A Stolen Life

A Harsh End

I sat on the cold slimy metal floor hugging my knees. The sides of the floor were covered in long sweeps of dried up blood. The sound of white noise plagued my eardrums threatening to drive me to madness yet again. "It's been....years without any human contact", I thought to myself. I opened a packet of dried peas and popped a tasteless pea into my mouth. In the middle of the floor I sat longing to myself for something more from my desolate life. As I sat in darkness mumbling odd thoughts to myself pretending it was another time something incredible happened. The door began to open itself and flung itself open. A wave of shock washed over me. "This...this can't be happening..."

The time is finally here. I ran towards the door ecstatically. I hopped out onto the field around me. Sure, the view wasn't very beautiful but it beats being holed up in that unforgiving bunker. As I stepped through the fields my gaze was met with blackened dead grass. The sky was colored a blood red and had left behind its once blue color. The air was now smoky and thick and I nearly choked on it. Around me the black grass was covered in bodies. Some male, some female. Some young, some old. Their dried blood stained the grass and gave such a sickeningly somber feeling to the atmosphere. I could estimate that there were hundreds of bodies covering the fields.

Back in the day this was indeed a farm. There were stalks of corn sprouting up out of the ground and chickens walking around in an enclosure. Every once in a while you would see owner and horse riding up into the sunset. But now none of it exists. The growing crops were long gone now becoming a part of the decaying ecosystem. The chickens well let's just saying they're dead too here on the ground. The enclosures that once held them just now had rotting wood. No horses or humans around here anymore.

Back when I lived here if someone told me this was the future I would have thought they were insane. But the day I found out, hell it was like the world spun out of control. I don't think I can ever forget the day the first one came after me and my family. They always show zombie apocalypse movies on television out in the city I heard. It's one of the most popular genres. Like hell did I ever believe they could be real? The wind blew my hair across my face as I reminisced. The day it happened I was tending to the fields. I was taking care of our crops hoping to reap up a fair amount of money for the summer. But as I was tending I heard an odd noise I had never heard before. Almost as if somebody was moaning outwards to me.

As I slowly looked up a fear I had never felt surged through my body. It was a human being, well sort of, not really. A human being that looked like it was dead. But it couldn't have been dead because it was walking around and moaning. Its face was rotted and peeling off. It was one of the most revolting things I had ever seen in my life. I ran as fast as could. I suppose it's a good thing I was in such great shape. But anyways it was one of the most horrifying things I had ever seen. A rotting human being that looked like it should be dead but was moving towards me. So I bolted into the house and locked it figuring it would give me a little time. I ran towards my parents and my little sister and blurted it all out. About what I had seen. They believed me, if only for no other reason than the fear they saw in my eyes.

We tried to escape together but it just didn't work out that way. Everyone bolted in a different direction when multiple of these creatures showed up. I wonder if any of them survived. I walked through the grass up to the old family home. The lock had already decayed and fell off. As I walked into the home it was decrepit and looked like something truly out of the past. There were areas of the house covered in mold that were rotted. There were areas that looked like they were unstable and could easily kill you in a second. After walking around the house carefully for a few minutes I felt like I had enough of this torture. I left through the backdoor and continued to walk straight through the backyard. After walking a few miles upwards into the woods I got my first shock. For the purpose of not being cruel the only thing I'd prefer to say is that my sister did not make it. I crouched down besides the old body and just sat there thinking. It was a long time ago. I wonder if she made it what she would have been like. I wonder if she would have been the artsy free spirited type or if maybe she would have been an intelligent girl who enjoys chess and the galaxy in her spare time. But I guess I'll never know now. I stood up and continued on my trek. After traveling for what I would consider to be at least a week I did in fact come to another soul crushing sight. It seems that my parents didn't make it either. Eaten by the creatures it seems. The wind whipped my hair around as I looked up into the red sky. I didn't even entertain the thought of my dog surviving to be honest. Its been far too long. I cupped my face in my hands thinking about how cruel the world is. I wondered what use is there to live when there's nothing here anymore. When this isn't the world I once knew. I got up from where I was sitting and I came to two conclusions. I will grab my parents and my sister and give them a proper burial even if I am years late. And then I will cease existing in this world like everyone else did long ago.

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