The sunlight of the outside world burned my eyes. The town had gotten worse. Everything was desolate. Trash lay everywhere. There were bodies littered about. I saw a couple of the ghouls shambling around in the distance.
I sat down behind a car to collect my thoughts. Now what?
I had spent so much of my time trying to survive down there. Would it be any better out here? I was out of the frying pan into the fire. It felt quite literally as the sun baked my skin. I had forgotten to pack sunscreen in my bug out bag.
I considered going up to the apartments above the basement. But there could be a lot more ghouls waiting there or more pissed off people like those other two guys.
The town was eeerily silent. I needed to find out what was going on? Or at least find somewhere to hold up that wasn't below ground and swarming with those creatures.
I took a long swig from my water bottle and stood up. I really wanted an energy drink.I walked around for a little while. Keeping low and hiding behind cars. I kept walking for a bit longer. It felt like I was in some liminal space backrooms.
Suddenly a foul smell hit me. I rounded the corner and was greeted by a gruesome sight.
Piles and piles of bodies. I gagged and spewed my guts out onto the floor. I wiped my mouth.
I surveyed the area. There wasn't anyone else around or any ghouls.
Morbid curiosity got the better of me and I went over to the piles of dead. I covered my nose and mouth with my t-shirt.
Birds were pecking and the eyes and flesh. They flew off as I approached. The bodies were riddled with holes. Shell casings were strewn around them. That's probably what I heard before? I hadn't seen anyone else around ? It could be the military or a militia?
The pile was a mixed of the ghoul things. Their faces gaunt and full of welts. Tumorous type growths protruded out of some.
A few of the bodies looked 'normal' like they weren't infected. They were fresh.
I looked over to see the corpse of what looked like a deer by itself in the distance. It appeared un-natural it's legs bent out of place.
I heard a chewing sound from behind me. When I turned around I was greeted by a a huge dog gnawing at the dead.
I slowly backed away. But then I tripped onto my ass.
The dog looked up at me and started to snarl. Blood dripping from it's mouth. The animal looked wild and savage. It's fur matted.
I crawled backwards. Then it charged at me. I got up off the ground and started to run. I was glad I'd started excercising.
I saw a library and ran towards it. I grabbed the door handle and pulled, thankfully it was open. I didn't have time to close the door and kept running. I ducked down behind a book shelf.
The animal followed me inside. It was stalking around sniffing up in the air. I grabbed the hammer out of my bag and clutched onto it tightly.
I stayed hunkered down for a few minutes. A heard a smacking sound and the dog started to wail. I peered around the shelves and saw a masked figure hitting the dog with the butt of a rifle.
The dog crumpled to the ground.
The masked man looked over to me. Crap.
I quickly grabbed my bag. I saw an exit sign and bolted for it.
"Wait" the man shouted after me.
I reached the exit. It led into an alley way. On one side was a fence on the other a dozen of the ghouls. I looked back towards the exit and the masked man was nearly there.
I sprinted towards the fence and started to climb.
The man was behind me now. " No, I'm not going to hurt you". He said.
He grabbed at my bag and I fell backwards off the fence hitting my head. I blacked out.