I'm lost.
I'm lost in a strange place; I don't even know what I am supposed to be looking at. The world around me is flickering, shifting, almost like it's deciding what it should look like in this exact moment.
Finally, it settled. It settled into this barren world. A pure white sky, a cobblestone road, and a vast valley of dead grass.
I look around and see nothing, just a little bit of grey from the road and the grass, and that damned white void.
My mind scrapes and bruises together, trying to make sense of this all. This should just be a bad dream but… something isn't right, this isn't a dream.
Somehow, I'm sure of that fact.
Other questions arise in my head. Where am I? Why am I here? Who… or maybe even what brought me to this place?
A grim feeling accompanied with fear course through my body as my heart rate increases steadily, as if my senses are anticipating for something to happen.
But nothing changed.
Steeling my nerves and attempting to calm myself I breathe deeply and exhale slowly.
But suddenly, this presence entered my brain, causing my body to convulse and immediately drop on the floor. A guttural scream involuntarily exited my mouth as every single inch of my body felt like it was both splitting and being crushed at once.
I begin to weep, not tears, but blood as my eyes went into utter shock and the world around me began to turn into itself.
In that very next moment, my mind was truly lost. Memories and lost thoughts from the world flooded my mind. I saw images of my parents—just before they were lost for good—flicker by. Then, even more strangely, images of a calcified world engraved itself into my brain, forever remembered, forever empty.
I yell to the unfettered white void that encompasses everything in this place.
"IT'S. SO. COLD."
Time froze. The pain, the memories, the images—melt away until there is nothing left. I lie still, my chest rising and falling with shallow breaths.
The presence entered my mind once again. It didn't speak. It conveyed a feeling of an apology.
My body begins shaking, as if every word it 'spoke' was a physical force enacted on my frame.
My heart begins beating fast, faster than ever before. Something primal stirs within me—a deep, instinctual understanding that, whatever this thing is, I am at its mercy. I am powerless here. All I can do is wait for it to decide my fate.
The presence tries to calm me once again. It 'says' it wants to help me, that this is not a place of pain but a place of peace.
But this thing knows my thoughts. It's terrifying. I don't trust it, why would it want to help me? Why offer peace when this is all wrong.
I don't understand. I need to get out, but this thing seems to exist so far beyond it all. I can not run away.
The presence once again 'spoke'. It urged me to walk down the path ahead.
It promised that it would be all I would need in life. That without the path, I would not live long.
Walking the path would give me purpose, power, and the ability to uncover the 'truth'.
No, this is all too foreign. How can I be sure that this thing is looking out for my safety?
The presence tried to calm me down further. It reiterated the path and how I must walk it—for my own sake.
But it also said that it understood my distrust of it. And if I wished, it would send me back to my home.
Please, send me back.
Before it did, it showed me an image of my street, of my neighbors. Something was happening—I wasn't sure what exactly—but it seemed to show me this as a warning.
***
I wake up in bed—alone, cold, and, above all, confused.
My mind races, struggling to piece together everything that happened in that strange, almost otherworldly place.
I still don't know what that thing 'talking' to me was—or what it truly wanted from me.
But it didn't seem aggressive at all. In fact, it almost sounded genuine in its attempts to make me agree to that deal.
No, I can't just go around trusting something beyond my comprehension simply because it was 'nice.'
My thoughts are cut off from a loud noise outside.
Shit, that thing warned me about something happening to my neighbors.
I dash towards one of my windows facing the street and I'm instantly hit with a horrible sight.
My street is completely in chaos, as if a natural disaster recently treaded through. The houses are ablaze and the road is covered in the recently deceased, their wounds still fresh and bleeding.
look farther down the street and spot a few living people. But something is wrong with them. They aren't normal. No—they're feasting on the human corpses.
I catch the gaze of one of them. His deep, bloodshot eyes lock onto mine, wild and feral. A twisted smile spreads across his face before he starts rushing toward my house.
My instincts kick in, and I frantically search for something to defend myself with. But the only thing resembling a weapon that I own is my cane.
Not like I have any better options. At least I didn't cheap out on it—it's sturdy enough to do something, I hope.
I grab the cane and step outside. I can't think about escaping with that man chasing me down—he has to be dealt with before I can even try to run.
The man is running far faster compared to what his skinny frame might allude to.
Taking in deep breaths, I ready myself for the upcoming fight.
As the man draws nearer, I notice more unsettling features. His nails have sharpened into claws, and his teeth resemble those of a beast more than a human's.
I put my observations to the side as he gets into range. He hunkers down, and leaps towards me, cracking the ground under where he previously stood.
