The Red River

Act 1 Chapter Seven: The Infection

I woke up slowly to a high-pitched ringing in my ears. I dragged my eyes open, and slowly pushed my body to move through the aching pain. My eyes opened to the brightness of the sun beaming down at me. I lay outside my apartment. Fully dressed; however, they were not the same clothes I had worn before I was consumed by the mist. As I sat up, the ringing slowly drifted away. My mind ran for miles trying to think, trying to remember how I got outside in front of my house.

"He-Henry..." I whispered to myself. As if on cue, Logan opened the front door to my house and walked outside where I was. He kneeled beside me and rubbed my head before speaking. As soon as Logan came outside my house, I became paralyzed; whatever was in the mist prohibited me from escaping. All I could do was watch.

"Stephen, when I was young my father would always take me hunting. We would hunt every day and night, for that was the only way to eat. Every day at the crack of dawn till midnight I would be out hunting with my dad. I hated it. I could not stand killing innocent creatures. For they had not done anything to me. So why must they have to die?" I blinked for one second and I was back in my kitchen with familiar faces surrounding me. My limp body sat in the chair. Unable to function, all I could do was listen. Within a matter of seconds everyone around me faded into dust. The room grew dark around the table I was sitting at. Logan's voice was still in the background telling me to remember. Both Nathan and Logan appeared out of thin air repeating what had happened when we first met.

"I'm telling you! Life ain't no good with all of that technology! That's why we live here!" Yelled Nathan across the table at Logan. I did not understand what was happening. It was like I was repeating the day over again, except I could not move or speak.

"I remember asking my father why we had to kill animals and he told me. He said to me, these animals are what gives us strength. He told me not to feel bad for the animals that we kill because if they were strong, they would not be killed. I understood what he meant, only the strong can survive the culling, and if you feel bad for the weak, you are weak." Logan's voice trailed off in the distance as I watched myself relive a situation that already happened.

"There is no telling where we would be without cars and factories! They keep us from falling flat on our backs and dying! Besides, we got cars here!" I argued back at Nate. Except it was not me talking. I looked over to my right, seeing my complete reflection talking in my voice.

"On my tenth birthday my father took me out to hunt. He said this time, I was gonna hunt alone. He gave me the mist I gave you and I collapsed. When I woke up, I was outside alone, surrounded by trees. To my left was a bow and arrow and directly in front of me was a black bear. It slowly crept towards me as I drew my bow and without hesitation, I shot it. When I woke up, I was standing over my mother, who had an arrow in her chest... My father was never so proud of me." Logan's voice continued to buzz in my ear as he told his story.

"Oh, that's probably Brain. He's the pastor around here. Come in!" Yelled Nate from the table. I was stuck reliving this moment from the outside. I could not move, I could not talk, nor could I control what happened next; however, what I did see, terrified me. I was looking at my reflection as it spoke the words that I already had spoken before, but there was something hovering above my reflection. Something dark, something sinister. It was shaped like some sort of cloud but it followed my reflection where ever it went. I did not know what this thing was, but it followed me, and when it lowered into my body, I saw what my reflection truly looked like... I never want to remember that face. I shook with terror upon looking at how my reflection had now looked. I tried my best to wake up from this nightmare but I was stuck here, watching something that looked like me reenact everything I had done before. I tried and tried to control myself, tried to move and talk, tried to wake up. Using all my strength I managed to let out a scream.