Apocalyptic ✔

Seventeen

Run Away

Shaking his head, Mr. Smith tells you, "I'm sorry, but we can't try to fight with these people. We will find somewhere else. "

You're not happy with his decision, but what are you going to do? You can't fight them all alone, and you don't want to separate from the Smiths. They are the only familiar faces that you may ever see again.

Mr. Smith decides that it's worth the risk to sneak back toward the suv. You can't leave here on foot, and he did leave the keys in the ignition. You lead them back the way you came earlier. It's harder to stay hidden with so many of you, and it takes precious time that you don't really have. At any second, one of the strangers could notice that their captives are no longer in the back yard.

Finally, you have crept as close to the vehicle as you can. You all are still 60 feet away, but that's as far as you can sneak as a group. You won't all fit behind that one tree, after all.

At his signal, Mr. Smith leads the charge as you bolt for the car. Yanking open the back door, you hesitate while Sam shoves his sister across the seat. He dives in after her, and the engine comes to life as you scramble inside. Mrs. Smith has barely made it inside the vehicle when, with gravel flying from the churning tires, Mr. Smith floors it in reverse.

You skid wildly onto the narrow back road and fly away from the cabin. As far as you could tell, the people inside didn't have a chance to react to your escape. After a few miles, Mr. Smith slows to a more reasonable pace. Somehow, you've all managed to escape with no major injuries.

The morning sun is rising higher in the sky. You've been driving in silence for nearly an hour. Everyone is still shook up from your near miss, back there. In the middle of this vast forrest, you haven't seen any signs of life the entire time. No other cars or buildings, just the five of you, and the occasional wildlife that darts in front of your suv.

When, finally, you do spot another man made building, you are thrilled. It's a large hunting cabin with some sort of shed to the side. Mr. Smith slows down at the turn off, looking for any signs of life. When he doesn't see anything bothersome, he makes the turn and you bump your way over the uneven dirt path that serves as the driveway.

When he stops in front of the cabin, you all look anxiously out of the windows. After a full five minutes, there is still no sign of anyone being inside.

"I'm going to take a closer look." He tells you all. This time, Mrs. Smith doesn't argue with him. She stays put in the car as he creeps toward the cabin. You watch as he carefully looks in a few windows, before disappearing around the back.

Minutes drag by and you are jumping out of your skin when Mr. Smith walks back to the car.

"It seems clear. I don't think there's anyone here, just... be careful." He tells you all. Glad to be out of the car, you shove open your door and spring to your feet. The others climb out, too. As a group, you all walk to the cabin. Once there, Sam tries the door, and finds it locked.

While Sam and his dad do their best to get the front door open, you wander around the side of the cabin. It's a big place, the kind where a dozen guys get together to drink, hunt, and generally escape their lives for the weekend. There's a stack of firewood against the back wall. A few yards away from that, a well used fire pit catches your eye.

You wander closer to the ring of stones, glancing around you to check for any zombies. They make enough noise that, here, in the silence of the woods, you are confident that you will hear one coming from far away. This place feels fairly safe.

Once at the fire pit, you are halfway to the shed you saw earlier. It's big enough that you wonder what might be inside. Deciding to check it out, you walk closer, carefully looking out for trouble.

This building has no windows, just two solid doors, one big enough to fit a vehicle through. You rap on the smaller door lightly and then wait, listening for any sounds from inside. When you don't hear anything, you reach for the handle. Just as you are gripping the knob, you hear Mrs. Smith calling your name. She sounds worried, and you realise that you shouldn't have wandered away from the group like this.

Turning slightly, you yell, "I'm over here, by the she-"

A solid weight catapults itself against the inside of the door, cutting off your sentence. You had turned the door knob enough that the door flys open, smacking you in the side of the head. You fall back, landing on your butt in the overgrown grass.

In seemingly slow motion, you watch as first one, then a second zombie, thrash their way through the doorway. They have both obviously been dead for days, skin rotting and bloated. Maggots crawl from their various wounds, and the second zombie to come out has an obviously severely broken arm. Below the elbow, the limb flops and dangles uselessly, held on by nothing more than rotting flesh.

Backpedaling as fast as you can go, you try to get enough distance between you and them to be able to stand up and run. Snarling rabidly, the two corpses advance.

Panting with panic, you manage to push to your feet and turn to run. Just then, Sam bounds around the corner, and the two of you collide with some serious force. The wind knocked out of you, you fall back to the ground.

You register the horrified look on Sam's face just before you feel the first bite to your calf.