Invaded: Chapter 1

It’s pretty shit around this time of year, weather-wise. Now, on a global scale from 1-10, I would say it's… fucked. I could elaborate on that right now, but the major point of this very moment is, it’s cold as shit. I’m sitting here shivering in this shitty trash-wreaked trailer with nothing to do.

"Fuck", I moaned to myself. "They've gotta find me some batteries asap."

Typically, when I’m stuck in this hell within hell, I pass the time cooped up within my room, listening to music on my Walkman with whatever music the Pack Rats find for me on their raid trips, but I have two problems:

1. No batteries= no music

2. There’s a bratty kid that completely jacked my space.

Technically that’s three but whatever. So, I lie upside down with my eyes closed on this multi stained couch in the front room hoping that when a good amount of blood rushes to my head, I’ll start to be dizzy enough to hear Black Francis’ vocals vividly to the point where I think he’s singing to me personally. I mean hey, a girl gotta dream, right?

As my eyes are closed and the vocals start to ring within the concaves of my ears, I hear soft giggles and laughing. Great, here we go. Let me introduce you to my uncle and his lovely new damsel that came in out of nowhere, tainting the atmosphere. Also, the kid that set up shop in my room, popped out of her oven.

I figure in a few minutes they’d go back to their room and I could go back to finding whatever sense of peace I have left but it doesn’t stop. The giggling is too much for me. The touching is too much for me. Them together is entirely too much for me. I feel like I’m in a transparent box, screaming and banging completely noticeable yet being blatantly ignored and passed by.

Uh, can’t you see that I’m suffering?

Damsel giggles, removing her hands from her face, and whispers, "Stop that, Andy's right there."

It’s so cute, I could gag. Viciously.

"With your looks, how can I resist"

That’s it, that’s my cue. This is gross, I’m disgusted, and I’m leaving.

Without saying one word, I decided to throw on my shoes and grab my backpack beelining straight towards the side door of the trailer. It’s a night out right now and the foot traffic is pretty low since that’s how the captain of the camp likes it. Sometimes it feels like a dictatorship here.

Right next to our trailer sits my uncle's old, beat-up pick-up. Mad ancient, that truck. Sometimes I lay in it at night and look at the stars whenever I’m in a desolated mood, it helps me calm down sometimes. This normally would be one of those nights but ever since mistress came stepped on the scene I have to get further away.

There’s this beautiful stream nearby in the woods, outside the camp. I’ve only passed by there a few times whenever I’d go out hunting with my uncle, but the sun was out. I figure if I go back there at night when the stars are out then it’d be amazing. The way the moon and the stars would reflect off the water. It’s like, my space portal.

I kneel to fix up my shoelaces since I decided to just up and leave the way I did. It’s not like appearance matters in this catastrophe anyways. Oh yeah, that reminds me. The world is ending… well, it already ended. Society as we know it has shifted into something I saw coming. I mean, this is pretty cliché, right? This is the part where I take you back to when it all went down.

I was just a wee adolescent, sixteen to be exact. I was sitting under the bleachers at the back of the old school building at my high school. I got kicked out of class for getting into it with a brainless skin that was clearly in the wrong. So, I’m sitting there. Minding my own, wondering what I’m going to munch on after school. The pizza shop around the corner… or the pizza shop down the street. Regardless, I knew I was getting a slice. Anyways, while I’m thinking I feel the back of my neck gets wet, giggles following. I turn around and see an empty straw poking out of her mouth. She's so disgusting, she was spraying water on me.

In a straight face, I say, "Say sorry to me now." I don't know why I thought that would work. She never says sorry to me, unless there's an insult following afterward.

I need an apology from you; you’re so unhappy that you take it out on others.” she says, smirking at me.

“I understand from what I’ve seen already how difficult it is for you to comprehend the concept of common decency and respect”, I continue, “but it’s not entirely your fault; it’s your parents. From what I’ve seen, you are already a lost cause”.

"At least I have parents I can call my own.” Brainless sneers at me.

Screw this chick. I’m so sick of her mouth! I throw all of her things off of her desk ready to fight until the teacher runs over to grab my arm before I could throw a swing.

"Andy! That's unacceptable. Get your things and follow me to the hallway immediately!"

“This isn’t fair, she should be the one following you out “, I yell back.

The teacher interrupts, “Now!”

Two words: Bull shit. Not surprising though, this has been a reoccurring issue. After our fight instead of going to the office, I decided to sit under the bleachers. I’m sitting there with my headphones on, and I pop in a Stabbing Westward CD.

“Bullshit”, I mutter to myself as I pop a cigarette inside my mouth. I start smoking and I start to drift off into a daze, watching the smoke clouds form in the dampened air as I blow it out, clearing my lungs. I decide to read my comic but when I went to open the pages there was a piece of gum stuck to the inside of the page I bookmarked, causing the page to rip in half.

“That bitch.” I snatched the cigarette out of my mouth and turn to flick it when I see the brainless skin weirdly walking towards me.

