Chaos of 2014

The light brightened and faded out, flickering in between each delayed interval. Recurring a few more times, it began to stabilize. The setting was sepia, like an old, worn photograph. Why is everything in sepia?
I'm dreaming.
I saw plain, blank walls, that stretched out about seven or eight metres on either side. Along the walls, steel framed beds were posted in a regular side-by-side layout, each with simple, empty bed side tables, places on the left, and drawing curtains, all of which were open except one bed. I looked around the corridor. I was in a ward. At least I was in my mentality, anyway. Although I wasn't just in the ward. I peered down at myself. I wore a hospital gown. I must be a patient. I sighed, and made an attempt to sit up. I was yanked back the momentum and the straps that constriced my body to the bed. I panicked, and tried struggling out of them, however the leather was strong and it did not loosen. My wrists became sore and the muscles in my thighs were beginning to strain. I growled, frustrated. Deciding I wasn't going anywhere anytime soon, I further observed the ward.
The bed's were unoccuppied ad far as I could see, although for one of them I could now say. The curtains were drawn. And they were bloody, except for one small patch of blue fabric. I didn't want to ponder on it. The ward itself looked rather unclean and unkempt. The scent that filled the air was of must and dried blood. I scowled. The mere thought of it made me squirm and feel unhygenic.
To the right of my own bed stood a rusted, iron trolly, that looked as though it would produce an ear-acheing noise when in motion. Upon lay several surgical instruments which were, to my surprise, clean. I recognized forceps, a variety of scalpels, metal probes, syringes... and a speculum? 'Eww...' I thought. I really didn't want to think of the possible reasons why.
Sighing heavily, I heard a single drip. Propping myself up on my elbows as much as my leather restrictions would allow me, I fell completely silent, furrowing my brown. I listened intently. Drip. It was quiet, but distinct. I listened again, trying to work out it's source. Drip. I scanned the ward, searching for the noise. Drip, drip. My scanning eyes locked onto the drawn, blood stained curtains directly opposite. I held my breath, and I froze. What was behind those curtains? Drip. The dripping continued with no particular pattern. The sound seemed to become slightly louder. Then the dripping turned into a stacatto of individual drops. Drip, drip, drip...
The sound of clattering metal upon metal echoed abruptly through the ward, causing me to jump, my heart in my mouth. The dripping stopped, and I heard the most tiny, almost inaudible splash. My eyes remained glued to the curtain. I didn't blink. The ward lapsed into silence once more. Remembering to breathe, I exhaled slowly and deeply, relaxing my body. I had been tensing all over. I turned my breathing shallow, and waited.
When I thought I'd be layed there for a whole decade, with no other sounds occurring, a circuit of sounds exploded disturbingly throughout the ward. Firstly a ghastly rapid slurping, followed by what sounded as though was blooded raw meet being town apart. Squelching, stretching. As I cringed at the unpleasant sound, it was followed again by the loud snapping of something very hard. The sound was like that of multiple gun shots. There were no guns. Then the most horrible sound, squelching, horribly, it was indescribable. I gagged at the grotesque noises, and a nauseous, acidic smell drifted up my nostrils. It stung. What the hell was this...
The curtain was ripped open. I felt all the colour drain from my face. On the bed lay a horrifically mutilated corpse or what may have once been a woman, convered in it's own entrails and of course, blood. The torso and abdomen had been completely hollowed out. The flesh raggedly cut and torn. Beside the body stood a nurse with rotting flesh. It's yellowing eyes stared hungrily strate into mine. He uniform was bloodied and dirty. She clenched something tighly in her hand.
A dead foetus.
My mouth fell open in shock. The nurse ran at me, mouth agape, a raspy growl escpaing it as she came for me. I thrashed and screamed, screwing my eyes shut.
"No!!!"
Immediately, the sepia faded. My eyes flew open to see a tiled ceiling, body still thrashing. Hands gripped my arms on either side.
