Fear the Dark.

First chapter!

Silence. 

That’s all there ever is, that and the odd groan. Not even the birds sing any more. 

The land that was once hustle and bustle has now become desolate and savage. The man made structures that once held us and kept us safe, now claimed by nature. The streets became overgrown in weeds and shrubbery. Rust hangs on old cars and buildings, as if the virus itself was draining the life from them. Remnants of the old life still cling around slightly, like the odd newspaper, the last newspaper I should say. Nothing gets printed these days, Mind you that also means nothing can be swung one way or another. There’s also the clothing stores and other materialistic shops still full to the brim. Turns out when the end of the world came, no-one was fussed about fashion or a new T.V. Even though it’s desolate, there’s a strange aura of peace surrounding the world.

The sun hangs high in the sky, and with the wind blowing gently the day sets out to be a peaceful one. The last few months have been hellishly cold, it’s only just started to warm up, I'm guessing spring has started to rear it’s head. I haven’t seen an infected in a good few months now, I'm not sure whether or not they've moved on or just died from starvation or cold. If that’s even possible. It’s nearly been two years since the infection hit, no-one was expecting it to hit so suddenly, you can say you’re prepared but you can never be prepared for an event like this.

I remember the first weeks like they've just passed. Everything after that’s just a blur, when you’re forced to survive like this, days and nights just become a blur. Hunkered up in an old off-licence, the shutters provided a perfect defense for me. Most of the stock in the store was pillaged the first few nights, i only lived across the road to begin with. But once people started to kill each other instead of just the infected, I decided to stay put until things calmed down. Once the looting stopped i moved in and hunkered down ever since, It's been quite a solid place for me to stay, there’s only been one time when an infected got in because I left the door open. That will never happen again. Although there wasn't much food there, I guess people decided that they were going to have to hold out the same as me so got some supplies. I haven’t got hot water, or electricity yet. Nor do i have any idea where I'm going to get it from. All I have is my sheepskin sleeping bag, a few choice hand to hand weapons, and a couple of crates of food. I stay there on my own, people would only get in the way. More people means more mouths to feed, more bodies to protect.  

Looking at my watch, I check the time, ‘plenty of time till sunset.’ I think to myself as i carry on walking. I've had to move further out as I've expended and stored all the supplies from around a 5 miles radius. After passing the city i find myself in a suburb, as I'm walking I take note of the street names on the way so i can map out what's empty and what's not. I pack away my notepad and crowbar, and head towards the first house.

Coming up to it, I felt a pang of loneliness and lost hope.

The grass even though overgrown, was bright green and the flowers the owners planted became wild and overgrown. The garden looked like a symphony of nature and colour. Through the center of the garden was the footpath, as I walked along it i stare at the dilapidated house, covered in moss and ivy. The brilliant white paint, now faded and worn chips off the wall. The windows are all broken, and the gate to the back garden is hanging on by a nail.

Walking into the house, the first thing I see is the hallway and stairs. The air is polluted with a damp smell, not pungent, but still lingering. All through the house the floor has weeds and roots pushing their way through. Looking at my watch, I decide not to spend too long looking around and start to see what I can find.

After a few minutes of scavenging, I find a few batteries and a metal baseball bat. With that being all that i could find i head back outside the house and move onto the next one. This has sort of become routine for me. Finding a place, sweeping it, leaving and then all over again. As I'm walking down the street, I reminisce about how things used to be and the life i used to have. I laugh slightly as i remember all those ‘Problems’ that i used to have. They all seem so silly now.

The alarm on my watch goes off, there’s about 2 hours till sun set, time to go. Turning back on myself I start walking back the way I came About an hour into my way back and I notice the sun's setting quicker than I thought it would. Picking up my pace, I start into a jog. I'm around 15 minutes from my hold out, when darkness starts to swallow the land. This is bad. There’s no Walkers around, so you don't have to worry about anything in the day. But at night you have the Lurkers.

Horribly grotesque creatures mutated by the virus. They have no eyes but can see using sound, their skin seems highly sensitive to UV light,  but unless you've got the sun in your hands, a little flash light won't stop them for long. When i reach the bottom of the street from my hold out, I stop and hide behind a garden fence. Peeking over it I look to see if I can see any Lurkers. Even though the only light available is the dim orange light sapping out the lamppost you can’t miss them.

They’re about 5'ft big, walk on all fours, but have a human like shape, apart from the bodies disfigured, and they heads grossly enlarged. Due to some form of chemical reaction, they’re saliva glows a light green. If you ever get to see one up close, with no light whatsoever, all you will be able to see if a pair of glowing razor sharp teeth. It’ll probably be the last thing you see as well. Unlike the walkers they’re incredibly fast, I've only seen a few people being able to outrun it. All you can do is hide and not make a sound, and hope it didn't spot you. Too add to this glorification of death, they’re scales are pretty god damn hard, I've seen people fire pistols at them point blank for the bullet to just bounce off it like it was nothing.

