Faded Memories...

The seventh entry in End of Days...

Faded Memories…

Leaning on the bloody pickup truck, I took my ninth swig of whiskey. I began to feel woozy and light-headed. I laughed weakly and a hiccup passed my lips. It tasted rancid. The bottle slipped from my sweaty palms as I laughed again, thinking of the older days when the world was actually sane. A sickening crash filled the street and risers turned my way. I picked up the broken bottle, and grabbed the nearest riser by the throat, stabbing it with the bottle and dropped the decaying corpse with no remorse. My feet hurt like hell, but I had to get to my truck.

I heard the loud, repetitive groans of the undead as I shambled towards my car, my vision becoming blurry. A rotted hand grabbed my shoulder fiercely and sunk it's teeth into my skin. I turned around quickly and saw the empty, lifeless eyes of a riser, my flesh dripping from it's crooked, yellowing teeth. My eyes widened in fear and I fell to the ground, dazed. "Get up." I heard an unfamiliar voice say, "GET THE HELL UP!" He screamed. I turned around once more, and a man in riot gear jabbed me in the face with the butt of a shotgun. As I felt the blood trickle from my eyes and nose, I knew I was dead. It was over...

"Wake up," I heard the man say. I opened my eyes and he pulled a bag off my face.

I looked at him in disgust as I tried to free my hands from the torture chair. I grasped and groped for the buckle to no avail. "GET ME OUTTA HERE, B***H!" I screamed with a slur. "WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON? I WAS BITTEN OUT THERE!" I said as my head bobbed drunkenly to the side. I turned my head to my right shoulder, and saw the bite. It looked raw and red.

The man slapped me in the face, and whispered, "I don't think you remember me..." He pulled of his riot mask, and revealed his mangled face. I squinted my eyes to get a better look and realized it was Sergeant Robusky, my superior.

He started pacing around the room, as he usually did, and spoke, "John, you are here because you have a special enzyme in your blood that combats the infection, including a bite. Every time you are bitten though, more of the enzyme is used combating this new liquid that has entered into your bloodstream. I am here to extract it. All of it." He continued, "There is one very small detail I might've forgotten to tell you.To get the enzyme, I will have to extract 85 percent of your blood, thus killing you in the process."

I growled at him and spat at his feet. "You  ain't gettin' my blood..." I whispered. My strength was wavering as I pulled on the wrist braces cutting into my palms. Robusky pulled off my shirt to reveal a grey skin tone slowly retreating back to the wound in my shoulder. He turned around and picked up a long, thin needle attached to a clear tube that led to a machine with a holding tank, already filled with blood...

He pierced my skin with the needle, as he dug it into my forearm. Robusky picked up another needle, and jabbed it into my bicep. He continued to do this until every needle was painfully symetrical to each other. He laughed wickedly and said softly, "Nothing personal buddy, although you always were a pain in the a*s..." He smiled wickedly and flipped a switch on the machine. A suction noise alarmed me and immense pain filled my arms and chest.

My head turned to the side and saw that the tubes were filled with red blood going into the machine. I screamed in horrible pain, as it drained more and more blood. I fought and twisted my wrists in agony as my blood curdling screams filled the room. As a result, my wrist broke free, and I immediately pulled the needles out of my arms. I then proceeded to pull the second buckle off when a bullet flew past my hand and hit the wooden chair. I looked up quickly to see Robusky holding up my son's gun, that I had given to him for his seventeenth birthday. Rage filled my lungs as he stood there and pushed the gun to my temple, revealing a deep scratch mark on his neck.

"We can work this out Sergeant! We'll share the enzyme! Just give it back to me and we'll share it!" I screamed with distrust in my voice. He slanted his eyebrow in thought and replied, "I know all your tricks Hunter, you aren't gonna trick me this time." He finished with a smile as he picked up the needles that had fallen out of me, stopping the draining process. As he turned around, I raised my leg and kicked him in his unprotected crotch, causing him to keel over and groan. I smiled a weak smile and ripped the second restraint off and pulled my shirt back on. My eyes darted over to Robusky and I walked up to him. He stared back at me with his dying eyes, dark blood seeping out of his eye sockets.

He made a choking noise and fell to the ground, unconscious, maybe even dead. But that didn't matter now. What mattered was getting my blood back. I jammed the needles back into their places and reversed the machine. As the blood spilled into my body, the pain was greater than coming out.

Five minutes later, every drop of my protective blood back into my body, I set out, but not before grabbing Robusky's gear and assault rifle. The helmet provided much more protection than the standard SWAT helmet I usually had. It covered my whole face and had a mouth cover, with lens like openings for my vision, which were extremely clean. I looked around and saw the truck not 100 feet away. I ran all the way over to the truck bed to find it picked clean. "S**T!" I screamed, slamming my armored foot into the truck, I had to go back...

