and 80's where the only word that described the primary character was "YOU". Like the last issue, if enough let me know this doesn't work I will change this in time.
And lastly, I know there is very little feedback on this page to date. I would love to hear from the readers and potentially discuss good and bad points, so if you have a Google+ account, you can leave comments on any post (If you choose, I think you can leave them anonymous) and if you want to keep it simple and away from others eyes, you can use the e-mail this blog is attached to, with is kennethlashley@gmail.com . As I work on my book to put on sale, I would love to hear anything I am doing wrong in my writing so I can release a quality product that readers can enjoy.
08 William Daniels and The Hard Headed Girl
Marty Richards stands her ground firmly as she argues her reasons for going against William Daniels wishes on his current plan. She has heard the stories about raiders and the brutality of what they will do to any outside their ranks, especially women, to her none of this matters. These raiders have friends of hers, people who are family to her committing unspeakable acts with them. If there is a chance to save any of them, she refuses to simply drive a supply truck back to Oasis.
"Little girl, this is no time to think like a hero. If I can get two of you set up after fighting small groups of infected, I can't have someone these piece of shit excuses for humans will rip to shreds before they get serious. I need people I won't..." William's words are cut short as the young lady begins her tirade again, pointing out his own plan in her defense.
"You need a reliable shooter watching your back when shit hits the fan, right? All three of these guys will tell you that's me. I get the gist of what happens if they reach me, which is why they won't. But don't you dare get all noble protecting the girl from the bogeyman, those are my people in there.... not yours. I'm not scared of what's in there." Marty stands attempting an eye to eye stare down that lead to what passes as a smile on his face.
"I feel no pain from any attack, no emotions to speak of, but I am as close to afraid as I can be, so if you were smart, you would be. Fine Miss Richards... you are in, but remember that once this goes down, neither Matthew here or myself can help you. If you don't get to the truck before he has your people loaded inside you are on your own. I will be too busy covering his exit to help you. One last chance to go home now." William stares down into the small woman's dark blue eyes and for the briefest of seconds, he sees a darkness in her soul that feels a fragment of his own. He realizes in that moment he will need her more than the tall, lanky boy who will be driving the escape vehicle.
Once they have helped the two going back to Oasis get on the road with the supply truck, the three begin their quick trek down the hill and along the route William worked to clear before dawn approaches. Upon reaching the desolate area that was Fenton, the three watch as they carefully move along a few stragglers who seem to take zero notice of the two humans among them. Passing through them to a clearer area, William points ahead to the huge military truck parked another two blocks from them.
"I have to give you props sir, the lotion and perfume camouflage worked like a charm. How did you ever figure this out?" Matthew speaks softly with amazement at the man he feared before they left Oasis. Like so many others behind those walls, he considered this man a monstrosity and nothing to be trusted.
"While I am not 100% like them, I can't smell either of you until you speak," William pauses to draw the icepick on his chest and quickly planting it through the eye and deep into the skull of the straggler that had caught a whiff of Matthew's tongue. Letting the body fall to the ground after yanking his icepick out, William continues, "So let's keep it to a minimum, okay? This masking you two continues the perfect success rate."
"And how many times have you used this?" Marty leans in whispering softly barely opening her mouth heeding his words.
"Counting you two, once. I wasn't sure how well it would work, which is why I tried to clear this area with a distraction." William reaches the truck first, reaching into the back pulling out a PSG-1 and an RPG handing them to Marty. The two want to begin screaming at this man they trusted who gambled with their lives on a hunch as William continues by handing Marty a small ammo bag with two rockets and five clips for the sniper rifle.
"What kind of distraction? And where did you get these weapons out here if raiders have been stripping the area?" Matthew's question is met with a glare that quickly tells him the answer is one he may not like.
"Now, once more. Son, you will sit here in this truck until the signal comes. Start the truck and head straight up the hill towards the gates of their camp. By the time you get there, ramming the gate will be a breeze. I've left you a few pistols and semi-automatic weapons in the front seat.... do NOT use them until you have your people in this truck and on the way back. If you have to kill something before the signal, sharp weapons only and drive them deep." William walks down the street to the left quickly drawing attention to his distractions.... three raiders he spoke of that were camped out ready to take them out when they showed up to rescue their people. Infected gather around the three men, each strung to an old light pole barely out of reach of the things that are ready to feed. William walks to each pulling his knife and slightly slicing a leg on each before returning to the truck. Each raider's muffled screams as he slices begin to make the two young companions feel pity for people intent on killing them.
"I thought you..... well, the blood on you was there's so....." Marty begins questioning as she looks at the man seeing a glimpse at the beast inside who would consider this acceptable to do, no matter what the three men are.
"They were more valuable as bait than a meal. I did take a sample, but only what I cut off to make enough blood flow the keep our friends oblivious to dear Matthew here." William reaches into the back of the truck grabbing another small bag for himself before motioning Marty to join him reminding Matthew to wait for the signal.
"And what is the signal?" Matthew's words force William to stop and turn for a moment.
"Not sure how bright it will be, but it will be loud. It will take us about fourty-five minutes to set up and be ready. Keep your eye on your watch and if you begin feeling too guilty about those three down there, cut their ropes that are tied to the buildings behind them."
As the two trek up to the camp staying to the shadows, William keeps an eye out for stragglers while running through Marty's park of the plan once more. She listens intently, the entire time wondering if he is mad or genius.
"The fire escape I'm taking you too leads to the second floor. No infected are up there, but are on the floor below, corralled to be used as entertainment and target practice. The farthest window is where I need you. I will have to prep a few things before making my move and giving you the signal to fire, one rocket on the back wall at ground level with the other on the wall just north of the gate. Don't hit the gate or the ground or that truck may get stuck or the area flooded by infected before he can get your people. After firing the two rocket, start picking off anything around the cages they hold your friends and a few other in. Make it clear for him to get in, release and load and get your ass down there to catch your ride." Reaching the fire escape as he makes Marty run through her part one more time, she quickly asks about him in all this.
"What about you getting out?"
"Your blast on the back wall after my part will leave a majority of raiders pinned in with me and my own army. Now remember, get to your ride and don't look back. If I get out of this, I will see you in a few days, but you do not stick around and try to help me.... understand?" His look is stern and quickly prompts her to nod her head before she begins her climb, pausing for one last question.
"William, I have to know something. What did you do before all this? You seem smart and quite badass rolled into one, so what were you?" Her question doesn't bring the feelings associated with the smile, but the urge to smile knowing the answer forces it to come as he walks back towards her.
"Middle management for a chain grocery. You get smart dealing with unruly people," his smile fades away before answering the rest of her question, "Badass came after all this and not a story I'm very proud of. Make every shot count." William turns and begin around the building that the camp wall is attached to as Marty moves into position.
Prepping the RPG and setting it aside, Marty takes aim with the scope adjusting the sights as she looks around to find William, who remains out of sight for the first ten minutes until the sight of a raider on the opposite wall falling outward gains her attention. She watches as the man moves along the walkway along the wall picking off raider guards quickly with an occasional knife to the neck or a crossbow bolt if sneaking is not an option. Coming around her side removing every guard along the wall and out of sight for a moment, she gains sight of him again as he walks along the grounds inside the wall as the raiders begins closing in on him as he walks to the center of the camp where the larger man, standing nearly a foot taller than the rest meets him in the center. She watches as words are exchanged she cannot hear until William raises his hand with a small detonator and his thumb on the trigger. Marty grins as she quickly sits the PSG-1 aside and quickly raises the RPG pointing to the back wall to the back of the camp.
"Little girl, this is no time to think like a hero. If I can get two of you set up after fighting small groups of infected, I can't have someone these piece of shit excuses for humans will rip to shreds before they get serious. I need people I won't..." William's words are cut short as the young lady begins her tirade again, pointing out his own plan in her defense.
"You need a reliable shooter watching your back when shit hits the fan, right? All three of these guys will tell you that's me. I get the gist of what happens if they reach me, which is why they won't. But don't you dare get all noble protecting the girl from the bogeyman, those are my people in there.... not yours. I'm not scared of what's in there." Marty stands attempting an eye to eye stare down that lead to what passes as a smile on his face.
"I feel no pain from any attack, no emotions to speak of, but I am as close to afraid as I can be, so if you were smart, you would be. Fine Miss Richards... you are in, but remember that once this goes down, neither Matthew here or myself can help you. If you don't get to the truck before he has your people loaded inside you are on your own. I will be too busy covering his exit to help you. One last chance to go home now." William stares down into the small woman's dark blue eyes and for the briefest of seconds, he sees a darkness in her soul that feels a fragment of his own. He realizes in that moment he will need her more than the tall, lanky boy who will be driving the escape vehicle.
Once they have helped the two going back to Oasis get on the road with the supply truck, the three begin their quick trek down the hill and along the route William worked to clear before dawn approaches. Upon reaching the desolate area that was Fenton, the three watch as they carefully move along a few stragglers who seem to take zero notice of the two humans among them. Passing through them to a clearer area, William points ahead to the huge military truck parked another two blocks from them.
"I have to give you props sir, the lotion and perfume camouflage worked like a charm. How did you ever figure this out?" Matthew speaks softly with amazement at the man he feared before they left Oasis. Like so many others behind those walls, he considered this man a monstrosity and nothing to be trusted.
"While I am not 100% like them, I can't smell either of you until you speak," William pauses to draw the icepick on his chest and quickly planting it through the eye and deep into the skull of the straggler that had caught a whiff of Matthew's tongue. Letting the body fall to the ground after yanking his icepick out, William continues, "So let's keep it to a minimum, okay? This masking you two continues the perfect success rate."
"And how many times have you used this?" Marty leans in whispering softly barely opening her mouth heeding his words.
"Counting you two, once. I wasn't sure how well it would work, which is why I tried to clear this area with a distraction." William reaches the truck first, reaching into the back pulling out a PSG-1 and an RPG handing them to Marty. The two want to begin screaming at this man they trusted who gambled with their lives on a hunch as William continues by handing Marty a small ammo bag with two rockets and five clips for the sniper rifle.
"What kind of distraction? And where did you get these weapons out here if raiders have been stripping the area?" Matthew's question is met with a glare that quickly tells him the answer is one he may not like.
