The Cabins and the tube

Mom, Gemini, Bellamy and I were driving down the road and up ahead there was a sudden earthquake. The road cracked open, and water flowed up from below the street. People stopped their cars and bailed out as they were swallowed up by the earth. The van my mother was driving careened to the left side of the street almost hitting a telephone pole, but came to rest against it. She stopped the car and we all stepped out onto what was now a peninsula of grass from the road shoulder. It was jutting out into a small body of water that flowed like a river where the street used to be. We realized that we would have to continue on foot to our destination. As I exited the passenger seat, Gemini slid the side door open and handed me our baby, then the diaper bag as he steadied himself and climbed out of the vehicle. Bellamy was struggling in my arms as I was taking in our surroundings and I was finally able to rest him on my hip. I looked around and everyone had fled the area. What small islands of street that remained had empty vehicles on them, their doors still open from the exit of scared occupants.

We left the van where it sat and began to walk up an incline to a set of old cabins we noticed not far in the distance. The walk was slippery and moss covered, and there was a swamp-like feeling in the air, but we were able to make it up the gradual incline as a group. As we got closer to the cabins, I took in the aesthetics of the area around us. The two shacks sat, floating, like a dock on the water, connected by a wooden walkway. The wood was dark green and weathered on the outside, wet from years of humidity and rot. There was also no one else around. I’m not sure what our destination was, or why we ended up in this place, but we continued on. We were alone, and the air was eerily quiet. As we stepped onto the platform of the first cabin, our shoes echoed on the wood of the deck. We all continued to keep our bearings as we investigated. Gemini took the lead and pushed open the screen door of the cabin. It creaked loudly and almost fell apart, it's screen barely hanging from its broken frame and rusted hinges. There was no electricity which was apparent from no lights or switches, and they seemed like old hunting or fishing cabins. Rays of sunlight seeped in through the wooden wall slats but gave little illumination to the damp interior. It seemed like there should be some people nearby, but there was no one. I understood that this was actually an old boy scout camp, and continued to look around. Bellamy was calm and quiet as I carried his heavy, little toddler body. He was able to walk, but I wouldn’t dare set him down right now, even though he weighed every bit of 20lb.

Gemini continued to look around, and opened all the doors he came to although I am not sure what he was looking for. Some doors led to other rooms, some were closets. Then he opened a hallway door and jumped back dramatically, gasping at the sight of a body. It was hanging from the feet like a dead deer, but it wasn’t a deer. I handed Bellamy off to mom and went over to Gemini to get a closer look. This person had been long dead. Their body was heavily decayed, but there was no smell, which I found odd. It had been there for quite some time, and there seemed to be nothing but bones and the black slime of skin and organs slipping down the carcass. There was also long, dark hair on the skull which made me think this person was female. I don’t know what could have happened to her for her to end up there. The puddle on the ground under her grew slowly as each drop of coagulated filth dripped from the ends of her hair. I looked at Gem, and he looked at me, both of us understanding that we needed to get out of this place.

Then, we heard a screech as the body swung towards us, reaching out with its arms to grab us. We jumped back in horror, and mom screamed behind us. Bellamy began to cry, being able to see that we were all scared and something was not right. The cabin walls began to shake and the undead in all states of decay started to emerge from every corner of this cabin. We have no idea how there were so many. They seemed to materialize in the different rooms and pour out into the main area we stood in. Gemini yelled at us to get to the front door so we could evacuate. I took Bellamy back from mom, and we backed up, getting as close to the front door as we could. They were closing in and got closer and closer. The one from the closet fell to the floor and crawled in my direction, with her decaying body slithering across the floor. She then stood up suddenly, stood right in my face, and hissed…

“You do not serve God, or Jesus Christ the Lord… you must become one of us and live with your sin in squalor.”

My mother was the only one of us that was Christian, and I had been baptized as a child, but renounced the Christian faith as an adult. To my relief, since she was holding my child, the undead bodies paid her no attention. Gem and I were technically Pagan, but I understood in that moment that if I did not at least fake it and say I followed Jesus Christ, then I would be taken by these things. I also had to protect my son. As she got closer to my face, I spat out…. “I believe in your Jesus, be gone and do no harm to my family!” Gemini looked at me in shock and I urged him with my eyes to say the same thing. He did, and they backed off. I told him that there was something odd going on here and these beings seemed way too similar to the Evil Dead that we know from the movies. It was almost as if we were being bullied into saying we followed their God so they would not harm us. After we made the announcement they all stopped in their tracks; some with bent necks twisted in grotesque ways, some crawling on all fours like contortionists. Then they walked backwards and retreated into whatever multi-dimensional crack they fell out of. We all breathed a sigh of relief and I was eventually able to calm the baby, then handed him off to Gemini and took the backpack instead. He was just too heavy for me to carry anymore.

Shaken up, we immediately left that place and walked back out onto the deck of the cabin. The river that ran underneath it seemed to slowly swell. The water was rushing faster and faster. Suddenly a huge wave of water came rushing down and swept us into the river. The water wasn’t rough, but floated us down river to an outlet into the ocean. It was a bay area with docks and boats. As we floated by we noticed a boat full of people at one of the docks. They were all rocking the boat back and forth as hard as they could, laughing. The captain of the boat was trying to tell them to stop, but they didn’t and capsized the boat. Some people ended up falling onto the dock. Others, into the water, and the boat began to sink. Another boat zoomed up next to us and asked if we needed a lift. They ended up taking only my mom. I am not sure what happened to Gemini and Bellamy. They just were no longer with me as I continued to float alone.

I reached the bank and crawled up onto it. Then, I stood up and walked down the beach and along a path, then through a chain link fence. Kind of like the ones at public beaches that separate the parking lot from the beach. On the other side of the fence was a sidewalk and I began to walk alongside two other people. I am not sure who they were, but they were immediately friendly. We got to what I think was an old warehouse, or something similar. There were about five or six other people there. We were all talking, i’m not sure about what. I noticed that I was in new clothes. There was no emphasis on what I had been wearing in the beginning. I was now specifically wearing a cropped white babydoll style t-shirt, a holographic mini petal skirt, and a small backpack purse (which I carry in real life but it was the holographic color). I also noticed that I had some kick-ass sneakers on. They were high tops with straps and matched the skirt and backpack. There were also buttons on the right toe box of the sneaker. It had speakers in it that could connect to your phone via bluetooth and play music! The buttons were your typical “Play”, “Stop”, and “Volume” buttons. I remember thinking how fucking awesome those shoes were and I was so stoked to be wearing them.

At that point there was a craft of sorts coming to take us somewhere. We were to walk down a set of stairs and out a door. So we all lined up, single-file and proceeded down the stairs and out the door. I was in the front of the line and was the first one out the door. I saw that this craft was like a huge vacuum that sucked us up a tube, but I didn’t know where we were going. I thought there must be a weight limit, and I consider myself fairly hefty, so I stepped to the side and let the man behind me go first since I figured he probably weighed a lot, and I wanted to make sure he wouldn't "clog" the tube. He was wearing pants, but no shirt, and I noticed he was very muscular. I watched him stand under the tube and get sucked up with ease. Then it was my turn… then I woke up.