Before the Storm

I stood outside in the early morning sunlight, preparing to see my brother off for the day trip he was going to be making into the town he had found yesterday. There was a light fog surrounding the cabin, making everything seem a bit more eerie than it usually was. He walked out through the front door, his boots making a deep thud on the aged wood floor with every step that he took.

He had his back pack slung over his shoulder, and his gun was strapped tightly in the holster which connected to his belt. He came up to me and wrapped his arms around me in a tight hug. I leaned up onto the balls of my feet and pecked him gently on the cheek before pulling away from him.

"You be careful, okay?" I said, my voice coming out raspy on account of this being the first time I had used my voice today.

"I always am, Jay." He replied with a cocky smile playing upon his lips. He pulled away from me completely and adjusted his bag on his shoulders so that it was a bit more comfy for him. "Stay inside 'nd keep all the windows and doors locked. I'll be back as soon as I can."

I nodded and crossed my arms over my chest, shifting all my weight onto one leg as I leaned up against the side of the cabin. "Ya know, I'm still not too comfortable with you doin' this."

"It'll be fine. Jus' find somethin' to keep yourself occupied with 'nd I'll be back before ya know it." He said with a chuckle.

"Oh yeah, I'll just hop right on that there computer and Facebook my day away." I replied sarcastically, which only made him laugh even more.

"I'm serious." He said, shaking his head humorously. "Oh, and Jay? If anything happens, head for the highway and go towards the town. I'm gonna be comin' back the same way, so you'll see me."

"Let's just hope nothing like that happens." I said, my voice shaking slightly. Zack, however, didn't appear to notice it. Either that or he just didn't say anything about it.

"Love ya, Jaycee." He held his hand up and waved lazily towards me.

"Love you, too."

I watched as he began to walk away from me, down the slight incline of the hill and off towards the high way. My hand landed on my hip where my knife would usually be located, and I looked down to see that nothing was there. I breathed in a deep, shaky breath and turned to walk back inside of the cabin when I saw him go completely out of sight.

I looked around the place, wondering what exactly it was that I could do to keep myself occupied. There was absolutely no noise around me, and it was causing me to hear an annoying ringing in my ears that was probably more maddening then the sound of all the walkers combined.

What I would have really loved right about now was my guitar that I had, unfortunately, left at my house the day that Zack and I left. Had I known that we wouldn't have been able to go back, and this whole outbreak was going to last as long as it had been so far, I would have been more inclined to bring it with me.

But on the other hand, it was probably a good thing that it didn't get brought with me. If it had, it would have been in the back of the SUV, and that would mean that Len and the other man would have stolen it. At least with me leaving it at my house, I knew where it was. That is, if our house hadn't been raided by now. I cringed at the thought of someone that I didn't know going through my stuff.

I rubbed the palms of my hands against my dirty jeans and looked around the cabin. Zack had left all of his stuff here so that his back pack was completely empty except for a canteen full of water and a packet of dry Ramen noodles. I looked at the pile of clothes sitting on the floor and decided that there was probably no other better thing to do than to do the laundry. At least, as good as I could get it without having a proper washing machine.

With that in mind, I walked over to the sink and looked underneath in the cabinets, finding exactly what it was that I was looking for; A quarter full bottle of dish soap. It wasn't laundry soap, but it was going to have to do. I reached over and grabbed an empty, metal bucket that was shoved away in the corner. I blew the layer of dust off the top, coughing a bit when I inhaled some of it.

I walked out through the back door and headed over towards the well to fill the bucket up with water. Being outside was almost peaceful. The sound of the water sloshing around in the well, the birds chirping their tunes in the branches high above, the bees buzzing around the wildflowers down below. But of course, that thought that there could always be danger lurking around somewhere nearby sat in the back of my mind. I could barely even remember a time when my mind was completely at ease.

I walked back inside, making sure to close and lock the door behind me. I sat the bucket of cold water down onto the floor and knelt down next to it, the floor boards creaking underneath my weight. I reached up and grabbed one of Zack's t-shirts from the table, along with the bottle of dish soap, and began to scrub.



I had successfully managed to clean all of Zack's clothes and hang them up to dry on the shower rod in the bathroom, but I hadn't stopped there. I was on a roll and I just decided that, even though we probably weren't going to be staying there much longer, I'd just go all out and clean the entire cabin. I, for one, was more than sick of breathing in dust with every breath that I took.

I scrubbed away at the floors and the walls using a scrubbing brush that I had also found underneath the sink, and the place was already beginning to look a lot better. The counters were cleaned, the tables were cleaned, I even went as far as making the bed, just to make it look presentable. I wiped down the windows, I organized the little trinkets and decorations on the kitchen counter, and it was starting to look like an actual home again. If it wasn't for the walkers, I had to say that I wouldn't mind really living here.

I had just finished cleaning up the bathroom floor, bringing to life the old dated and faded black and white linoleum tiles. I pushed myself up, my knees aching from how much of time I had spent today on my hands and knees scrubbing. If I had to take a guess, I'd say that I had spent at least half the day, maybe more, on just cleaning this house. Needless to say, I was very happy with myself and felt highly accomplished.

I wiped a thin layer of sweat from my forehead using the back of my hand, and bent over to pick up the bucket of murky, brown water to take it outside and dump it out, like I had done so many other times today already. I threw the scrubbing brush into the sink, not caring enough to bother putting it back under the kitchen sink right this minute.

