Slowly, I stepped over the body. I had cautiously approached it, with the concern that it would suddenly lurch back into life and in turn, end my own. It showed no sign of getting up any time soon, yet I still manoeuvred around it, suspicious of its stillness. Once I had gotten past it, I allowed myself to breathe. Peaking my head round a corner, I saw a street, empty. For the current circumstance, this was very unusual, but I had no time to be asking questions. If what Jade had said was true, then it meant that there was a way out of this hell hole, and actual survivors. Some might know what had happened at that party. My memory was still fuzzy, and despite my best attempts nothing was clearing up. I couldn't even remember travelling to this island, or what I had been doing before getting here. Hell, I couldn't remember anything of my life previous to running up those stairs. I couldn't even remember my own name. Muscle memory hadn't betrayed me however, and thankfully for me, I seemed to be able to operate a gun with ease. Not only that but my firing wasn't half bad and my accuracy seemed good.
That didn't make any sense. I hadn't fired this gun yet, so how did I know that my firing "wasn't half bad". My head started pounding and I leaned against a wall, attempting to steady myself. Instinctively my hand went to my head. The pain felt unbearable. Then, a flash. A memory.
I was in a gun range. There was a target in front of me, and a handgun grasped tightly in my hands. I felt the gun fire. A bullet landed just a few centimetres from the centre of the target. There was a hand on my shoulder. I turned my head to see who it was. A man. Faceless. A shadow covered his face. Yet somehow, I still recognised him. I knew this man. I had no clue who he was or even his name. But I knew him. I saw his mouth moving behind the shadow. His words escaped me. The memory started to fade.
I blinked repeatedly. My eyelids felt heavy, but I couldn't shake what I had just seen. I finally remembered something, but I couldn't piece together what it meant. I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned my head. Instead of a man with a shadow covering his face, I was faced with an abomination. A zombie, who's face had the skin half torn off, it's flesh being shown for all to see. It's mouth was missing its lips and it had its teeth on constant display. Its milky eyes stared blankly at me as it let out a snarl. I gasped and fell backwards, having no time to reach for the gun at the side of my hip. The zombie in turn, followed me to the ground, landing on top of me. Its teeth bit viciously at the air as it wriggled and struggled on me. my hands desperately grabbed at its chest to push it off of me, but the sheer weight of the creature left me unable to get it off me. Panic took over me as a million ideas went through my mind. All of this would have been for nothing if this thing bit me. I quickly checked around me for anything I could use to beat the creature off of me. Nothing. The street was just blood and fire and cars. There was no random piece of wood just out of reach for me to use. No weapon carelessly forgotten on the street, that I just happened to land next to. Nothing. My only option was to reach for my gun, but if I let even one of my hands move away, the zombie would be able to lunge down and bite me. It's mouth was already dangerously close to me. It took a moment to lift its head, and I saw my only opportunity. If I missed this, or failed in any way, I would die. One of my hands went for the creatures neck to hold its head back, whilst my other swiftly went to my hip. The zombie attempted to lunge once more at me and the force took me by surprise. My hand remained firmly wrapped around its neck and, without even thinking, I shoved the barrel into its mouth and fired. I fired again. And again. Once more for good measure. Its head exploded and blood splattered all over me. My heart was racing and I breathed a sigh of relief. I let my head fall back, slowly, as I lay down on the concrete. I shoved the body to the side, and lay still, panting.
