Episode 3: Inner Strangler

Episode 3

"Inner Strangler"

(This Part of the Story is From Jeff's Point of View)

It all went by in a big blur, I couldn't tell which way I was going. The stranglers really wanted to catch us, we got away though. I stayed close to the group, I didn't want to get separated. Although I was thinking about leaving the group soon, since my sanity is completely gone. That is a big decision and I will have to think on it. We escaped the stranglers by getting really lucky, that's for sure. We kept running through the forest, and we were brought to a strong river, the stream was running down the forest. It was really rocky, you could probably get killed swimming in that thing. I turned around and saw a strangler running straight for me. We all looked at each other and decided the best bet was to jump. I jumped into the rocky river, and prayed I wouldn't drown. The current swept us all up, and we were shot down the river, heading through the forest at fast speeds. The stranglers stopped at the river and simply walked away. They must have known the river wasn't safe. I swear, stranglers get smarter each day. I wonder why. As we got carried down the river, it was almost peaceful, but I had to dodge rocks that came my way. I managed to dodge them all, and it was a smooth swim down the river. I saw the river coming to an end, the end was very rocky though.

"Do you guys see this?" Mark hollered.

"Yeah, it's really rocky at the end," Jess began, "We need to get out now!"

We all tried climbing out the side, it was hard. I grabbed onto to the side of the river bank and kept pulling against the water. I was trying to pull myself out, but the river wanted to keep me in. I kept pulling and pulling, I took a look back to see how other people were doing, everyone had grabbed onto the side and were working on pulling themselves out except for Ned, who was helplessly plummeting to the rocks. He couldn't grab a ledge to pull himself up to.

"Ned!" I yelled.

He couldn't do anything, he just kept trying and trying to get out. He was flailing around, which was making him go faster to the rocks. I looked away and tried to focus on pulling myself out, then maybe I could run to the end and save him. It was a long shot, but staying here would do nothing. I gave myself one last big pull, and I brought myself out of the water and onto the grass. Before I went to go help Ned, something struck my mind. Kayla. Where was she? Where was Brandy? I looked around the river, I didn't see them. Everyone else was here except for them. My heart dropped, and I started to panic.

I needed to find Kayla, but Ned was about to crash into the rocks. I snapped out of it, and told myself I would look for her once Ned is safe. I started running down beside the river, everyone else had gotten out too, and were running behind me, trying to catch up to Ned. He was panicking, and still flailing about. He was about to hit the rocks any second now, and I don't know if we were going to catch him.

"Stop flailing!" I hollered.

He couldn't hear me, he just kept on freaking out in the water. It was then too late, there was no way we were going to catch him. He flew uncontrollably into the rocks, and it didn't look too good.

"No!" Mark yelled, he ran faster in front of me and headed for Ned.

He was pinned up against the rocks, and bleeding badly. Mark tried pulling him out, and Jess came to help him. I then went back into panic mode remembering Kayla and Brandy. I turned to Julie.

"They were with you last!" I yelled, "Where are the kids?"

"I don't know!" she cried, "When the stranglers attacked we were split up! I have no idea where they went!"

"Oh no!" I panicked, I kept calling out their names, "Kayla? Brandy?"

There was nothing, I saw some stranglers emerge out of nowhere, it was easy for them to get the jump on you in a forest. I pulled out my pistol and aimed it at them, I then put it away. Noise will only attract more of them.

"Grab Ned! We need to go now!" Julie yelled.

Mark and Jess pulled Ned out of the water and dragged him onto the grass. Jess picked him up and swung him over her shoulder, they started running. We dodged the stranglers, and some of them fell into the river. There were still more on our trail though. We all ran full speed into the forest, and a bunch of stranglers following behind us. More of them would pop out at you from behind a tree occasionally, the only way to stay alive was to be on high alert at all times. One of them jumped out at me, I swung my gun at it and smacked it across the face. It fell onto the ground with a loud thud. More and more stranglers would just pile up behind us, and all we were doing was bringing more stranglers to us. They would scream and attract more. I didn't see any way out of this, and we were bound to get caught, they are way faster than humans. We kept running until we were brought to a dead end. That was the last thing we need, a dead end. There was a bunch of trees in front of us, and they were so thick it was impossible to make it through. This is where to forest ended, this is where our lives ended too. About ten stranglers caught up to us, we lost a couple on the run. They stopped and circled us. When a strangler catches up to you they don't go right for you mindlessly. They stop, and form a plan so there is no possible way for you to escape. They split up and surrounded us. There was no escape.

