The Road Less Traveled

Chapter 1

"Two roads diverged in a wood and I - I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference."
Robert Frost

A young man wakes up in his bed. He stands up and stretches before looking in the mirror. The young man has mid length brown hair and hazel eyes. He was still wearing his outfit from last night. A red long sleeve flannel, a pair of jeans and black boots.

He must have passed out last night after partying in his apartment. He has 3 flatmates that all attend the same college as him. The young man opened the door leading out of his bedroom, filled with regret because of his excessive drinking the night before.

He entered the living room to find his mate, Andrew sleeping on the floor still holding a can of beer in one hand. Andrew has short blonde hair styled into a quiff. His eyes were a soft blue. He was wearing a white v-neck, khakis, with black and white skate shoes.

The young man kicked his friend and said, "Andrew get up."

Andrew shot up and had a dazed look on his face. He yawned, "What time is it?"

The young man replied, "I don't know I think the power is out."

"Are you kidding me, Craig?" Andrew pouted.

"I wish. Do you know where the others are?" Craig asked.

"They were in Mike's room last night." Andrew answered.

Craig walked down the hall and into Mike's room. Mike was awake and  looking rather confused while on his phone in bed. Mike has light brown hair pulled back into a top knot with the sides shaved off. His eyes are brown. He was wearing a black tank top, black and white Adidas sweatpants and black slides.

"What up Craig." Mike waved. "Noah is still asleep." Noah was sleeping on a computer chair. He has short curly black hair that sweeps onto part of his forehead and green eyes. He was wearing a gray shortsleeve sweatshirt, distressed jeans and gray sneakers.

Mike laughed, "Also this chick Casey is still here." He pointed at a passed out girl on the floor. She had long blonde hair, tanned skin and blue eyes. She was wearing Pink branded clothes.

"She was all over Noah last night but he wasn't having any of it." Mike remembered.

"Wake up Noah because I wanna go to this new bagel place that opened." Craig told him.

Craig walked out and headed for the apartment's door. He stepped outside and immediately saw a man sitting on the stairs facing the opposite direction. He looked very dirty and was just sitting there on the top step This man didn't move he just sat and groaned. His breathing was very heavy. Craig creeped closer to him. He was into arm's reach. Then the man turned and smiled.

While walking past him Craig greeted him, "Good morning, Cecil."

"Morning Craig." Cecil replied.

Craig put a quarter in Cecil's styrofoam cup and walked away from the raggedy old man.

He walked down to the lobby and noticed the front door was barricaded with a cabinet. The whole door was not visible. He also heard loud banging which concerned Craig. He turned to the front desk to ask about all this but no one was there. He stood there for a while then decided to go in the back room behind the clerk's desk. The door was unlocked so he opened it to find the desk clerk dead up against the wall.

He had a handgun in his hand and a note near his feet. Craig inched forward with a pit in his stomach trying not to pay attention to the bullet hole through his head and the blood splattered on the wall beside the corpse. He just couldn't believe this man was dead. He's known him for months but now he was gone and would never come back. He probably had a family that cared deeply about him and now they won't ever see him again. He picked up the note and looked it over.

"I'm writing this note as a warning. A warning for who finds this. Some large scale virus has made people into mindless cannibals. It's spread by being bitten. I was attacked by one this morning and they bit me but I pushed him outside and managed to barricade the door to prevent any others from getting in. I was watching the news while it was still airing and people are dying everywhere. I can already tell I'm losing my mind and the pain is immense so I no longer have a will to live. I'm going to use the handgun under my desk to kill myself. There should be 11 bullets still inside after I'm done. Feel free to take it because I won't need it anymore.

-Frank Meyers"

Craig couldn't believe this it had to be some sort of joke. He picked up the gun anyway. He walked back upstairs and saw Cecil again.

"Cecil you won't believe what I just saw the clerk is dead and there are cannibals running around killing people." Craig explained in a panic.

"I know." Cecil replied. "Everyone else is gone I've been waiting for you boys to wake up."

Craig began, "Well what do you suppose we do? I have so many people to call and–"

"Don't bother the phone lines are down." Cecil interrupted. "And I suppose we should get out of here because those monsters have been banging on the back door for hours and I'm afraid that lock won't last too much longer."

"I need to tell the others I'll be right back. Sit tight." said Craig.

He rushed into his apartment and called everyone into the living room. Andrew walked out of the bathroom. Mike, Noah and Casey all walked out of Mike's room.

"Guys guys, you defiantly won't believe this but–"

"Yeah we know crazy people killing and eating others" Andrew told him. "I've been watching through the window and that shit is wack."

"Also the front desk guy, Frank killed himself and left this gun." Craig said showing them the pistol. "Cecil thinks we should get out of here so get your stuff we're leaving right now."