"Get the fuck off me!"
"Masa! Calm down!" It was Alice. I stopped my fitting. My heart beat wildly and my throat was dry. I looked over all the people surrounding me. They were looking at me as if I'd just come back from the dead.
"Where am I?..." I questioned, noticing we weren't in castle anymore.
"McDonalds, upstairs." Replied Chris, who shrugged at my perplexed expression. Most of them had been sat around and had been eating.
I looked at my own surroundings. I was in the corner of a long seat at the table. how long had we been here?
Letting go of my arms, Daryl said, "I don't know what kind of dreams you were having, but you were having a fit or something. You could've damaged yourself... It was that violent."
"Yeah, you really scared the shit out of all of us," Shadow said, who looked at Alice. "Little lady over there was crying."
I put my head down. " Sorry guys, my dreams tend to get a little physical."
Jorjie raised an eyebrow. "Just a dream?"
I rolled my eyes. "Ok, it was a premonition." I hated using the word. "But I didn't learn much. It was just very..." I thought for a moment, picturing the dead foetus in the nurse's grasp. "Disturbing." They all waited expectantly. "I'd rather not explain it right now, sorry."
"Alright. If you're sure."
"Yeah, I'm sure." I sighed.
"Anyways, you should eat," Chris suggested, passing me a box of large fries. "You're paler than usual, which doesn't often happen as you know."
I widened my eyes. " Wow, I must be dead," I said, taking the fries and putting one in my mouth. It tasted strangely satisfying. I must've been really hungry too. I paused for a moment. "Where are the vehicles?"
Daryl smiled. "Taken care of. They're parked beside the church coupla' minutes walk from here."
"Alright. Hmm, how long was I out for? It barely felt like a few minutes. Shadow pondered for a moment. " I'd say a good half hour. We were starting to debate on whether to get you to a hospital or not.
I shuddered at the thought. Waking up in a hospital would be like waking up into my own vision. That was not going to help my sanity. "Glad you didn't."
We sat and ate junk food whilst discussing our options. There was still time save our friends and those who we knew before anything could happen to them, we were just going to have to get it done as quick as possible, and then start thinking of a location where we could take refuge.
"I've asked everyone I know around here to come here and meet us, and hopefully they'll have seen the news that we did," Alice said, "it must've been played more than once."
"That's good," I said, "The more people we can get to come with us, the better really. I sent all of my friends a text this morning. If they have any sense they'll take it seriously, and they know to come to castle. Also-" I was interrupted by the ring tone of my phone.
"Uh, excuse me guys,", a slid open the phone and brought it up to speak. "Hello?" No one spoke.
"Umm, if anyone there?" I tried again.
"Masa." It was Aurora.
The sound of her tone was empty, emotionless. "Aurora, are you ok?"
A long, tense pause. Everyone around the table had stopped eating and were quiet, trying to listen in. "I'm... fine. I got your message this morning. Mother wouldn't... mother won't let me come out, and she wouldn't... won't take me either."
I was a little confused. Why was she alternating between past and present tense? "Okay, we'll come and get you soon, ok? Is everything alright though?"
Another pause. "Everything's fine. I'll way for you." Pausing again, she then added, "Can you get her as soon as you can, please?"
"Of course," I confirmed. "I'll be there within the next hour, I promise."
The phone went dead. I brought the phone down slowly and stared at the unlit screen. "Odd..."
"What she say?" Alice asked.
A looked to her, not really sure how to answer her. "Well, nothing really. Just to go pick her up, because she isn't able to make it here herself. But..." I trailed off, searching for the right words. "She sounded so... empty. And lifeless. She said everything was fine but... hmm." I gave up with a sigh.
Jorjie spoke up. " Maybe she's just seen the thing on the news that we did. Any normal person would be a little stunned into silence by it. I mean, lets be a fraction realistic. How often do hundreds of crows go nuts and attack people?"
