Days Gone By (A T-Dog Story)

Do you believe in dead people walking around?

I had just finished the last touch on my makeup for work that morning when I heard screams coming from down stairs. My mothers screams. I grabbed the handgun my father had bought me for my twenty-first birthday and raced out of my room. Bounding down the stairs heading straight into the living room I froze in my tracks at what I saw. The figure of my father was hunched over my mother's body ripping handfuls of her entrails out and shoveling them into his mouth. I barely heard his groaning and growling while I stood there taking in the sight of her bloody body. Her eyes stuck open with a distant look, mouth hung open where she died mid scream. Hyperventilating, I stumbled over my feet and caught his attention. The figure of my sickened father slowly rose to it's new hunched over height and turned to look at me. I felt tears well in my eyes as they met his grey clouded over ones. His skin was also grey and colorless and my mother's blood coated his hands, mouth, and clothes.

"Dad?", I whispered. He took a heavy step forward and reached his hand toward me. "Dad?", I choked out again. He took another threating step toward me and released a heavy growl. I panicked. I raised my gun and fired. The bullet hit him in the chest and he still came towards me. A choked sob came from my throat and I fired again. Another bullet imbedded itself into his heart and he was really close now. I took aim and fired a bullet hitting him directly in between the eyes. His body fell to the floor.

I sunk down to my feet and continued to cry deep guttural sobs as I looked between my parents' bodies. I heard a growl and looked to see my mother moving. I stood up and walked over to her. I stood over her a moment and when she opened her eyes I saw the same clouded over ones that my father had. She growled again and I slowly brought the handgun up and pulled the trigger. The bullet found it's mark in her brain and she was still once more. I sobbed and released a blood curdling scream from deep within my chest. It felt like it came from my very soul.

"Lana?". I looked up and saw Jaqui staring at me from the kitchen entryway. She had tears streaming from her own cheeks and she also had a gun in her hand. I sobbed again.

"Oh sweetheart.", She whispered as she crossed the room and wrapped me in her arms as I continued to cry. After a moment she drew back, placed both hands on either side of my face and spoke again. "Listen Alanna, the city is evacuating. Pack your things, pack light, the important stuff, and raid your father's weapon stash. Ill grab food and stuff. We have to go and we stick together."

That's exactly what we did.