"Now, once more. Son, you will sit here in this truck until the signal comes. Start the truck and head straight up the hill towards the gates of their camp. By the time you get there, ramming the gate will be a breeze. I've left you a few pistols and semi-automatic weapons in the front seat.... do NOT use them until you have your people in this truck and on the way back. If you have to kill something before the signal, sharp weapons only and drive them deep." William walks down the street to the left quickly drawing attention to his distractions.... three raiders he spoke of that were camped out ready to take them out when they showed up to rescue their people. Infected gather around the three men, each strung to an old light pole barely out of reach of the things that are ready to feed. William walks to each pulling his knife and slightly slicing a leg on each before returning to the truck. Each raider's muffled screams as he slices begin to make the two young companions feel pity for people intent on killing them.
"I thought you..... well, the blood on you was there's so....." Marty begins questioning as she looks at the man seeing a glimpse at the beast inside who would consider this acceptable to do, no matter what the three men are.
"They were more valuable as bait than a meal. I did take a sample, but only what I cut off to make enough blood flow the keep our friends oblivious to dear Matthew here." William reaches into the back of the truck grabbing another small bag for himself before motioning Marty to join him reminding Matthew to wait for the signal.
"And what is the signal?" Matthew's words force William to stop and turn for a moment.
"Not sure how bright it will be, but it will be loud. It will take us about fourty-five minutes to set up and be ready. Keep your eye on your watch and if you begin feeling too guilty about those three down there, cut their ropes that are tied to the buildings behind them."
As the two trek up to the camp staying to the shadows, William keeps an eye out for stragglers while running through Marty's park of the plan once more. She listens intently, the entire time wondering if he is mad or genius.
"The fire escape I'm taking you too leads to the second floor. No infected are up there, but are on the floor below, corralled to be used as entertainment and target practice. The farthest window is where I need you. I will have to prep a few things before making my move and giving you the signal to fire, one rocket on the back wall at ground level with the other on the wall just north of the gate. Don't hit the gate or the ground or that truck may get stuck or the area flooded by infected before he can get your people. After firing the two rocket, start picking off anything around the cages they hold your friends and a few other in. Make it clear for him to get in, release and load and get your ass down there to catch your ride." Reaching the fire escape as he makes Marty run through her part one more time, she quickly asks about him in all this.
"What about you getting out?"
"Your blast on the back wall after my part will leave a majority of raiders pinned in with me and my own army. Now remember, get to your ride and don't look back. If I get out of this, I will see you in a few days, but you do not stick around and try to help me.... understand?" His look is stern and quickly prompts her to nod her head before she begins her climb, pausing for one last question.
"William, I have to know something. What did you do before all this? You seem smart and quite badass rolled into one, so what were you?" Her question doesn't bring the feelings associated with the smile, but the urge to smile knowing the answer forces it to come as he walks back towards her.
"Middle management for a chain grocery. You get smart dealing with unruly people," his smile fades away before answering the rest of her question, "Badass came after all this and not a story I'm very proud of. Make every shot count." William turns and begin around the building that the camp wall is attached to as Marty moves into position.
Prepping the RPG and setting it aside, Marty takes aim with the scope adjusting the sights as she looks around to find William, who remains out of sight for the first ten minutes until the sight of a raider on the opposite wall falling outward gains her attention. She watches as the man moves along the walkway along the wall picking off raider guards quickly with an occasional knife to the neck or a crossbow bolt if sneaking is not an option. Coming around her side removing every guard along the wall and out of sight for a moment, she gains sight of him again as he walks along the grounds inside the wall as the raiders begins closing in on him as he walks to the center of the camp where the larger man, standing nearly a foot taller than the rest meets him in the center. She watches as words are exchanged she cannot hear until William raises his hand with a small detonator and his thumb on the trigger. Marty grins as she quickly sits the PSG-1 aside and quickly raises the RPG pointing to the back wall to the back of the camp.
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Writing Update
I've been mulling some things over in my head about my book and it turns out this blog has helped me figure out one thing. The story I planned as my first book is going to be added to in great length and it is a story that means a lot to me and with limited time each day to work, it is proving impossible to do more than a paragraph at a time and get the story the way I want it. So for the time being until I can actually change my work practices to a point I can pour myself into this story days at a time, I am putting my working title One Small Wish on hold. I know the few who have read the works in progress have enjoyed it, but it has evolved in my head and extended out longer and I want to do the story justice.
A bit of good news for me....... I am using an idea I had during the early writing of OSW that I actually want to play with more since starting Eyes Of The Zombie. I think switching to this project as a first book may be a smart move as it will open more creative doors in my head when it comes to character development. The project that I will title for the time being is "The Stranded" and it will center around a different type of apocalypse where it isn't zombies, the earth, meteors or any other things have created chaos, but a mental apocalypse where the few characters in the book (six in the beginning) will wake up after losing three days to find everyone has vanished. I think this will be fun to work on as each character will have their own issues with what has happened, maybe with each other for being here still, and what happenes when they lose the simple luxuries they have taken for granted and morality no longer matters.
As for One Small Wish, I will still pour a slight bit of work into the story just not on a hardcore level.
A bit of good news for me....... I am using an idea I had during the early writing of OSW that I actually want to play with more since starting Eyes Of The Zombie. I think switching to this project as a first book may be a smart move as it will open more creative doors in my head when it comes to character development. The project that I will title for the time being is "The Stranded" and it will center around a different type of apocalypse where it isn't zombies, the earth, meteors or any other things have created chaos, but a mental apocalypse where the few characters in the book (six in the beginning) will wake up after losing three days to find everyone has vanished. I think this will be fun to work on as each character will have their own issues with what has happened, maybe with each other for being here still, and what happenes when they lose the simple luxuries they have taken for granted and morality no longer matters.
As for One Small Wish, I will still pour a slight bit of work into the story just not on a hardcore level.
Sunday, May 12, 2013
07 A Less Than Simple Rescue
Upon reaching a small house overlooking the the warehouse the salvage team last radioed as their location, William and his four companions stop to set up camp as the sun begins to set. William walks into the house to clear the area before motioning his team inside. Once inside, the five begin moving anything needed for the night into the front room as William begins sorting his gear for the bare necessities. As he outfits himself, Marty walks over to question the next moves in the rescue.
"Mr. Daniels, everyone is curious what your plan entails so we can prepare." William turns to face the young woman still intrigued by her lack of fear in him. The other three had given small hints during the trip, but this young lady showed none.
"First of all, William is fine. Second, I will have you start prep work and rest as I go down and assess the situation. No night scopes means one of us has to go down there and check things out. Just finish setting up the rest area and figure out shifts for watch." He continues ripping through his gear leaving behind any weight he will not need. After twenty minutes of prep work, William walks into the room the four have set up for the night.
"I will be heading down to see what we are dealing with and any clear paths to save your friends. Try to get a few hours sleep each and be ready when I return." William drops one of the bags he carried with him along the way, "Part of your prep work requires camouflage. This bag will help so long as you four can keep your emotions in check. Saturate your clothing in the perfumes and continue steady thick layers of the lotions. They will mask you enough to go undetected for a few hours."
"Excuse me sir" The younger boy, Alan Nelson interrupts,"How is perfume and lotion decent camouflage? I thought we had to do something like zombie guts to hide in plain sight." The young man, barely twenty in appearance, pushes his shoulder length brown hair back as he pins it out of his face as he eyes the man who will be leading them in this endeavor.
"If you would like, I can go find you something to cut up and smear over you. It will work to an extent, but sounds quite disgusting if you ask me. The infected don't smell fruits and flowers like you would, so for a few hours this will make you invisible to them as long as none of you begin shooting or making any other loud noises. When we start this, I will need a sniper, a driver and two of you with me blades only. I should only take about five or six hours to check the area, make sure you are all rested completely." William picks up the baseball bat in the corner by the door as he exits, leaving the four to recharge and be ready.
After walking a path around the area they will be walking in to, William Daniels begins walking softly into the area around the supermarket finding only a few stragglers at first he leaves to ramble along as he makes his way to the abandoned store. Reaching the parking lot, William finds a few hundred infected lying dead around the store. Some have been shot, some beaten down but the majority have been burned. Walking along through the bodies, he begins quietly taking down the few stragglers that have wandered back into the parking lot as he makes his way to the front doors of the market. The doors have been battered off the hinges from outside as he enters the store. A handful of stragglers ramble around the shopping floor as William draws two icepicks and quickly and quietly dispatches the obstacles. Making his way to the back store room the group radioed from, the steel doors have been ripped off from the outside. Flipping the doors over, William finds a chain was wrapped around the handles and quickly realizes what has happened. A raiding party from Saint Louis came down this way, possibly corralling more infected and the swarm of infected told them something or someone was in here. Entering the store room, he find three bodies all executed by gunshots to the head. William knows the ritual of burial is still important to the people of Oasis and decides he should find something to wrap the bodies in. Before he can turn, a voice rings out from behind him.
"Guess Big T was right. These losers had someone coming for them." William turns to see the nearly hulking man dressed in makeshift armor holding an automatic rifle. The lack of lighting in the area does little to hamper his ability to quickly observe and assess the large white bald man that towers nearly a foot over him. As the man holds the rifle trained on him, William quickly surveys his frame looking for weak points in his armor or potential injuries.
"You must be some kind of bad ass for them to send you in alone. Either that or the rest of your people are hiding out. Tell you what little man, you lead me to them and you get the same fighting chance I'm giving them." The large man's smile should be intimidating, but his prey seems less than impressed as he begins to slowly sidestep as he slides the small hidden blades he has in his arm pads.
"You don't want to be firing that gun in here. The echo of the shots will have us overrun in a matter of minutes. Be smart and put it down, smarter still and walk away." William's cold gaze at his opponent does little to shake the man as the lighting makes it near impossible to see the dead look in his eyes. The hulking man does smile at the fearless comment and sits his rifle in the corner before drawing a machete and charging his prey.
As Marty finishes the prep work William had instructed and begins dressing, the sight of lights fills the room as the she quickly awakens the other three who quickly grab weapons and take aim at the door. The lights shut off and are quickly followed by footsteps coming to the door followed by three quick knocks as William opens the door slightly bloody with a gaping wound on his shoulder that slowly heals in front of them. As they lower weapons, Marty walks towards him as the small of anger comes from her sharply filling William's nose.
"Who's blood is that? If you..." raising her gun as he quickly raises his hand while reaching for a towel to wipe his healed wounds and face clean.
"It's not. I have the three dead outside, as for the rest of them.... things just got worse."
"Mr. Daniels, everyone is curious what your plan entails so we can prepare." William turns to face the young woman still intrigued by her lack of fear in him. The other three had given small hints during the trip, but this young lady showed none.
