{"id":204,"date":"2013-07-21T13:08:04","date_gmt":"2013-07-21T13:08:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dreamers-sanctuary.com\/undead\/?page_id=204"},"modified":"2013-07-21T13:08:04","modified_gmt":"2013-07-21T13:08:04","slug":"chapter-34","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/dreamers-sanctuary.com\/undead\/story\/chapter-34\/","title":{"rendered":"Chapter 34"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chapter 34<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

I\u2019m probably what people would describe as the most cynical out of the ones left.\u00a0 I know this.\u00a0 Before it happened, I talked about the world going to hell.\u00a0 I always said people would cause their own destruction.\u00a0 I had figured it was only a matter of time.\u00a0 Even knowing this, finding everyone dead was a hell of a shock.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n

It was even more shocking when I stumbled upon survivors, and they actually helped.\u00a0 Outside of family, people didn\u2019t help me.\u00a0 Society feared anything outside the norm, and I was used to that.\u00a0 So having people help me shocked me, even when I knew at least one of them couldn\u2019t stand me from the first sight of me.\u00a0 It was still amazing.\u00a0 It\u2019d been awhile, that\u2019s all.\u00a0 Outside of rehab, and they were paid to do that; it wasn\u2019t because \u201cthey cared.\u201d\u00a0 I think I sound bitter.\u00a0 Maybe I am.<\/i><\/p>\n

It was an adjustment.\u00a0 Wasn\u2019t everything?<\/i><\/p>\n

But even I never before imagined seeing what I did that night.\u00a0 How could I?\u00a0 How could anyone?<\/i><\/p>\n

Yet, in the end, I feel like I was freed that day.\u00a0 We were all freed from everything that people never knew had held them down for so long.\u00a0 We were freed, all of us still alive, at least.<\/i><\/p>\n

Whether we wanted it\u2026<\/i><\/p>\n

\u2026 or not.<\/i><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n

Sunday, April 15, 2012<\/b>
\n5:00 a.m.<\/b><\/p>\n

The night had been as silent as the day, when the three had settled into an empty hotel the previous evening.\u00a0 It had been a relief to get out of the car when they had.\u00a0 AJ had the feeling that all he did was agitate Howie, and to be honest, he didn\u2019t find himself quite fond of the man either.\u00a0 He was too absorbed in himself, too convinced he was right, and had this air of superiority that drove AJ crazy.<\/p>\n

Kayleigh\u2026\u00a0 He felt he couldn\u2019t get a solid read on her just yet.\u00a0 At some moments, she\u2019d get sick of the silence as they drove and would attempt to fill it with idle chatter.\u00a0 At others, she\u2019d sit in her seat silently with tears running down her cheeks.\u00a0 AJ only guessed that she kept fighting to deny what was happening and continued to fail.\u00a0 Still, her sporadic mood changes made it difficult for him to see what kind of person she was, and he couldn\u2019t read her yet.<\/p>\n

The drive with those two had been long and tedious.\u00a0 The time it took them to get anywhere was tripled, due to the fact that many people had tried to escape and died in the process.\u00a0 The result was a mess of blocked streets with cars scattered everywhere.\u00a0 Many times, it forced them to make detours that didn\u2019t always work, so they\u2019d have to drive around until they found another way.\u00a0 AJ had even offered to take over driving for Howie, seeing the man get tired.\u00a0 That hadn\u2019t exactly gone well.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t believe this.\u00a0 I figured once we got out of Kissimmee, it\u2019d clear up a bit.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cYou kidding, Howard?\u00a0 Some people probably got sick trying to get the hell out.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

They heard Kayleigh sniffle, but say nothing, as she stared out the window.\u00a0 Howie just sighed, his grip on the steering wheel tightening that much more, as the car rolled over yet another body carelessly strewn across the pavement.\u00a0 Kayleigh gulped as they all felt the jolt, Howie\u2019s jaw tightened, and even AJ felt an uncontrollable twitch just from knowing what that was.<\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cLook, you\u2019re getting tired, bro; let me take over for a bit, and you can rest.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

Howie stared at AJ incredulously.\u00a0 He saw the amazement written clearly in Howie\u2019s eyes at his being so bold as to suggest driving a car Howie clearly considered too good for him.\u00a0 He increased his speed as he navigated his fancy Lexus around the other cars and bodies blocking his way.\u00a0 \u201cAre you kidding me, DJ?\u00a0 I don\u2019t need you driving my car.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s AJ.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cLike it matters now.\u00a0 The world is dead.\u00a0 You could say you\u2019re Bill Gates now.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

