N-23: The last days

Chapter 1 - The dream

“Stay close to me, Mel!”

Jake shouted, his voice barely audible over the cacophony of growls and screams. His daughter, clutching a small, blood-stained baseball bat, stood behind him, her eyes wide with fear and determination. She had learned to fight, too. There was no other choice in this world.

Something lunged at them, its mouth open in a silent scream. It was half dead and carried the smell of rotten corpse along with it. It was called a Rager. Jake drove his spear into its chest, feeling the resistance of bone and muscle before it pierced the heart. Trying to kil them like humans would do nothing most times, depending on the durability of the Rager. This one was no exception as it still continued to move even after its heart was struck. Mel screamed and used her bat continuously to bash its head until it longer moved. The rager fell, but in its place, two more had emerged, their eyes blazing with the hunger for flesh.

“Mel, now!!” Jake yelled. Mel swung her bat with all her might, the wooden club connecting with a sickening crunch against the skull of a rager. It staggered back, but the other grabbed her arm, pulling her toward its gnashing teeth. Jake’s heart immediately skipped, seeing her in danger.

With a roar, he lunged forward, kicking the rager that grabbed her arm. Then, he pulled out a Ruger 10/22 riffle and shot the rager on the head as it fell. He forcefully pulled the bat out of the other Rager’s skull and shot it immediately. He yanked Mel to safety as it fell to the ground.

“Are you okay?” he asked, his voice trembling.

“I’m fine dad,” She replied, her voice small but steady. She wiped a smear of blood from her cheek, took her bat from her father and tightened her grip on it. Jake looked at her bat, it had cracks and looked like it would break at any moment from then. Instantly, he regretted not having forced her into learning how to use a gun. He had always wanted to teach her how to use a gun because he thought her weapon was clumsy. Other than that, it was the fastest way to kill a rager without getting too close on it – close enough to get infected. Being stubborn, she always resisted, she had a trauma she had never healed from; Her mother was killed long before the start of the virus, when Mel was ten. Someone had shot her mother during a robbery, when they went to a supermarket to get groceries. Ever since then, Mel had hated guns and would not hold one even if her life depended on it.

“Dad! Focus” Mel said, tugging Jake’s shirt. He had drifted far, and at time like this? There was no time to rest. The ragers were unending, a tide of rage and death. Jake fought with a ferocity born of desperation, his spear a blur as he struck at the oncoming monsters. He felt their claws rake against his skin, their skin snapping inches from his face. But he couldn’t afford to falter. Mel’s life depended on him.

As he fought, the world around him began to shift. The landscape blurred, the sounds of battle fading into the background. He found himself in the old house, the one he had shared with his daughter. The familiar creak of the floorboards under his feet was a stark contrast to the chaos outside. Jake moved slowly through the dimly lit hallway, the sound of Mel’s voice echoing in his ears.

“Daddy, come on!” Her voice was a sweet melody, a stark reminder of the innocence that had been brutally taken from them. He reached her room, the door ajar. Pushing it open, he saw her sitting on the floor, playing with her favorite doll. She looked up at him with those big blue eyes, a smile spread across her face. For a moment, everything seemed normal.

But then, the scene shifted again. The room darkened, and Mel’s smile faded. Her eyes clouded over with a milky haze, and she began to convulse. Slowly, the scenery began to the change. From the nicely arranged room to a house which was scattered and was almost in shambles. Mel appeared in the dark, far down the hall way from where Jake was. He looked up to see her and then she waved slowly slightly tilting her neck to the left as he did so. He then ran towards her but then she fell to the ground, convulsing once more. Jake rushed to her side, his heat pounding in his chest.

“Mel! Stay with me, baby. Please” His voice crackled as he held her trembling body. He looked at her left arm and saw that she had been bitten by one of the ragers. The virus had taken her too quickly, far too quickly for him to do anything. He could only watch helplessly as the light faded from her eyes. Her small body went limp in his arms and he screamed, the sound echoing through the empty house.

The scenery twisted further. He was back in the battle with Mel, but now Mel was different. Her eyes were vacant, her skin pallid and cold. She was almost a Rager, her once beautiful small hands clawing at him, her mouth open in a snarl.

“Daddy, help me,” She whispered, her voice a haunting echo of her former self. She had his gun on her other hand, and as if battling with something, she was fighting to bring the gun up to her head.

And as Jake watched in horror, she blew her brains out.