"First of all, William is fine. Second, I will have you start prep work and rest as I go down and assess the situation. No night scopes means one of us has to go down there and check things out. Just finish setting up the rest area and figure out shifts for watch." He continues ripping through his gear leaving behind any weight he will not need. After twenty minutes of prep work, William walks into the room the four have set up for the night.
"I will be heading down to see what we are dealing with and any clear paths to save your friends. Try to get a few hours sleep each and be ready when I return." William drops one of the bags he carried with him along the way, "Part of your prep work requires camouflage. This bag will help so long as you four can keep your emotions in check. Saturate your clothing in the perfumes and continue steady thick layers of the lotions. They will mask you enough to go undetected for a few hours."
"Excuse me sir" The younger boy, Alan Nelson interrupts,"How is perfume and lotion decent camouflage? I thought we had to do something like zombie guts to hide in plain sight." The young man, barely twenty in appearance, pushes his shoulder length brown hair back as he pins it out of his face as he eyes the man who will be leading them in this endeavor.
"If you would like, I can go find you something to cut up and smear over you. It will work to an extent, but sounds quite disgusting if you ask me. The infected don't smell fruits and flowers like you would, so for a few hours this will make you invisible to them as long as none of you begin shooting or making any other loud noises. When we start this, I will need a sniper, a driver and two of you with me blades only. I should only take about five or six hours to check the area, make sure you are all rested completely." William picks up the baseball bat in the corner by the door as he exits, leaving the four to recharge and be ready.
After walking a path around the area they will be walking in to, William Daniels begins walking softly into the area around the supermarket finding only a few stragglers at first he leaves to ramble along as he makes his way to the abandoned store. Reaching the parking lot, William finds a few hundred infected lying dead around the store. Some have been shot, some beaten down but the majority have been burned. Walking along through the bodies, he begins quietly taking down the few stragglers that have wandered back into the parking lot as he makes his way to the front doors of the market. The doors have been battered off the hinges from outside as he enters the store. A handful of stragglers ramble around the shopping floor as William draws two icepicks and quickly and quietly dispatches the obstacles. Making his way to the back store room the group radioed from, the steel doors have been ripped off from the outside. Flipping the doors over, William finds a chain was wrapped around the handles and quickly realizes what has happened. A raiding party from Saint Louis came down this way, possibly corralling more infected and the swarm of infected told them something or someone was in here. Entering the store room, he find three bodies all executed by gunshots to the head. William knows the ritual of burial is still important to the people of Oasis and decides he should find something to wrap the bodies in. Before he can turn, a voice rings out from behind him.
"Guess Big T was right. These losers had someone coming for them." William turns to see the nearly hulking man dressed in makeshift armor holding an automatic rifle. The lack of lighting in the area does little to hamper his ability to quickly observe and assess the large white bald man that towers nearly a foot over him. As the man holds the rifle trained on him, William quickly surveys his frame looking for weak points in his armor or potential injuries.
"You must be some kind of bad ass for them to send you in alone. Either that or the rest of your people are hiding out. Tell you what little man, you lead me to them and you get the same fighting chance I'm giving them." The large man's smile should be intimidating, but his prey seems less than impressed as he begins to slowly sidestep as he slides the small hidden blades he has in his arm pads.
"You don't want to be firing that gun in here. The echo of the shots will have us overrun in a matter of minutes. Be smart and put it down, smarter still and walk away." William's cold gaze at his opponent does little to shake the man as the lighting makes it near impossible to see the dead look in his eyes. The hulking man does smile at the fearless comment and sits his rifle in the corner before drawing a machete and charging his prey.
As Marty finishes the prep work William had instructed and begins dressing, the sight of lights fills the room as the she quickly awakens the other three who quickly grab weapons and take aim at the door. The lights shut off and are quickly followed by footsteps coming to the door followed by three quick knocks as William opens the door slightly bloody with a gaping wound on his shoulder that slowly heals in front of them. As they lower weapons, Marty walks towards him as the small of anger comes from her sharply filling William's nose.
"Who's blood is that? If you..." raising her gun as he quickly raises his hand while reaching for a towel to wipe his healed wounds and face clean.
"It's not. I have the three dead outside, as for the rest of them.... things just got worse."
06 A Devil Unknown
Dawn breaks as Andrea Mitchell sit atop the barrier wall around Oasis hoping to soon see the camp's "reluctant visitor" return. As the seemingly appointed head of the camp, she has had to deal with difficult choices and the repercussions of those decisions and this choice has been one of the hardest. The salvage party that went out for supplies has been trapped in the area once known as Fenton Missouri, ten members of the camp went out with two having been attacked and possibly bitten by infected with another injured. She has decided to put her faith in their recent captive William Daniels who says he can retrieve and save them. The part of the decision that has people conflicted was releasing him to feed and build his strength.
"I think you have misplaced your faith, ma'am. That was no man we had in custody and you unleashed him back upon the rest of this world, it won't be coming back." The words of her second in command, Derrick Patterson, pierce her thoughts as she looks over her shoulder towards the grizzled enforcer. The older gentleman being a former deputy quickly became the man she turns to most, in this case however she went against every plea he made.
"He promised he would return by dawn and the sun has just began to rise, so try to have a little faith. I know it is less than idea to use someone like this but these people look to me to make the hard decisions. I do what I have to for these people and I wish you would stand with me on this because..." Andrea's words are cut short by the young lady watching the horizon announces movement coming into sight. Andrea snatches up the rifle beside the chair she has called home for the evening oblivious to the fact nearly every member of the camp has come out hoping she was right about his return, while some want to see what he will be when he returns.
As the gate opens, Andrea comes down the wall to the gate walking out to meet the returning William covered in red and black splatters across his chest and arms. In his right hand, William carries the leg bone he has slowly picked clean along his return. Andrea tries to reach him before the others get a clear view of him.
"I am glad you proved a man of your word, but you cannot return like this." Motioning Derrick to bring the water and towel from right inside the gate as she returns her attention to William. "You come back here after I fought so hard to get people on board with this looking like a savage animal. Why do you insist on keeping everyone afraid of you?" Her words coerce him to toss the leg bone aside as Derrick reaches the two with the bottle of water and towel. William cleans himself slightly with his eyes locked on the her second in command before finally walking passed the two towards the gate with a question of his own.
"Why do you insist on thinking none of you should be?" His words are cold and emotionless as he enters the walls of Oasis heading towards the building he has been held captive for the last three weeks to finish cleaning himself and preparing.
After a quick clean-up, William meets with Andrea and Derrick inside as he begins outfitting himself with the gear he requested. Derrick has been less that inquisitive about their captive, even less about the condition he is in. In this case, his concern is about the members of this camp trapped outside and the people who will join this thing to rescue them.
"You have been less than forthcoming about your plan, so before we go any further I need to know what we are doing here before I agree to even go with you." Derrick stares at William as he looks up with a blank look on his face. The two men lock eyes as the grizzled old man refuses to show the least bit of fear to this abomination, William simply stares as he continues to load the supplies he has asked for before speaking and never taking his eyes away.
"Not so much an issue as you will not be joining me, Mr. Patterson. Infected pick up on scent caused by emotions and I don't need you stinking up the area with that degree of hatred. Now can we go out and find my assistance in this?" William slides the short sword into the sheath he has sewn into his vest as he turns to the door, "And have you gotten the last request ready Miss Mitchell?" Derrick gives an odd look to her as William pauses for the answer.
"Not yet. I was waiting to hear your plan and manpower needs before we asked for volunteers."
"What am I not being told?" Derrick shows confusion at this forgotten detail as Andrea takes a deep breath and walks out the compound door behind William. Outside in the open area, any who would volunteer have gathered and quickly assemble at attention and William begins walking amongst their ranks slowly and nearly stalking. As he walks along reaching the end of the first row of thirteen people, he pauses before giving one simply answer.
"None of these." William stands as Andrea motions the entire row away. William continues to walk amongst the rest of the nearly fifty volunteers as the camp's doctor meets them and begins drawing a syringe of blood from each and collecting them into a sealed glass bottle. Derrick's confusion turns to anger as he realizes the final request William had made, most of the anger towards Andrea for seemingly asking no questions.
"What is your name?" William pauses behind a small blond woman hovering over her, the woman stands never acknowledging his attempts at intimidation, "And why should I take you?"
"Marty, sir. Marty Richards. I am a decent shooter and very practiced at scouting." She refuses to turn and look at the man, missing the slight look of admiration he shows for her before walking around to face her.
"I will be the one scouting things before the rest move in, so unless you are good with a bladed weapon or behind the wheel, I have no use for you. Do you think you can still help?" He stares down to Marty as she glares up to him and slowly nods her head. William turns to Andrea acknowledging this woman as his first before dismissing the rest of the row of people. It takes less time to finish cutting the volunteers down to a small party of four.
"For you last four, I only have a few simple rules. Do not fire a weapon unless absolutely necessary or I tell you to. Do not try to be a hero out there, I am taking all the risk and your jobs will be get those people back once I get them an opening to get out. The moment we walk out that gate, we are not a democracy. You do what I say when I say or you let me know you stay here instead."
The four agree as William walks over to gather the three sealed jars of fresh blood he requested as he glares at the old man who gives a look that could kill,"Don't worry Mr. Patterson. I'm not looking to sample the camp like you think I am. Miss Mitchell, make sure your best shooters are ready tomorrow evening in case we have stragglers trying to follow us. If they follow my lead, it shouldn't be an issue." William turns to motion the four with him and heads toward the gate. Once the party has exited the gate and it closes, Andrea walks up the steps to the top of the wall watching them walk out of sight.
"Tell me I'm right in this, Derrick. Tell me I made the right choice." Andrea stands never turning around to face him as he stands behind her watching the group fade out of sight.
"I wish I could, ma'am. I think you place trust in that thing you shouldn't." He turns and walks away down the platform on the wall leaving her to deal with the decision she has made. Andrea knows what he may be capable of and hopes he is not the monster he seems.
"I think you have misplaced your faith, ma'am. That was no man we had in custody and you unleashed him back upon the rest of this world, it won't be coming back." The words of her second in command, Derrick Patterson, pierce her thoughts as she looks over her shoulder towards the grizzled enforcer. The older gentleman being a former deputy quickly became the man she turns to most, in this case however she went against every plea he made.
"He promised he would return by dawn and the sun has just began to rise, so try to have a little faith. I know it is less than idea to use someone like this but these people look to me to make the hard decisions. I do what I have to for these people and I wish you would stand with me on this because..." Andrea's words are cut short by the young lady watching the horizon announces movement coming into sight. Andrea snatches up the rifle beside the chair she has called home for the evening oblivious to the fact nearly every member of the camp has come out hoping she was right about his return, while some want to see what he will be when he returns.
