5 Minute Reads - Anthology

The Apocalypse Rises

By Damienrocks118 

Damien wakes up in bed in the morning. Wow, what a long day yesterday. He thought. That maze was scary. I didn't think we could make it out alive! He started to remember that dream he had. Mom...Dad... He thought miserably. I miss them...By the way, where's Ashley? Damien slowly got up from bed and walked out of his room, through the halls, and found Ashley's room. The door was closed. Damien knocked on the door. "Hello? Ashley??" He called out. No answer. That's odd... Damien thought. Where IS she??! He continued to walk through the halls until he was in the kitchen. "She's isn't in the kitchen either?!" He whispered anxiously. "What the hell is going...?! What's this?" Damien noticed a small diary on the middle of the stove. A diary? He thought, perplexed. Damien picked up the diary and noticed a lock on it. I know I shouldn't be reading someone's diary, He thought, but if this is Ashley's diary, then I need to see what she is hiding! That video tape got me concerned, so I need to know what that was all about. But, how could he get it open? Then, he had a thought. He pulled out a small knife from the knife holder and slid it through the key hole. Damien unlocked the diary. Hell! I really shouldn't be doing this, but I have to! He thought. He opened the diary. The first page says:

My family and I have faith in the people of X-Con.. Without them, the world, as we know it, will perish! We're nothing without the people of our-

Before Damien could finish reading, he felt a sharp jab poke his leg. "GAAHHH!!" He cried, as he dropped the diary. He started to shake his leg and found a scorpion crawling out of his pants. "GOD!! THAT HURTS!!!" He yelled. "DOESN'T ASHLEY EVER USE ANY BUG SPRAY?!!?" Suddenly, he realized that Ashley was still gone. Great. He thought angrily, as he picked up the diary, closed it, and placed it back on the stove. I'll never find Ashley now! What am I gonna do?! Huh? What's this? Damien saw a note next to the stove. He picked it up and read it:

Dear Damien,

I'm washing myself at a nearby pond, so I'll be out for a bit. You could say that I'm "Furry dipping" though. You'll have the place to yourself, so please be careful and don't hurt yourself. If any zombies are close by, try to hide in the basement. I'll be gone for a bit, so be careful.

-Ashley

Furry dipping??? Damien thought. But, she's a regular fox that talks! Not an anthropomorphic fox that talks! Well, I guess I'll make breakfast myse... Huh? Damien noticed a plate of pancakes on the table next to a bottle of syrup with another note attached to it. He walked closer and read it:

