The Risen

Chapter Two

A Stranger

Jayce Slade

I Burned the body last night in the backyard...

It was awful, the smell. Its a smell that I still can't forget and I probably never will, the smell of a burning corpse. When the military come what was I suppose to tell them? It would seem like murder, make me look like a mad man, I guess I could've buried him, but I've come to the conclusion that this must be some sort of disease and it spread overnight, If he was infected then it was better to just burn him and keep me alive.

But what kind of infection was this? Some kind of Mad Cow disease? 

I didn't sleep last night, I was awake all night thinking on where Ryder was, what I should do next. I decided it was best for me to try to pack what I could. I had to leave, I had to find Ryder. I went into my bedroom and started to pack a few sets of extra clothes. Realizing that my clothes were covered in dirt and dried blood from the man last night, I changed into a pair of blue jeans, my white hoodie and on top i wore my grey overcoat. Inside my bag i had the clothes, Ryder's compass, a few canned goods, a lighter, and the small box of ammo for the pistol.

After I finished packing everything I needed for the trip, I walked into Ryder's room and picked up his wallet. I opened it and just like yesterday everything is there, his credit cards, his debt card and no sign of where he could've gone. That's when I first noticed the blood stains on the floor.

It looked like he was bleeding, but how? Was he hurt?

I forced those thoughts out of my mind, I had to stay focused on my own survival right now.

I had everything I needed packed and read to roll, I wrote a note and placed it on the table.

If your're reading this, you're alive

I've always been a little poetic like that. If there was anyone else still out there, maybe they'd read it? I dunno, why not. I walked out of my house, saying goodbye. I had to figure out what was going on, and why people have turned into monsters.

I was walking down what used to be one of the main markets in Central City. I had so many questions, what happened to the man that I killed? was he the reason everyone left? will I become one of, well whatever he was.

I started to believe that this was all one big nightmare, that one day I would wake up to Ryder making his legendary pancakes. Cassi and my parents coming to visit, and we all go out for a nice lunch. Its so hard to think that if the world is gone, then so are they.

As I walked down the street I stopped dead in my tracks at the sight across the street. Lying on the ground, against the wall were six or seven dead bodies. Their skulls looking like they were bashed in with a blunt weapon. There skulls looked like cracked eggs, it made me sick how someone could inhumanly do that to someone. Then a man stumbled out of the building near the dead corpses. Not seeing me, the clearly infected man bent down on his knees next to the bodies and ripped into the nearest ones chest. Ripping out its organs and veins and eating them

I froze, and panic took complete control. I felt tears run down my face, my vision got blurry, as I collapsed onto my knees in full out tears. I knew I needed to run, I needed to hide, but the lack of sleep, and all this fear was combining into a mess that I couldn't control.

I imagined my friends and all my family being eaten by those monsters, torn apart, I couldn't do anything to stop it. I curled up into a ball in the middle of the street trying to hide myself. What If I'm the only one left? What if Humanity is doomed? What if one of those bodies over there was Ryder? Oh my god, what if Ryder is one of those things already? No, that couldn't be, no, My mind was running at a million miles a second. I started to relive my life in my mind. The Slade Ranch, my home as a child, I remember the warm scent of dinner and sweets from the kitchen, I remember the horses. my horse Skipper he was a speed horse and during collage I would race him in the fields whenever I got a chance.