The Story Untold

Part 8 - The Task

Three weeks have passed by since Joel was asked to scout out the area. Since he didn't have a specified time limit, he decided to take his time and enjoy being alone. He spent the last three weeks moving around, hunting, killing runners too close to the town, and taking note of what's going on in nearby towns. Most of them are overrun by runners, but a few have some survivors. Things have been quiet for most of the time, and Joel is enjoying his time out in the wilderness. He and Sarah used to go camping a lot with Tommy, and it would be in the woods instead of a campground. 

They would find a clearing near a lake, and pitch their tents. Sarah would always need help with her tent, and Tommy would set it up for her while she went and collected kindling. After a couple hours of fishing, Joel would get a fire ready and cook their day's catch for dinner. Then, after dinner and s'mores, they'd all pull out their sleeping bags and stare at the sky. Joel would quiz Sarah on the constellations, and Tommy would tell stories that went along with them. 

Joel is brought back to reality by a strange clicking sound. He grabs a handgun and flashlight, and follows the sound to it's source. After a few minutes of walking, he comes to a deep hole in the ground that leads to a subterranean cave. He shines his light down and sees that the air has a greenish tint, and spores were flying around down there. The flashlight barely goes past his body in the spores, and the clicking sound was louder. 

He turns back and goes back to his temporary camp, and grabs a respirator from his backpack. He went back to the cave and put on the respirator, then tied a rope around a tree for support during his descent. As Joel is climbing down into the cave, he is making sure to be as quiet as possible. The clicking sound got louder, and Joel reached the bottom. He crouches down to make sure he stays out of sight, and looks around the area to see where the sound is coming from. He shines his light towards a lump against a wall of the cave, and sees a mass of some sort of bark-like fungus. 

As Joel is examining the mass, he realizes that there is a runner trapped inside the fungus. Except, it's a different type of runner. It isn't moving, but it's twitching it's head and making the clicking sound. The fungus is covering small amounts of the runner's body, but a large mass is on it's face. It's eyes and nose are completely covered, forcing it to leave it's mouth open to breathe. As Joel gets closer, the runner gets more restless and starts trying to break free. 

Joel pulls out his handgun, aiming it at the runner, and shoots the mass on its' head. The runner's head is whipped back by the force of the bullet, but whips back forward and the runner screams at Joel. It's eyes are milky white and it's nose is almost gone. It starts reaching towards Joel, trying frantically to break free of the hardened fungus on it's body. Joel groans in disgust and shoots it's head again, this time killing it. 

More screams come from deeper in the cave, and Joel shines his light into the cave. He sees more of the heavily infected runners, wandering towards him. They seem to be unaffected by the light, and stumble over rocks and uneven ground towards Joel. He moves behind a rock unnoticed, as the other infected make it to where Joel was in front of the dead runner. They stop in front of the runner and start clicking again, tilting their heads towards the ground and around the cave. 

Joel watches them and thinks a bit, then picks up a nearby rock and throws it across the cave entrance. The infected screech and charge towards where the rock fell, swinging their arms wildly in front of them. They start clicking some more and wander around the area, twitching and stumbling. Joel sneaks up quietly behind one and grabs it, stabbing it in the neck with his knife. It's corpse falls to the ground, still unnoticed by the other. Joel quickly and quietly does the same to the other, then climbs back up the rope and heads back to his camp.