Apocalypse Dreams

Home Invasion

I remembered now. I was in my house, staring outside a window. I was staring out the same window that I was just dreaming about.

"We need to keep moving, you hear me?" Jack's voice calmed down a bit, although it sounded more mature than I had previously remembered it. It dawned on me at that instance that I was back. Back to the reality which I had tried to run away from. It had been a while since I had visited my home because we didn't know if the virus was still present, or if the virus-infected people still occupied this place not. One of the main reasons why we had never come back was due to the fact that we did not want to. It's just not the same. I never would've thought that I would see Jack like this.

Jack had changed so much since the day of the outbreak and it was obvious that it had affected him mentally. He was just...different. A large beard filled his once clean-shaven face. He often had dirt covered on parts of his face as he rarely bothered to clean up. His eyes were filled with despair, but he kept moving. He was also very slim compared to his previous physique. Not sure if it was voluntary or involuntary; the same went for the rest of our crew. Where he once carried potato chips in one hand and a remote controller on the other, he now had a machete in one, and a small dagger in the other. His tattered shirt had blood and dirt covered stains still stuck to the fabric as if it went unwashed for weeks. But then again, so were mine. As he put away his knives in his backpack, he waited for a response from me. This year had completely shifted our perspectives of life. Despite being pessimistic, compared to the others, I had now become the optimistic one in the group.

"Just... a little longer, please," I responded with a tired look on my face.

"We'll be downstairs," Jack said with a lack of expression on his face as he headed for the door. He did turn his head towards his old gaming console for a second as he continued walking. I could hear him go down the stairs and chatter with Red. It was difficult to make out the words through the thick stucco walls, but it didn't matter anyway. Nothing really did.

They probably thought that I was too weak to continue or something. Or maybe they were planning on leaving me here so they could survive longer. Less food and other resource consumption with one less person in the group. It made sense. It had been a while since I had been in this particular room or even the house. My eyes drifted outside the window, hoping for a change of view.

Darkness surrounded the perimeters outside, even in the afternoon time. The window had a large hole in the middle, most likely from a rock being thrown at the window. The "open house" sign caught my attention once again, although this time it was red-stained. The house was a complete and utter mess now. No way would it sell in this condition, I thought to myself. The white picket fences were torn down, the main house door seemed to have been kicked in and there were bullet shells spread around all over the neighborhood. Thick herd of dried up bodies lay in places that seemed very odd and random. I sat there trying to imagine how they got there. This game had become a favorite of mine. Trying to piece together puzzles such as these served as a nice distraction for my mind.

A woman who was lying down by the sidewalk in stained, dried-out blood carried a small bottle, which I could only identify as some sort of a spray. It was only placed an inch away from her ashy left hand. I chuckled a bit realizing how absurd that was in that circumstance, but in hindsight, she could not have known about the outbreak until it actually happened. That woman was placed face down with her head split open. From her open head, flies covered the outer premises while maggots strolled inside as if they had made it their homes.

There was a window by the garage in which a man was placed on top of sharp ends of pieces of wood and shards of glass from the window. Someone probably had gotten her from the back as she had an open wound on her upper back. Zooming out a bit, I saw another man lying down in front of her with his left arm extended, as if asking for help from the other woman. Her other hand seemed to be gone, as well as one of her legs.