“Perfect timing”, I think to myself sarcastically.

“You back for more? Things are going to be a lot heavier now that I know you ruined my comic.”

Brainless Skin: “Arrr… urrr.”

What’s up with her? I look closely and see liquid flowing out the sides of both her ears.

"Is that… blood?" I say, starting to feel concerned.

She starts walking towards me a little faster now

“Uh, are you okay?”

She pauses for a second, then starts scurrying towards me, I jump out of the way and she trips over her feet, causing her to fall.

"No way, this is happening right now," I think to myself

“As much as I hate you, I’d prefer not to do this!” I scream at her as if saying that would help in the situation in any way.

She screeches and leaps towards me. I see a couple of bricks on my side, pick one up, close my eyes, and swing. There’s silence and I feel something dripping off of my hand. When I open my eyes, I see her dropped body lying there, still. I can’t move out of fear and guilt. I drop the brick and fall backward.

“I can’t believe I did that.”

I shake my head a couple of times to try to snap myself back to reality. I extend my foot out and kick her a couple of ties. No movement. Suddenly I feel a sensation rise out of my chest and start puking immediately. When I’m done, I go to wipe my mouth but realize I have her blood on my hands. I start freaking out, trying to wipe the blood off on anything but me. That’s when I start hearing screams and car tires screeching causing me to run out from under the bleachers. I see people running throughout the street and running out of the school. Everyone is freaking out.

I know I have to get out and try to get back home. I immediately thought about my uncle. I would go back inside the school and try to get to a phone but I’m sure there’s no way I’d make it through the hallways. Hell, I might as well try.

As soon as I start to run towards the school, I see smoke coming from the freshly broken windows of the school building.

“Screw this,” I say to myself.

I go back under the bleachers to grab my backpack. I look at the pile of bricks and decide to fill my bag with them, just in case. I run out from under the bleachers to the metal fence standing between the road and my school. I look behind me, seeing kids from inside the building running in my direction. I hurry and throw my brick-filled backpack over the fence so the weight of it won’t affect my climb.

I start up the fence, a few others started climbing it as well. They’re making it so shaky that one of my feet slips out of the hole of the fence. A brainless skin grabs at my pants leg to yank me down. I use my free foot, stomping on its face until it lets go of my leg. I start climbing the fence again and make it over, dropping down next to my bag. I pick it up and put it on my bag, trying not to let the scene around me distract me from making it home. Cars crashing into houses, poles, and even running over people. My body goes cold, but I quickly shake it off and start hauling it towards my place.

So, even though there’s chaos around me, I don’t let it stop me or slow me down. I feel myself picking up speed until something catches my eye. There’s a little kid, a girl. She’s sitting in the front yard of this house, screaming and crying uncontrollably. A few inches away from her, a brainless skin is chomping on her, what I guessed at the time, Dad.

I stop in my tracks. Everyone is around but nobody is bothering to help her. They’re just ignoring her. I feel angry but also hesitant. I kept telling myself that I had to get home, that I wouldn’t let anything stop me. I look down the road, then I look at the little girl, then back down the road. My house is only two blocks away. Her screaming is getting louder and louder, ringing through my ears.

“Fuck it,” I say to myself, tugging at my hair.

I run full speed, taking off my backpack and swing it at the brainless skin. I knock it off of the kid’s dad. I lift my pack for an extra swing, smashing its head in.

“I don’t think I’ll ever get used to this,” I say in disgust.

I run over to the little girl to make sure she’s okay, physically that is. She’s a little grazed up on her knees but that’s all. I start to ask her for her name, but I feel the wind get knocked out of me. I look up while trying to catch my breath, trying to figure out what happened. It was the girls' Dad.

I’m wrestling with him, trying to push him off of me but he’s stronger than me. There’s nothing within my reach to try to use as a weapon. His mouth gets closer to me, trying to get a good chomp out of me. I hear the girl screaming again. I yell at her to look away… not that that would even matter. I mean, she watched her dad get comped up. I close my eyes and prepare myself.

Suddenly, I hear a loud cracking sound and feel the pressure leave off of my body. I open my eyes slowly and see my uncle standing over me.

A wave of relief washed over me instantly. Even though I was prepared for death, I embarrassingly start sobbing. He reaches his hand out to help me up, pulling me in a tight embrace.

“I saw those shoes, immediately knew it was you.”, he says to me chuckling.

“I’m going to take that as a compliment.”, I say, pushing him off of me.

I run over to the little girl, helping her off of the ground. My uncle is already inside his pickup, hurrying at us to get in. I pick her up in my arms and jump on the back of the pick-up.

So, here I am two years later. Let me just tell you, smashing skulls has not gotten any easier. I don’t care how the zombie movies make it seem. It’s sick, always.

I get up from tying my shoes and reach into the driver’s side of the truck to pull out my trusty ax. I’d carry a gun like the others, but I just hate those things. I mean, it’s convenient so you don’t have to get so close to the brainless skins but… I’ll take my chances.