I also made you breakfast before I left. Enjoy!🎵

-Ashley

"Wow! She's thought of everything!" Damien exclaimed. "But, how can SHE make breakfast??" Three minutes later, after he ate the pancakes, Damien sat down on a chair and read the newspaper he found in the bathroom. "What the hell does this mean..." He sighed. "I don't understand what this crap means...! First, the security camera recorded video, and now this...! I don't understand this... Is Ashley hiding something......Naah, she wouldn't do that. Would she...?" Damien put the newspaper on the coffee table in front of him and put his hands on his face. I really have to stop talking to myself! He thought miserably. Only weirdos do that! But...I AM a weirdo. An idiotic and stupid weirdo... Damien slowly got up and walked to the fridge. He opened the right door and pulled out an apple. Then, he took a big bite out of it. This tastes like sadness. He thought sadly. Being alone and talking to a fox must mean that I'm going crazy! Except that the fox is talking to ME! After he finished the apple, he sat back down on his chair. Ashley... I'm getting lonely here without you... He thought gloomily. GRRRRRRRR! A voice growled. Wh-What the hell was that?!? Damien thought anxiously. I'm...pretty sure that wasn't my stomach because I just at an apple! He got up and looked both ways. You know what?!! He thought stressfully. This must be a prank set up by Ashley! She probably wants revenge on me for calling her a red-faced maniac! She also might've locked the basement! Damien's face was sweating with fear. Well, guess what, you bright red idiot?! I'm leaving the cabin, and I'm going to look for you! He stormed out the door and ended up in the front yard. The front yard had two gardens with wilted flowers. Between them was a white sidewalk with cracks on it. Okay! Damien thought. The letter said that the pond was nearby! Would it be on the left or the right? GRRRRRRR! The voice is getting closer. The pond is to the right! Damien thought fearfully, as he ran down the sidewalk and ran to the right side of the forest, which, by the way, is filled with trees with no leaves. As he ran, Damien thought, Where is the pond? I have to find Ashley! Suddenly, he fell on his knees and clenched his leg. "Rrrgh!!" He cried. "That scorpion sting really hurts!! I don't know if I can make it!! Huh? What's that?" Damien looked up and noticed a large crystal clear pond. Ashley was there. She is still in the pond. She's a few inches away from the edge of the pond and is rubbing a pink bar of soap on her right leg. Is she still "furry dipping"? Damien thought, annoyed. Girls. Always trying to stay clean. Ashley didn't seem to notice Damien, but when he weakly walked closer to her, she noticed him. "Damien!" She exclaimed shockingly. "What are you doing here? Are you okay?!" "I was throwing a party at your mother's house." Damien replied sarcastically. "You almost killed me with your crappy pranks!" "I-I don't know what you're talking about." Ashley said, confused and worried, as she rubbed her soap on her other leg. "Oh! Did you hurt your leg?!" "Don't change the subject." Damien snapped calmly, but he started to get more concerned about his leg. "I-I got stung by a scorpion." He continued. "It looked like a red little demon!" "Wait!" Ashley cried in extreme fear and anxiety. "Did you say red?!" "Yes! It was fricking red!!" Damien cried. "Why?!" "Oh, crap! You got stung by a Hottentotta Tamulus!" Ashley cried. "The Indian red scorpion! Their sting is deadly enough to kill you!" "WHAT?!!!!" Damien screamed anxiously and fearfully. "WHAT THE HELL AM I GONNA DO?!!! I CAN'T DIE!!!!" "Stay calm! Stay calm!" Ashley cried. "I'll help you and make sure you survive!" "H-HOW?!!!" Damien screamed. "I ALREADY FEEL LIKE THAT I'M GONNA BARF!!!" "I have a hypodermic needle with me." Ashley said. "It contains medicine that I made. It cures any sting from insects and arachnids." She put down her soap bar and took out a hypodermic needle from the pond. Damien walked into the pond and Ashley took his hand. "This may hurt, but it'll make you better." Ashley said gently. Damien felt a slightly sharp jab on his hand. "NNNGHH!!" He grunted, as Ashley injected the medicine into him. "There!" She said happily. "All better!" "But...you injected the medicine into my hand." Damien said. "I got stung on the leg!" "The medicine spreads throughout your body." Ashley said. "You don't have to worry. You won't get any symptoms. I promise." I hope not! Damien thought. I hope I don't get symptoms! Later, Damien ended up sitting on the edge of the pond with his leg in the water. Ashley was rubbing her soap on her neck. "So, you're telling me that you weren't pranking me?" Damien said. "And you're also telling me that it was a zombie?!" "Not just any zombie." Ashley said. "It's the E.I. zombie." "Wh-What's that?!" Damien cried. "What's an E.I. zombie?!" "An Extremely Infectious zombie." Ashley said. "The Extremely Infectious zombie infects people when they look at its eyes. It's a highly hazardous zombie." "What?! What are we gonna DO?!" Damien cried. "If we look at the monster, we'll die!!!" Before Ashley could answer, she heard noises. GRRRRRRRR! "CRAP!!" Damien cried. "I can hear it! The E.I. zombie is coming!" "Calm yourself!" Ashley whispered anxiously. "The zombie might hear you." She got out of the water and dried herself with a towel. "We have to hide behind that big tree!" She whispered. She and Damien ran towards a big tree and hid behind it. They both peaked from the tree. "I don't see it." Damien whispered. "Where could it b-?" "RAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!" Damien and Ashley heard a