I walked through the living area and over into the kitchen, opening up the back door and heading outside. I should have looked around me, and I should have paid more attention to my surroundings. I was stupid in the sense that I didn't, and I mentally cursed myself when I looked up and I saw a walker standing not even fifteen feet in front of me, eyeing me hungrily.

I gasped, dropping the bucket to the ground and ran back inside, closing the door behind me. Not even a few seconds later, I heard the walker throw herself against the door and begin clawing and banging at the door in an attempt to gain access inside.

My adrenaline was pumping, and my eyes darted all around the cabin to look for something that I could use to kill it with. I ran away from the door hesitantly, feeling like the second I took my weight off of the door then the walker would come crashing inside. Right now, though, it was just the one walker and I knew it was foolish to think that one walker could bring down a heavy, wooden door.

I got over to the counter top and I ripped open one of the drawers to see if there were any knives that were adequate enough to kill a walker. There were a few steak knives, along with the normal, every day silverware, and I decided that one of those were just going to have to do. I grasped the wooden handle in my shaky, clammy hand, and started back over to the back door.

I pressed myself against the wall, peeking out from underneath the sheet that covered the window and saw that because of the racket that this one walker was making, it was quickly beginning to draw more and more of them in, and they were all hungry and looking for fresh meat.

Deciding that it would be against my better judgement, I backed away from the window and slid the knife down in between my belt and my jeans. With this being my one and only weapon for the time being, I knew that I couldn't afford to set it down or lose it.

I ran over into the bedroom and ripped one of the pillows out of it's pillow case and went back over into the bathroom, pulling Zack's still damp clothes down off of the shower rack and stuffing them into the pillow case. I needed to get the hell out of here before this place got entirely overrun and it was too late for me to escape. The banging and clawing on the back part of the house was already getting louder, and it was only a matter of time before one of them broke through the windows.

Clamoring over to the cabinets where the food was kept, I shoved the remaining packets of Ramen into the pillow case before tying the top of it in a knot to keep everything securely inside. After that, I walked over to one of the windows at the front of the house and peeked out, just to make sure that there were no walkers at the front door that would make it damn near impossible for me to escape.

Seeing that the coast was clear, I tightened my grip around the knotted end of the pillow case and ripped the door open, running as fast as I possibly could to get away from the hungry hoard behind me. Much to my dismay, a couple of stray walkers that were along the side of the cabin had saw me run outside, and were immediately hot on my tail.

Looking behind me to see how close they were getting, and not watching where I was going, I ended up tripping over a large, exposed tree root and sent myself tumbling down to the ground and somersaulting my way down the entire length of the hill that the cabin sat on. It wasn't the ideal way of getting away from the walkers in a hurry, but it did help a bit.

I staggered up onto my feet again, now having a slight limp in my step from where I had landed on the side of my thigh when I hit the unforgiving ground. I needed to get out to the high way, and hope and pray that Zack was near by and on his way back. It had been most of the day since he had left, and it would be getting dark in a couple of hours. He said he'd be back before night fall, and I was holding him to that. Especially now.

I gasped and grunted as I limped along through the trees, pushing myself farther away from the walkers. I didn't know how many of them there were behind me and I didn't want to turn around and risk tripping over something again just to find out.

Branches whipped me in the face and in my arms, and I knew I was making a lot of noise and drawing attention to myself. But at that moment, I didn't care. I needed to get out of the trees and out into a more open area. I heard the growling behind me, and the smell of rotting flesh was creeping up into my nose. They were close, there was no denying that.

I ran and ran, beginning to think to myself that this thick and dense forest was never going to end. My heart was pumping, and the blood in my veins felt like liquid fire. I wanted to move faster, but whenever I put any kind of weight on my leg, my thigh would start burning and it felt like someone was stabbing me with a dull butter knife.

After what seemed like an eternity, I broke free from the tree line and out onto the pavement of the high way. I looked down the way that Zack would be coming down, but didn't see anything right off hand. Maybe it was because I was so pumped up with adrenaline, or the fact that I was so scared that I didn't look properly. Either way, I felt entirely alone, and entirely abandoned.

I took a few seconds to look behind me, and I saw nothing but the tree line. But even though I couldn't see them, I could still hear them, and they were coming at me full force without any indication of slowing down for anything. If I had to guess, I'd say there were anywhere between five and ten of them by now, and that was way too many for me to even attempt to bring down by myself. Even if I wasn't injured, I wouldn't attempt it alone.

Instead, I began hobbling in the direction of the town, just like Zack had told me to earlier. I was hoping with all my might that he would come along and help me because if he didn't, I was doomed. I wouldn't be able to run forever, especially on a hurt leg. One thing that the walkers had over us was that they didn't go down, and they didn't tire out like the living did. They could go on for miles if you'd let them.

I looked behind me and saw a few of the walkers break free of the tree line and continue heading in my direction with me as their target. I was sweating profusely by now and my chest was beginning to tighten up from my rapid breathing. My leg was hurting something fierce, and I feared that it wouldn't be able to hold out much longer.

Coincidentally, right as I thought that, my leg gave out on me as I went to take another step down, and I was sent crashing down to the harsh pavement below. The pillow case full of food and clothing skidded and rolled a few feet away from me, and I curled up into the fetal position and clutched at my leg. I looked and saw that the walkers were getting closer to me, but there was no way I was getting back up any time soon.

I began crawling my way away from them, but they were only closing in faster. I began to cry, both out of fear and frustration. I was going to die here on the side of the road, and there was no one around to save me this time.