Living Among the Dead

Jayce - Living Among the Dead

Day 47

Jayce Hawkins sat up in bed, his long dark brown hair a mess. Birds chirped outside his window, along with the sound of groaning and something banging on the cabin walls he was inside of. Jayce ran a hand over his mouth, feeling how his goatee was becoming thicker. Slowly he stood up from the cot that sat in the corner of the log cabin he called home. He grabbed a pair of black jeans and pulled them on. He then grabbed a long sleeve shirt and a large blue poncho which he threw over his head. Jayce grabbed two large Bowie knives and slid them into sheaths he had on a belt, and then proceeded to put the belt on. He sighed, taking a few steps across the cabin floor and opening the only door it had, letting in the cool air along with a gust of wind.

"Hey!" Jayce shouted out, banging on the outer wall of the cabin as he stood in the doorway. The groaning paused for a moment, and slowly the sound of feet dragging on the ground filled Jayce's ears. The survivor looked down, noticing the snow on the ground that must have happened overnight. Almost as soon as he looked down, a snowflake fell from the sky and landed on Jayce's nose, melting right as it hit.

Rounding the corner of the cabin was two creatures that looked like people. They're skin was decayed, rotten, and looked grey and bleak. Their eyes were a mucus green, and their teeth looked yellow and just as rotten as their skin. The two creatures chomped their top and bottom rows of teeth together, extending their arms out to try and grab Jayce, who stepped out of the cabin and backed up from the two. He noticed their clothes were shredded, and that they had stab wounds in their chests.

"Come on." Jayce whispered to himself, continuing to back away from the undead duo slowly. They continued to follow him, dragging their feet in the snow while more slowly floated down onto them. Jayce continued to examine them from a distance, noticing no bite marks on the bodies, and that it was most likely a man and a woman.

"Little further." he said to himself again, turning his head and noticing he was entering the woods around his cabin now. He pulled both of the knives out of their sheaths and held them in his hands. The two undead people continued to slowly move after him, getting closer since he finally stopped moving. Jayce took both knives and slammed each into the side of the head of the two zombies. He pulled his knives out and watched the bodies drop down onto the ground. Jayce sighed, cleaning the blood on the knife off on his pants. He placed them back into the sheaths on his belt and stepped out of the woods and walked back to his cabin.

"Bonnie! Clyde!" Jayce shouted out, his voice gruff. He walked around his cabin to the back where a large dog house sat, covered by the snow. Two german shepherds laid in the house side by side, their ears perked up after hearing their names being called out.

"You two just gonna lie there?" he asked them. Clyde, who had an all black face, tilted his head to the side and let out a small whine. Jayce rolled his eyes, shaking his head and walking back around to the front part of his cabin. He slammed the front door shut and then turned back around, following his own footprints back into the woods. He heard his dogs bark and looked back to see the two running after him.

"Quiet." he ordered, ducking under a branch and walking past the two bodies he had recently left there.

* * *

Jayce opened up the small bear trap, carefully placing a few seeds and nuts on the middle part of it. He sighed, not knowing what triggered it, but whatever it was had gotten away. He looked over and saw Bonnie and Clyde sniffing the ground close by. Jayce whistled, causing both to look up at him. He then snapped his fingers and stood up slowly, causing the dogs to run over at stand by his side. Jayce was about to head back for his cabin when the smell of burning wood caught his attention. He sniffed loudly, wanting to make sure he wasn't imagining it and turned around. Bonnie was already running in the opposite direction of the cabin with Clyde right behind her. Jayce watched the two dogs run further into the woods and began to jog after them.

"Hey!" he shouted at the two, pushing through a few snow covered branches and bushes. Jayce tried to stop running once he reached an abandoned campsite, digging his feet into the ground and sliding through the snow briefly. He looked around, his mouth hanging open slightly as he saw a body off to the side. He stepped forward, pulling out one of his knives. Bonnie and Clyde were sniffing around the campsite, circling around the campfire that was in the middle of it.

"Sit." Jayce ordered, watching as both dogs dropped into a sitting position. Jayce walked around the campsite, pushing open the tents with his knives. He saw cans of food, clothing, bottled water, and other useful supplies scattered around. The sound of a twig snapping caught his attention, and made him draw his other knife, holding it up high. Jayce looked up and saw the sun was beginning to set already.

"Back. Go." Jayce spoke to the two canines. Both got up and ran back into the woods and toward the cabins while Jayce continued to stare into the woods. His grip on his knives tightened while he slowly backed out of the campsite and reentered the woods. Jayce followed the path created by his dogs, looking back occasionally just to make sure no one was following him, living or undead. He shook his head, reaching his cabin yet again and going inside, shutting the door once his dogs followed him in and locking it.