I huffed, slouching in the seat a little. She had a point. "I guess you're right, or I hope you are. Just a little bizarre the way she spoke is all." I continued munching on my fries.
"She might be feeling down, too." Alice suggested. Her phone bleeped. "Oh, Jake is in castle with people. I'll go meet em'." She left the table and skipped down the steps.
Browsing through my inbox, I noticed I'd received a couple more messages. Ieuan had informed me he'd be on his way with Garin and Luke within the next couple of hours. I was relieved to know that my friends were gradually revealing unharmed. The second text was from Billie. My expression lit up. I hadn't seen her in so long! She was my cousin, but without a doubt we were closer than sisters. I pressed the call button and waited for her response.
"Masa! I'm so glad you called." He pleasant tone chirped.
I smiled. "Hey! I'm so glad you picked up, I've been needing to chat with you."
"Yeah, I got your test, and I saw those crows on the news! Pretty fucked up... But there's nothing to worry about over here just yet. Me and Alex were just packing a few final things. We should be there around 7pm ish, if that's not too late."
"That should be fine," I agreed. "I'll update you on our location anyhow. The sooner you're here though, the better. We've been waiting for this for years. Can't miss it with you now." I couldn't help but put the smile in my words.
"I know! Strange to think that we were talking about the whole zombie apocalypse thing walking back form the shop one day."
"Yeah, strangely enough I remember that." I said, sighing.
"Anyway, we have to shoot. Call you later, M?"
"Sure. Stay safe, B."
"No problem. Ciao."
I put the phone in my pocket. "Shall we?"
We left McDonalds, and found Alice with Jake and a few others. First of all, I noticed Jodie. I hadn't seen her in about a year, and she'd changed since I'd last seen her too. She no longer wore extentions, and by the looks of her current hair length, she needn't wear them. It fell to her hips and was a light, ice blonde colour, which brought out the brilliant blue of her eyes. She smiled when she saw me and I returned it. Stood beside Jake, I recognized Nick, Tecki, and... Chris Rees. I faltered a little in my steps. Shadow noticed my second of hesitation and took my hand.
"Hey, you two called it Truce ages ago, don't worry about it." He whispered to me. I met his eyes briefly and shrugged it off.
We came to a stop once we were stood with them. "Is there any one is?" I asked, careful only to make brief eye contact.
"Not that we know of. We haven't had any replies, so everyone's either still asleep, or they're been eaten." Jake answered, casually. "But I'm going with the option that they're still in bed."
I nodded. "Fair enough." I looked at Chris. "Hey." I half smiled.
He paused. "Sup'." He said no more. Despite the 3 years that had passed since the drama had stopped between between us, I still felt the heavy pang of guilt every time I saw him. Chris Rees hated me with a passion, yet he loved me once. I'd inflicted him pretty bed, and I could never forgive myself for anything that went on during that time. If people hadn't of stopped his intentions, he might've been dead before now.
"I'll be going with the guys to try find some others. We'll contact you if anything happens though." Alice explained.
"Alright, just keep me informed. It's nice to know you're still alive." I hugged Alice, and then she began to make her way with Jake, Tecki, Nick and Chris.
I turned to Jodie, who had been talking to Chris and Daryl. Her hair had changed to a mahogany brown. She noticed me looking taken a back.
"Oh, sorry I forget to mention. My mood determines my hair colour." She said, smiling shly.
I nodded, impressed. "Sounds more pleasant than visions invading your sleep." I chuckled.
"But without those, we might have died already, or at the very least, be very unorganized for all of this." Daryl reassured.
I considered his point. "Hmm, seems about right. Ok, I'm gonna need to go and get Aurora, but I'd rather go alone, it'd be quicker that way." I thought for a moment. "Also, I think we're gonna need some kind of larger transport. Y'know, something that's gonna get us around, since we're starting to accumulate more people, the group is getting larger, so it's necessary. As much as I like the Chevy and my Kawazaki..."
Daryl and Jorjie looked at each other.
