Outlast (1) - The Walking Dead

Chapter 4

After escaping the city Evan and I kept riding for a while until we found an abandoned house on the edge of the woods.

No people and no infected, just me and Evan.

The house was small, the windows were smashed and tinged with blood, the curtains shredded, all belongings were on the floor and trampled.

"What happened here?" I looked at Evan cautiously as we walked through the house. His flashlight shining throughout the house.

Evan searched the kitchen for clues while I went into the lounge, the sofa had been tipped up so I set it right, the TV, lamps, photos and vases were all smashed on the floor.

I bent down to look at one of the photos on the ground, an elderly couple with what I could assume was their grandchildren. They were all smiling happily, I smiled back at the picture.

I picked up another picture, an older one, but I could tell it was the same people in the last picture. They were younger, the man kissing the woman on the cheek. I flipped it over and there was a note. It was a bit hard to read due to the dark, but the moonlight provided just enough light for me to see it.

My dearest Mary,

This is one of my favourite pictures of us in front of  Candler Park, also the place of our engagement.

I am so happy to have spent so many years of my life with such an amazing woman such as yourself, and I can't wait for many more.

Happy 50th anniversary darling.

Your loving husband, Ed x

My eyes swelled with tears slightly at the letter, it was so amazing how these two were so in love and got to spend their whole lives with their favourite person.

I hadn't even noticed Evan come back into the room until he spoke from behind me.

"My guess is the military." I looked behind and saw him holding a bloodied assault rifle which was none of ours, but also matched the ones the militaries had.

"You think they came in here and killed these people?" I looked back at the photo one last time before lying it on the ground and standing up with Evan.

"Someone was so busy killing people they went and dropped their gun. But I don't understand why they were killing the people, not unless they were infected." He scrunched his eyebrows.

"Look, all this blood is dry so it must've happened a while ago?" I questioned myself.

"It makes you wonder doesn't it." Evan thought aloud as he cleaned the gun.

"Well down here is safe anyway, let's check up stairs."  Evan nodded and followed me upstairs. We each took different rooms to search until we were sure the house was secure.

"Man I am starving." I mumbled to myself as my stomach let out a loud groan. It only just dawned on me that I hadn't eaten for a good few hours, the veggie soup wasn't exactly filling. Everything had moved so quickly I didn't even get a chance to think of food.

"I saw a few cans of beans downstairs but nothing else. Seems like the military ransacked the cupboards and fridge."

Walking into the kitchen Evan located the beans. I held the flashlight as he pulled the top off and emptied one can for me and one for himself into a pan.

He tried the gas on the hob, "nothing." He sighed.

"Guess we're doing this the old fashioned way." I led the way out the door which was barely still on its hinges. Evan handed me his beans as he went to look for fire wood.