As the gate opens, Andrea comes down the wall to the gate walking out to meet the returning William covered in red and black splatters across his chest and arms. In his right hand, William carries the leg bone he has slowly picked clean along his return. Andrea tries to reach him before the others get a clear view of him.
"I am glad you proved a man of your word, but you cannot return like this." Motioning Derrick to bring the water and towel from right inside the gate as she returns her attention to William. "You come back here after I fought so hard to get people on board with this looking like a savage animal. Why do you insist on keeping everyone afraid of you?" Her words coerce him to toss the leg bone aside as Derrick reaches the two with the bottle of water and towel. William cleans himself slightly with his eyes locked on the her second in command before finally walking passed the two towards the gate with a question of his own.
"Why do you insist on thinking none of you should be?" His words are cold and emotionless as he enters the walls of Oasis heading towards the building he has been held captive for the last three weeks to finish cleaning himself and preparing.
After a quick clean-up, William meets with Andrea and Derrick inside as he begins outfitting himself with the gear he requested. Derrick has been less that inquisitive about their captive, even less about the condition he is in. In this case, his concern is about the members of this camp trapped outside and the people who will join this thing to rescue them.
"You have been less than forthcoming about your plan, so before we go any further I need to know what we are doing here before I agree to even go with you." Derrick stares at William as he looks up with a blank look on his face. The two men lock eyes as the grizzled old man refuses to show the least bit of fear to this abomination, William simply stares as he continues to load the supplies he has asked for before speaking and never taking his eyes away.
"Not so much an issue as you will not be joining me, Mr. Patterson. Infected pick up on scent caused by emotions and I don't need you stinking up the area with that degree of hatred. Now can we go out and find my assistance in this?" William slides the short sword into the sheath he has sewn into his vest as he turns to the door, "And have you gotten the last request ready Miss Mitchell?" Derrick gives an odd look to her as William pauses for the answer.
"Not yet. I was waiting to hear your plan and manpower needs before we asked for volunteers."
"What am I not being told?" Derrick shows confusion at this forgotten detail as Andrea takes a deep breath and walks out the compound door behind William. Outside in the open area, any who would volunteer have gathered and quickly assemble at attention and William begins walking amongst their ranks slowly and nearly stalking. As he walks along reaching the end of the first row of thirteen people, he pauses before giving one simply answer.
"None of these." William stands as Andrea motions the entire row away. William continues to walk amongst the rest of the nearly fifty volunteers as the camp's doctor meets them and begins drawing a syringe of blood from each and collecting them into a sealed glass bottle. Derrick's confusion turns to anger as he realizes the final request William had made, most of the anger towards Andrea for seemingly asking no questions.
"What is your name?" William pauses behind a small blond woman hovering over her, the woman stands never acknowledging his attempts at intimidation, "And why should I take you?"
"Marty, sir. Marty Richards. I am a decent shooter and very practiced at scouting." She refuses to turn and look at the man, missing the slight look of admiration he shows for her before walking around to face her.
"I will be the one scouting things before the rest move in, so unless you are good with a bladed weapon or behind the wheel, I have no use for you. Do you think you can still help?" He stares down to Marty as she glares up to him and slowly nods her head. William turns to Andrea acknowledging this woman as his first before dismissing the rest of the row of people. It takes less time to finish cutting the volunteers down to a small party of four.
"For you last four, I only have a few simple rules. Do not fire a weapon unless absolutely necessary or I tell you to. Do not try to be a hero out there, I am taking all the risk and your jobs will be get those people back once I get them an opening to get out. The moment we walk out that gate, we are not a democracy. You do what I say when I say or you let me know you stay here instead."
The four agree as William walks over to gather the three sealed jars of fresh blood he requested as he glares at the old man who gives a look that could kill,"Don't worry Mr. Patterson. I'm not looking to sample the camp like you think I am. Miss Mitchell, make sure your best shooters are ready tomorrow evening in case we have stragglers trying to follow us. If they follow my lead, it shouldn't be an issue." William turns to motion the four with him and heads toward the gate. Once the party has exited the gate and it closes, Andrea walks up the steps to the top of the wall watching them walk out of sight.
"Tell me I'm right in this, Derrick. Tell me I made the right choice." Andrea stands never turning around to face him as he stands behind her watching the group fade out of sight.
"I wish I could, ma'am. I think you place trust in that thing you shouldn't." He turns and walks away down the platform on the wall leaving her to deal with the decision she has made. Andrea knows what he may be capable of and hopes he is not the monster he seems.
Friday, May 10, 2013
05 Monster or Man?
Andrea finds herself sitting speechless at the last words of this man she interviews. William looks away from her knowing the disgust she sees in him, a welcome change to the sympathy she showed earlier. The two sit in silence as she contemplates the gravity of his confession and begins wondering how long he lived in this delusion. As he leans his head towards his shoulder and wipes away the barely passable black tear from his cheek, Andrea finally breaks her silence.
"You fed her? Do you mean you honestly believed....." The words cannot come out as she tries to question him on the subject. She has heard stories of raiding parties throwing people to one of the infected to "Fight for freedom" for their personal entertainment, but never believed anyone could be that cruel until now. William slowly looks up with the same attempted saddened look with the cold dead eyes that bring chills to her upon contact.
"I had just lost my wife and she killed me. When I came back and found what had happened to me when I fed, all I could think is 'Maybe she will too'...... It doesn't make it right and it doesn't ease the images I carry in my head, but you should understand."
"How can you even expect anyone to understand?" Andrea stands slowly drawing her gun and raising to target the man's head, feeling shocked at the first sign of emotion she has seen from the man as his eyes seem to cry out two simple words....... Do it.
"Before this world went to hell, where you in love? Did you have someone you would have brutally tortured anyone who even thought about hurting them? Someone you would kill or die for?" The questions he asks cause her gun to slowly lower as William stares into her eyes and continues,"I was desperate to have her back. I was willing to do anything to bring her back to me and I did. Don't ask me how many because I lost count, but I kept hoping that I would finally see just the smallest spark of Shannon reignite in those eyes. I thought if she came back to me then maybe some sliver of who we both were could return. I was ready to destroy what was left of your race for the chance, even after I got to the point I forgot what love even felt like." William's words end as the thick black tears run down his face as Andrea slowly holsters her gun refusing to sit down as she slowly paces in front of the door.
"So you began finding survivors and just what, locking them in a room with her? How could you live with yourself doing that?" Her pacing stops as she glares at the restrained man she now fights to not put a bullet in his head.
"At first, I showed mercy. I thought about the woman I attacked and rip to shreds and I could remember the fear and pain in her screams. I couldn't deal with knowing Shannon caused the same pain just in case she was still inside there somewhere. I had my plan after I realized what happened to me and had the decision made before I walked out of that bathroom." William's mind drifts back to that day as he continues the story of where he came from.
After stripping the bloody clothes and washing himself off, William looks back to the remains of the young red haired woman and wonders how he will remove her from here for his wife. If she can come back, maybe this will be enough. He walks over and slowly opens the door on the opposite corner that leads to the bedroom to find no infected have come this way. Slowly creeping to the bedroom door, William finds only two infected still remain outside the bathroom door. He walks through to the living room to find any type of weapon before deciding on the cast iron frying pan in the floor of the kitchen.
"I'm pretty sure we have this part of the story understood, okay? You killed the infected that stood between the remains and your wife.... no need for explanation. What I am curious about is from day one, no infected every took an interest in you? How does that work?" Andrea's eagerness to hear his story has gone away on this day, yet that question remains with her.... How this man is able to walk in both worlds, human and infected.
"They will eventually when I am like this, but they have to be provoked severely. Smell is the first instinct they follow, sound is the second. Maybe I don't smell like a meal, but when I begin taking them down I guess I sound like one. It's a lot like an animal hunting in we don't follow our eyes like a human. It's in the hunger."
"Why do you refer to yourself as one of them? Seems you would search for your humanity instead." Andrea's question seems aimed to sparking the man inside, she hopes maybe he still exists so they will have another body in the fight for survival and answers to ending the fight. William gives as close to a smile as he can before locking eyes with the woman again.
"I am not one of you or them. I call myself one of them to remind myself what I am capable of. I only know one feeling anymore and that is hunger. The senses never dull, but the hunger controls all. Take yourself for example. I can smell every emotional change seep from your body. If I close my eyes, I can hear the blood course through your veins to the rhythm of your heart. If I concentrate enough, I can actually taste you in the air. All are intoxicating on a level I know you cannot possibly understand." William pauses as he looks to the ceiling for a slight pause before continuing, "I have to fight to control who I am otherwise I would break free and devour you."
Andrea feels the hairs on her neck stand on end as she notices William trying to not sniff the air. The awkward moment is quickly interrupted as one of the camps soldiers comes into the interview room in a panicked hurry.
"Miss Mitchell, we have a problem. The away group radioed in and have been pinned down on their scavenging run. Three injured with two bitten. Fenton appears to have more Saint Louis bleed over than we thought. The rescue team is being assembled at this moment awaiting your decision." Andrea stands with her head hanging at the news. She tried to convince the camp this scouting was not safe rather than command the way most look for her to do. She turns her head sharply realizing their guest already knows the basics inside her head before he ever speaks.
"Both teams will die if you send them in that area. Raiding parties were corralling infected to that area in hopes to take the city. You do not have the manpower to go in after them, not like this." William glares between the two people as the uncomfortable silence becomes near unbearable for the two captors before Andrea breaks her silence.
"If you believe that, what do you suggest? I will not leave my people out there to die." Her words force William to hang his head as he knows the only safe course of action for entering Fenton to save them, no matter how crazy it will sound to them.
"Cut me loose and let me have the night in the fields to feed. Tomorrow, I will find the men to go make sure I bring them back to you."
"You fed her? Do you mean you honestly believed....." The words cannot come out as she tries to question him on the subject. She has heard stories of raiding parties throwing people to one of the infected to "Fight for freedom" for their personal entertainment, but never believed anyone could be that cruel until now. William slowly looks up with the same attempted saddened look with the cold dead eyes that bring chills to her upon contact.
"I had just lost my wife and she killed me. When I came back and found what had happened to me when I fed, all I could think is 'Maybe she will too'...... It doesn't make it right and it doesn't ease the images I carry in my head, but you should understand."
"How can you even expect anyone to understand?" Andrea stands slowly drawing her gun and raising to target the man's head, feeling shocked at the first sign of emotion she has seen from the man as his eyes seem to cry out two simple words....... Do it.
