Status: This is my JulNoWriMo piece so updates will be sporadic at best.

The Zombie Reaper

Eleven

She was surrounded by brightness. It blinded her. Trying to open her eyes hurt. All she wanted to do was curl up and make the pain go away. It was a pain that had slowly radiated all through her being, permeating every sense until she was dazed, confused, and even feeling a little sick. She had long since forgotten the chant. It was just a vague memory in her shattered mind. Sometimes she grasped for the words in her mind, but they always slipped away. It seemed as if the words simply wanted nothing to do with her anymore. Her body and soul were tired. She simply wanted to lie there and sleep.

But the brightness continued to press through her lids even when she tried to rest. It was as if even that barest of comforts was being denied to her. Why couldn't she just die? Maybe if she did than she would have peace. Maybe then she wouldn't have to worry about the forgotten chant or the brightness that would never leave her alone.

She whimpered and tried to pull up her hand to cover her eyes, but the limb barely blocked out anything. It was so frail and thin. Her whole body was likely the same way. And it was only getting worse with each moment that passed by her.

Darkness surrounded her. The sudden deprivation actually took her breath away for a moment. The shock seemed a little too much as her breathing halted and stuttered. She tried to put words out of her chapped lips but she forgot how to speak as she tried to moisten her throat. What were words? Why were they spoken? What did it matter when it seemed like there was nothing else around her.

A faint light appeared over her and she looked up to see a word with three little dots after it. Her hand reached up, trembling slightly until her finders brushed over the letters. She didn't remember what the word meant anymore. She jumped a little and watched in fascination as the dots disappeared and then slowly reappeared one by one. They did it repeatedly over and over again. Why would it do such a thing?

Then the screen faded and there was a face above her. Her heart jumped and her weak hands scrambled up scrapping at the low ceiling and the face being projected above her. A feral whimper ripped through her throat as she tried desperately to touch the person being showed to her.

"You're ready," the disembodied voice whispered before she heard something shift. The face vanished and she groaned, something wet and hot stinging at her eyes and then running down her cheeks. She rolled over slowly to see that, for some reason, there was a soft light to her side. She started to pull herself towards it slowly, the light growing the closer that she came to it.

It utterly fascinated her. Maybe if she could get to it than she would be able to it than she would be able to find what she needed. She knew that she needed something. The face, yes, she needed that. The person. She needed a touch. She needed just a single touch. It would be amazing.

It would make things better. Everything would be better if she could just touch one person. A faint smile touched her lips as she found herself coming into the light.

She touched what had once been the barrier to her... was it a prison? She wasn't sure. She didn't know. She sighed and pulled herself through. Words didn't matter anymore. She couldn't understand them. And it required too much effort for her to try and understand them. It was simply better for her if she ignored the words and their meanings. Instead, she pulled herself through the lowered barrier and into the outside. Everything hit her at once.

Sounds washed over her, pulsing through her ears and body like a physical force. Smells attacked her and sat dancing on her tongue trying to combine into some odd amalgamation. She whimpered and almost gave up in that moment. She rubbed her arms and closed her eyes for a moment before she slipped forward once more.

There had to be someone near. There had to be someone who could save her. There had to be someone who could touch her. There had to be someone she could touch. And if she touched them than she would be able to get better. She pulled herself forward one last time and found the floor beneath her giving way. Her body fell and hit a new kind of ground hard before she started to roll and bounce down a hill.