Aurora Sky: Blackout (Completed)

Chapter 33

Below Isaac was a gang of gray arms berserkly reaching, clawing, and scraping for him. The gang built in bulk the longer he stood there debating his next move. There was no clear path for him to jump down to the ground. His only option was to try to jump across from one trailer to the next and find a spot on the ground he could land safely to either take another trailer home, or if need be, run all the way home.

He didn't believe he had the stamina to run the over fifteen mile distance in one trip. Intellectually, he knew he would need a few breaks along the way. Even walking that distance would require the occasional rest, and the longest he had ever walked during a weekend backpacking trip was nine miles in a day. This trip would be almost twice as long. I need to get another RV.

Thankfully the gap between his trailer and the next was only a matter of a few feet. He took a few paces back, then dashed forward and hopped over to the next roof. He resisted stopping, his momentum carried him from roof to roof. Across from him were a few trailers he could take, but the infected were steadily closing the gap before him to those last available vehicles. It seemed he had no choice, he had to run for home.

He leapt to another trailer and saw his opening. In a split decision, he jumped down to the hood of the trailer and down to the ground in a crash, rolling in a somersault with the force of inertia. On foot he ran as fast as his legs could take him from the parking lot, out of the hole in the fence and onto the highway.

While on the run, he reached back for his radio to call Evan or one of his friends or family for a ride, but he couldn't find it. Upon looking, he discovered his only method of communication had somehow fallen off of his belt clip. Must have fell when I jumped and hit the ground. Forget it, it's too late now. Just run.

He ran a mile and a half as fast as he could, by then the threat was behind him and out of sight. Coincidentally, that's when he started feeling the adrenaline wear off. His wheezing lungs and rapidly beating heart told him, Stop. Or you're gonna collapse.

Though it wasn't just his body that told him to stop. As he pondered where to take his break, he heard the sound of an engine coming from the direction behind him. Thinking fast, he crossed over the lanes, hopped over the guardrail downhill and hid behind a tree until the cars passed.

As he waited, some low guttural throat noises and what also sounded like several clicking tongues ticked behind him. Footsteps sloshed in the fresh mud of the foggy hay field to his back. He turned around and found a dozen or so infected heading towards him. Though they were unaware of his presence, they sniffed the air as if they were trailing a scent like a bloodhound. He had two choices, either run back to the highway and risk being seen by someone, or fight off the dozen coming through the woods that would eventually discover him.

The choice before him was made involuntarily. The speed walking infected came closer once they caught his scent. Instead of letting them get the jump on him, he met them first. Head on, he cut his way through the gray men and women with ease as they walked in six pairs towards him, then he retreated to his hiding spot once more to wait for the cars to pass. As he looked on, he saw a red Camaro drive by at speeds that had to be near 100 MPH. Once it had passed, Isaac ran back up the hill and back to the highway for his journey home.

The more Isaac ran, the more he felt his body betraying him. He was thankful we wore gym shoes today, but Isaac knew he still needed to take a break for the sake of his aching legs and rapidly beating heart. His first thought was to find shelter. He would not find it on his left, fore it was nothing but more misty and potentially dangerous flooded corn and hay fields. But to his right through some thick green brush on the edge of the highway were a handful of houses that he may be able to hide in. Maybe I should stop here and take a five. I might as well try to find some water and rehydrate too. There was no way he could run through the dense brush, so Isaac backtracked a hundred feet to an overpass, jumped down the side of the hill, and jogged up the street to the small suburb.