"Okay, let's do this" I thought to myself, taking one last look at the door of the cabin before turning around. Now where was the place where she had lost her doll?
I looked up at the sky and started walking slowly, trying to find the star Polaris. "God where could it be?" I thought a little annoyed, when suddenly my foot hit something.
"Oh shit!" I gasped, stumbling backwards. I had accidentally walked in to a corpse!!
After recovering from the initial shock and I came closer to investigate it. There was little to no flesh on it, with some bones displaced. The corpse was pushed up against the wall, it's clothes ripped apart like they had been tossed in to a shredder, and everything to the wall behind it and the grass beneath it was stained red.
I gulped, and bent down to feel if the grass was wet, but it wasn't, meaning this poor guy had been dead for a while now. The unfortunate man, he looked he like he had been of a young age, maybe late teens? Early twenties? I couldn't tell for sure.
I then noticed there were fairly small holes in some of it's bones, and i knew this was not the work of any zombie. No, this man had been shot, not once, but many a times; through the skull, heart, arms, stomach, private region and the left foot.
I felt sick and looked away, it seemed humans really were just as much monsters as the undead themselves. I wondered what the poor guy had done to deserve this, or if he really had deserved to die. Either way the sight was gruesome, and I looked away telling myself that I was out on a mission, and I couldn't get distracted.
"Okay so..." I murmured to myself, "We followed Polaris to get here, which means we went North, so if I go away from the star, I'll be moving south where the small compound like place was. Now I just have to find the damn star.."
"Got it!" I celebrated, looking at the bright star in the sky, "You're going to lead me to Lucy's doll and back."
And with that I set out on my quest to get back what was lost.
***
A gentle breeze blew past me as I walked through the thicket of the forest. Cool winds swept all around, making the tree branches sway back and forth in harmony, as if the wind was a melody to dance to.
The night sky was brightly lit up, with no clouds around, and my star guide was as visible to me as ever. However I still couldn't recognize any of the places that I was walking through, and that was making me nervous. But I decided to put those worries aside for a while and enjoy the peaceful stroll I was having.
The grass was cool and felt slightly moist, and there was no sign or sound of a potential threat around, so I just kept walking, though not without caution.
Eventually I heard the sound of a river nearby, and I nearly jumped in glee. I had made it! Or well..i was not there yet but was nearly there!
A few turns and paces later I was greeted by the familiar glade again, with the walls of the compound still standing as strong as before, as if they were needed to protect anyone anymore.
Now I had to be a little careful, because the last time I was there, a horde of zombies had been chasing me so there had to be at least a few of them around. So like a ninja, I swiftly entered the compound and headed to the first building where I began to search for Lucy's doll, but I had drastically underestimated how hard it would be to reacquire it. There were just so many hiding spots!
I searched through the whole first building, which I identified as the one beneath which I had been trapped, but I decided against venturing in to the dark corridor which led to my not so long ago cell.
And like a mouse I was out of there, searching the second building, but I still had no luck, so that left the last place where Lucy's doll could have been stored; the building that I had climbed on top off to escape the ruthless band of people.
I sighed and quickly made my over to there, but I stopped at the door. I heard a noise..a clicking noise to be more exact, and it was coming from inside the place. Peaking in from the ajar door I saw a zombie just ahead of me. Covering my mouth to stop me gasping, I backed up. "Okay, this makes things a little harder, but it's just one zombie so I should be alright."
I peaked back inside again. The zombie had it's back towards me but..this zombie was different. And it dawned on me that those clicking sounds were coming from it! It's head was misshapen, and it's ears were quite big, and with every clicking sound it jerked it's head forwards and snapping it's mouth like it was trying to catch something just in front of it.
I knew what this thing was doing, or well I had a hunch. Those clicking sounds were probably for echolocation, and that did explain the big ears. It most likely had no eyes too, so I could exploit this. I looked down and saw a few rocks laying around, and I picked them up, stepping back from the door and throwing them quite some distance away from me.
Although they were small the miniscule sounds of the rocks echoed in the dark desolate place like somebody had rang a bell, and like clockwork I heard a screech from inside, followed by clicking that got louder and louder with each moment. The creature was coming out to investigate the noise.
Watching it come out, I got a good view of the front of it's face, and i nearly wanted to puke. It was so horrific!
"Holy shit" I thought, seeing the terrifying thing. It was quite literally rotten from the front, with no eyes in the sockets, and a gooey black liquid spread over the forehead, which I could tell was zombie blood.
It turned away from me and began walking over to the pebbles I had thrown, and I took this as my cue to get in. Stealthily I entered the building and began to look around, searching under tables and generally in every nook and cranny, and soon I was up on the second floor. That's when something caught my eye.
