Until Dawn

We crouched there, Eli, Sophie, and I, behind a clump of cars, waiting and on the watch for Mom and Dad. Finally, I spotted them approaching the convenience store doorway. It was then that I saw one. A rogue. My heart dropped at the sight of him, as he walked toward the same entrance my parents were about to come out of. Dried blood lined his forearms and covered his clothes. He was whistling an awful, high pitched tune as he tossed a bloodied hammer spinning it into the air and catching it again, hunting for more victims.

        Realizing Mom and Dad had suddenly disappeared from my view, I fumbled for the walky-talky, and pressed the talk button quickly three times, then three longer, and three shorter successively. Morse code for SOS. Sophie let out a whimper beside me as she too, noticed the rouge.  Mom and Dad couldn't get caught, or else we would never see them again. I anxiously watched my walkie and the rogue, as he neared the front doors, hoping they got the message. Terror seized my being as I watched the rogue enter the building.

         Finally, I saw the indicator light; three long another long, a short, a long. 'OK'. I released a sigh of relief. They got the message in time. It was the longest five minutes of my life, waiting to see my parents finally run towards us, from which direction, I wasn't sure.

         "Good eye, Hartley." Dad told me after a long embrace.

         "I was so scared." I breathed.

         "We're okay. Now we have to get to the trees." Mom said. We weren't in the clear yet. Not until we reached our 'mobile home', which was actually a five person camouflage tent. It blended with the forest at night, and we weren't allowed to use light, in case a group of rogues decided to wander the woods.

         We made it back with little trouble. Exhausted from worrying, I plopped immediately onto my sleeping bag. Lying on my back, I let my eyes close. It was hard to believe things would never be the same again. This wasn't just a weekend camping trip. Seven months we’d been forced to run and hide. I only wished we were at the place everyone called Haven—the safe place—where we wouldn't have to be afraid.

         "Are you okay?" I heard Mom whisper. I opened my eyes to find her in the tent doorway. Anytime we talked it had to be in whispers, in case rogues were close. These were Dad’s rules, which, although I hated, I was grateful for, especially after today. It was Dad who led and protected us, and without him, I wouldn't last a day.

         "I'm fine." I told her, not wanting to admit how scared I was. She gave a soft smile, making her way over to sit next to me.

         "Dad says we’re only a few miles away. We’ll be at Haven soon." She leaned close to me and gently kissed my forehead. It comforted me to know we were finally close. After traveling for so many months, I was ready to be done running.

         I went to bed early, not in the mood for dinner. Though, I could hear the whispered voices of my family.

         "When will we be able to eat real food again?" I heard Eli say.

         "Yeah, I hate this packaged stuff, it tastes too powdery." Sophie chimed in.

         "Just be grateful you have food." Mom scolded.

         I thought about how terrifying the world we were now living in was. It seemed the rogues were becoming more vicious by the day. I was sure, once us 'normal' people didn't exist anymore, they would need to kill each other to satisfy their hunger for violence. But they seemed to just enjoy the hunt for now.

         I fell asleep fast, as the hushed voices of my family outside the tent continued. I hoped for good dreams, since I hadn't had any for a while

         “Researchers have confirmed that the cause of the madness is the flu vaccine distributed this year....Washington D.C. has officially gone dark. There is no communication in or out. We believe it’s due to the maddening...” 

The news had my full attention, as the muffled voices of my parents sounded behind me.

“Here, sleeping bags,” Dad said.

“Everything else is in the car. Is the food packed?” Mom asked.

“It’s in here.” 

“Local authorities are unable to maintain these rogues who have become mentally insane...Do not approach...” The reporter continued. It seemed that sheer chaos was taking the whole country by storm. I couldn’t believe it. 

A ravenous scream filled the room just then. I turned to see a repulsing woman behind me, a knife dripping with blood gripped in one hand. Her wild, unkempt hair hung over half her face. A disgusting smile spread across her lips.

         "Better run." She seethed. Dad was suddenly right next to me, guarding me. Mom had just returned from the kitchen with Sophie and Eli. When Sophie saw the woman, she screamed in terror, drawing the woman’s full attention. Dad shoved the couch into the woman, knocking her over, causing her to drop the knife. In a fit of rage, she screeched louder, scrambling to her hands and knees and starting to crawl. Dad leaped onto the couch, and with all his weight on the back rest, tipped it over on top of her and pinned her beneath it.