I try to move out of the way, but I was one step too late. He pins me to the floor and moves his head closer to bite me.
I free my arms and instinctively block his bite with my cane. Gathering my strength, I push the man off me. Giving me enough room to bring my knees to my chest and kicking him in the abdomen, fully knocking him off me.
He is sent backwards for a few seconds, giving me just enough time to get back on my feet. But before I'm able to fully recover, the man swings his bloody claws at me.
I'm too slow. His claw cleaves through me effortlessly, leaving a brutal gash across my torso, all the way to my hip.
My heart instantly begins beating harder, sending adrenaline throughout my entire body. I can't even feel the pain of the cut.
The man grins maniacally at me but the grin quickly switches to a laugh—almost like he knows that I'm on deaths door.
He lunges once more, aiming to finish me off, but I manage to dodge just in time.
The man, is sent reeling from his missed leap, and is currently turned away from me. Seizing this chance I swing my cane against the back of his head.
CRACK
The man crumples to the floor from the sudden trauma. But he tries to regain his footing.
I swing, again, to his head.
And again. And again. I don't stop until he's on the floor, only movement coming from him is spazzing from all the head trauma. Then he goes still.
I look down to the now still corpse. So many thoughts and feelings cross my soul. But I have to set these feelings aside.
I look around and spot one of my more infamous neighbors, dead on the floor, crimson blood pooling around him, he always carried a gun with him.
That gun is probably my only chance to get out of this hellhole.
I try to take a step forward, but my injury flares with pain throughout my body. At the same time, a screech fills the air and deafens me for a moment. I glance to my right, down the street, and spot the source of the noise.
A group of three more bloodshot-eyed figures charging down the street toward me.
I begin running toward the gun as fast as my wound will allow.
It bleeds profusely as pain starts riling through my body. Tears start trailing down my face as I push my body to continue running.
I can almost feel their presence, getting closer, and closer.
But they're too slow, I grab the gun, a six cylinder revolver, from the floor and quickly turn around.
My lack of practice, combined with my wound, does me no favors as I fumble, struggling to aim at the one leading the charge.
I attempt to cock the hammer, but the blood and grime that accumulated on my hands caused my thumb to slip a few times before finally setting and cocking the hammer.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
I hit one leading between the eyes, the one off to the left in the chest, and hit the last one off to the right in the right leg.
Luckily, the revolver had enough ammo for all three.
Checking the chamber it seems like my neighbor couldn't even manage to get one shot off before he got killed. It makes it easier for me at least.
Using two shots stored in the gun; I finished the last two who were squirming on the ground .
I quickly search the old owner of the gun looking for some more ammo but he doesn't have any more on him.
I take a seat on a fallen pillar. The blood from my wound pools under me.
I can't stay here for long though, those gunshots made too much noise to be ignored, I'm sure more beasts are on their way.
But… I just can't anymore.
There's no way I can out run more of those things.
I feel a massive vibration flow through the ground, and without looking up I know it is what I feared.
I hear a massive horde of more bloodied eyed beasts. Drawn to the sound of the gun.
I try to stand up but my body instantly fails to gather the strength, and I fall back down to the pillar.
This time, I look up, and see the horde rushing towards me like feral animals.
I'm cornered. There's too much of them, and I definitely can't run away from this position.
I did not expect my death bed to be a broken down pillar in a blazing town, rip to shreds by a bunch of human monsters, but what else does someone like me deserve.
I look down to the gun resting between my hands and open the cylinder.
One bullet left.
That one bullet is worth more than me in the eyes of this world. But I don't care, this world hasn't given me anything. Maybe in another life, I can take my liberties and enjoy my life. But for now…
I'm done.
I point the gun to my head.
There's nothing left for me now. I've been lost for so long, but it looks like I found my way out of all this.
click
…
BANG
Then, everything went quiet.
***
I find myself back in this infinite white void.
I'm not sure why; I'm fully contempt with rolling over and dying. But it seems like this presence has other words for me.
The presence truly speaks to me now. Almost like it's doing this to plead with me. And again, it wants me to walk the path.
Simple, I just don't care about that truth. I have nothing to live for at this point.
I'm done.
And how do I know you're being genuine to me.
…
If my parents were taken to a special hospital after showing signs of that sickness, and that hospital was burned down shortly after, then there's something more malicious in play than I could have originally imagined.
A new feeling begins to every inch of my body.
Purpose. A reason to continue being something rather than nothing.
I inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly.
Then I took one step forward.
What's your name?
The Long Quiet? That's a… unique name.
Chapter End.