There was this small side table against the wall opposite me, but what really caught my attention was something behind it. On approaching it, I looked behind the table and smiled; I had found Lucy's doll!
Picking it up carefully, I made my way back downstairs. And just as I thought things couldn't get worse I tripped on the last step, falling down with a crash and losing my grip on my gun and the doll which skidded across the ground.
"God damn it!" I whispered, hurriedly getting up, but as I was doing so the zombie squealed, appearing in front of me. It seemed in my haste I hadn't noticed it coming back inside the building, and now I was in big trouble.
It made some clicking sounds and jerked it's head forward, looking towards me.
My heart stopped as I frantically looked for something to get me out of this situation, but my gun had slipped out of my grip. "Damn it!" I thought, inching towards my gun silently, when suddenly the undead creature squealed and started walking towards me.
Seeing it so close to me I just froze and held my breath, watching with dread as it came closer and closer till it was face to face with me.
The creature made some clicking sounds again, letting out a low growl like voice as it looked straight at me. It brought it's arm forward and I was brought out of my trance, instantly jerking my head to the side noiselessly just as it slammed it's hand in to the wall, where my face was a moment before. The disgusting thing was hissing, and no doubt trying to find it's prey.
It scrutinized the area for a moment with it's nonexistent eyes, feeling the wall with it's hand a little, before hissing in frustration and walking away.
"O..oh m..my...oh my g..god" I thought, breathing silently as sweat trickled down my cheeks. My chest was hurting and my skin was pale and yet..i had made it out alive.
I didn't stop to contemplate on that or to stay a minute longer; T..this visit was over.
I grabbed the doll and gun and avoiding the clicker, got out of the house and before I knew it I was running as fast as I could in to the woods, not daring to look back.
***
About an hour later I arrived safely at the cabin, sweating profusely and looking like a mess. I almost ran back the whole way after the run in and only now did I stop to catch my breath.
I panted and put my hands on my knees, resting for a bit and letting the chilling breezes of the wind cool me down, and I looked at Lucy's doll in my hand. It had taken a lot of work to get to it, but it was going to be worth it; Lucy's reaction would make my effort worth it.
I hadn't really taken the time to examine the doll properly back at the compound, so I looked it over, sitting down on the cool grass.
The "doll" was actually a cat plush just about twice the size of my hand in height, and it had an orange color to it with black stripes on it, so it was more accurately a tiger plush. It felt quite warm to hold as well and it did feel quite soft and cuddly.
After examining the plush a bit I decided to head inside when I remembered that I had barricaded the door so I had to find another way in, and the only other one I could think of was the window. I went around to the side to see if there was a way to climb up, and I noticed a low enough ledge above the skeleton I had seen earlier which I could climb on top off.
"Heh hope you don't mind if I climb on top of you man" I said, reaching for the ledge before noticing something in the dead man's pocket.
"Huh? What's this?" I thought, bending down and taking the paper out of his pocket. A foul odor surrounded it smelling sickeningly of blood and flesh. I unfolded it and began to read what was written in this note.
The writing was thick and smudgy but I could make out what was written. It read, "I can't believe it. I just can't. I came all this way, escaping death so many times and yet..i hadn't thought my death would come to me in such a horrific manner. It's..."
It stopped there, so I turned the note around to see if there was more text, and there was.
One line, and it was perhaps the most terrifying of all.
"Funny how death can come to you from even the closest of plac.."
"O..h my gosh" I hesitated, taken aback. "W..what is this?"
There was no more writing..that was the end of the note. It seemed the poor guy didn't get the chance to finish it. And wait..he didn't have a pencil..how did he write the note?
I gulped and looked closer at the text this time, now seeing it's distinct dark brown color, along with the fact that the smell of blood was coming strongly from the note.
The writing was in blood.
Something terrible had happened here, and I wasn't going to stick around any longer to think over it. I frantically climbed up on to the roof via the ledge and slowly opened the window, before dropping down softly on to the wooden floor of the cabin. Lucy was still sleeping as peacefully as ever and nothing had changed, which was good.
Silently I set the plush down in Lucy's arms, and she subconsciously snuggled with it, hugging it tight and smiling a little. I chuckled at how adorable she was even without trying, and I carefully lay down next to her, putting my arm around her protectively before going to sleep.
Note: yay new chapter wooooo!!! only took a solid 31 days!!!!!!!! ayy i'm fast :) xd
sorry about that heh, but i just felt so demotivated during this chapter, but mostly i was lazy and i'm sorry. The chapter should have been good but when you write a paragraph per week this happens :( sowwy. But still i hope you like it and thank you for reading!