         "Get to the car!" Dad yelled. Mom ran to me and ushered us past the crazy woman, dad had pinned. She gnashed her teeth at him viciously, wailing and struggling to get free. As we headed toward the door to freedom, something caught my foot, and I fell forward...

         I woke in a frightful sweat, heart pounding and breathing heavily. 

         "Bad dreams again?" Dad asked. He was just about to leave to scout out a safe path for us to travel. He looked at me, worried. I just nodded.

         "Don't worry, we’ll be in Haven soon. You’ll be able to rest there."

         All I could wonder was, how soon, is soon? I wanted it to be today. But it seemed we would be in these stupid woods forever.

         After Dad returned, we had breakfast. I couldn't help but hope that there would be better food in Haven. Then we packed up our home and resumed our journey, staying within the woods that skirted the town. We stopped a few times for rest and water, and eventually it was starting to get dark. We were coming to the end of the woods, which meant that we wouldn't have cover at night, so we decided to set up camp and finish our trek the next day.

         By the time the tent and sleeping bags were set up, the sun was set. Dad sat us all down and pulled out the map we received from a man several months ago. A scout from Haven. He had told us he’d been sent out to find survivors and steer them to Haven, a community of those who weren’t affected by the maddening. It was fortified against the rouges. He said that just by the looks of us, we were mentally stable and permitted to travel to Haven. We were instructed not to partake of any medicines thereafter and to head straight to the spot marked on the map.

         Dad showed us that we were getting close. To me, it seemed we were practically on top of the place!

         "Why don't we just go now? It looks like it's just past the edge of the trees. It’s dark now, I bet we could make it," I said, slightly louder than I intended. Eli shushed me, rather harshly, so I flicked his ear.

         "Ouch!" He muttered through clenched teeth as he held his ear.

         "Cut it out you two," Dad scolded, then continued, "I’m not willing to risk it, not knowing exactly how far we’ll have to go. We’ve lost our light. We’ll just have to wait until morning.” I gave a sigh. And we all began our preparations for bed.

         I woke to Mom telling me it was time to get up. Surprisingly, I slept past Dad's scouting. I had no recollection of any nightmares, which left me a little less scared, and I was beginning to feel ecstatic! Today, we would make it to Haven! I quickly helped pack up, eager to get moving.

         "Dad," Eli began, "We're out of water." My heart sank at this report. Of course, on this day of days, we would run out of water! That meant we would need to take a detour to find water. Cutting out time to get to Haven.

         "Hmm." Dad studied the map, and did some calculating. "I think we can manage a store run, and still make it to Haven before sunset." I was a little more hopeful. Dad spoke some more about the store run, going over all the rules, adding a few new ones, because we were in a more populated area. Populated meaning more rogues than any other area. They never traveled in groups, but we still needed to keep our eyes open.

         No running off to look at anything.

         Only go where Mom and Dad go.

         No talking.

         Watch the walky-talky at all times.

         With that, we were off. Tentatively making our way out of the trees, and following Dad's every footstep. Careful not to draw attention to ourselves. We made it to the store Dad told us about in a very short time. As we got inside, we paced ourselves, and I tried to keep focused. Being a very distracted person by nature, it was hard for me not to get preoccupied. My eyes caught almost every little thing. Not that there was much to look at. Then, I spotted it, a candy bar on the floor in the middle of an aisle. I was in a different world and couldn't help but be drawn to it. Being at the end of the line, I guess no one noticed I’d stopped for it because when I looked up again, my family had disappeared. I snatched the candy bar and ran to the end of the aisle. But they were nowhere to be seen.

         I wandered for a bit, with no luck finding them. How'd they disappear so fast? I looked down at the candy bar in my hand and became angry at myself. Of course I couldn't resist. I tried shrugging it off and despite the fear beginning to swell within my chest, I tried to think logically. I reached in my back pocket for my walkie, but it wasn't there.