AJ smirked, lighting up a cigarette in the backseat as he rolled down the window.\u00a0 Enjoying the Puerto Rican\u2019s look of pure annoyance, he blew the smoke out the window.\u00a0 \u201cI could have said that before, as long as I didn\u2019t mind people thinking I was insane.\u00a0 Heh, the world was dead long before now; it just wasn\u2019t as obvious.\u00a0 Now some sick bastard probably decided to take it to a more literal level.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cAre you serious, AJ?\u201d\u00a0 The tone was dripping with superiority, an air of confidence that he knew that AJ was just bitter and deluded, when truly, AJ felt it was the other way around.\u00a0 \u201cYou really believe that load?\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cI know it\u2019s true. \u00a0That\u2019s why I can handle a world where status means nothing.\u00a0 But you, you seem the type to love making yourself feel like you\u2019re better than others.\u00a0 Can YOU handle a world without that?\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cCan you two stop fighting?\u201d a tearstained Kayleigh asked them, finally interrupting the conversation before it went too far.\u00a0 \u201cDon\u2019t we have enough problems without creating more?\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

The drive was silent after that.<\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

So eventually, after hours of fighting the clogged-up roadways, Howie had gotten frustrated and pulled over at the first decent hotel he spotted.\u00a0 They\u2019d found no one inside, not even employees, which, once AJ thought about it, wasn\u2019t shocking.\u00a0 Who would try coming to work when they were dying?\u00a0 And people would flee a hotel as soon as possible, if they found themselves succumbing to a plague.\u00a0 Obviously, a lot of people had thought that way, judging by the state of the streets.\u00a0 However, they had to use their cell phones as flashlights, due to the power outage, which only confirmed that, so far, nothing had changed.<\/p>\n

Despite everything that had happened, they\u2019d managed to sleep.\u00a0 At last, AJ\u2019s mind was at ease, no conscious thoughts invading it at the moment.\u00a0 His body had forced him to get the rest he so desperately needed.\u00a0 It was a blissful escape from all the unbelievable horrors of the day.\u00a0 There were no dreams, at least, none that he could recall later.\u00a0 There was no stirring.\u00a0 There was just rest \u2013 quiet, peaceful, and seemingly eternal.<\/p>\n

It was only mere hours he rested, before his body betrayed him and forced him to rise again.\u00a0 He grabbed Howard\u2019s phone from the nightstand beside the couch he\u2019d been delegated to and checked the time.\u00a0 Five hours he\u2019d slept, more impressive than he thought it would be, given all the circumstances.\u00a0 Stretching from the far-too-small couch he\u2019d been stuck sleeping on, he stood and cracked his back lazily.\u00a0 A quick glance around the room showed Howie and Kayleigh asleep on the one bed in the room.<\/p>\n

Howard would\u2019ve slept so much easier on that couch; he\u2019s small enough for it,<\/i> AJ mused in mild annoyance.\u00a0 Slowly, he made his way out onto the balcony, craving a cigarette.\u00a0 His hand grabbed the pack he\u2019d gotten during one of their earlier rest stops and lit one up.\u00a0 Taking a long drag, he rested against the balcony lazily, watching his surroundings.\u00a0 The sun wasn\u2019t due to rise for probably another two hours, and the moon shone brightly above as he blew a wave of smoke out into the air.\u00a0 The night was still present and dark, the stars teasing him with their simple beauty.<\/p>\n

He used to do this often, go out and watch the night, the birds soaring through the air, crickets chirping softly, cars rushing by on the dark streets.\u00a0 It was one of the few things that used to bring him back to reality as a child, make him feel part of the world, rather than outside it.\u00a0 There was just something soothing about watching people drive by from the apartment balcony he and his mother had lived in, to see how people lived with no pressures to interact himself.\u00a0 That night, there was nothing to watch, and the silence was deafening.\u00a0 He could hear no birds, no crickets, nothing.<\/p>\n

It was that which made him put out his cigarette and really take it in.\u00a0 Only people had died of the disease.\u00a0 As far as he\u2019d noticed, it hadn\u2019t touched animals at all.\u00a0 All throughout their drive, they\u2019d noticed abandoned cats and dogs wandering the streets.\u00a0 Although the world was now devoid of the noises humanity made daily, it was still filled with the soft sounds of animals.<\/p>\n

Now, there was nothing.\u00a0 That only happened\u2026<\/p>\n

When something was coming.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s the matter?\u201d a soft, tired voice came from just behind him, making him jerk with surprise.\u00a0 He turned to see the young college girl, so out of place in her slept-in, stolen clothing.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s too quiet,\u201d he replied, turning back to the scene below.\u00a0 \u201cThought you were asleep\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHowie woke me up.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHeh.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy\u2019s the quiet bugging you now?\u00a0 It has been all day.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is different\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

She came up next to him, resting against the railing.\u00a0 Their room was on the second floor, as it had been the first one they had found a key for down in the lobby.\u00a0 The breeze picked up a bit and blew her hair around as she sighed once more.\u00a0 \u201cHow?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause it-\u201d\u00a0 His words stopped dead cold once they heard a noise below.\u00a0 Their gazes shifted downwards to take in what they had only seen before in horror movies.\u00a0 Everything seemed a replica of scenes in almost every basic horror movie he\u2019d ever bothered with.\u00a0 (Not that the list was long, seeing as he\u2019d always get frustrated with the Hollywood happy endings, but that was beside the point.)\u00a0 The moon was full, the area lit only by its glow, giving what was already disturbing an even more haunting appearance.<\/p>\n

