Screams and Claw Marks

No one saw it coming. There was no sound, a cloud of red rolling out of the forest and into the clean and quiet town of Eden. In a few moments all of the green trees, lush lawns, pristine houses, and barking dogs, would be consumed by the sound of wailing sirens, screams, and panic. The blue sky would be covered in a blood red smoke. The smart inhabitants of the town would take shelter, but others stayed outside of their homes to watch the red smoke roll in and over everything. At first it seemed to have no effect, so parents went to retrieve their children from shelters, their dogs out of their kennels, and their friends out of their houses.In the end only the smart people were safe from the virus that this smoke carried. 

One of said smart ones was a fairly average sized, hazel eyed, shaved and pink haired person by the name of Sky. This 16 year old, despite looking a little bigger, they were mainly muscle. They were usually quite active, going for walks everyday and lifting weights every other day. Sky seemed to be prepared for this exact moment, they had weapons, food, water, gas masks, a radio, board games, and many other helpful items in a fallout shelter. That is not a surprise because their dad was the man who made the smoke, as well as the bomb that dropped it. Their dad was the cause of the smoke yet they seemed completely unphased by this information. They knew exactly what that smoke would do to people in exactly three weeks after exposure, they knew why their dad had created it, and they knew that it was not going to stop in Eden, it was going to spread to the entire world. That is why they installed the sirens, so maybe they could save some people from the inevitable. Of course they knew they could not save the majority of people but they thought they would at least try, so they would not be the only survivor. A large part of their father’s plan was that he was going to go down with the rest of the world. He had only planned this after the government took control of his lab and found out about his studies. Although his experiments and studies were top secret Sky’s dad always told them about what was happening with the experiments and his plans. 

The drop of this virus had been planned for years in advance. Sky’s father had been preparing them for this their entire life. He knew before Sky was born that it was going to drop and he wanted to do everything in his power to keep them protected. He had Sky trained mentally since the age of six, and physically since they were eleven.Sky knew how to hunt, fish, fight, and even kill, but they also knew more passive tasks such as gardening, building, breeding farm animals, and tracking. 

A deep breath in, and hot breath escaping in the form of condensation. The fog had passed and Sky was safe to head out into the woods for target practice. A stiff arm and the stern pull of a string. Hand pressed to cheek, nocking of an arrow point between fingers. Aimed in the middle of a tree with a swift breath in; without letting it out, they straighten their fingers which sends the arrow flying to its intended target. It sticks. “Finally.” Sky murmured to themself. A swift breeze, a twig snap, and rustling leaves sets Sky on edge. They make a quick scan of the area in front of them only to see nothing. The urge to grab their arrow overwhelms them. They take a step back into something. The stench of death fills their senses. Their eyes start to water, their face contorts into a cringe, and a knot forms in their stomach with a nauseous feeling. Taking a wider stance they throw their elbow towards the rotting corpse behind them, taking the jaw bottom of the monster clean off. The monster grabs hold of Sky, whose arms are crossed over their chest giving them the advantage. They grab hold of the fragile exterior of the zombie, digging their nails into the fatty flesh of the upper arms. The watery feeling of rushing blood reaches their fingertips and pours onto their hands. Sticky blood clots fall into their palms. With a forceful yank Sky rips the arms out of the torso of the corpse. Before the creature could retaliate they throw their head to the side and with blood stained hands they grab hold of the neck, digging their thumbs into the jugular. With the best grip they could achieve they slouch over, throwing the zombie over them and onto the ground in front of them. The head releases from the body as blood spatters over them reaching their face. A blood curdling scream escapes the head left in their hands as the corpse is neutralized. This scream goes off like an alarm alerting it’s comrades about the ordeal. It’s not long before an entire hoard shows their disintegrating faces, ready to attack. Sky knows they can not take on a hoard with only a bow and arrow and takes the only logical way out. 

The town of Eden has no suspicion of a 16 year old running to save themself from a hoard of zombies. This quaint little town is going about their daily lives with no fear of zombies in mind. The people of Eden did not even believe such creatures were real, those kinds of inventions were only for fairy tales. Not knowing what the virus from the fog had done to the people of the neighboring town because of the lack of publication, they have no knowledge of the monsters some of them were soon to become. What they did not know was that this virus lays dormant in the body for exactly three weeks before taking it over all at once. Rotting the flesh, watering down the blood, forming a fungus like parasite in the brain and saliva who’s only mission is to spread.

A door slam as a scream erupts from one of the individuals in Eden. They saw the zombies. It is apparent from the quick cut off of the scream that this individual was killed by the monsters. Sky, now out of breath, locks the door and makes their way to the shelter which housed their weapons. Stepping into the dark shelter they flick on the light with the switch just to the right of the door. After a few flickers the light turns on, revealing grey shelves stocked with a multitude of items. Sky’s brown eyes scan the shelves before locking onto their locked weapons cabinet. They step into the four white walls and close the large silver door behind them. Knowing that the front door would not hold the hoard back for too long, so long as the other residents keep getting in the way and angering the creatures more. As Sky is walking to the cabinet they hear footsteps coming towards the door. The door opens again to reveal Sky’s father, Ellis. “Dad? I thought you already left. What are you doing here?” Sky asks quickly. Ellis shakes his head and hugs Sky. “I needed to say my last goodbyes to my loving child.” He responds. Sky is taken aback by this, they aren’t used to affection, especially not from their father. They aren’t sure what to do with this, they are still worried about the hoard outside attacking residents and clawing at the front door. Their father seems unphased by the sounds of screams and doors breaking down. “Dad.” Sky alerts, with no response. “Dad, listen. I can hear them getting the door down.” Sky alerts once again. Ellis let’s go of them and looks to the silver shelter entry. “I can buy you a few minutes to get weapons and get yourself locked down.” Ellis speaks with an eerily calm tone. Instead of fighting back Sky just nods and they turn to unlock the weapons cabinet.

Ellis steps out of the shelter and sighs. He thought he would have more time with his offspring but he knew this is what needs to be done. This sacrifice of himself would be the only way he could stop the government from tracking Sky. Ellis didn’t know what they would do to his child so it was better to be safe than sorry. Ellis steps into his living room and stares down the front door, waiting for the inevitable. A deep breath and another glance around shows that he is no longer alone in the room. Sky had followed him into the living room, knife in hand. “Sky, I told you to stay locked down in the shelter.” Ellis warns, but it’s too late, the door is broken down and the hoard begins to flood in. The creatures head straight for Sky. Taking a more stable stance, they ready themself to fight. Before they could even touch their blade to a zombie Ellis jumps in front of them. “Go. Now.” Ellis demands as the zombies begin to claw, bite, and scratch at him. “Wait! Dad! No!” Sky begs as their father is taken down right in front of them. “Dad...no.” they say in a defeated tone as tears well up in their eyes. They couldn’t waste their time crying here anymore though, the zombies had set their sights back on them.