After I grab my ax, I start walking towards the fence by our trailer. Since they don’t like a lot of people out in the camp at night, unless you’re a guard, I had to make my way. I made an escape hole in the fence so I could go out at night whenever. Now, it took me a while but luckily the truck blocks the view, so they weren’t able to see me planning for my nightly escapes. I say it took me a hell of a while because this fence around the camp is no joke. It’s a metal fence on the inside but on the outside, there are thick slabs of wood in between, and then a brick wall. There’s no underestimating this blockade. I’m one smart cookie though and you know what they say: Where there’s a will, there’s away!

I open the pathway and crawl through the hole, undetected. I start walking but I don’t get very far because I hear a multitude of rustles in the bushes. I drop down and hide immediately. I listen closely and start hearing rapid footsteps too. I guessed around, ten maybe fifteen. They’re too fast to be brainless skins though. These are fully functional people. I start hearing them talk.

“They should be at the entrance waiting.”

“What if they aren’t?”

“Shut up, let’s keep moving.”

I feel the panic rise in my chest. I turn around, still crouched, and crawl back into the hole. Something didn’t feel right, and I knew I had to warn my uncle and the others in the camp. When I start heading over to the side door of our trailer I peek at the front gate and see guards lying on the ground. Then, I see the entrance of the gate opening. The outsiders are coming in.

I sneak back inside the trailer. My uncle and mistress aren’t where I left them, I hear giggling coming from the back room. Without thinking I run straight to the room, throwing open the door. Luckily it wasn’t a perverted sight, but they were looking at me like I was crazy. Before my uncle could ask me, what was wrong with me, we heard a gunshot go off. It sounded like it came from the trailer across from ours.

“A bunch of people came in and I think the Rat Pack brought along with them from their last raid trip were part of it.” I blurted out, “they might’ve killed some guards at the gate.”

As soon as I finish talking, mistress points to the window, with one hand covering her mouth. We see a shadow creeping past, slowly but surely. I tense up a little. Even though the person probably already knows we’re in here, I hope to God they think we aren’t. Mistress starts to get up, realizing her child is in the room right across from us, not knowing the situation at hand. He was sleeping before I left, the gunshot might have woken him up. When she starts to get up my uncle tells her to stay put on the bed. By this time, he’s standing up. He pulled a gun out from under the bed, tossing it to me, motioning me to go into the kids’ room and keep him safe.

I’m already inside the doorway of their room. When I go to turn around, I see a shadow creeping up the hallway. We didn’t even hear them come into the room. I move out of the doorway and behind the opened closet door, out of sight. My uncle is still standing, his hands up in the air. Mistress is still on the bed, wide-eyed, frozen.

The intruder chuckles, “a little unfortunate though, I was looking forward to a fight tonight.” He says, moving farther inside the room.

I take a deep breath and get ready for my grand entrance. I run out from behind the closet door, pushing my body into his. Unfortunately, I didn’t do much damage considering our weight levels are drastically different. Plus, this guy was ripped!

I only managed to knock him up against the dresser because of him not knowing I was there. He was probably wondering, “who’s this twit running out from me behind the shadows?” Jokes on me though, he bounced back immediately, grabbing me by my neck into the wall. I feel my body go cold and numb from the impact. I fell over onto the floor in pain. Jokes on him though, my small knocking caused him to drop his gun. After throwing me, my uncle tackled him straight to the ground. They’re both wrestling each other, throwing punches. It’s mayhem, I tell you. I’m in a massive amount of pain, hoping that that douchebag didn’t break any of my bones. How inconsiderate, that guy. He knew I was smaller than him, he could have been a little gentle. While all of this is happening, I hear mistress sobbing. Then I realize, jokes on me again. I managed to lose my gun too. I try to locate where my gun is but every move, I make sends a sharp pain running up and down my body.

I hear mistress crawling off of the bed, I thought I’d see her trying to get past my uncle and the douche so she could get to her kid, but she doesn’t head in that direction. I get my thoughts together and try to focus on locating my gun. I look and see it slid up under the bed. I start trying to reach for it, ignoring the pain throughout my body. I can feel the situation escalating. I almost pull the gun towards me until I hear a loud thud, a gunshot, and then a loud cracking sound. I panic and reach deeper, finally grabbing the gun.

After I grab it, I back over to get up but the douche is standing over me, holding his gun right at me. His eyes are bloodshot red, face sweaty and bloody from the ass whooping my uncle tried to give him. Then I realize, wait. My uncle!

I heard a gunshot, but I can’t be sure what happened. I look past his legs and just see my uncle’s legs, lying still. I feel red in my chest.

"What did you do?!", I screamed.

All he did was smile. It pissed me off even more, so I tried to be fast and shoot him but, I wasn’t fast enough. I’ve never been shot before, hadn’t planned on it either. This whole thing, seriously annoying. I was only shot in the shoulder but the mere fact of it happening send me spiraling into a pit of blackness.

Just great.