Dead City Lights

First symptoms included migraines, fear, and body aches. Next came the hallucinations. Images of everyone around you dying. Everyone you ever cared about, slaughtered. The fear sets in. You're obviously next, if everyone else around you is dead right?

Next thing you know the bodies of your beloved ones are coming at you. They're acting totally normal. But you're not fooled by that at all. You know what's really going on. They're demons that have taken the bodies of your loved ones. They're acting normal so they can catch you off-guard, and kill you. Just like they killed the ones you loved.

So you kill them. Let those fuckers get a taste of their own medicine, right?

Wrong.

That's how the infection works. It spreads through their scratches. That's why must people just end up dead instead of turned. Even the zombies knew that their nails could only do so much in a battle once the other person caught on to what was happening.

It started in the water. Crash landed in a huge man-made lake in the South, and spread all throughout the U.S.A. Sad thing is, it didn't stop there. It got to everyone through travel, before people were completely aware of what was really going on.

The government told no one. It was their mistake, but they played it off, saying it must have come from another country. They tried to lure people into their 'health huts'. They'd pull people in, check their temperature, and them kill everyone once they had a full house.. Even if they didn't have it. It didn't matter. They'd eventually get it, wouldn't they? They thought they could kill it before it spread. They were dead wrong.

There were many attempts by the people to save themselves.

They tried to hide themselves away in their homes. Sounds smart enough, right? They can't get you if they can't even get in. Problem? There are plenty of ways to break into a place. And for the smarter people that locked everything, boarded up their glass, started covering all doors and windows with thick layers of steel? Eventually you're going to have to get more supplies. Food, water, ect. It sounds like a smart idea, I know. But it can turn out to be a fucking disaster.

Next they tried to organize groups. Fight together, live together, and survive it all. Problem? They got a little too close. When it came down to it, you can't organize everything. People fuck up. And when someone did, and they got infected, no one wanted to kill them. They'd gotten to close. Even at the rare sign of a rash that the infected got at their last stage before certain insanity, people refused to kill their 'friends'.

Then there were the boats. Zombies can't get you if you're out at sea, right? Eventually you're going to have to dock and get supplies. Not only that, but no one can live on a boat for that long. Did they think they could wait this shit out? Get fucking real. Not only that, but crew members could have been infected before they set off. And then, just like the groups, they wouldn't want to kill that person.

I'd taken different things from all approaches. A while back my uncle left his house to me when he died. I never thought that underground piece of shit would come in handy, but it sure did. Makes it easy to keep those fuckers out if they even were to notice that there was a door that led underground. Highly unlikely.

Of course, I don't stay there at all times. I have to go out, to get food and water. And other things, of course. Any necessity. But never waste you life on useless shit. Get in and get out.

And never, ever fucking forget to train. By train, I mean go out there and kill some infected. You have to be ready. Getting rusty is not an option. You have to kill them. You have to get better and better, to the point where you know you'll be okay if they attempt an attack.

And I know what you must be thinking; 'But Able… you sound just like them'. I need to. I need to think like the enemy. Otherwise, they have the upper-hand.

But…. I didn't start out like this. I had feelings, emotions. I was in love. But I was also foolish. Too scared to fight, I didn't want to kill anyone. It was so, so wrong. So fucked up. Why did this have to happen?! And how the hell could Trevor do it? How could he kill another human being?!

I was weak, and stupid. I wasn't thinking. Trevor knew what he was doing. He knew that if he didn't do these things we would die. And he did all he could to protect me, taught me everything.

He was so perfect. He was all I could've asked for. But… he started avoiding me. Muttering to himself, shoving me away when I tried to get close to him.

I hadn't...

I hadn't realized what was happening, until one day I tried to rest my head on his chest and he'd pushed me back. I had a tight grip on his ripped up shirt. I winced as I hit the ground, and looked back up at him. I'd ripped most of the front of his shirt, fabric in my clutched hand.

I wish I'd never seen it. The rash along his chest told me everything I needed to know before I looked up into his eyes and saw the bloodlust. I can remember the screamed, the kicking, running… and then the blood. It was everywhere.

I loved him. I loved him, I loved him, but… it had to be done. He wasn't Trevor anymore. He was one of the infected. He was gone. I'd stabbed him with a kitchen knife to the chest.

I couldn't move, couldn't breathe, couldn't think. And then I got it. I understood everything he'd been trying to teach me.

I gasped, pulling myself back into reality. The infected were in front of me. One let out a horrible scream, and charged at me. I gripped onto the pipe in my hand, smashing it into the skull of the infected.

There were ten of them, and I'd been at this for a few hours, training. I should've gotten some sleep last night. Three more come at me while the other six tried to find weapons.

Too bad for them I was fast. I dodged their hits, smashing my pipe against their heads. Before I knew it, there were none left.

I was left there, panting, shaking. This was so… horrible. Why… Why did things have to be this way? Why did I have to kill these people?

My vision was blurry. I looked back up, to see a figure walking towards me. I gripped onto my pipe, hands firm. Hell, my whole body was frozen in place.

I stared ahead at the boy in front of me. He was staring right back, knife at hand. He dropped it, taking his other hand out of his pocket. He wasn't an infected. He meant me no harm.

So why the hell couldn't I let go of my weapon right away? Why couldn't I run up to him, say something? I couldn't even remember how long it'd been since I'd talked to another uninfected, or even seen one.

I swallowed, and dropped the pipe. I tried to open my mouth, tried to say something, but I just started shaking. I was fucking exhausted. When was the last time I'd slept? I couldn't even think about it.

I had no time to as my body hit the floor.