"We've got just the thing, and Jorjie knows where to look." Daryl said.
I raised my eyebrows. "A bus?"
Daryl snorted. "Nah, we're not that cheap."
I tried to think of a better option. "I'm not great at such ideas."
"How about a TOUR bus." Jorjie filled in the blank.
"And if needed, TWO tour buses..." Daryl added.
I nodded in approval. "Now we're gettting somewhere."
"Ok, so where shall we meet you once you've come back with Aurora?" Chris asked.
I pondered. "The church. You guys go hang out there, and look out for Seji and the guys, they should be turning up soon."
"Alright, see you there." Jorjie said. I walked with them back to the church, which was barely two minutes away. I approached the Ninja, and was just about to mount when I felt a hand on a my shoulder.
"Please be safe, babe. I know you're pretty good with a blade now, but I worry about you." Shadow looked into my eyes. Those great dark pools were filled with love and concern. I hugged him to me tightly.
"Don't worry about me, I don't want your heart taking on too much stress. Your last attack was only a couple of months ago." I placed my hand where his heart should be. "I'll be back with Aurora as soon as I can. 12pm the latest." I glanced at the time on my phone. 10:30am. "Plenty of time." I smiled.
"I trust you." He kissed me quickly but fiercely.
"I love you, Shadow." I whispered.
"I love you too, babe."
I mounted the bike. "Stay safe." I muttered. I sped out of the city.
***

Returning to Pontadawe was not something I had planned or particularly wanted to do. After the bird attack, I'd made a mental note not to come back here. However the circumstances left me no option. I needed to get to Aurora and bring her back with me, unharmed. The roads were a little busier now, although not as much as would be on a regular day. Snow still feel, and it was becoming heavier with each progressing hour of the day.
Plowing down Swansea road, I pulled to a stop outside Aurora's house. Dismounting the Ninja, I looked over the face of the house. The curtains in the windows were drawn, and the door seemed to be unopened, as snow still lay on the handle. I knocked on the door three times and waited. I could've sworn I heard muffled sobbing. I knocked again, twice this time. Again, I heard faint sobbing. No movement could be hear within the house. I knocked again, more vigorously this time.
"Aurora, are you in there?" I called, pressing my ear to the door. Another heaving sob, and something crashing to the floor. I grabbed the door knob and twisted, pushing against it. It didn't budge. I slipped my hand through the letter box and felt around for a key in the lock. I found none. "Shit..." I breathed. Breaking the door down would attract too much attention. I searched my pockets for anything of use. Pausing for a moment, I reached a hand up to my hair. Hair slide. Pulling it from hair, I placed my hand in the letter box once more. After poking the hair slide around a little, I found the lock and twisted the small piece of metal until I heard the mechanism click.
Another loud crash and I swung the door open. Upon entering I pulled out a magnum from my holster, gripping it at arms length before me, and pulling the door to behind me. I took a single step forward on the floor boards. This house was so eerie. The narrow corridor showed three turn offs. A door to the left, opposite that on the right, and one directly ahead of myself. The door on the left stood slightly ajar. I placed my other foot forward...
A blood hurling scream filled the house and I sprinted the few feet to the door on the left and threw it open, smashing it into the wall with a heavy thud.
I dropped when I absorbed scene. The floor was one huge pool of blood. Aurora sat in the centre on her knees, her expression was manic. Her eyes were wide and awefully blood shot, the blue iris's a pale grey. Her body quivered. Her once white dressing gown was drenched in blood. She clutched a kitchen knife in her hand, shaking violently.
"Aurora, what..." I began, but stopped abruptly. Scanning the room, seeing debris of a lamp and a wooden desk, my eyes fell on the body sprawled messily on the sofa. Jo, her mother. Her eyes were lifeless and she was covered in blood, like the rest of the room. Her expression seemed as if it was set in stone. Multiple stab wounds were visable all over he body, mainly around the torso and on the arms. Although, she hadn't been human before she died. The smell of the infection was distinct, and it hung in the air of the room like an omen. The congealed blood painted everything. It was disgusting.