"Before this world went to hell, where you in love? Did you have someone you would have brutally tortured anyone who even thought about hurting them? Someone you would kill or die for?" The questions he asks cause her gun to slowly lower as William stares into her eyes and continues,"I was desperate to have her back. I was willing to do anything to bring her back to me and I did. Don't ask me how many because I lost count, but I kept hoping that I would finally see just the smallest spark of Shannon reignite in those eyes. I thought if she came back to me then maybe some sliver of who we both were could return. I was ready to destroy what was left of your race for the chance, even after I got to the point I forgot what love even felt like." William's words end as the thick black tears run down his face as Andrea slowly holsters her gun refusing to sit down as she slowly paces in front of the door.
"So you began finding survivors and just what, locking them in a room with her? How could you live with yourself doing that?" Her pacing stops as she glares at the restrained man she now fights to not put a bullet in his head.
"At first, I showed mercy. I thought about the woman I attacked and rip to shreds and I could remember the fear and pain in her screams. I couldn't deal with knowing Shannon caused the same pain just in case she was still inside there somewhere. I had my plan after I realized what happened to me and had the decision made before I walked out of that bathroom." William's mind drifts back to that day as he continues the story of where he came from.
After stripping the bloody clothes and washing himself off, William looks back to the remains of the young red haired woman and wonders how he will remove her from here for his wife. If she can come back, maybe this will be enough. He walks over and slowly opens the door on the opposite corner that leads to the bedroom to find no infected have come this way. Slowly creeping to the bedroom door, William finds only two infected still remain outside the bathroom door. He walks through to the living room to find any type of weapon before deciding on the cast iron frying pan in the floor of the kitchen.
"I'm pretty sure we have this part of the story understood, okay? You killed the infected that stood between the remains and your wife.... no need for explanation. What I am curious about is from day one, no infected every took an interest in you? How does that work?" Andrea's eagerness to hear his story has gone away on this day, yet that question remains with her.... How this man is able to walk in both worlds, human and infected.
"They will eventually when I am like this, but they have to be provoked severely. Smell is the first instinct they follow, sound is the second. Maybe I don't smell like a meal, but when I begin taking them down I guess I sound like one. It's a lot like an animal hunting in we don't follow our eyes like a human. It's in the hunger."
"Why do you refer to yourself as one of them? Seems you would search for your humanity instead." Andrea's question seems aimed to sparking the man inside, she hopes maybe he still exists so they will have another body in the fight for survival and answers to ending the fight. William gives as close to a smile as he can before locking eyes with the woman again.
"I am not one of you or them. I call myself one of them to remind myself what I am capable of. I only know one feeling anymore and that is hunger. The senses never dull, but the hunger controls all. Take yourself for example. I can smell every emotional change seep from your body. If I close my eyes, I can hear the blood course through your veins to the rhythm of your heart. If I concentrate enough, I can actually taste you in the air. All are intoxicating on a level I know you cannot possibly understand." William pauses as he looks to the ceiling for a slight pause before continuing, "I have to fight to control who I am otherwise I would break free and devour you."
Andrea feels the hairs on her neck stand on end as she notices William trying to not sniff the air. The awkward moment is quickly interrupted as one of the camps soldiers comes into the interview room in a panicked hurry.
"Miss Mitchell, we have a problem. The away group radioed in and have been pinned down on their scavenging run. Three injured with two bitten. Fenton appears to have more Saint Louis bleed over than we thought. The rescue team is being assembled at this moment awaiting your decision." Andrea stands with her head hanging at the news. She tried to convince the camp this scouting was not safe rather than command the way most look for her to do. She turns her head sharply realizing their guest already knows the basics inside her head before he ever speaks.
"Both teams will die if you send them in that area. Raiding parties were corralling infected to that area in hopes to take the city. You do not have the manpower to go in after them, not like this." William glares between the two people as the uncomfortable silence becomes near unbearable for the two captors before Andrea breaks her silence.
"If you believe that, what do you suggest? I will not leave my people out there to die." Her words force William to hang his head as he knows the only safe course of action for entering Fenton to save them, no matter how crazy it will sound to them.
"Cut me loose and let me have the night in the fields to feed. Tomorrow, I will find the men to go make sure I bring them back to you."
Eyes Of The Zombie
After some thinking and planning for this story, I have decided on this working title for the time being. I will keep this format going as long as the story keeps coming out and doesn't feel forced. I am starting to feel the horror genre on some levels and hope this may unblock my mind on a potential "serial killer" story.
My original book will stay on track as I try to update this blog story at least twice a week if not more.
My original book will stay on track as I try to update this blog story at least twice a week if not more.
Thursday, May 9, 2013
04 The Rebirth
William Daniels opens his eyes finding himself on the bathroom floor, his mind quickly racing through all the events that led to this. Several minutes pass before he realizes the blood that poured from his body has dried leaving him to wonder how long he has been here before the surreal thought that seems to echo in his mind..... "Why am I even alive?"
Struggling to stand using everything in reach he can brace himself with, William reaches his feet to the shock of his own reflection in the mirror. His skin has turned a grayish-blue, veins showing through the skin and the color has all but faded away in his eyes. As his eyes adjust over the moments spent feeling shock, he remembers the pain of Shannon ripping his throat open as he looks at the open wound in the mirror. Unable to make sound even now, he reaches up pushing his finger into the hole in his neck through his windpipe wondering why he doesn't gag. Pulling his finger out, he stands looking in the mirror lost in the image that stares back at him, but is quickly snapped back to the groaning sound of his wife in the next room.
William has to concentrate at first to simply reach the doorknob and turn it opening the door as he exits into the hallway. He takes a few moments looking around realizing she is still locked in the bedroom, obviously giving up breaking the door after losing sight of him. Walking over to the door and peering in, he feels joy as his wife walks towards the hole in the door hoping she remembers him. After a few sniffs in his direction, she turns and continues rambling around the bedroom. William feels the need to cry but the tears simply refuse to flow as he watches her realizing this isn't Shannon anymore. He begins to plan out how to put her out of her misery when the sudden and intense pain comes as only one word repeats over and over in his mind......... FEED.
Turning away and walking towards the front door, William begins slapping the piled furniture to the side quickly realizing the strength he now possesses. Opening the door and walking into the hallway, his nose begins to burn as he catches the scent of food, the smell is intoxicating as he turns walking down the hallway among the few infected that beat at the doors making him realize there are people hiding in the apartments on this floor. The smell in the air drives him to begin marching to the closest door as his brain races in an attempt to stop himself. William has become helpless inside his own body as he approaches the door and the three infected beating at the door.
His mind remains a captive in his own body as he approaches and begins ripping into the infected that stand between him and his prey. Grabbing the nearest of the three, he begins bashing the skull of the woman into the fire extinguisher box on the wall as her skull quickly breaks and spills open as brain, blood and some type of black goop drip from the opened forehead while chunks of flesh fly on every strike. Dropping her body, William quickly grabs the second by the head flinging the infected man backwards against the wall. As the body falls limp, William begins twisting and pulling at the head still gripped in his hands until ripping it loose from the body. With only one left in his way, he grabs the large man and begins ramming his body into the door of the apartment head first like a battering ram. A few minutes of nonstop battering leaves little of the head of this large man as William realizes he has broken several bones in his hand before repositioning and continues ramming.
As the door finally splinters, William is taken over by the intoxicating scent of the survivor inside the apartment as he throws the body down and begins punching, kicking and ramming the door. The scream of the woman inside begin driving him into an even more furious rage as he begins cracking the door. The door finally gives way to his attack as he stumbles into the living room and falling into the back of the couch. A quick glance down the hallway allows him to see the woman who screamed as he battered the door. She is in her twenties with long red hair, pale skin and somewhat thin. He struggles to remember her name hoping to snap his body from the drive that overtakes it to kill and feed, a fight that is for nothing as he screams out the same familiar war cry Shannon used as she ran and attacked. Tackling the girl as the two fall to the ground in the doorway of the bathroom, William realizes a few infected have filed into the apartment and will attempt to join him. Standing quickly and grabbing the young lady by the hair, he gives a hard snap to fling her into the bathroom before entering as well and closing the door.
The woman's head busted open from the force her head hits the tiles on the shower wall, the scent of her blood drives him even stronger as he turns and attacks quickly ripping into her throat with his teeth and pinning her arms to the wall. He cannot bear the sounds of her screaming as he continues tearing flesh from bone as he begins biting and ripping angrily at the woman. Ripping her shirt as he finishes eating the flesh from her neck, William begins tearing at her shoulder as she whimpers out her last words.... "Please, just don't let me become what you are". The words rip at his mind as his body continues to devour the woman.
As the rage calms in his mind, William realizes he has devoured nearly the entire torso and both arms leaving exposed bones and half eaten organs along with splatters of blood all around the shower stall. The hunger calms as William Daniels regains control of his body as he raises up from the partially eaten woman and looks to the ceiling.
"DAMMIT!!!! NOOOOOOO!!!!" The words echo in the bathroom as William realizes he has made sound again. He falls back from the partially eaten girl feeling intoxicated by the feeding as he tries to pull himself to his feet. Leaning on the door as he stands, William reaches for the sink in an effort to catch it as he stumbles and once again, shocked by the sight in the mirror. He looks completely normal with the exception of the huge scar across his neck where his wife ripped it open. The texture is rough as he runs his fingers across the scar tissue. He begins washing his face and chest after removing his blood-soaked shirt disgusted by what is now implanted in his mind never thinking about the infected gathered outside the door.
"Wait a minute" Andrea quickly interrupts William's story with a question of her own, "You mention the scarring on your neck, but there is nothing there now. Can you explain that?" William takes a deep breath as he hangs his head in shame.
"Over the months that followed, every feeding seemed to heal my neck a little more until it was gone. The only thing that never healed was the arm. The bites closed and scarred over, but never went away. I have no idea why or how, it just happened." William refuses to look up to Andrea as she starts to reach for his hand.
"Do not do that. Do not touch me and definitely do not feel sorry for me. Emotions create different scents for me and pity is like that amazing apple pie your grandmother might make that just a whiff makes your mouth water uncontrollably." The two remain silent for the longest five minutes either has experienced until Andrea finally breaks the silence.
"What came next for you, Mister Daniels?"
"What do you think happened? I had become normal, or as close as I could get, so my mind rationalized one of the worst things I have done since this started," William raises his head as a small drop of black fluid runs from his eye as the eye slightly coulds up, "I began feeding Shannon."