shrill shriek. They turned around and saw the E.I. zombie. It was missing an arm and one eye, it had a torn up yellow shirt with a red biohazard shirt on it, and it had torn up black jeans. "AAAAAAAHHHH!!!" Ashley screamed, as she turned away. "DAMIEN, DON'T LOOK AT IT!!" Damien didn't say anything. He just stared at the E.I. zombie. "NOOOOOOOOO!!!" Ashley cried. "NOT DAMIEN!!! PLEASE NO-!!!" "LET'S JUST GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE, ASHLEY!!!" Damien screamed fearfully, as he grabbed Ashley's paw and ran off. He ran through the forest and found Ashley's cabin. He ran in and locked the door. He let go of Ashley's paw. "Wh-What's gonna happen to us?!!?!" Damien cried. "What will we do?!?! Can't we just hide somewhere?!!" "The E.I. zombie knows where his victims hide." Ashley said sadly. "It..will find us and infect us." "But, what about ME??!!" Damien asked stressfully. "He didn't infe- WAIT!! My glasses!!" "That's it, Damien!" Ashley exclaimed excitingly. "Your glasses blocked the E.I. zombie's powers! You're immune to its powers! Wait right here!" Ashley ran towards a cabinet under the sink, opened it, and started looking for a weapon. "Ashley, what're you doing?!" Damien cried. "You can't fight that thing! You'll get infected!" "Yeah, but if I find a crossbow, I will surely stop the E.I. zombie." Ashley said. Oh, crap infinity! Damien thought fearfully. I can't let Ashley do this! And trying to convince her to not do it won't work either! I have to do something! He suddenly noticed a frying pan on the counter next to him. I know what I must do! He thought, as he picked it up. He started to slowly walk towards Ashley. "Now, where is that crossbow?" Ashley said. Damien stood behind Ashley, clenching the frying pan in his hands sadly. He lifted it in the air. I'm sorry! He thought. YOU CAN BLAME ME FOR WHAT I'M ABOUT TO DO!!! "Ah!" Ashley said. "There it-!" BANG!!! A fatal blow on the head knocked her out. With a tear in his eye, Damien placed the frying pan in the sink and grabbed the crossbow. I didn't want to do this, He thought tearfully, but, I don't want you to get infected! He ran out the door with the crossbow. He slowly walked through the forest, worried about what's gonna happen to him. I can do this! I can do this! He thought. ...I CAN'T DO THIS!!!! Suddenly, he felt a wrinkly hand touch his shoulder. He turned around and saw the E.I. zombie! "AAAAAAAAAAAHH!!!" He screamed, as he fired the crossbow, but the zombie grabbed the arrow before it stabbed his chest. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!" Damien screamed, as he dropped the crossbow and ran off, but the E.I. zombie chased after him. "GET AWAY!!!" Damien screamed. "AAAAAAAHHHH!!!!" He stopped running and turned around. The zombie was gone. "Wha-?!" Damien cried. "Where is h-?!" Something grabbed him in the neck from behind. The E.I. zombie is strangling Damien! "Gaaaack!!!!" Damien choked. Suddenly, he noticed the arrow in the E.I. zombie's pocket. He tried to reach for it. He grabbed it and drove it through the E.I. zombie's neck. It let go of Damien's neck and started screaming a horrible scream. Damien then grabbed the E.I. zombie's head and squeezed it. It started shrieking. With clenched teeth, Damien said, "You will no longer terrorize a 20-year old man!!" CRUSH!! Damien crushed the zombie's head and it fell to the ground. Damien started gasping for breath. "Thank god I did it!" He gasped. "WAIT!! ASHLEY!!!" He started running through the forest and found the cabin. He ran in and found Ashley unconscious on the ground in the kitchen next to the cabinet. "ASHLEY!!" Damien screamed. He fell to his knees and shook Ashley's body. "Wake up! Wake up, Ashley!!" He shouted. No answer. "Oh-no! What have I DONE?!?!!" Damien cried. He put his hands on his face and started crying. Suddenly, Ashley's eyes slowly opened. "Damien?" She said quietly, but weakly, as she lifted her head. "Ow, my head." "ASHLEY!!!" Damien cried. "THANK GOD YOU'RE ALIVE!!!" "I-I don't know what happened." Ashley said weakly. "I felt something metal hit my head, and that's when I passed out." "Ashley, I...I slammed a frying pan onto your head!" Damien admitted. Ashley's eyes grew wide as dinner plates. "Y-You knocked me out?" She asked, shocked. Damien, with clenched teeth, was filled with tears in his eyes. He got up and took off, running to his room. He roughly sat on his bed and started crying. "What in the world is wrong with me?!!" He cried. "I almost killed Ashley!! I could've given her BRAIN DAMAGE!!!" He continued crying. Ashley walked in and saw Damien crying. She jumped onto the bed and sat next to him. Damien seemed to have noticed her. "Y-You must think that I'm a crappy, rotten, lousy, selfish, ugly, scumbagged jerk, don't you?" He said miserably. "Even more than that?" "No! No! You're not any of those words!" Ashley said anxiously. "But, please. I just want you to tell me, why did you knock me out with a frying pan?" "To protect you!" Damien whispered stressfully, as he wiped the tears on his eyes. "I didn't want you to get infected and, by knocking you out, I'm preventing you from looking at the eyes of the E.I. zombie. I killed it." Ashley became speechless. Then, she said, "Damien... Th-Thank you." "WHAT??!" Damien cried. "I know that blow could've killed me, but you did it for my own good." Ashley said. "Although, you could've just asked me for the crossbow and I would've let you take care of the task yourself." "AUGH! I should've done that!!" Damien snapped. "You're right! I could've killed you!" "But, at least you saved me." Ashley said, as she put her paw on Damien's shoulder. "And that's all that matters."