Placing the magnum back in it's holster, I ran over to Aurora and kneeled in front of her.
"Aurora, look at me," I took hold of her arms gently and felt the warm liquid on my fingertips. I looked from the knife to the slashes on her fore arms. "Aurora, hunnie, talk to me!"
Her eyes flashed to mine, her expression still crazed. "I hated her, Masa, hated her so much. She never understood me, and I wanted her gone, I wanted her to leave me alone. She was stupid and she never saw how I really felt. But, it shouldn't of been like this!!" She sobbed heavily, but somewhat crazily. I wasn't hearing grief in her cries. It was madness.
I grabbed the knife in her hand, but she tightened her grip on it.
"Aurora, this won't solve things. I know it's hand to accept, but-"
"NO!" She shouted, trying to pull her hand back. I maintained my hold.
"Aurora, hand it over." I kept my tone even.
She shook her head. "I did something terrible..."
"You had no choice. She wasn't your mother anymore, you had no other option," I tried to reason with her.
She shook her head more, "No... I wanted her dead, but now I'm a murderer." He voice cracked and faltered. The grip on the knife weaked and I took it, throwing it into the corner of the room, out of reach. Once more she broke into manic sobs, and I pulled her close to me. At first she resisted, but then when I didn't release, she loosened at let her arms fall to the floor.
"It's not your fault. You're just going through shock." Aurora didn't respond. I pulled back slowly and placed my hands on her shoulders. "Hey, lets get you cleaned up, come on." I stood up carefully, pulling her up as I did so. I supported her to the corridor, shutting the door behind us. She needn't see that room again.
"I'll go take a shower and... put some clean clothes on." She murmered so quietly I almost didn't hear it.
I tried to give her a reassuring smile. "Alright. I'll wait in the kitchen. I'm not going anywhere." I watched her trudge up the stairs and to the bathroom before entering the kitchen. I looked for a cloth and some disinfectant. I cleaned my knees where I'd knelt in the blood, and lastly made sure my hands were spotless. I had no idea how contagious this was yet, and I wasn't about to take my chances.
I thought of how Aurora must feel. Sure, she hated her mum and had craved freedom since the age of 14, but to have to wake up one morning and sleigh your mother, because she's not your mother anymore, but a monster. Talk about traumatising...
She reappeared in the kitchen approximately fifteen minutes later, clean cotton shirt and blue jeans. There was no blood left, but the wounds on her arm needed treating. She stood in the door looking at me.
I stood up and gestured toward the chair I had been seated. "Sit down and I'll get you something for those." I said, and began rooting through cupboards.
Once sat down, she muttered, "First aid's under the sink."
I turned to face the sink and crouched before the small cupboard underneath it. Inside was a green box, amongst various cleaning products, with a white cross on the front, labelled 'first aid'.
I retrieved the box and went back to the table, placing the box down and opening the small latch. I took out band aids and bandage dressings, as well as a pair of scissors, tape, and sterilising alcohol. Finding a smaller cloth, I folded it and drenched it in the alcohol. I reached for Aurora's arm but she retrieted. "I can do it myself."
"If you prefer," I said, handing her the prepared cloth. She took it and pressed it against the first wounds, gasping through gritted teeth as the cloth came in contact with the open flesh. She dabbed the wounds carefully, cleaning them thoroughly. She knew what she was doing. Once there were sterilised, I helped her apply band aids and wrap them in bandages. I took her hand and squeezed it. "Better?"
She remained silent and stony faced before saying, "I just want to get away from here."
Standing up, I said, "Well then your wish is my command dear, let's not stick around, it won't do you any good." I pulled her up out of the chair, with her good arm, and kept hold of it until we were passed the room and out of the door.
"Will I need anything?" She said, stopping for a moment.