Struggling to stand using everything in reach he can brace himself with, William reaches his feet to the shock of his own reflection in the mirror. His skin has turned a grayish-blue, veins showing through the skin and the color has all but faded away in his eyes. As his eyes adjust over the moments spent feeling shock, he remembers the pain of Shannon ripping his throat open as he looks at the open wound in the mirror. Unable to make sound even now, he reaches up pushing his finger into the hole in his neck through his windpipe wondering why he doesn't gag. Pulling his finger out, he stands looking in the mirror lost in the image that stares back at him, but is quickly snapped back to the groaning sound of his wife in the next room.
William has to concentrate at first to simply reach the doorknob and turn it opening the door as he exits into the hallway. He takes a few moments looking around realizing she is still locked in the bedroom, obviously giving up breaking the door after losing sight of him. Walking over to the door and peering in, he feels joy as his wife walks towards the hole in the door hoping she remembers him. After a few sniffs in his direction, she turns and continues rambling around the bedroom. William feels the need to cry but the tears simply refuse to flow as he watches her realizing this isn't Shannon anymore. He begins to plan out how to put her out of her misery when the sudden and intense pain comes as only one word repeats over and over in his mind......... FEED.
Turning away and walking towards the front door, William begins slapping the piled furniture to the side quickly realizing the strength he now possesses. Opening the door and walking into the hallway, his nose begins to burn as he catches the scent of food, the smell is intoxicating as he turns walking down the hallway among the few infected that beat at the doors making him realize there are people hiding in the apartments on this floor. The smell in the air drives him to begin marching to the closest door as his brain races in an attempt to stop himself. William has become helpless inside his own body as he approaches the door and the three infected beating at the door.
His mind remains a captive in his own body as he approaches and begins ripping into the infected that stand between him and his prey. Grabbing the nearest of the three, he begins bashing the skull of the woman into the fire extinguisher box on the wall as her skull quickly breaks and spills open as brain, blood and some type of black goop drip from the opened forehead while chunks of flesh fly on every strike. Dropping her body, William quickly grabs the second by the head flinging the infected man backwards against the wall. As the body falls limp, William begins twisting and pulling at the head still gripped in his hands until ripping it loose from the body. With only one left in his way, he grabs the large man and begins ramming his body into the door of the apartment head first like a battering ram. A few minutes of nonstop battering leaves little of the head of this large man as William realizes he has broken several bones in his hand before repositioning and continues ramming.
As the door finally splinters, William is taken over by the intoxicating scent of the survivor inside the apartment as he throws the body down and begins punching, kicking and ramming the door. The scream of the woman inside begin driving him into an even more furious rage as he begins cracking the door. The door finally gives way to his attack as he stumbles into the living room and falling into the back of the couch. A quick glance down the hallway allows him to see the woman who screamed as he battered the door. She is in her twenties with long red hair, pale skin and somewhat thin. He struggles to remember her name hoping to snap his body from the drive that overtakes it to kill and feed, a fight that is for nothing as he screams out the same familiar war cry Shannon used as she ran and attacked. Tackling the girl as the two fall to the ground in the doorway of the bathroom, William realizes a few infected have filed into the apartment and will attempt to join him. Standing quickly and grabbing the young lady by the hair, he gives a hard snap to fling her into the bathroom before entering as well and closing the door.
The woman's head busted open from the force her head hits the tiles on the shower wall, the scent of her blood drives him even stronger as he turns and attacks quickly ripping into her throat with his teeth and pinning her arms to the wall. He cannot bear the sounds of her screaming as he continues tearing flesh from bone as he begins biting and ripping angrily at the woman. Ripping her shirt as he finishes eating the flesh from her neck, William begins tearing at her shoulder as she whimpers out her last words.... "Please, just don't let me become what you are". The words rip at his mind as his body continues to devour the woman.
As the rage calms in his mind, William realizes he has devoured nearly the entire torso and both arms leaving exposed bones and half eaten organs along with splatters of blood all around the shower stall. The hunger calms as William Daniels regains control of his body as he raises up from the partially eaten woman and looks to the ceiling.
"DAMMIT!!!! NOOOOOOO!!!!" The words echo in the bathroom as William realizes he has made sound again. He falls back from the partially eaten girl feeling intoxicated by the feeding as he tries to pull himself to his feet. Leaning on the door as he stands, William reaches for the sink in an effort to catch it as he stumbles and once again, shocked by the sight in the mirror. He looks completely normal with the exception of the huge scar across his neck where his wife ripped it open. The texture is rough as he runs his fingers across the scar tissue. He begins washing his face and chest after removing his blood-soaked shirt disgusted by what is now implanted in his mind never thinking about the infected gathered outside the door.
"Wait a minute" Andrea quickly interrupts William's story with a question of her own, "You mention the scarring on your neck, but there is nothing there now. Can you explain that?" William takes a deep breath as he hangs his head in shame.
"Over the months that followed, every feeding seemed to heal my neck a little more until it was gone. The only thing that never healed was the arm. The bites closed and scarred over, but never went away. I have no idea why or how, it just happened." William refuses to look up to Andrea as she starts to reach for his hand.
"Do not do that. Do not touch me and definitely do not feel sorry for me. Emotions create different scents for me and pity is like that amazing apple pie your grandmother might make that just a whiff makes your mouth water uncontrollably." The two remain silent for the longest five minutes either has experienced until Andrea finally breaks the silence.
"What came next for you, Mister Daniels?"
"What do you think happened? I had become normal, or as close as I could get, so my mind rationalized one of the worst things I have done since this started," William raises his head as a small drop of black fluid runs from his eye as the eye slightly coulds up, "I began feeding Shannon."
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
Spoiler Free
From here on out, a few notes about this part of my blog. All Before The Wish stories will barely be represented in the book as these are more or less for me to figure out character motives and whatnot and After The Wish stories will be kept as spoiler-free as possible. If I think something I write is giving away too much in the finished book, it will not be here until I finish and release it. I know this is an odd thing to do with my writing, so I apologize ahead of time if you feel it ruins any interest in the project.
If any of my early opinions/proofers see this, a bit of good news if you enjoyed the early drafts.... I have decided to extend the story of book one a considerable amount. In rough drafting a few aspects I want to do in book two, I realized some of it was pointless and didn't deserve a set-up, so I am scrapping those ideas and simply extending the book to be more "stand alone" than it previously was.
If any of my early opinions/proofers see this, a bit of good news if you enjoyed the early drafts.... I have decided to extend the story of book one a considerable amount. In rough drafting a few aspects I want to do in book two, I realized some of it was pointless and didn't deserve a set-up, so I am scrapping those ideas and simply extending the book to be more "stand alone" than it previously was.
Just Some Random Music
Wanted to take a few minutes to share some of the odd music I listen to when writing. Music can be inspiring in many ways and one day hope to see enough success in writing to make it worthwhile to thank some of these artists for the drive through some mental blocks.
First up is Embraze
Then there is Unsun (May have to go to youtube for the watch, sorry)
First up is Embraze
Then there is Unsun (May have to go to youtube for the watch, sorry)
Another of my faves, Krypteria
Will add more as time goes, but this is 3 great bands to start with
Ground Zero Part II
As there is no need to write another short story for this branch, when he makes the wish that changes this day, what the wish will change is the tire blows out, but neither young man loses control of their vehicle and of course Timmy Milliner will go on to win said race. They will then go try to put a new tire onto the car in the hopes of his father never being the wiser, which I will get into soon as I rewrite the actual book.
Ground Zero
The sun hangs in the west on the first warm day of spring outside Serenity as an anxious sixteen year old Jared Tharp check over his car one last time. The boys have gathered on this deserted stretch of highway to begin their spring ritual of racing. Jared feels his nerves on edge as he has snuck his father's 1967 Shelby out to kick off spring. He wanted to bring his 1968 Charger with him today, but a piston had cracked a few weeks before so he figured settle for his father's car since his parents had run into Wullerton for the afternoon. As he makes the last minute checks, the warm and caring arms of his long-time girlfriend Liz Evans wrap around his waist as she tries one last time to convince him to change his mind.
"You know if Papa Tom finds out you did this, he's going to kick your ass all over that farm, right? I've kinda grown attached to you over the years and don't wanna lose you so brutally." Liz gives a nervous snicker as Jared slowly turns in her arms wrapping his own around her before a quick kiss.
"Guess you better root for me to not screw up then, babe. And before you ask again, no you are not riding with me this time. I never like you riding with me anyways, but this time I don't need to worry about two things." Jared smiles as he pushes her long blonde hair back from her face as the Nevada winds begin to pick up as one of the early spring thunderstorms begins to pick up steam.
"If you hate me riding with you, why do you always let me?" Her question bring a smile to his face as he hugs her close to him.
"I still haven't figured out how to say no to you. Don't worry about it, everything will be okay. I promise." His smile reassures Liz as she gives him one last hug before he goes over to meet his first challenger of spring. Timmy Milliner has always been sort of an outcast to every one, but he hopes to change that with the joining of the street racing. Jared walks over to talk a bit before they run and check out his 1971 Camaro, the body of which is very rough outside but under the hood rests a customized 350 from hell. Jared admires the detail Timmy has put into the care of this engine and hopes he can possibly help him with his own car. The two spend a few minutes on casual talk as they await their turn to run as Jared quickly discovers this "weird boy" as everyone describes him is a pretty decent kid.
Race time comes as Jared gives Liz one last kiss for luck as the two boys start their engines and move into racing position. Both give a few pumps of gas revving at each other while they await the signal to go. Jared gives a slight wink towards Timmy and mouths the words "Good luck", prompting Timmy to smile and nod. Jared blows one last kiss to Liz as the flagger steps into position.
Engines rev and echo across the flat grounds as the flag comes down and rubber smokes as the two boys take off running down the road. As they run, they can see each other from the corners of their eyes almost shifting gears in unison as the two remain dead even. Reaching to 75mph mark, both settle in for a hard pressed run as the two fly down the road in a hard fought shot to take a lead.
A quick boom sends the front of the Shelby sightly out of control as the front tire blows out. The sound panics Timmy as he veers slightly to the left as Jared loses control slamming into the side of the Camaro as the rear end slides around and the angle sends the Shelby into a flip. Jared braces for impact thinking about what his father will do to him, but the thought is driven away as the car flips onto it's roof and the jar of the flip throws Jared to the side as his arm flops out the window and his hands is quickly pinned under the now sliding car.
