Into The Darkness

Chapter Four

I was on the road at sunrise, driving as fast as I could towards the city. I mapped out a straight shot to the apartment building that my sister is staying in. By noon I was approaching the city, the skyscrapers looking very ominous in the distance. There were a few plumes of black smoke trailing up into the sky, and I could see some buildings were destroyed.

Driving through the city this time was so strange, it was so lifeless. Trash strewn everywhere, wrecked vehicles, burned buildings, and not a living soul in sight. There were bodies occasionally just laying on the ground, luckily I haven't spotted a rotter yet. Maybe they will stay away until I can get Rose safely out of the city.

The parking lot of my aunt's apartment was empty, just trash and a few bodies littered the space. The building looks abandoned, like nobody has lived here for years. Ivy was growing up the walls and windows were busted out. It's only been one month since all hell broke loose but it looks like it's been years.

Before I got out of the car, I grabbed my gun, flashlight, and axe. I don't plan on firing any bullets here in the city unless I absolutely have to. That would just be ringing the dinner bell for the rotter's.

"Rose, you better be in here... alive."

The front door to the building used to be glass, but it's long since been shattered by the chaos. A rotter lay next to the door impaled with a very large piece of glass from the door. This was particularly rotten so I just raised up my heel and stomped its head with my boot. It was nasty, but effective.

The lobby is lit well, from the large glass windows lining the front. But as soon as I opened the door to the stairwell, it was pitch black. I held my flashlight in one hand and axe in the other and slowly made my way up the stairs, trying not to make a lot of noise. It's so dark and spooky i think if anything were to jump out at me i would die on the spot.

"301 room 301" I keep saying, trying to keep my mind off of the fact that this apartment building is probably crawling with the infected.

Finally my flashlight landed on a plaque that said "100-106" I took a deep breath and slowly opened the door. The hallway was pitch black as well, there were no windows in the hallways. I shined my flashlight down the long hall, there were suitcases and trash strewn about. From all the people in a hurry to get out... hopefully they made it out and aren't hiding in the shadows waiting for dinner. My aunt's apartment is in the middle of the hall, so I made my way as quietly as possible. I was as quiet as a mouse until I kicked over some suitcases, and the noise echoed all throughout the hall. That made way more noise than it should have, so i froze, hoping nobody heard me.

No such luck

One of the doors ahead of my aunt's apartment was open and there were rotter's spilling out of it. Way too many for me to take care of.

"Shit!" I took off running to my aunt's room. The door was unlocked, so that's the first bad sign. Once I got inside I quickly locked the door and began yelling for Rose.

"Rose! It's me, June!" no reply. "ROSE! Are you here?" I screamed. The rotter's were now banging on the front door. I heard a noise from the kitchen so I ran in only to find my aunt on the floor. Her skin was rotten and the room smelled terrible, she had turned. By the smell, she has been gone a while too. Her leg was obviously broken, so she just laid on the floor growling at me.

"ROSE!" I screamed again and ran to the bathroom, the door was opened and inside were toys, books, food wrappers, and blankets. She was staying in the bathroom? My attention was drawn back to the door as it busted open from the rotter's on the other side pushing on it. Wood splinters flew everywhere as they tumbled inside. I backed up to the window and called out for my sister one more time, still without an answer. I raised the window and slipped out.