Aurora Sky: Blackout (Completed)

Chapter 9

In ten minutes flat, the four had arrived back at the farmhouse. Larry slowly pulled the SUV to a stop in front of the barn as Jess and Brandon Luckett took care of the horse trailer. Isaac leapt out and opened the barn, turning the lights on as he went inside. Jessica led her horse in on foot behind him into the empty barn. She petted Paisley on his neck and back as Brandon brought in the horse feed under both arms. Together, the couple set up a bed, food, and water for their horse, making sure it had all of its plush comforts needed. Isaac had compliment the new home for Paisley, then he suggested that he should get his own horse to put next to his sisters.

After a few minutes spent in the barn, the four left the horse for the house to call it a night. Isaac gave the thumbs up to his friends who sat in the living room conversing, indicating that everything went smoothly. He and Larry strolled into the room joining those sitting on the sofa while Jess and Brandon went about their way to their room.

"What's going on in here?" Isaac asked his friends who sat in the candle light.

"We figured we should stay up until you all came back," Sean answered.

"Yeah, and we were talking about how bad ass you and Sean looked slicing and dicing with your swords out there. I have to say I was not expecting that," Rob chuckled slightly though his face expressed how truly impressed he was. He sat cross legged on the couch with an AR-15 in his lap, loading a stock of ammunition into a banana clip.

Isaac laughed at that. "Thank you. You weren't so bad out there yourself."

"Thank you kindly. All that airsoft target practice really paid off. But really we've been talking about what the hell is going on out there," said Rob changing the subject to a more serious discussion.

"Oooh, well let me join in on this one," Isaac clasped his hands together in eagerness. He rested his sheath down on the floor and pulled up a fold out chair next to the sofa. He kicked back and took a deep breath. "Feels good to sit. So what are we talking about here?"

"Well we're not sure exactly, but we've been floating some ideas. They sound crazy to be honest," Sean shook his head as he spoke. "Do you want to tell him Rob? You said it first."

"Yeah sure..." Rob wore an unhinged look on his face. The psychologist scoffed at his own words coming from his mouth, "I don't know how else to say this so I'll just say it. We think those things out there are zombies."

Isaac clapped his hands and shook his head. "Dude! I had that same thought earlier at my parents house! I literally thought to myself, 'Are these fucking zombies?' That is exactly how those things were acting!"

"Yeah, but they're not dead," Holly interjected. "At least I don't believe they are the Undead. I think they're very much alive but are infected and mutated with something we've never seen before. When we were looking after Daniel, I kept track of his vitals closely. He didn't die while unconscious, I'm sure of that. The infection from whatever virus it was changed him into something else over the course of his unconscious state. It turned him into some kind of dangerous, instinct acting only creature."

Rob broke back in the conversation, "Yeah that's what they are, instinctual creatures. And it's only fight in their mind. The way they kept coming after me even though I had been putting rounds in their chest suggests that. With that being said, I don't think you have to go for the brain to kill them. When I checked the bodies I shot, I noticed I hit one in the heart only once and it was definitely dead."

"I wonder if it's contagious," said Larry as he looked down at the floor.

"We talked about that too. We think that yellow liquid coming from Daniel's canines might be how the virus can spread, but we won't know for sure until we see it for ourselves, which I hope we never have to." Holly said doubtfully.