Dead Days

Chapter 21

I was sitting in a chair again, a table in front of me and four dark gray walls surround me.

No ethereal force held me to the chair this time, so I stood up and looked around the room. No doors, not even a chip in the paint on the walls.

    When I turned around to sit back down I noticed a needle sitting in the center of the table. The yellow liquid drops from the head of the needle.

    I grab the needle and look through the glass that shows the contents of the needle, and upon closer inspection I see something moving inside. It's very small, but it's definitely alive.

The movement of the creature sucks the breath from my chest.

It's a parasite? I think to myself. I look up and the air is shimmering in front of me like last time.

The Russian appears and whispers "do it." And disappears.

My arm moves by itself, bringing the needle to the vein in the bend of my left arm. I try with everything that I have in me to stop it, but to no avail.

The needled plunges into the vein and the creature swims out as the liquid enters my bloodstream.

A coolness falls over my body, almost peaceful. Every muscle in me relaxes and my eyes droop.

That's when my breath gets locked in my throat. It feels like fire is coursing through my veins and every muscle, at once, flexes, making me shoot up into a standing position.

That's when my heart stops.

That's when my eyes open.

That's when my stomach growls.

It growls for an insatiable desire.

The desire for human flesh.

***

My eyes snap open and I choke on an intake of air. Cassie jerks awake.

I'm drenched in sweat and my heart is beating at a million miles a minute.

"Are you okay?" Cassie asks, concerned.

"Yeah, just a nightmare. This whole apocalypse thing is finally getting to me I think."

I sit back and put my head against the wall, taking a deep breath. Outside the torrential rain had become light drizzle.

"I'm scared, Jack." Cassie says, breaking the silence.

"For what?"

"I'm worried about what's waiting for us in Charleston. The Russian could be there, and he's not normal." She says, pausing to let that sink in. "I mean, he almost killed you, Jack, without an effort."

    "He killed Dale, Cassie. The people he's working for are to blame for Danny's, Cole's, and and Chief's death. I'll stop at nothing until I fulfill my promise to you, and exact my revenge."

    "Vengefulness gets people killed, Jack. I don't want you to die."

    "I don't want to die, so I'm not going too."

    Cassie sighs and closes her eyes. "Promise me something, Jack."

    "What?"

    "If it gets too dangerous, or the risk is too great, we pull back."

    "Cassie..."

    "Promise me." She says, an iron resolve in her voice. She's changed a lot from the helpless girl that I saved from that high school. A rightful leader, indeed.

    "I promise."

    She stands and walks to the door and looks outside. "Besides a little flooding, we should be good to hit the road." She says, turning back to look at me.

     I stand, "then let's hit it."

                                ***

     "We've been walking for hours," Cassie complains. Which, we have been. "How have we not come across a car yet?"

"We'll find one, trust me." I replied, not letting my doubt slip into my voice. The highway really was empty, more empty than the rest.

There was no cars, no bodies, no luggage. There was only trees and the road.

     The rain had passed and we were left with a cloudy sky and slight breeze. It was peaceful, almost like a hike through the woods.

     "I miss my dad." Cassie says, a sigh following.

    "I promised you we'd find him, and we will. I don't take promises lightly."

     She looks at me, "I'm just worried about this deal that my mom was talking about. Does dad know about it? What was the deal?" Frustration quickly took her over.

    "Hey, Cass. It's okay, everything is going to be fine. We'll find your parents and we'll find somewhere to survive."

     She smiles, "I want to believe that, Jack. I do. But surviving isn't living. I want to find a place where we don't have to worry about bandits, about the undead, about anything."

     "There will always be a threat. No matter what it is, it will continue to assault us until we either give in or destroy it."

    Cassie put her head down, "that I do believe. But it doesn't mean I have to like it." She says, eyeing the asphalt.

    "No, you don't, but it is..." a splitting head ache erupted from somewhere deep within my head. White and black spots burst in my vision, and a scream tore through my mind. It wasn't the warrior, it wasn't the Russian, it was Alyx.

     I dropped to my knees, hands cradling my head, trying to keep it from splitting in two.

    Cassie put a hand on my shoulder and was probably saying something but I couldn't hear her over the Alyx's screaming.

     She was in pain, terrible pain. That scream was the loss of all sanity, of all humanity. Whatever they were doing to her was breaking her soul into a million pieces and lighting those pieces on fire.

    "Just when you thought you found love again." Said an unfamiliar voice

After those words the headache faded almost as fast as it had come, and I was left with the scream that was ripped from Alyx's breaking sanity.

I didn't want to believe it, but I'd heard that scream before. Made people scream that way before.

I had just heard Alyx Vendettas last scream.

She was dead.