Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah...
It was now only a few yards away. The smell was rancid but I was too transfixed on the wretch before me to care. For a fraction of a second, I thought it saw me; thought I saw some flash of recognition in those dead eyes. I tensed despite my best efforts but then the moment passed and it kept moving on toward the shore.
I could have left. I could have just moved away in any other direction but I needed to know. I needed to be sure. I crept out from the bushes and stood up facing the creature's back. I pulled the gun up and sighted it where the back of the head met the neck. I took a step forward to set my stance and called out to it.
"Hey! You okay buddy?"
It spun around with a speed and precision that I hadn't expected. Something inside of it had awakened. It was now very much aware of me, and it was pissed.
There was no question in my mind, no hesitation. It was coming to kill me. It wasn't thinking about it. It wasn't considering it. It was going to kill and, based on the crusted blood around its mouth, consume me.
I had to tweak my aim slightly, but the head had stayed mercifully close to where it was when it had been facing away from me. Still, the thing was fast and it had nearly closed the distance when I pulled the trigger. It wasn't until the gun went off and the zombie fell to the ground at my feet that I realized just how quiet everything had been and how loud the gunshot was by comparison. There was a slight ringing in my ears and I immediately felt the need to scan the area for any signs of motion. As luck would have it, there was nothing, but somehow that managed to be unnerving in its own way.
I looked down at the body before me and felt relieved. After all, the bullet might not have stopped it or I might have missed the shot. I reminded myself that caution was still in order and resumed my original course toward town.
As it turned out, the town was otherwise deserted. Most of the buildings were sealed up and inaccessible, but a few had been left open and I managed to scrounge up a few provisions that had clearly been left by people who had been holding up in the structures. Everything had the feel of a safe house, with items piled up as if they'd been carefully gathered from various places around town then quickly abandoned. It occurred to me that something fairly terrifying must have happened for whoever went through that trouble to simply leave such a cache. I tried not to think too hard about what that something might be.
I took what seemed useful from the town– a few cans of food and some bandages, and decided to follow the road in the direction I'd been traveling. I'd yet to encounter anyone else beyond Farmer Joe, as I'd taken to calling him, and figured it was prudent to get a better sense of the surrounding area before deciding whether or not the town was safe.
I followed the road for a few minutes when a gas station came into view on the inland side of it. Even from a distance, it looked run down and vacant, but I figured buildings were worth investigating, so I crossed the road and made my advance.
As I got closer, I decided to get off the road proper and slowly approach from the adjacent tree line, just to be safe. The station was definitely in disrepair and seemed like it hadn't been used for its intended purpose in a while. There ware a couple gas pumps but they didn't seem to have any power and there were no cars to be seen. The main office had a few broken windows and the front door was ajar, and there was something else– something just visible in the shadow of the doorway. I strained to focus on that particular area and suddenly realized it was a hand, a human hand, lying palm down on the ground.
At that moment, I couldn't see anything else. The hand and what was likely attached to it became a compulsion. I stepped out of the trees and made my way directly toward the office. As I approached, I heard the unmistakable sound of a swarm of flies and steadied myself for what I might find.
Sure enough, the hand belonged to a corpse, but unlike Farmer Joe, he seemed "normal." There were none of the leisions and missing chunks of flesh I'd seen on the zombie. Initially perplexed, it took me a minute to determine that he'd been shot and most-likely died from that injury. In fact, looking more closely at the body, I realized that he was dressed and equipped basically identically to me. Another pistol, just like mine was even lying next to him; though there was a conspicuous lack of ammunition for it to be found. He even had the same type of backpack as me but this had been picked clean as well.
It occurred to me at that moment that I was in serious danger. Someone had killed this man and taken his supplies and I had no idea whether or not they were still around!
I threw my back up against the nearest wall and drew my pistol, scanning the area outside for any signs of movement. For a moment, I thought I heard a sound off toward the shore, but I couldn't pinpoint it. This was absolutely unnerving and I knew I needed to get out of there as quickly as possible.
The office had a back door that faced away from the sea so I quickly made my way to it and popped it open. There was a 15-or-so yard gap of the paved gas station lot between the office and the tree line, which was about the same distance I'd covered to approach it initially. I hadn't seen or heard anything in that direction, so I decided to make a break for those trees, keeping the office between me and the sound I'd heard.
Not wanting to over think the situation, I went for it, running at full speed from the office into the trees in just a few seconds. As soon as I made it a few yards into the forrest, I dove to the ground and turned to see if anything was behind me.
My heart was thumping and I was breathing heavily as I re-oriented myself amid the foliage. At first, I couldn't see anything unusual and I started to curse myself for overreacting but then I saw him– another man dressed similarly to me and the dead guy entering the office from the same door I had.
From my vantage, I saw him move smoothly and swiftly through the office to the back door I'd left open without pausing at the body. Clearly, he had been here before and knew that the door had previously been closed. He was now standing in it, staring out into the woods where I lay prone. He pulled up his gun and began sweeping it back and forth across his field of view. He was looking for me.
To be continued...
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