         "Looking for this?" A horrid voice asked from behind me. My heart stopped, and I froze. I didn't want to see the horrible human being I knew was there. Only the rogues sounded like that. I slowly turned around, trying to hold back tears of fear. There he stood, hunched. His dirty blonde hair hung over his eyes, crisp at the ends. His hands were beaten, probably from beating other victims who fell prey to him, with only his hands as weapons. He smiled a crooked smile and leaped toward me. I let out a scream and began to run. I ran, weaving through the aisles and hoping to lose him. I came to the clothes section. I stopped to catch my breath, and listen for if he still followed me.

         My heart pounded in my chest. I found it difficult to breathe. I was frozen in fear. Every gasp of air I allowed myself to take, threatened to reveal my position.

         "Little girl," the taunting voice breathed. He was close. I covered my mouth to keep from making sound and tried to stay calm. I shouldn't have touched that candy bar! Footsteps rang in my ears as my pulse quickened, making all other sounds muffled. Dying at the hands of these Rogues was my worst fear. Torture was their signature. Horror overtook me, and I realized I really had to find my family! "I hear you breathing."

         A scream escaped my lips as I heard his voice right behind me, on the other side of the aisle I was in. He was watching me through the holes in the shelves. I stumbled to my feet and forced myself to run. Adrenaline was the force that drove me now. I heard his war cry. He was on my heels. As I turned the corner of aisle 7, I saw at the end a woman with an axe. Blood dripping from the tip. I screamed again, hoping the blood didn't belong to any member of my family. I skidded to a stop and the man chasing me engulfed me in his scarred arms. Teeth marks, surely from other victims, lined his forearms and wrists. He was missing part of his thumb.

         The woman stalked closer, a shrewd smile forming on her dark red lips. Instinctively, beyond my control, I let out a whimper. This pleased the two, and each let out a vicious hackle. I kicked the woman in the stomach and she doubled over, gripping the hurt area. I elbowed the man in the side and he spun me around and pushed me to the floor. My head smacked on the tile and the world around me became distorted for a brief moment. Brief enough for the woman and man to recover, and before I could try to escape, the woman was on top of me, holding me down.

         "Hold down that arm!" She barked at the man. He grabbed my right wrist and kneeled on it. I cried out at the twinge of pain. I tried to escape their grasp with no luck. The woman pressed the blade of the axe against my arm. "This is for trespassing on our territory." She pressed harder until the blade broke my skin. A sharp burn entered the wound. "And this is for kicking me!" She sliced the rest of my forearm, searing pain caused me to scream. As I saw the blood spilling out of my arm, the room began to spin. Sounds were muffled as I heard a certain commotion break out. I shut my eyes tight, to try to regain my surroundings. When I opened them again, I wasn't held down by the woman anymore, the man was gone, and I heard a familiar voice. In the blink of an eye, a distorted picture of my mother was above me.

         "Hartley." She echoed. "Oh, my goodness! Hartley!" The vision around me was different again. We were outside. Gunshots filled the air. My head felt like it was going to burst. I looked down at my arm, still bloody, but different. Something else was there too. A...cloth? My mom held me and led me. I heard shouting.

         "Hurry! I think those were the only ones.....Surely we attracted others....keep the blood from dripping.....don't want a trail to lead to us...…" Then everything went black.

         I woke up in a strange place. The lights in the...ceiling?...burned my eyes, and suddenly, sharp pains pierced my head. I let out a groan.

         "Hartley's awake!"

         Instinctively, and from the noise causing more pain to my head, I shushed the voice. Then, it was my parents hovering over me.

         "Oh, thank goodness!" Mom rejoiced.

         "You got stitches!" I heard Sophie say from the foot of the....bed?

         "W-where...am...I?" I tried to say, but talking really hurt. I wasn't sure if anyone understood me.

         "Haven." I heard an unfamiliar voice say.

         "Oh, the doctor's here." Dad said.

         "How's our patient? You gave us quite the scare." It was a man with dark hair, spiked nicely. He had kind eyes and a gentle voice. Something that relieved me more than being alive.

         "I'm not dead." The words came easier, as I was becoming more aware.

         "And we are glad of that!" He exclaimed. When I winced, he spoke again in a quieter voice. "Sorry, you got quite the concussion. And that cut on your arm was pretty deep. Half an inch further and they'd have hit bone." Suddenly I remembered the horror. "But you’ll be fine. You're safe now, you’re all in Haven." He left me with strict bed rest for a week.

         And I was finally able to rest!