Counting By the Days

The beginning

The thought of an apocalypse had only crossed a few people's minds. The minds of those who are accepting to ideas and the controversy of the world, the ones who could explain the simplest things in the up most detail. The minds of the crazy, abnormal, freaks. Everyone may think of an apocalypse, but not the same way as these "out casts" per say. I know this because I've seen this, I am this. I am a freak. I am abnormal. I am resourceful. I am useful. I am a survivor.

When the broadcasts started the world was in denial. No one could bring themselves to think about what was going to happen, what was happening. All anyone could do was sit and gawp at the screen of a television or knobs on a radio, it was life changing. Shock was only the beginning. After shock came panic. Panic is not a good thing in an international crisis. Panic causes casualties, casualties cause panic. I remember when everyone had wished everyone thought alike, this was not the case in this scenario. In this scenario everyone had the idea to get food, because without food how will you make it through what is happening or about to happen. People hit grocery stores, drug Marts and malls like a flock of birds to spilt fries. If they only knew that they would have been better off at home. Like the announcements had said. They didn't listen well, but neither did I.

The casualties I had been talking about started to rise. This caused more panic and when panic comes so does death, and with death comes an awaking. You know how people used to say that thing when you were being too loud "you're so loud you could wake the dead", in this case that was exactly how it was. If only we knew this before, it's not like it would have helped much though, people would still have screamed, I mean who wouldn't. The dead are rising, you are going to scream whether it's in shock or pure terror. I was one of the first people to realize what was happening, I was one of the first people to scream and yes it was in pure terror, I was afraid for my life and so many others were too. I don't blame them.

I remember being in that grocery store so clearly, I remember the walls, the floor, the exit door, the people, and the monsters. I remember the scenery so well, but not my actions. I must have fought my way out of there, or I wouldn't be here today.

I do remember when I got home though. I had shakily pullin' up into my drive way, twisting off the engine denying what had happened was reality, only hoping it was my imagination. But I had known it wasn't. I stumbled up my driveway on shaky legs and entered my house. It was dark. I hadn't have turned my lights off when I left, I had left in a panicked rush, I remembered that. This only meant that the power had quit, to what extent was unknown. Warily I had walked down the hallway that connected to the main entrance. I eyed the blood spattered walls. I had heard whimpering, much like a dogs, like my dogs. It was at this point that I fucked being wary and ran my ass up the flight of stairs. Only to find a dim shadow of a creature hunched over my dying dog, it was eating him, it was eating my damn dog. I tried to hold back the sobs, but it was too much, it was all too much. I couldn't help it, I let go, I lost whatever control I had. The head of the creature swivelled around on only what could be assumed was a broken neck, it stared into my eyes, I looked into the shadows of its, no trace of humanity, let alone life was left within those little globes. It felt like I had spent an eternity staring into the lifeless spheres that had once been called eyes before the thing came at me, it knocked me down hard weaving away the breath within my lungs. I could smell it's rank breath, and the stench of death that it emitted, a smell so terrible that it permanently logged itself into your mind, never to be forgotten. I couldn't get it off me, but it's not like I had tried. I didn't know what to do, that's a lie, I did, I just didn't know how to do it. When your mind is crowded in a certain level of fear all actions become seemingly impossible and timeless, you may never understand this until you have experienced it yourself. The pure terror I had felt was enough to freeze me in my place, with the creature atop me, its teeth presumably infections grazing my cheek. I had closed my eyes and held my breath at this moment, at the moment it sank it's cannibalistic teeth into the flesh of my left bicep. I had screamed in pure agony feeling the disease spread through my veins. Filling my mind with thoughts a man should not think and a hunger so deep that it caused my body to pulsate beneath the being. It dropped, as if the flesh, in its mouth, had poisoned it.
It was at that moment my vision was crowded with black, I allowed the blackness to envelope me. I was whisked away, to a deep dark place. I was in my own mind. Lost. Never to be found. Or so I thought.