I realized something about Kevin. If the protective gene passed on from me to him, he could still be alive. From then on, I had to secure his body. I furrowed my brows and aimed my gun down at Robusky, shooting him in the eyeball, causing dark blood to spew everywhere and cover my face mask. I wiped the blood of my visor and stomped on the hatch leading deeper into the facility, which appeared to be an old barn. I ran through the hatch as my helmet nearly missed a protruding pipe coming out of the wall.

My eyes spotted movement in the dark corner of the room, and I ran down there with the little sense I had, being slightly drunk.

As I jumped down the stairs one by one, my broken hand and my injured shoulder hurt immensely. I popped the flare I found in Robusky's armor and held it high, while putting my rifle away and unsheathing the ASP pistol from it's special holster. I aimed it high and shot the nearest riser with the gun, missing horribly and shooting it in the jaw, causing it to blow off in a flurry of blood and teeth. I aimed my gun once more, and it's aim was true, projecting the bullet to enter the riser's cranium.

I looked up once more to find something squirming in Kevin's body bag, including all the supplies ransacked from my truck. I unzipped the bag with shaky hands and was greeted by a growl and a human with a small stature leaped out onto me, reached for my neck, as I kicked it off with panic. Getting up quickly, I aimed my pistol at the riser and saw Kevin's distinct features.

Green eyes, Brown hair coming off in clumps now, and a grey bulletproof vest over his shirt. Tears welled up in my eyes as I tore the riot mask off, so I could look into his eyes for the last time, as he got up on one arm, like he did at the school.

I screamed in rage as I shot him, missing, and shooting his ear off. He growled and ran towards me. With gun up, and courage in my heart, I aimed the weapon, and blew his head off, pieces flying everywhere. I retched in shock as his headless body fell to the ground, dark liquid splattering all over my feet. I punched the wall in rage, I felt my eyelids becoming heavy and bloodshot as I ripped out my brown hair, piece by piece.

"THIS S**T IS OVER WITH! F**K THIS WORLD, D****T!" I screamed in a drunken rage. My weary legs carried me to the stone wall as I smashed my head against it repeatedly until I tasted rich blood.

I slammed my forehead into the rock wall and fell onto my side, crushing my broken hand, which pulsed with horrible pain. As everything darkened around me, I wished I was dead. I wished I was dead to free myself from this hell on earth. A darkish environment sprawled around me as I got up from the ground, dazed. A shadowy fog descended over the forest, and three figures walked slowly out of the fog, one skinny and missing an arm, one bulky and tall, another wearing riot gear, all smiling wickedly...

One of the figures laughed a bloodcurdling, horrible laugh, piercing my very soul with fear. The others walked silently towards me, helpless. Robert, emerged from the fog first, Holding Kevin's arm. Then Dempsey, Holding his disembodied head, and laughing. Finally, there was Sergeant Robusky, holding the rest of his body...

I got up quickly and ran towards them, enraged. Holding my fist back, building up power behind my shoulder, I released my arm into Dempsey's face, which disappeared into a smoky mist and then every other limb of his evaporated into thin air.

I gasped in surprise as Robusky grabbed me behind and put my hands behind my back, crushing my shoulder blades. Robert walked up, a wicked smile tattooed across his ugly face. He reached toward my chest, and plunged his clammy hand into my chest, pulling out my still-beating heart...

My eyes widened in fear as I looked down and saw an empty hole in my chest, gently gushing blood. I woke with a start and felt blood dripping into my nostril and out of my mouth. I felt a puzzling sensation under my skin, as I felt something crawl under my skin. Hangover, I thought.

I got up on my free hand and wiped a tear from my eye, picking up Kevin and shouting angrily into the crusty ceiling. I walked slowly through the facility as I thought of all the good times and my agony inside caused by hangover and immense loss. As I held Kevin in my frail arms, I bellowed in rage once more. As I suffered slowly on the blood stained pavement, I cried. For the first time, I actually cried a river, an ocean even...

I felt my lungs become hot and humid as I wept. My head shot up and caused tears to splatter onto the bloody pavement, as I thought of a way, even though it was a complete long shot, I had to try. I had to get to the pentagon, and give them a sample of my protective blood, thus forcing them to issue an antidote, distribute it to the public, and cause the risers to starve. I got up with trouble, and fell to the ground, my chest burning.

As I fought for the last breath, the sun blinded me, the trees rustled, and Kevin's eyes were looking into mine, lifeless.

Everything Went Dark...

Author's Note

Ignore Grammar Problems