Of course, what made it such a horror scene were the signs of life \u2013 or more precisely, imitations of life \u2013 shuffling their way along the streets below.\u00a0 He heard the high-pitched screams coming from the now-panicking girl beside him.\u00a0 AJ, however, was once again outside of the situation, and he blocked her out as he stared in shock at the sight below.<\/p>\n

People \u2013 what used to be people \u2013 were roaming the streets below them.\u00a0 AJ could see almost every detail as he craned his neck over to see better.\u00a0 They were clearly dead; the skin was gray and pale, marked with the trademark lesions he\u2019d grown tired of seeing.\u00a0 Many of them were ones Howard had run over earlier, with tire marks along their heads and chests.<\/p>\n

Kayleigh continued to scream, and one of the\u2026 could he really think it?<\/p>\n

One of the undead<\/i> paused and began to moan.\u00a0 AJ could only guess what that meant, but didn\u2019t wish to find out.\u00a0 He turned to Kayleigh, grabbing her quickly and covering her mouth with his hand.\u00a0 He stared down below, waiting, staying there quietly, and feeling like he was watching himself in a movie theater at that very moment.\u00a0 Her eyes stared at AJ in shock as she struggled angrily against him.<\/p>\n

\u201cShh\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

The creatures continued their awkward, limping-styled shuffle, and AJ looked at the girl he still held in his arms.\u00a0 \u201cAre you going to stay quiet?\u201d\u00a0 He took her silent nod as an agreement, and the moment he let her go, she burst inside without another word.\u00a0 AJ watched the scene below once more and felt completely separated from the entire matter.\u00a0 He knew he probably should be having a panic attack.\u00a0 He should be acting the same as Kayleigh, who could be heard inside, babbling to herself in terror and losing all self-control \u2013 albeit far quieter, much to his relief.<\/p>\n

But he wasn\u2019t.\u00a0 He was in shock, of course.\u00a0 Seeing people rise from the dead was something he\u2019d never imagined possible.\u00a0 Even with his cynical mind, a mind others would have called twisted before the virus hit, he had never pictured anything like this actually happening.<\/p>\n

How could<\/i> this happen?\u00a0 He wasn\u2019t sure.<\/p>\n

How had this not<\/i> happened to himself, to Kayleigh, to Howie, or to those survivors they spoke of on the radio at the MacDill Air Force Base?\u00a0 He wasn\u2019t sure.<\/p>\n

What was<\/i> happening to the world?\u00a0 He wasn\u2019t sure.<\/p>\n

His mind was racing, still trying to grasp that he was, in fact, watching zombies roam the streets of Plant City, Florida and not dreaming.\u00a0 He wasn\u2019t in Kissimmee at the rehab center; he was in some random hotel in random Plant City and was watching the undead walk.\u00a0 His mother and grandparents were dead, he knew, and probably among the armies of the undead as well now.<\/p>\n

If he hadn\u2019t thought society was dead before, even after seeing the mass deaths, he knew it now.<\/p>\n

He felt grief; he felt sick; he felt disturbed\u2026<\/p>\n

He also felt free.<\/i><\/p>\n

Before his thoughts could continue any further, they were interrupted by hearing Howie try to calm down Kayleigh in the background.\u00a0 Soon, he had company once again, when they both burst out onto the porch to meet him.\u00a0 Kayleigh was crying again, and Howie looked odd.\u00a0 AJ tilted his head to see tissue stuffed up one of Howie\u2019s nostrils and spots of blood along his cheek.\u00a0 What happened \u2013 had Kayleigh hit him?<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat the hell did you do to her, MJ?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAJ,<\/i>\u201d he corrected for what felt like the millionth time, through gritted teeth.\u00a0 \u201cAnd I didn\u2019t do anything.\u00a0 Stay quiet and look down.\u201d<\/p>\n

Howie did what he was told, and AJ watched him slowly take in the horrific sights upon the streets.\u00a0 The only answer he got was Howie\u2019s eyes rolling to the back of his head only moments later, his body falling directly against AJ as he collapsed.\u00a0 AJ stumbled back, holding the unconscious man in his arms, and dragged him back into the hotel.\u00a0 With one look to Kayleigh, he made his decision of what to do next.<\/p>\n

\u201cGet everything together.\u00a0 I\u2019m gonna wake him up, and we\u2019re getting the hell out of here.\u201d<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

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Chapter 34 I\u2019m probably what people would describe as the most cynical out of the ones left.\u00a0 I know this.\u00a0 Before it happened, I talked about the world going to hell.\u00a0 I always said people would cause their own destruction.\u00a0 … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":8,"menu_order":34,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"onecolumn-page.php","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/dreamers-sanctuary.com\/undead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/204"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/dreamers-sanctuary.com\/undead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/dreamers-sanctuary.com\/undead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/dreamers-sanctuary.com\/undead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/dreamers-sanctuary.com\/undead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=204"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/dreamers-sanctuary.com\/undead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/204\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":205,"href":"http:\/\/dreamers-sanctuary.com\/undead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/204\/revisions\/205"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/dreamers-sanctuary.com\/undead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/dreamers-sanctuary.com\/undead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}