Jared screams as he feels the bones in his hand slowly crack and break as the force of the slide drags him further down until his forearm breaks under the pressure and a feeling he can only describe as fire runs across the skin. He is soon yanked up through his belt against the roof of the car as his shoulder is at the top of the window as the upper arm snaps, a feeling already familiar to him and drowned out in his mine by the popping in his arm he knows are tendons ripping loose from the pressure. As a pitcher on the high school baseball team, he knows the feeling of a pulled tendon and this pain is magnified tenfold.
Everything around Jared begins to blur as he becomes numb to the feeling of his arm being ripped to shreds under the weight of the sliding car, but he knows the popping feeling of muscles pulled to tightly as he begins to feel consciousness slip away. The near eternity of pain he feels last a mere ten seconds before he blacks out as the car continues to slide.
At one point, Jared swears he awakens to a darker, rain filled sky as paramedics and emergency responders try to lift the car enough to remove him and his arm. Out from the responders, he sees Liz as her mother Maggie holds her while Tom and Linda Tharp fight to get closer to check on their son. As they remove him from the car, he begins to believe he imagined the pain he endured when he realizes he feels nothing as they adjust his arm onto the gurney to strap and load him into the ambulance. The last image he sees before the doors close is the face of his father and the fear that is frozen onto his face, it will be the last thing he sees for the next eight days.
"You know if Papa Tom finds out you did this, he's going to kick your ass all over that farm, right? I've kinda grown attached to you over the years and don't wanna lose you so brutally." Liz gives a nervous snicker as Jared slowly turns in her arms wrapping his own around her before a quick kiss.
"Guess you better root for me to not screw up then, babe. And before you ask again, no you are not riding with me this time. I never like you riding with me anyways, but this time I don't need to worry about two things." Jared smiles as he pushes her long blonde hair back from her face as the Nevada winds begin to pick up as one of the early spring thunderstorms begins to pick up steam.
"If you hate me riding with you, why do you always let me?" Her question bring a smile to his face as he hugs her close to him.
"I still haven't figured out how to say no to you. Don't worry about it, everything will be okay. I promise." His smile reassures Liz as she gives him one last hug before he goes over to meet his first challenger of spring. Timmy Milliner has always been sort of an outcast to every one, but he hopes to change that with the joining of the street racing. Jared walks over to talk a bit before they run and check out his 1971 Camaro, the body of which is very rough outside but under the hood rests a customized 350 from hell. Jared admires the detail Timmy has put into the care of this engine and hopes he can possibly help him with his own car. The two spend a few minutes on casual talk as they await their turn to run as Jared quickly discovers this "weird boy" as everyone describes him is a pretty decent kid.
Race time comes as Jared gives Liz one last kiss for luck as the two boys start their engines and move into racing position. Both give a few pumps of gas revving at each other while they await the signal to go. Jared gives a slight wink towards Timmy and mouths the words "Good luck", prompting Timmy to smile and nod. Jared blows one last kiss to Liz as the flagger steps into position.
Engines rev and echo across the flat grounds as the flag comes down and rubber smokes as the two boys take off running down the road. As they run, they can see each other from the corners of their eyes almost shifting gears in unison as the two remain dead even. Reaching to 75mph mark, both settle in for a hard pressed run as the two fly down the road in a hard fought shot to take a lead.
A quick boom sends the front of the Shelby sightly out of control as the front tire blows out. The sound panics Timmy as he veers slightly to the left as Jared loses control slamming into the side of the Camaro as the rear end slides around and the angle sends the Shelby into a flip. Jared braces for impact thinking about what his father will do to him, but the thought is driven away as the car flips onto it's roof and the jar of the flip throws Jared to the side as his arm flops out the window and his hands is quickly pinned under the now sliding car.
Jared screams as he feels the bones in his hand slowly crack and break as the force of the slide drags him further down until his forearm breaks under the pressure and a feeling he can only describe as fire runs across the skin. He is soon yanked up through his belt against the roof of the car as his shoulder is at the top of the window as the upper arm snaps, a feeling already familiar to him and drowned out in his mine by the popping in his arm he knows are tendons ripping loose from the pressure. As a pitcher on the high school baseball team, he knows the feeling of a pulled tendon and this pain is magnified tenfold.
Everything around Jared begins to blur as he becomes numb to the feeling of his arm being ripped to shreds under the weight of the sliding car, but he knows the popping feeling of muscles pulled to tightly as he begins to feel consciousness slip away. The near eternity of pain he feels last a mere ten seconds before he blacks out as the car continues to slide.
At one point, Jared swears he awakens to a darker, rain filled sky as paramedics and emergency responders try to lift the car enough to remove him and his arm. Out from the responders, he sees Liz as her mother Maggie holds her while Tom and Linda Tharp fight to get closer to check on their son. As they remove him from the car, he begins to believe he imagined the pain he endured when he realizes he feels nothing as they adjust his arm onto the gurney to strap and load him into the ambulance. The last image he sees before the doors close is the face of his father and the fear that is frozen onto his face, it will be the last thing he sees for the next eight days.
03 The Death Of William Daniels
The streets become slowly overrun by the people who seemingly come back from the dead. In the midst of the chaos, William tries to fight his way through the screams while trying to pull his new bride Shannon. She has been attacked by one of these monsters and William has refused to give up on her as he fights swinging a bat with one arm with the other hooked behind her back. The two had been fighting their way home since leaving the airport in Houston where their flight had just landed. William fights his way past a few of these infected who feast upon recognizable neighbors as he makes his way to the front door of their apartment building.
Upon reaching their floor, the two see four more infected in the hallway between them and their front door. Propping Shannon in the corner, William turns his attention to the hallway as he runs in swinging the bat trying to make a safe path to reach safety before one of them is hurt worse. He has seen all the zombie movies and while unsure just what is going on, he has managed to keep them safe except for the clawing his wife took across her stomach and chest. William has only one objective in his mind..... save his wife. Once the last of the infected has been put down, William unlocks the door and breathes a sigh of relief before the screams of his wife shatter the piece.
William Daniels feels the pain of the vision in his head before he ever turns. The next few seconds feels like an eternity as he turns and sees Shannon pinned against the wall as a straggling infected who must have came down the steps has begun biting and tearing flesh from her shoulder. The world moves in slow motion as he runs hoping to save her as he raises the bat into the air with a hair curling war cry and charges to save her. His mind goes blank from rage as his first swing catches her attacker in the side of his skull, the impact is so forceful the skull cracks but the newlyweds are blind to the sound as he kicks her attacker towards the window and swings again to the front of the skull. The blow is the traumatic shot needed to put the infected down, but rage fills William's heart and mind as he continues beating the skull until it has turned into a dribbling smear across the window. As Shannon fights through the pain, she tried to stop her husbands rage as his blows begin breaking collarbones and glass. William becomes self-aware and quickly pulls his shirt off trying to tie her shoulder into a tourniquet to stop the bleeding before trying to help her walk.
"Leave me, please." she chokes out as he tries to pull her along to safety, "You can't take me in there with you. I will become one of them and I ...." William covers her mouth as he tries to help her walk against her will.
"You are talking Hollywood movie bullshit... this is real. I'm not just leaving you here. Now walk with me or I stay right here with you." William looks her deep in the eyes with an obvious fake smile as she tries to collapse to the floor in the hope he will save himself. William bends down to scoop her up in his arms and begins walking.
"Don't make me do this sweetie, I'm going to become one of those things and..." Shannon's words are once again stopped by her husband's attempt to ease her mind.
"If you die on me, I will deal with that then. For now, I take care of you. Now hush." William's words fall on unconscious ears as Shannon has passed out from the pain. Laying his wife on the couch, he runs over locking and bolting the door before putting every piece of furniture he can blocking the door. He begins snickering to himself over the pieces he uses, each one something they had once argued the need and usefulness of.... "Maybe she was planning for this day. She always did plan for it joking around." is the last thought in his head before he turns back to pick her up and move to the bedroom where he can try to stitch her arm and clean her up.
Later in the evening, William has managed to stop the bleeding and bandaged her shoulder and stomach as he runs his fingertips around her face tracing the details of every facial feature as he prays he will have a full lifetime appreciating. He runs his thumb around her slightly thin lips that held a smile that lit his world up brightly hoping she will soon open her eyes, the same eyes she always made a fuss over wishing they were as brown as his never realizing just how her glowing green eyes pierced him to the core. He runs his fingers up brushing her long dark hair back and begins to choke back tears as he begins feeling helpless. William knows she needs professional care, but there is no way he can carry her through all the chaos outside as the tears begin to flow. He finally lays down beside his wife putting a hand on her stomach lightly rubbing as he cries himself to sleep hoping she will be awake soon.
Morning comes as William opens his eyes to Shannon's caress on his cheek. She is so pale and obviously weak as she strains to rub his cheek. Raising his head up and smiling, her slight grin and the beautiful green eyes he hoped to see again invite him into a soft caring kiss as the two caress each other gently.
"You scared me dearheart, I was afraid I lost you. Best morning ever waking up to you. Let me fix you something to eat, any suggestions?" His smiles causes her to return one in kind, trying to hide the fact the thought of food makes her want to vomit. Shannon smiles and cups her hand behind his head tugging him to her for a kiss.
"I just want you to stay here with me, not feeling the food right now." One more soft kiss before William brushes her face one last time with his fingers before standing.
"Not open for discussion, but I think I can at least get so chicken noodle for you. It will be quick and I will be back shortly." William smiles and leans down for one last kiss before heading through the door to the kitchen.
"Love me." William blurts out in his usual sweet tone as Shannon returns a slightly hoarse "Love me too." as he makes his way into the kitchen searching the cabinets for the soup, smiling as he becomes so thankful she is still alive.
As he cooks and begins throwing together a makeshift breakfast in bed, Shannon lays in bed as she begins fighting for her breath. She is not able to gasp in enough air to scream out for help as her body is quickly overtaken by seizures. All she wants to do is scream out to her husband to run as fear begins gripping her. She tries to simply hope she knows nothing of what is going to happen if she turns into one of the things that bit her, that she doesn't have to see herself kill the man she loves. It is a thought she cannot finish as her body freezes as she chokes in her last breath.
William smiles as he finishes the last touches to the breakfast table. He tries to make the slightly wilted carnations look more appealing since they were the best he could do for flowers. He adds just a dash of honey to the weak cup of tea he had made for her, a beverage she usually hates but he hopes to convince her it's very medicinal and necessary. Picking up the tray and turning to the kitchen door, William is shocked to see Shannon standing in the doorway, stopping like she was walking past the door. Her hair has fallen over her face and she seems unaware as she pauses and slowly turns towards the kitchen.