"Not right now, I have plenty of notes and we'll hopefully be shopping later."
She half smiled and followed me on to the back of the Ninja.
I reached to the side pocket of my bike and pulled out the can of Relentless I'd put in there whilst I was in the station.
"Hey," I said, passing it to her. "You'll need this."
***

Upon returning to Swansea, a few more people had joined our clan, which was gradually increasing in number.
"The more the merrier..." I mumbled to myself.
Alice came running over to us. "What happened? Aurora your arms..."
I gave a warning look to Alice. "Maybe later."
She got the hint, pursing her lips and nodding. We joined the others who were sat around the rear end of the church. Nice to see they were all being theirselves and not completely panicking. At least, not yet.
Searching the group, I walked over to Ieuan, Luke, Garin, and Seji.
The boys had come equipped. Ieuan, wearing a floor length black leather trench coat with studded details and new rocks, had a nice selections of weaponry. With a hefty sniper slung across his back, he had on his belt a Winchester rifle with a hand engraved willow carved into the butt of it, a couple of silenced, semi-auto .22 pistols and a pair of kukri.
"How's it going?" I greated him with a brief hug.
"Not bad, not bad." He nodded.
I looked past him to Luke, took in the equipment and chuckled. Earphones plugged in, he had a Carbine on his waist band as well as a machete, and on attached to the magazines wrapped around his torso, an MP5 Machine gun. He returned the look.
"Dude, what more did you expect?"
I shrugged. "Nothing less of you." I smiled. The turning to Garin, I paused before speaking.
"Umm, Garin? I peered around either side of him. "I see no, uh.. Y'know, self defence?"
He looked at me and shook his head in amusement. He stood at a height of 6ft 4, making me feel incredibly shorter than I already was. "I'm not much of a fighter, although I have a few things tucked away in advance." He explained, pointing to the rucksack on his shoulders.
"Well then that's good, but I will need your genius as well as your force. We'll be needing the brains... Speaking of which!" I turned to Seji, lunging and hugging her by surprise.
"Wah! Don't eat me!" Seji squeeled. I giggled. I missed Seji so much and her predictable character.
"I'm so glad you came out of hibernation," I applauded her, "Thought you were gonna go back to bed and snore through the rest of the year."
She stood in though for a moment, eyes rolling around. "Hmm, it was a tempting option.... But I decided this could be more fun than being lectured by droning professors 6 hours per day."
"I'm glad you think so," I told her, then Jorjie and Daryl approached us, followed by Shadow, who came to my side and planted a sweet kiss on my cheek.
"Missed you, babe."
I smiled. "Miss you too, honey." I turned to face Daryl and Jorjie. "Did you acquire some transport?" I asked. hopefully.
Jorjie looked as though she was restraining the urge to giggle hysterically. "Oh masa, you're gonna love this!" SHe squeaked, jigging on the spot. I raised an eyebrow.
"Daryl?"
He gave me the tweek of a smile that told me he was pretty chuffed with himself. "Sure, obviously we acquired what we requested, but we also had a little look into the history of who'd hired them in the past, and well, see for yourself..." He gestured, pointing across the road. Parked on the curb were two tour buses. The first was slightly black and simple, but spacious and very nice looking, and the second bus, slightly bigger than the first, and oh my... I gasped, recognizing it straight away. Kerrang Relentless Tour 2009. Dir en grey had used this bus.
I turned to Jorjie, shaking my head in awe. "I love you!"
"Beat that one, Shadow." She said cheekly to him.
"I really appreciate this. Well, to know I'm gonna be on a bus previously used by Dir en grey during a zombie apocalypse is pretty reassuring.."
"Uhuh," Jorjie agreed.
"Well, time to start loading up." Daryl stated.
This was going to plan. Of course, certain things had been unavoidable and we'd lost a couple of lives already. All we could do was continue to plan ahead, and get ready to face the next wave of chaos.
Although I was yet to know how challenging the next wave would be.