The Aftermath

S1E8: The Superhuman

       The sound of footsteps catching up to Ricky and Jill was all that they could hear. The sound of crunching leaves, the sound of their heartbeats, the sound of their panting. They were starting to lose speed and get tired. Keep pushing...keep pushing, Jill would think to herself; trying to escape the grasp of the superhuman. Is this how we die? Are we endangering the group by running towards them? Should I try and save Jill first? Ricky would think to himself while contemplating on what's the right decision.
       Ricky takes out his walkie talkie and begins to contact Chris and the others. "Chris!", Ricky yells while gasping for air during the sprint. "Ricky? What's the situation are you guys ok?", Chris questions Ricky worriedly. "There's 3 crawlers, and a new strong creature following us. What should we do?", Ricky rambles to Chris whilst having trouble to breathe. Chris takes a moment for himself to think about the best decision. "Ricky...just come back we will find a new camp base. We're in this together so don't do anything too drastic. I'll inform the group", Chris says while turning off the radio and beginning to pack up some supplies.
       Chris quickly makes his way over to the group to inform them all about hiding in the infirmary tent since it's the closest to the highway. Suddenly, Paige and Ryan come running out of the woods without any trace of food. "Chris! There's still people out there!", Paige says excitedly. "He's right! There's a supply drop that's on the highway. There could be some food, water and maybe even some weapons", Ryan says feeling accomplished.
      "Guys! This is all good news, but Ricky and Jill are in trouble. We have to relocate. You guys have to help us while we slowly distract the mutants away from the rest of the group so that everyone can escape to the highway", Chris says frantically. Before the two can answer, the sound of agonizing screams can be heard close by. Jill and Ricky come into sight as they run to the tent that is the next closest to the infirmary tent. "It's too late let's hide over here", Chris says to Ryan and Paige as they hide behind a tree.
       "Where are the others?", Paige asked in a whisper. "Jeannie and Hayden are hiding in the tent furthest away from the highway. It's going to be difficult to distract the 4 mutants long enough for them to escape. Jess and Sarah are in the infirmary", Chris informed Ryan and Paige. The mutants come into sight as the crawlers are swarming around the tank like figure. Are they protecting the superhuman? Is it their alpha? How are we going to distract the mutants? Chris thought to himself worriedly.
       Meanwhile in the infirmary tent, Jess and Sarah wait patiently as they hear the growls of the mutants a few feet outside their tent. "Start packing up some medical supplies before we leave", Jess whispers to Sarah. Sarah pauses for a moment and looks at Jess packing up supplies. "Hey Jess, what made you want to be a doctor? You just suddenly wanted to become one a few years ago?". The facial expression of Jess changed to serious to sad. "I guess it's because that I want to help people...unlike the doctors. My mom had stage 4 pancreatic cancer, and it was so hard for me. She sacrificed everything for us, and all I asked for was for her to live...the doctors couldn't even do that. So, I made it my goal to protect people unlike what the doctors could do with my mom. She was just the perfect mother. I'm doing this for her", Jess said while clearly getting emotional.
       Jess showing this side of her was new for Sarah since she only tries to show positivity among the group. "So what about you? What made you become a doctor?", Jess asked Sarah. "I did it to show to everyone that I can make change in life. I was always very self conscious about everything I did, and my parents were the only people who believed that I could make change. Especially my mother, she was such a generous person and helped out anyone in need. She was my inspiration. After I lost touch with them before the blast, I made myself a promise. I will always strive to help others just like she did. I will make change", Sarah revealed to Jess.
       They shared looks and comforted each other from their pasts. Even when the mutants were just outside the tent, they still trusted in each other in that moment. They start crying into each other's arms when they get stopped, by a crawler coming in the tent. It lunges at them unexpectedly as they're still embracing each other. Is this really it? Is this how we die? How will this affect the group? Sarah thought to herself as she flinched expecting the worst.
       Suddenly, the sound of a gunshot starts to ring in their ears. Am I hurt? Are we safe? Sarah thought to herself while slowly opening her eyes to check on what happened. She sees Jeannie with a blood stained shirt while gasping for air as she saved Jess and Sarah from two crawlers. In the front of Sarah, shows two dead corpses just a few inches away from her. "Come on let's go. The others are distracting the two mutants", Jeannie says while panting. Jeannie, Sarah and Jess make their ways to the highway and wait in patience for the rest of the group.
       Jess notices that Jeannie is clearly shaken as she worries about her brother. "He'll be ok", Jess says reassuringly. "He better be because he's the one who told me to leave him", Jeannie says jokingly. "Let's try to get some of these cars open down the road so we can have a place to sleep", Jeannie says calmly.
       Back at the camp, Ryan is throwing rocks further away from the camp in order to give us an opportunity to escape to the highway. "Paige, Ricky, Jill and Hayden! Go to the highway. Me and Ryan can handle this", Chris whispers loudly. "Ryan throw the rock in the other direction", Chris said before he hears the bushes rustling behind him.
       Suddenly, the superhuman charges at Chris and knocks him on the ground. He groans in pain as the superhuman begins to slowly sink its nails in Chris's leg. Chris's vision is getting a bit hazy as he desperately looks for something to hit the creature with. He notices a sharp stick and reaches for it with all his strength. Just a little bit further. He thought to himself before finally grabbing the stick. He shoves sharp edge deep into one of the creature's eyes which resulted in the creature growling in pain as Chris get out of his grasp.
       Chris begins to limp back to the highway with Ryan behind him. The creature jerks his arm back, and it hits Ryan onto his back. He groans in pain as both the superhuman and the crawler try to rip him to shreds. "Ryan!", Chris yells as he tries to formulate an idea. Chris runs over to the fire and created a torch to scare away the crawler. "Hey ugly over here!", Chris yells trying to get the superhuman's attention. He shoves the torch into another one of the creature's eyes which results in another scream of agony.
       "Ryan let's go!", Chris says while helping Ryan get up as they sprint towards the highway. The sound of the creature's scream still rings in their head as they try and limp their ways back. They get on the highway, and he sees the group waiting patiently. "Hide in the cars!", Chris yells while still groaning in pain as blood continues to drip down his leg.
       Jeannie notices how beat up Chris and Ryan are after leaving them. "Chris what happened", Jeannie said frantically. "No time to explain now...just hide", Chris says clearly exhausted. They all make their way to the cars; they look worn out and rusty as they enter the car closest to them.
       The sound of the superhuman's footsteps getting closer and louder as the group tries not to make any noise. The sound of growling can be heard just outside his car as he tries to remain calm. He can feel the eyes beaming on him like a police guard watching a prisoner.
       The superhuman passes the car, and a sigh of relief rushes over Chris as he lays down in the old rusted dirty car. A wave of exhaustion hits him as he realizes everything he's just been through. Abandoning his sister, losing a friend, and fighting to survive from mutants. Will we be okay from here on out? Where should we go next? Chris wondered to himself while slowly fading into a deep sleep. He glances at his leg to see that he's still bleeding. He can't get up. He has no more strength. He rips a piece of his shirt off an ties it on the wound before he slowly drifts off to sleep.