"Shannon? Baby, are you okay?" William stops and stands with the small bed table happy she is moving, but unsure if she should be. Before he can turn to sit the meal down to help her, the horrific growl echos out as she lunges at him taking them both down as she tackles him. William panics as he tries to push her back enough, Shannon however has become stronger than she ever has been. Her hair flops about as she tries to lunge and bite him, her teeth snapping shut hard every attempt. Through the hair flopping about, William sees the face of his wife to see the green eyes he fell in love with are clouded over and milky white as the color has faded from them to an almost faded baby blue.
Able to get a hold, William manages to wrestle her off the top of him and begins to quickly reach his feet. His movements, no matter how fast, prove to be futile as she grabs his right arm and bites a large plug of skin from his underarm. He screams out in pain as he begins yanking his arm as she begins taking another bite. On his feet and yanking sharply, William frees his arm at the expense of the flesh caught between Shannon's teeth. William falls into the wall in the hallway and heads towards the bathroom as she quickly pounces on him again as the two fall and roll down the hallway. William tries his best to stop the roll as both slam into the doorway of their bedroom with Shannon flopping through the doorway slightly. As she stands, he desperately kicks towards her sending her backwards and quickly scrambles to lock the door before closing it.
As she pounds on the door in an attempt to break the door down, William pulls his shirt off and trying to wrap it around his arm while trying to find his bearings. As the pounding on the door becomes more relentless, he finally stands to walk to the bathroom and hopefully slow the bleeding. Before he can take the first step, the door splinters out as his crazed wife's hands comes through grabbing his neck and trying to yank him to the door. The tug of war between the two becomes vicious as he braces his hands on the door, his brace seems to frustrate her to the point a loud shrill comes echoing through the hole as she gives one last hard yank. The loss of grip causes her to fall back onto the floor and relieving William until he sees the spray of blood pulsing out onto the door and floor. Falling against the wall and fighting his way along, William reaches the bathroom and shuts the door locking it behind him.
William feels a hard cough coming, but before he can brace for it a quick gurgle and squirt of blood flies outwards as he fights his way to the mirror. Trying to scream, he finds himself unable as he sees his neck in the mirror. Shannon's grip was so tight she ripped a huge chunk from his neck deep enough he can see the inside of his own throat and realizes the trickle in his throat is his own blood flowing back in as his jugular squirts in rhythm with his quickening heart. The screams and pounding from the bedroom fade away as William Daniels stands watching the life pump from his body quicker by the second. The sight becomes too much as he falls to his knees banging his chin on the porcelain sink and bouncing over into the side of the tub head first, feeling jawbone and skull break on each blow before falling into the floor. Too weak to move at this point, William can only lay in the floor and watch the slowing growth of the puddle of blood as everything slowly fades to black.
Upon reaching their floor, the two see four more infected in the hallway between them and their front door. Propping Shannon in the corner, William turns his attention to the hallway as he runs in swinging the bat trying to make a safe path to reach safety before one of them is hurt worse. He has seen all the zombie movies and while unsure just what is going on, he has managed to keep them safe except for the clawing his wife took across her stomach and chest. William has only one objective in his mind..... save his wife. Once the last of the infected has been put down, William unlocks the door and breathes a sigh of relief before the screams of his wife shatter the piece.
William Daniels feels the pain of the vision in his head before he ever turns. The next few seconds feels like an eternity as he turns and sees Shannon pinned against the wall as a straggling infected who must have came down the steps has begun biting and tearing flesh from her shoulder. The world moves in slow motion as he runs hoping to save her as he raises the bat into the air with a hair curling war cry and charges to save her. His mind goes blank from rage as his first swing catches her attacker in the side of his skull, the impact is so forceful the skull cracks but the newlyweds are blind to the sound as he kicks her attacker towards the window and swings again to the front of the skull. The blow is the traumatic shot needed to put the infected down, but rage fills William's heart and mind as he continues beating the skull until it has turned into a dribbling smear across the window. As Shannon fights through the pain, she tried to stop her husbands rage as his blows begin breaking collarbones and glass. William becomes self-aware and quickly pulls his shirt off trying to tie her shoulder into a tourniquet to stop the bleeding before trying to help her walk.
"Leave me, please." she chokes out as he tries to pull her along to safety, "You can't take me in there with you. I will become one of them and I ...." William covers her mouth as he tries to help her walk against her will.
"You are talking Hollywood movie bullshit... this is real. I'm not just leaving you here. Now walk with me or I stay right here with you." William looks her deep in the eyes with an obvious fake smile as she tries to collapse to the floor in the hope he will save himself. William bends down to scoop her up in his arms and begins walking.
"Don't make me do this sweetie, I'm going to become one of those things and..." Shannon's words are once again stopped by her husband's attempt to ease her mind.
"If you die on me, I will deal with that then. For now, I take care of you. Now hush." William's words fall on unconscious ears as Shannon has passed out from the pain. Laying his wife on the couch, he runs over locking and bolting the door before putting every piece of furniture he can blocking the door. He begins snickering to himself over the pieces he uses, each one something they had once argued the need and usefulness of.... "Maybe she was planning for this day. She always did plan for it joking around." is the last thought in his head before he turns back to pick her up and move to the bedroom where he can try to stitch her arm and clean her up.
Later in the evening, William has managed to stop the bleeding and bandaged her shoulder and stomach as he runs his fingertips around her face tracing the details of every facial feature as he prays he will have a full lifetime appreciating. He runs his thumb around her slightly thin lips that held a smile that lit his world up brightly hoping she will soon open her eyes, the same eyes she always made a fuss over wishing they were as brown as his never realizing just how her glowing green eyes pierced him to the core. He runs his fingers up brushing her long dark hair back and begins to choke back tears as he begins feeling helpless. William knows she needs professional care, but there is no way he can carry her through all the chaos outside as the tears begin to flow. He finally lays down beside his wife putting a hand on her stomach lightly rubbing as he cries himself to sleep hoping she will be awake soon.
Morning comes as William opens his eyes to Shannon's caress on his cheek. She is so pale and obviously weak as she strains to rub his cheek. Raising his head up and smiling, her slight grin and the beautiful green eyes he hoped to see again invite him into a soft caring kiss as the two caress each other gently.
"You scared me dearheart, I was afraid I lost you. Best morning ever waking up to you. Let me fix you something to eat, any suggestions?" His smiles causes her to return one in kind, trying to hide the fact the thought of food makes her want to vomit. Shannon smiles and cups her hand behind his head tugging him to her for a kiss.
"I just want you to stay here with me, not feeling the food right now." One more soft kiss before William brushes her face one last time with his fingers before standing.
"Not open for discussion, but I think I can at least get so chicken noodle for you. It will be quick and I will be back shortly." William smiles and leans down for one last kiss before heading through the door to the kitchen.
"Love me." William blurts out in his usual sweet tone as Shannon returns a slightly hoarse "Love me too." as he makes his way into the kitchen searching the cabinets for the soup, smiling as he becomes so thankful she is still alive.
As he cooks and begins throwing together a makeshift breakfast in bed, Shannon lays in bed as she begins fighting for her breath. She is not able to gasp in enough air to scream out for help as her body is quickly overtaken by seizures. All she wants to do is scream out to her husband to run as fear begins gripping her. She tries to simply hope she knows nothing of what is going to happen if she turns into one of the things that bit her, that she doesn't have to see herself kill the man she loves. It is a thought she cannot finish as her body freezes as she chokes in her last breath.
William smiles as he finishes the last touches to the breakfast table. He tries to make the slightly wilted carnations look more appealing since they were the best he could do for flowers. He adds just a dash of honey to the weak cup of tea he had made for her, a beverage she usually hates but he hopes to convince her it's very medicinal and necessary. Picking up the tray and turning to the kitchen door, William is shocked to see Shannon standing in the doorway, stopping like she was walking past the door. Her hair has fallen over her face and she seems unaware as she pauses and slowly turns towards the kitchen.
"Shannon? Baby, are you okay?" William stops and stands with the small bed table happy she is moving, but unsure if she should be. Before he can turn to sit the meal down to help her, the horrific growl echos out as she lunges at him taking them both down as she tackles him. William panics as he tries to push her back enough, Shannon however has become stronger than she ever has been. Her hair flops about as she tries to lunge and bite him, her teeth snapping shut hard every attempt. Through the hair flopping about, William sees the face of his wife to see the green eyes he fell in love with are clouded over and milky white as the color has faded from them to an almost faded baby blue.
Able to get a hold, William manages to wrestle her off the top of him and begins to quickly reach his feet. His movements, no matter how fast, prove to be futile as she grabs his right arm and bites a large plug of skin from his underarm. He screams out in pain as he begins yanking his arm as she begins taking another bite. On his feet and yanking sharply, William frees his arm at the expense of the flesh caught between Shannon's teeth. William falls into the wall in the hallway and heads towards the bathroom as she quickly pounces on him again as the two fall and roll down the hallway. William tries his best to stop the roll as both slam into the doorway of their bedroom with Shannon flopping through the doorway slightly. As she stands, he desperately kicks towards her sending her backwards and quickly scrambles to lock the door before closing it.
As she pounds on the door in an attempt to break the door down, William pulls his shirt off and trying to wrap it around his arm while trying to find his bearings. As the pounding on the door becomes more relentless, he finally stands to walk to the bathroom and hopefully slow the bleeding. Before he can take the first step, the door splinters out as his crazed wife's hands comes through grabbing his neck and trying to yank him to the door. The tug of war between the two becomes vicious as he braces his hands on the door, his brace seems to frustrate her to the point a loud shrill comes echoing through the hole as she gives one last hard yank. The loss of grip causes her to fall back onto the floor and relieving William until he sees the spray of blood pulsing out onto the door and floor. Falling against the wall and fighting his way along, William reaches the bathroom and shuts the door locking it behind him.
William feels a hard cough coming, but before he can brace for it a quick gurgle and squirt of blood flies outwards as he fights his way to the mirror. Trying to scream, he finds himself unable as he sees his neck in the mirror. Shannon's grip was so tight she ripped a huge chunk from his neck deep enough he can see the inside of his own throat and realizes the trickle in his throat is his own blood flowing back in as his jugular squirts in rhythm with his quickening heart. The screams and pounding from the bedroom fade away as William Daniels stands watching the life pump from his body quicker by the second. The sight becomes too much as he falls to his knees banging his chin on the porcelain sink and bouncing over into the side of the tub head first, feeling jawbone and skull break on each blow before falling into the floor. Too weak to move at this point, William can only lay in the floor and watch the slowing growth of the puddle of blood as everything slowly fades to black.
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