As i slowly work my way up the gardens, quietly hopping over the fences. I reach the house opposite the store. ‘Almost there…’ I think to myself. Peeking over to make sure there’s nothing around I run over to the shutters and open them up quickly, opening the door I get inside. Just before i shut the door i hear the sound of heavy footsteps. Someone running. I look out to the left and right to see if i could see anything. And there at the end of the street i saw someone running with all their might. ‘F**k.’ I think to myself as i go to shut the door. “HEY! HELP ME! PLEASE HELP!” The person shouts as they get closer. ‘F**k. What should I do?!’ I think as i look towards the ground, when i look back up the persons a bit closer, but what's behind them made my heart sink. A hoard of Lurkers. All savage and mad as hell. There’s so many, I can barely count them. Torn on what to do, I freeze in place. I can’t let them die?! Can i? What if they’re bad? What if they’re armed? They might kill me and take all my stuff! ‘ With every thought the lurkers and survivor get closer and closer. I swear loudly, and shout at them “OVER HERE!” their head snaps towards me and they start running towards the shop, i get ready and slam the shutters down, and lock them into place, as the lock clicks they shake violently with lurkers rampaging against the other side. Shutting and locking the door, I sigh as I watch the shutters rattle. Inhuman groans and roars come from the other side. Great now i have to put up with this all night. Turning around to face the survivor and I'm instantly greeted with a barrel to my face. “Oh, Wonderful…” I say. “ So i save your life and this is how you repay me? “ I stare at the survivor, she’s around my my height. with red hair and brown eyes. “Either way if you shoot me, you’re dead.The noise will just anger the things outside more, It seems loud noises irritates them.”

Walking slowly around the side of her, I jump up and sit on the till desk. He hand shakes slightly as she follows me around with the barrel. “You got a name missus?” I ask, to try and distract her from the situation. She remains silent, her eyes scanning the room. Watching her intently, i shuffle slightly backwards, my hands resting on the edge of the back of the desk. “No name huh?..” I stare at the gun for a few moments. Tilting my head as if i was looking at the side of it, i say “The safeties on you know?”  She lowers the gun slightly, and tilts it away to look at the safety switch, grabbing the baseball bat from behind the counter, i swing it at the gun sending it hurtling away from her and colliding with the wall. She jumps back from fright, and i jump off the counter onto my feet, slowly pacing towards her. “ I risk my shelter…” I glare at her intently, as I approach. “I risk my life, I risk my food… “ lifting up my bat i point it at her “And this is how you repay me?..”  Staying silent as ever, she flinches slightly as i swing the bat around subconsciously while I'm thinking. “I should throw you back out there…” I say as I turn to look at the shutters. She stutters a breath and whimpers slightly. “Mind you, I might as well be putting a gun to your face….” I look at her. “So, either you start getting talkative really quickly, or give me a good reason to not feed you to the dogs.”  After a few moments, she replies.

“Cause you’re the first person I've seen in a year..”

“Well then… I guess that’s a good enough reason…” I pause to think, When was the last time i saw a living person?

Sighing, as i realise that we're in the same boat . I drop the bat to my side, and walk over to the counter, leaning over and putting the bat away, I pick up a bottle of water, and a tin of beans. “Here…” I say as i hand them the food and water. They hurriedly open the tin, as i pass them a fork, and they start scoffing down the food, “You smoke?” I say as i head back to my reserves and get some cigarettes. Sparking one up, I inhale a drag and turn to her. Nodding her head, i throw her a packet. “keep it” i say as it lands next to her. Finishing her food and water, she sparks up a cigarette and we sit in silence for a bit while we smoke. I wonder where she came from, and how did she end up with so many lurkers after her. “You've probably had a rough night, you can sleep through there if you want, there’s a few sleeping bags. I’ll stay up and keep an eye on the lurkers. Nodding she stands up and heads into the room. Picking up my night binoculars and a few molotov’s, I head to the roof, just before I walk through the door, the stranger's head pops round the corner. “It’s Taylorjay…” she says timidly. “Dwayne…”  she nods and heads back into the room without a word. Shaking my head, wondering about what I've gotten myself into i head up the ladder to the roof.

Opening up the hatch, I pull myself up onto the roof, creeping over the edge i peek over at the lurker. “Eurgh, good job you fuckers can’t climb….” I mutter to myself. As i speak their heads instantly point towards me. Putting the molotov’s on the floor i light one up then light the rest with the first. “Eat this…” I say as I barrage the lurkers with molotov’s. They scream in pain, the high pitch squeal hurts my ears slightly. Some of them run off into the darkness still on fire, others just try harder to reach me. Okay, how about this. I pick up my own concoction i made from some supplies i found in a school science lab. Aiming for the biggest one, i throw it at it hitting its back. As it catches on fire, i wait a few seconds then it starts to squeals even louder. “Hydrosulfric acid hurts like a b***h, don’t it?”  Laughing slightly, I head downstairs into the store. Grabbing my sleeping bag I head onto the store floor, I perch up behind the counter, and let sleep consume me.

Dreams haunt me as they always do.