Day 0
Why are you going? She asked. I told
her I was a soldier too. She doesn't like it, disagreeing with the
loudest “no” I've ever heard in my life. “You are a doctor!”
she screamed at me.
“Yes, but I am also a soldier, I
could save lives.”
I don't want to look at her after I
said that. I just walk towards the chopper that is waiting for me. It
will head to an island near the Russian border. I will not turn. I am
so afraid that I would regret, or even change my mind if I look at
her face. She must be weeping. I couldn't hear. The sound of the
engine is drowning everything else.
The scenes in the television news were
too horrifying. People were attacking each other, people with guns
were shooting unarmed civilians. Strange thing was that the unarmed
people were winning, we saw it clearly from the pictures. Obviously
something is very wrong.
I thought to myself, I need to go there
and save lives, I'll find out how. I know I can.
Day 1
While I moan in pain, I watch the smoke
coming out of a ball of flames, from something I used to call a car
just seconds ago. My consciousness is failing me. I can barely keep my
eyes open. My legs are soaked in the sea water coming up the coast
line but not enough for it to wash me away.
The burning car and the loud explosions
are drawing the monsters towards it. None of them seem to have
noticed me. What about Shaun? He was in the car with me. What's
happening to him? Damn. I need to open my eyes.
Damn...
Day 2
I open my eyes to the sound of the
waves, gosh it's not a bit romantic. As soon as I regain my
consciousness the nerves are sending me signals that I am hurt all
over. The pain is too much to bare but I am so afraid of the monsters
so I wouldn't allow myself to let out any sound moaning. This is how
it feels to be thrown out from a crashing car. Action heroes from
movies don't even get scratches when they jump out. More over they
get paid for doing it. So unfair. How I wish this is just a video
game, how I could just walk around and explore and get a second life
to move on if I die. Half my legs are buried in the mud and grasses
of the coast line. I guess I will have to wait until the pain
subside.
Feels like mid day. The heat is crazy.
I could feel the back of my neck burning. At least the mud smells
good.
I could feel the heat that was above my
head is now slowly moving towards my left. So that's WEST. Good to
know about that but without a map it means nothing. I have no idea
how long have passed but I know the sun is about to set. It's getting
darker as the sun move closer behind the hills. I could finally feel
my neck waking up from the overwhelming pain. I turn slowly to see if
there are any of the monsters around, I'm glad I do not see any.
I head towards the burned down car to
check on Shaun. There are so many bodies burned inside I couldn't even
tell which one is him. Don't think anything useful could have
survived that heat too.
Farewell Shaun, you were a good friend.
So now I am hurt, without food, without
water and I'll have to walk. What could be worse than a nightmare?
Only when you realise it isn't one.
I'll head East I guess, the sun will be
setting behind me and should rise ahead of me the next morning. I
think. I could find some sleep and in the next morning I will find
something useful to last a few more days and figure out how I could
get help. Our chopper has crashed trying to pick us up. No big birds
will crash unnoticed, I'm sure a search and rescue team is on their
way.
Visibility is fading. I am cursing
loudly in the realization that the street lights are not going to
power up. The whole island is falling into darkness. This is bad. I
think I better run. I best stick to the coast line so that I will not
get lost in the woods. There's moon light tonight and the sea water
will act as a mirror to at least give me some visibility.
Something moved in the distance, it's
coming towards me. A shipyard is in the distance but between that and
I, there's a moving shadow. Something that looks human that I know
it's not. On one hand I appreciate the fact that in the darkness it
does not see any better than I do, on the other hand I think I took
just one step too many. I dived to the grasses and I tried to move
sideways as quietly as I could.
It's no use. It heard me.
As the shadow starts to make a loud
growl and starts to sprint towards me, I quickly get up and break
into a mad dash towards a rail road not far away. It leads into the
darkness without going into the shipyard but it seems to have been
built along the coast line. When a man is drowning, even a floating
straw could be seen as a life saver. In my situation the railroad is
like a path shown by the god, an illusion that all I need to do is
run along this railroad and eventually someone will save me. I am
running along the railway without hesitation.
I start off with a sprint, I am so
afraid of the screams that is let out by the monster chasing behind
me. Only less than half a minute later I realise that I am slowing
down but the pursuer is still relentless. I know I am in trouble but
I have no choice. I have to run.
Never in my life I have needed to go
through this, I feel air is being sucked out from my lungs. My lungs
feel so empty as if it has started to burn. My legs are failing me. I
had my trainings in the army but this is no war. In a war, I could
fight back. This is a bully, I have no weapons and only a small
backpack with some painkillers, a torchlight and a bandage. All I
could do is run. I feel so miserable.
Then a loud sound echoed off my chest.
I have ran into a piece of junk metal at full speed. I scream in pain
but I know I must get up. I'm right. As I get to my feet I could feel
the monster's fingers touched my shirt, almost got a hold of me. The
sound of me running into a car has attracted a number of more of the
monsters nearby and has joined the chase. I am so screwed.
If only I have a gun, I am thinking,
I'll shoot you bastards in the head one by one. If only I have a gun.
Gun shot. I see a muzzle flash in the
distance. It's feels like seeing lights at the end of an endless
tunnel. I found strength. This is how human beings are, you find
hope, you find strength. That gun shot was aiming at me but to me
it's the only hope I have.
