Level 1.5

Jim wakes up and thinks about why he is doing this.

He awoke, still in his fetal position. He hadn’t moved all night from his one spot. Slowly, he stretched, feeling his legs protest. Yesterday’s excursion had used his muscles much more than he usually did. Even his arms screamed in protest.

Flashes of the two things he had killed yesterday popped into his head. Then, almost as if to mock him, the image of the first person he had run into yesterday put itself at the forefront of his mind. The man he had tackled off of the balcony. He winced, running a hand through his hair.

The things you did for love.

He ran his hand through his hair again. It was a nervous tick he had picked up a while ago. He couldn’t remember why. It calmed him at times, but he doubted anything would really calm him now. Not with all the s**t that was going on.

Scooting himself over slightly, he dug into his bag for one of the bags of ramen. Crunching it slowly, he opened the bag and began to eat it raw. Chewing on the hard noodles, he elected to stay in the tree stand. He figured it was harder to get ambushed while he was busy eating.

He thought about her again. The reason he was out here instead of fortifying a position. Yeah, it was incredibly stupid. But, he needed to make sure she was safe. She had been his friend for years, then something much more for another year. He wanted to make sure she was protected.

He didn’t care how obviously this was a s**t idea. 

Looking at his watch, he began to eat quickly. It was already 9 am. If he didn’t start moving now, it would be dark by the time he made it out of this forest. It circled down the eastern border of Ohio and ended near West Virginia. If his memory served him, it was sparse at places, but he figured it would be a better route than the highways.

He didn’t even want to think how bad those roads would be. Nor did he want to think about how many would have died.

The images of those he killed flashed back into his mind and his stomach, now with something filling it, wanted to lurch. Covering his mouth, he made his way to the edge of the tree stand.

And his eyes met another set. Then, there was a scream.

Author's Note

As always, just be constructive. This one is written between shifts, so it might be a little rough.