I don't know how many minutes had passed but I finally got up. The dock should be just across the street somewhere. I had seen a sign pointing to it earlier. I looked around the street but no zombies were in sight. Where were they all? The island had a fairly large population, (for an island) from what I had seen on the top of that building. I could hear the sea. I had arrived. The dock was made of stone and concrete and had only one ship in sight. A sailboat. The ship that was to get any and all survivors out of here was a sailboat. Either there was very little survivors left or the people here were extremely delusional. I approached the boat. It had "chariot" written on its side. A ship called chariot. Quite fitting. It didn't seem like anyone was around. How had Jade gotten surrounded here? Even if they followed her to the shop, there was no way that all of the zombies made it there. If that were the case, then it should have been impossible for me to make it here. So where was everybody? Zombie or not there should have been people here. I got onto the boat and checked it out. On the front of the boat, there was a hatch that led inside the boat. Hopefully there was someone down there. I checked the hatch. Unlocked. Handy for me but concerning. If it was unlocked it could mean that the people that were here left. And if they left their only shot of getting off the island, then it must have been important. I went down the ladder and found myself in a single room. It had sleeping bags across the floor, and very little supplies. I counted 3 sleeping bags. Assuming one of these wasn't for Jade, it meant three other people were supposed to be here. There were no bodies on the docks, which meant none of them had died. Assuming they weren't killed by the zombies that is. Who knows how long it would take for them to turn. I climbed back up the ladder and went back onto the dock. I didn't know whether to check the area further or just wait by the boat and hope they returned soon. I didn't know how to drive a boat, as far as I was aware anyway. I didn't fancy taking my chances driving it and crashing. I decided to sit on one of the seats on the boat and wait.
Half an hour had passed. I had noticed a clock was built into a wall on the dock, presumably so sailors knew when the tide would be in or out. There was still no sign of anyone. I got up to stretch my legs and wonder along the dock. I didn't know what to do. What if the survivors had been killed and I was the only person left. Jade wasn't going to leave that shop no matter what I told her. And poor Oscar was no doubt one of the zombies now. If they hadn't decided to tear him limb from limb and devour him. I turned back to face the entrance to the dock. I couldn't be sure but I thought I saw a figure, standing there. I started to head over, slowly. I still couldn't make out if it was a person or a zombie. I reached for my gun, just in case. I got closer and closer. I stopped, a few metres from the person. They were staring out towards the boat. I waved my hand, refusing to speak in case I caught the attention of an unsavoury guest. The person turned towards me, and slowly waved his hand in a circular motion at me. I walked closer to them now, still carrying the gun. I could see them clearly now. I gasped. It was a bald man. His skin was red, covered in blood. He wore dark robes with odd symbols covering them. He looked like he had just come out of a cult meeting. I also noticed dark symbols tattooed to the skin on his head. Behind him, he dragged a long crate of some kind. It was made of metal instead of wood. I took a step back.
"Hello?" I called out to him. He stared blankly at me still. "Do you need help" I asked him, remaining ever cautious. He again refused to respond. "Look, there's a boat over there for survivors to escape from here. See?" I pointed out to it. "Are you one of the three keeping your supplies on it?" I asked, praying they had returned. He again refused to answer me. "I'm going to head there now. You can come with me and when they return we can leave here." I didn't even wait for a response and just started walking back over to the boat. I doubted he would respond to me anyway. As I got closer to the boat, something zoomed past me. I had no time to react whatsoever. The boat exploded into a burst of flame. I was sent flying into a wall, winding me. I stared into the flames. The only hope of escaping from here. And it was up in flames. I caught my breath at last and turned to look towards the entrance of the dock. The man was gone. In his place was the crate he had been dragging along, open. Laying next to it was a rocket launcher. A rocket launcher. He had been casually dragging along a rocket launcher. It lay empty, abandoned. He had fired a rocket at the boat. Had he intended to hit me as well? Was I supposed to have died? I slowly raised myself up. A bit of metal lay at my feet. Flipping it over with my foot, I read the word. Chariot. Some chariot it turned out to be. I kicked the metal into the water. I didn't know what to do or where to go. I couldn't get back into Noir Outfitters, and its not like those survivors had left any hint as to where they went. I started heading for the the way back into the city, when I saw what horrors lay before me. Zombies began to spill out onto the dock. In an attempt to move, I cried out in pain. My leg had been injured badly. I used the wall to support me. Of course the zombies showed up at the docks the moment I needed the streets to be empty. I didn't know where to go. Or what to do. I felt hopeless. I wanted to just give up. A hand wrapped around my arm. It was warm to the touch. I felt myself get dragged.
"Come on!"