I scream in the direction at the top of
my lungs “Shoot those things behind me! Shoot them!”
Then a second shot is fired
Then the third.
One after another the number of foot
steps behind me are reducing but there are still many. Damn, just how
many of them are there? As I run pass the man, I could see he is
holding an AK47, the most reliable assault rifle in the world. At the
same time he let out a full clip of automatic fire at the monsters
running in our direction. The bullets are powerful enough to rip
through even armored men. Sure enough I witness all of them dropped
to the ground. I've saved.
If anything is ever that easy.
I could feel the whole neighbour hood
is waken up by the rifle fire.
While the gun was shooting full auto I
could see clearly that the gunner is Shaun. He's alive, now he has
saved my life. I have no idea how he survived but I'm just glad he
did. Before I could greet him or even a small celebration he turns to
me and yell at me, “Shut the fuck up, run!”
We are not far from a nearby village.
There are screams coming out of it and every second they draw closer.
Hungry screams. I know Shaun is right. We race down along the track
without wasting another second.
It's now pitch black as we move inland
along the tracks. I have to constantly ask Shaun where he is so that
I could keep up. He seems to know his way around, last night must
have been a rough one for him.
“We need to find you a gun. You need
a bigger bag. I also think it's best we find some food and water as
we move” He says firmly. I don't like that he is sounding like we
are going to be here for a long time. “I think the command center
was overrun. I found a radio but no one answers. My guess is we are on
our own now.” He finishes his sentences.
I did not respond to him. I have no
idea what I should say but only to agree with him.
Hope is fading. Will I ever be home to
see her again? Would she wait for me? Questions are beginning to race
through my mind.
I don't like this.
Anger strikes me. All this didn't need
to happen.
“Calm down! Follow me.” Shaun
realised my frustration. “There's a place I call home in the
previous night, we should go there.” I have to agree with him.
There's no choice.
After a walk that seem to have lasted
an eternity we have finally arrived at a town. Shaun turns to me and
says “I have stacked up some weapons and food in a super market in
the town, let's go get them.” He isn't interested in my answer, he
just takes off so I have to follow him. No way in hell I will stand
here defenseless.
I found a pistol on our way to the
supermarket. I found my courage with the pistol in my hand. Colt
1191, never knew I like this handgun this much. Now I need ammo.
There's only half a clip left in the gun, there is some blood stain
on the handle. The previous owner is probably now at a more peaceful
world. I wouldn't know. I hope so.
Shaun instructs me to stay low, then we
come across a few courtyards and go through a few more houses.
A rifle, perfect. The beauty sits right
there in the corner of the room, next to a window. Some rounds are
scattered on the floor around the gun, surely the owner was trying to
reload. Someone must have been dragged away while shooting out the
windows. The blood trail that leads outside told the story.
Lee Enfield Rifle, fires 7.62mm rounds,
bolt action. It's like meeting an old friend.
I pulled the bolt to put a bullet into
the chamber. Good, it's loaded. A shadow is moving outside of the
window. I take aim quickly and squeezed the trigger. Blood races into
my heart, and adrenaline races down my nerves. Shaun jumped at the
sound of the gun. He screamed at me to run. I have attracted too much
attention. I didn't care.
I want to kill them all. I will end
this now.
The ammo in my bag is reducing quickly.
Shaun yells at me every time I reload the gun. “What the fuck is
your problem man! Stop it! Are you trying to get us killed!” He's
not even asking a question. “This way”, I told him. We head into
a building that looks like a school. The monsters can't seem to be
able to catch up as we go up the stairs. “Shoot them”. This time
Shaun agreed we should do it. One after another Shaun and I drop the
monsters. Their heads exploded as our large caliber bullets hit them.
We are not winning. The gunshots are
attracting more of them. Just how many more of them are there?
I picked up some road flares as we
retreat to the top floor. I found a ladder that leads to the roof top
and I signal Shaun to follow. I then ignited 2 stick of flares and
placed them at diagonal corners of the roof top.
“You idiot you are attracting all of
them with this!” Shaun is very upset with me but he had no choice
but to shoot anything that tries to come up the ladders. Then I
realised the monsters cant climb.
I feel so much joy, I feel like I'm
winning. One shot at a time, I am dropping them, a bullet in each of
the heads. I feel like a victor. Shaun is now sitting in the middle
of the roof top not knowing how we can get out of this. I don't
really care. I'll shoot them all. When they all die, we will find our
way out. They die tonight.
Then one of them started climbing the
ladder. I feel nervous, I thought they couldn't climb. I can't see
him, I need to go closer to the edge. I bend over the edge and try to
take aim at its head. I couldn't see it. So I try to reach my body
out a little further by going prone. I try to extend sideways so that
I can see the head of the creature that is climbing up.
Suddenly I feel I am losing my balance.
My body is falling out of the ledge of the roof. “Shit! No!” I
imagined there must be a lot of fear in my voice. In the corner of my
eyes I could see Shaun got up and is trying to reach me. Then I see
him above me and our distance grow.
Pain. It feels so familiar. Just like
last night. This time I am losing my conscious even faster. I think I
fell on my head, it must have been at least 20 feet high. It can't
end like this. No... go away, stay away from me, I don't want to
become one of you monsters.
Darkness follows.
What's happening? Damn... I'm losing it
again...
Day 3... ?
