The Art of Death Vol I

Chapter 30 (Part 1)

..The day after

We woke up to Jeffrey screaming in our faces.

"Wake the fuck up! You fuckin' lazy ass kids!" Jeffrey yelled at us. We both woke up looking at him with an evil eye. Naomi gave him a dirty look then got up, as did I.

"Get ready kid!" He continued to holler at me a few inches from the doorway.

"Just me? You don't want Naomi to come too? I mean-" I started saying before was cut off by Jeffrey. Of course I knew Naomi didn't want to tag along with us too, despite the fact we could use her. But I understood.

"Psh, do you want a fuckin' woman gettin' in our way?" Jeffrey exclaimed. Poor arrogant man, living in the past... I remember a guy like that in our group. What was his name again? Donald?

"Didn't want to come anyways," Naomi stammered.

"Good, stay here and work like the little Asian whore you are-" Jeffrey started to say, but I cut him off before he set me off even more.

"Well that's enough of this banter, we really need to get going now, all right?"

"Fuckin' fine," Jeffrey replied. He lead me down a hallway, before we left I could hear a grunt. Obviously Naomi being pissed off, which was fine... This guy seemed to hate women after all. I don't know why. I mean they seem just as capable to fight in wars and such... I guess I'll chalk it down to him being a fucking disgraceful idiot to humanity. "Here we be, boy," He announced in his thick accent. I saw a door in front of us. It was a metal door that seemed to hold its own. No plausible damage throughout the years after the government fell.

"I see... Is it unlocked?" I questioned hesitantly.

"Do you take me for a fuckin' fool? Of course I got the fuckin' keys right here!" He yelled in that foul mood of his. What was wrong with him? He didn't seem so mean last night? He dug in his pocket and showed me a key card. He scanned the key card on this machine... And, magically, the door opened... Which was weird, since electricity hardly existed without generators or solar panels... He had to have one of them or maybe both... Knowing this psycho, he had to have many backup ones as well.

I didn't take this guy for granted, however. He seemed smart enough to be able to survive on his own, which some people do. Some are better off in groups, some are better off being alone. There were pros and cons about both. For being in groups, like max five or six people, has its benefits. For one, more people. Which means you could kill off any infected, Cannibals, or Raiders... Raiders we will discuss further down the road... Anyways, they could ensure all of their own survival by being in groups, making it less likely for people being attacked by other people... Which does happen in this world. As with infected, well you can clear them out a lot easier. Secondly, you can gather more supplies in a shorter amount of time. Even have more storage for people to hold things. Thirdly, you could get a shelter built, especially faster. Even have people keep guard...

Now the bad things about being in groups, is, one that people could become a risk to your safety. Especially if you get in a dangerous situation where you have to save someone and risk being killed by whatever threat you face. For two, people do back stab and betray people. Who's to say you should trust anyone? No one is likely to be trusted in this whole world, unless they are your parents... Other than that... No. They could easily rat you out to people... Leave you to die... That type of stuff. Thirdly, power goes to people's heads. Even if the person was democratically voted to become the group leader, there's still corruption, which is to say at the very least, bad. They could make stupid choices, and you would be forced to listen...

Now about staying alone... The risks are opposite of the pros of being in a group. The pros of being by yourself is simple: No one to look after, but yourself. No one would be a liability to you. No one. You could have a simple life to yourself, living in a giant room like a hamster in a cage. However, I still felt as if small groups were fine. Being by yourself, well, I would probably go insane... I'm glad I have someone like Naomi here for me.

We walked down the steps to the basement. We had small flashlights clipped to our shirts. I don't know if this was good or bad.

"Is it a good idea to have flashlights? Would it attract them?" I questioned Jeffrey's thinking.

"Listen here kid, for one we need fuckin' light to see since the fuckin' god damn lights don't work here." He whispered angrily. "For two it's the opposite; Dusks hate light, so they run off. Why do you think they fuckin' come out at night? To party like it's 2097?" This guy was a master of cheesy jokes already... Jesus. I kinda felt sorry for him... The Cabin Fever seemed to kind of taken it's toll on him. I didn't know if he was crazy before Elias left... Or after... Either way, I had to watch him. Not only to ensure my safety, but Naomi's safety as well. He seemed to have a few qualms with her, so we had to scrutinize him.

"All right, I understand. Sorry. How are we going to sneak up on them?"

"Bright lights blind them and stun them for a few seconds. We have that much time to kill them before they would come to their senses and kill us." He paused and seemed reluctant to finish his thoughts, "Kid, this is serious business, serious fuckin' business."

"How many are there?"

"Bout' half a dozen or so." By the time we finished talking we were down on the steps and met with metal flooring and ceiling that went up about ten feet.

"I have to ask," I stopped for a second, then continued, "What is area 51 anyways?"

"Secret government air force base, I believe," he disclosed, "Way back, before the first apocalypse hit, this was a secret government base for research, believe it or not. A lot of fucked up shit happened here. I read the documents. When we get back I'll show you the evidence... All right?" I nodded.

"Well... Where are they?" I asked looked around cautiously

"The Dusks? Well they are somewhere around here... Fuckin' creatures love hidin' and lurkin'. There's multiple rooms that go throughout the entire basement... It goes a mile or two deep." At least a mile deep... Wow... Whatever went on here was seriously weird... And people didn't question it back then? I wondered about society back then... But I would never truly know.

"What do you think society was like? Before... you know?" I cautiously whispered, knowing we were dwelling deep in the long abyss.

"I think it was weird..." he guessed, "People used to go to work, go home, play games on these devices, watch these things called, "Teley-visions", go to sleep, wake up, and do the same thing over again. Until they croaked." I wasn't sure if I would take his word for it or not... I really wish I had more time to do research on the past of humanity. I only heard stories, small bits and pieces passed down from my family.

"Got it." We then heard a small noise, and in front of us, there was a fork in the road. One way went left, one way went right. We saw something dart to the left, so we both assumed that's where we had to go.

"You ready, kid?"

"I always am."