Beyond those walls

Chapter I: The Switch.

He was out.  Out of that god awful place he'd called home. He ran and ran.  Screams descending into whispers of pain and suffering, the sounds of bodies dropping like flies and standing up again-- they'd succumbed to the fungi.    He pushed his body to extents he didn't even know he could manage, trying to get himself to run faster. He was simultaneously lost in thought. "Do I go back home, to that god awful place and be skinned alive for rebelling, or do I stay here in hell itself?"--Then he was tripped by what appeared to be a... tree trunk, possibly? No, it was too pale to be one. Once he got up, he tried to scream, he swore he tried. There laid a corpse, body starved of nutrients soulless eyes and roots growing out of every pore in their body. As he went in to touch it it began to breathe, trying to get up, as the fungi made people into zombies, as he backed up, he bumped into a girl, seemingly appearing from the fog. He turned around to look at her. Her face was a blur, but she reminded him of Laura Croft. "You're killing yourself by waiting. I'll wait for you beyond those walls though, Janson. Even if it kills me." Then she went in and kissed his cheek. He jolted awake with his head flat on the floor, clothes soaked in sweat and tears in his bedroom.
"Oh lord, oh lord. What just happened?" he said, looking around frantically. "Who's that girl and why would she die for me? Whose corpse was that? Is she behind those big bad walls or something?" he chuckled, then returned to panicking. Questions swarmed his mind furiously, so much so that he didn't even notice he was upside down. "What a great note for my day to start on...I should map out the discreet slits in-between buildings, or--" He began to list of things he could do before lights out for the big city of Parka in his head until he heard his sister call out to him "JANSON? GET-" the door to his bedroom flew open, followed by the unsightly scene of his older sister, she continued "OVER...here...." the eldest sibling's shouting ceased and turned into an amused sort of whisper. "Janson, what are you doing upside down?" "Thinking about busting out of here, what else could I be thinking about?" She gave a snort. "Count me in too, little dude. I think I'd just die on the spot if you ever managed it." "Well then, start planning your funeral." They both laughed in unison. "So what're you here for anyways you crazy scientist?" His sister Anne laughed then paused to think, as she'd forgotten the reason for her sudden arrival. "Oh! We just wanted to tell you that on our way to the ammunition stand for our AK47s, we heard someone scream EXACTLY like how you scream dude! Isn't that weird?" The young teenager's mind shot straight to the blurry memory of him trying to scream in the dream he had earlier. A bead of sweat was visible on his forehead. "Oh, and to give you your share of ammo" Anne blushed at her ramblings and gave a formal "Ahem-ahem" to disperse the tension between the siblings. She looked at Janson's face and walked over to him, pouting. - "What's wrong?" she said while rubbing circles on his back. He pondered whether or not he should tell his sister about his dream. He ultimately thought against it in the end. "Nothing, I just need some fresh air, that's all"  "Well, let's go get some then!" she smiled. They walked to the living room and greeted their mother in the kitchen, along with their younger sibling Chloe. "Hey." said Chloe. "Hey Wednesday" said Anne, approaching the kitchen bar table with a snicker. She really did look like the blonde version of her Wednesday adams from their favorite movie series, the adams family. The trio could almost hear their mother silenty snickering while checking the oven. "What's for breakfast, ma?" they all said simultaneously. "Oh dearies, there's no breakfast today, I'm just preparing toights dinner early, it's going to be so grand!" Janson smiled at his mother's enthusiasm. "What's the occasion?" asked Anne. "No occasion annie! I just wanted to show my appreciation for you 4, including your father.. " she paused to think, then continued. "and to show off my years of cooking experience." They all laughed. "Well, me and Janson are gonna go take a walk outside." "Oh okay sweetheart. And don't forget your masks and guns you two!" The duo rolled their eyes playfully at their mother. "We won't ma!" they said as they descended the stairs. They walked down to main street and watched all the people passing through their gas masks, then making their way to the walls and sat down to have a conversation on the sidewalk, Janson running his fingers along the cold concrete and staring angrily at the big walls, like they were going to break under his gaze.  He was about to say something about Anne's braided hair when he heard someone shouting his name-the girl. It was probably her. "We have to go now" Janson demanded.. "Jan what is wrong with you all of the sudde-" she was cut off by the floor rumbling, and the deafening sound of footsteps and screams. They went to the main wall, then saw it; people covered in green fuzz and roots growing out of their pores like potatoes- and the main wall now bearing a humongous hole.