Apocalypse Bohol

CHAPTER 2: FIRST EXPERIENCE

It was a dark and cold early morning. Luke woke up to the low rumbling sounds of thunder. It was going to rain again today. Last night had been a terrible cold night. He sat up and looked his sleeping friends. He had been the first to awake again. He rubbed his eyes and started to yawn.

Then he heard scratching.

He froze, forcing himself to stop mid-yawn. It was suddenly very important for him to stay quiet. Slowly, and carefully he stood up and surveyed the surroundings.

There was a soft hiss just outside the fences, and Luke saw a leathery, dark-brown skin hobble slowly across the gate. The creature seemed oblivious to the inhabitants sleeping inside the house. It seemed to be alone. Two slow and heavy thuds were heard in the direction where the hiss came from. And he knew that he was looking at a Draugr. He'd only heard about them in online news forums, but this... this was definitely the real thing. And it looked very alien.

Slowly and very carefully Luke crept over to where Klaudine was sleeping. He placed his hand over her mouth, and gently shook her awake. Klaudine woke up, bewildered. Luke pressed against her mouth and gestured her to keep quiet. Klaudine's eyes widened with fear but she nodded obediently and shook herself awake.

"Where's the fireman's axe?" He whispered to her, his voice barely audible, his hands cold and clammy.

Klaudine pointed at the back door. The axe leaned on the wall, along with a thick metal rebar that had been sharpened on one end, and wrapped in rubber on the other like a makeshift spear. He decided that the spear would be the weapon of choice today.

"Open the front gate." Luke told her. He gingerly stepped over the sleeping bodies and tiptoed over to the rebar. The Draugr was behind the house already; it was obviously looking for shelter against an incoming sunrise. Klaudine opened the fence gate and Luke slowly snuck out. His arms felt cold and clammy, and he felt a drop of water fall to his arm.

Pit.

Pat

Pit... pat... pit pat.... Heavy droplets fell on the roof. Luke closed his eyes. The sun would be next to useless today with all the cloud cover, which meant that he would be fighting an unweaked Draugr. He mouthed a silent prayer to God and snuck up on the infected creature. He lifted his spear slowly into the sky and readied himself to strike.

All of a sudden a huge bolt of lightning struck the tree next to the house, blinding Luke and creating a shadow. The Draugr saw this and quickly turned around, and barely dodged a killing blow from Luke's spear. The creature screamed at him and Luke could see the horrifying mutation that the virus has forced upon its victim.

The Draugr had been a woman, couldn't have been older than 22. She would've been a very beautiful girl prior to getting infected. Her left breast was sagging while the other was heavily inflamed like an over-inflated balloon. The Draugr's shorts had been ripped and boils covered her neck. Its spines were roughly half a foot long, with one spike splintered from Luke's initial blow. The Draugr opened her arms and swung at Luke, her bony blades barely missing him by a mere centimeter. Luke quickly spun around and swung the heavy spear at it, hitting the creature in the head, and throwing it down the hill. Blood and bones flew out of the undead's face but it looked unbothered by the head wounds.

The Draugr stood back up without even stumbling, but it could barely climb because her stumped legs couldn't find any footing from the slippery dry soil and kept on stumbling backward until it hit its head against an outcropped rock. There was a loud resounding crack, and another spine broke off. Weakened, the zombie kept coming back, and every time it got close enough to reach him, the heavy spear would send it falling back down the hill. The Draugr was dangerous, but Luke could feel that he was more than a match for it.