Consequence

Chapter Nineteen

Eastern Colorado University. That's where the Fireflies must've travelled from to get to St Mary's. Perhaps there were more clues as to their whereabouts. It wasn't that far away. Two and half days on horseback at most, he estimated. With his mind made up he quickly made his way back out onto the street to tend to Duke, the horse nickering affectionately at the sight of his owner. Joel padded him on the neck with a kind smile as he kicked at the ashes of his campfire to put out the remaining embers, then pulled softly at the gelding's reins as he clicked his teeth for the horse to walk on. He pulled himself back into the saddle with a dull grunt then kicked Duke in a gentle paced trot.

University of Eastern Colorado...' go bighorns' Joel thought to himself sarcastically. Maybe there Joel would finally find the answers he was looking for. He gave another kick to push Duke on into a canter as they took off through the old broken roads and around the rusting and rotting cars that littered the streets; then back onto the freeway. He knew he had to pick up his pace before night fell, his dark eyes scanning every road sign until he found one that pointed the way to Colorado. Joel was so focused on the road signs, he failed to notice the twitching and the groans of the figures slowly creeping towards him as they dragged out their rotting bodies from under the cars. The screeches and clicks echoing through the wind. Duke's shout of fear shattered the silence as more infected charged for horse and rider, their deformed claws and bony broken nails reaching out for flesh to scratch and hack. Joel had no time to react as he was pulled from his saddle.

The next thing he knew, he was on the ground. His back slammed into the concrete with a dull thud. The strange being scrambled on top of him; hissing and screeching in his face. Joel turned his face away from the putrid breath and disgusting spittle that flew from the creature's mouth. Moving his arm across his face to shield himself, he pushed against his attacker's collarbone. Or what was left of it. Its whole body was thin and bony. Flesh flaked away as a horrid fungus seemed to be growing from the inside out across its entire body. It continued to screech in his face; its gnashing teeth snapping and clicking in a violent attempt to tear into him. He moved his legs up towards his chest to dig his feet into the attacker's stomach and kicked out with as much strength as he could muster. The figure stumbled back losing its footing and Joel took that as his chance to jump to his feet. His eyes scanned the area for Duke and his backpack. The horse reared in fear as most of the screeching creatures had cornered the poor animal by the edge of a blocked road tunnel. Joel didn't stop to think as he took off towards him. He picked up a plank of wood lying by a pile of rubble and swung hard as the wood connected with the head of one of the monsters that were trying desperately to claw at Duke's legs.

The head seemed to explode at the blow that impacted its skull. As it fell to the ground with a hard slump, twitching slightly before growing still. Joel heaved a breath that jumped from his chest along with his racing heart. Whatever that thing was...it was dead now. He quickly moved towards Duke, letting the splintered plank drop from his grip. The horse snorted in fear, stomping his hooves but Joel took his ahold of the reins, stroking softly across his nose to ease him.

"Easy fella, you're okay." He soothed. Though he didn't have long to reassure him, the screeching began again as more infected came barreling towards them. Without a second thought; he pulled his gun from his bag strapped to Duke's saddle and aimed it between their eyes. The gunshot echoed through the air, and the clicking and screaming became louder. The grunts of the humanlike beings charged toward him as one grabbed at his jacket. It looked like a man but his eyes were cloudy and bloodshot. His clothes were stained and ripped, his skin almost see-through as strange veinlike growths grew from his body. Some protruding from his nose and mouth. He screamed in Joel's face, blood pouring from his nose and eyes. His mouth was a mess of broken teeth and sores that oozed with what looked like sprouting buds of some kind. The older man pushed him away, reaching for the blade on his belt and aimed straight for the chest. He jabbed and jabbed like a madman until the other dropped to the floor. He didn't have time to recover as more ran at him, this time a monstrous-looking thing that had the body of a human but its head... its head was a fungus-grown deformity. It seemed to have grown out from within the being's skull, splitting the crown apart down to its mouth. The septum broke apart to make way for whatever was growing from the thing's head.