Jess placed Ned down on the ground and we all reached for our pistols, we slowly pulled them out and pointed them at the stranglers. They growled and showed their bloody, rotten teeth at us. Their eyes were bloodshot red and their pupils were a lot bigger. They just looked so angry.

"What do we do Jeff?" Mark asked me.

I was surprised at first, I didn't know people were still looking up to me as leader, I've lost my sanity completely. I have no idea on how to escape this. So I didn't answer, I just stayed focused on the stranglers. They slowly approached us, any minute they would pounce, like a pack of wolves. It was now or never, I lifted my shirt up as a shield, so I didn't have as high as a chance on getting infected, and aimed my pistol at a strangler's head. Everyone followed what I did. I then pulled the trigger and dropped one of them, nine to go. They all screamed and ran at us. We started shooting our pistols at them, but there were a lot of them. One grabbed Mark and threw him at a tree. It started to strangle him, he kept his shirt over his face too. I was distracted by Mark being attacked, I got attacked myself. One grabbed me and threw me on the ground, it jumped on top of me and punched me across the face. One even grabbed Ned, and was attacking his unconscious body. I closed my eyes and waited for death, it just hurt having to die not knowing where my daughter is. I hope she is okay wherever she is. I started feeling dizzy, and then everything went black.

I woke up in a small cabin, and I felt like hell. I sat up but had to lie back down, I had a killer headache. I grabbed my head and moaned. I heard footsteps, and I looked over. A nice looking woman walked over to me.

"How are you feeling?" she asked me.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"My name is Elise, now I know you must be very confused, but let me explain first."

"Go on." I said.

"Alright," she said, "My husband and my son were on a hunting trip and found your group being attacked by stranglers, and they killed them all. You guys were passed out, so being the kind hearted people they are, they brought you back here."

"Where are they now?" I grumbled.

"They're out hunting again, we are running low on food." she said.

I looked around, and everyone else was still passed out, I don't know how long the stranglers had attacked us until these people found us, but it must not have been long since we weren't dead. Kayla and Brandy were still out there, and I needed to find them.

"I'm sorry," I began, "I appreciate what your people have done for us, but I have to go."

I started sitting up, I immediately had to lie back down again, my head hurt like hell.

"Sir, you were attacked by stranglers, I can't let you go back out there."

"You don't understand," I said, "My daughter and her friend are out there. She is going to die all by herself out there. You need to let me go find her."

"We can send my husband out to look for them, you're in no shape to be leaving."

I sighed and kept lying down, I needed to be out there. I could barely sit up though, I was pretty beat up.

Elise went to the kitchen to go make some tea, she said it would make me feel better. But I'm not sure some tea was going to fix things. I needed to get out of here, that's all I know. There was no way I was going to let Kayla and Brandy wander off on their own. I slowly sat up, and let my head adjust. I sat there for a little bit, and then slowly stood up. I almost fell to the ground, but I was okay. I turned around and looked at everyone else. This cabin had a bunch of beds lined up, and everyone was lying in one. I wonder how many of us were going to turn. We got attacked by stranglers unprepared, at least one of us probably got unlucky. At least one of us is bound to be infected. Maybe it was me, we won't find out until it happens. Maybe some of them won't even wake up, or they might just wake up as a strangler. It's hard to tell, I'm almost used to all these people dying. Our whole group is almost gone. We used to have so many people. I give ourselves a few more weeks, if we even make it that far. I turned away and headed for the door. The cabin was small, and I'm surprised Elise and her family has been able to stay alive for this long in it. As I got closer to the door, my legs felt weaker, and I wasn't even sure if I was going to make it to the front door itself. My legs gave out and I fell to the ground. I slowly started getting up until I saw Sabrina. She was by the door, she started walking closer to me.

"Sabrina?" I asked.

I heard footsteps behind me, I turned to see Samantha also behind me.

"Samantha?"

"You let us die Jeff," Samantha said, "You let us both die. You're going to let your daughter die too? You're not fit for this world. The group would be better off without you."

"No! I'm trying, I really am!" I cried.

Sabrina walked closer to me. She had a bloody knife in her hand, and her throat was bloody.

"You did this to me." she said, pointing to her throat.

"No! I didn't! Stop it!" I screamed.

Elise ran over to me, and Sabrina and Samantha faded away into nothing. It was almost like they were never there.

"Are you okay Jeff?" she asked.

I stood up fast, and almost passed out, but I stayed conscious. I attacked her. I didn't even know what I was thinking. I grabbed her shoulders and pushed her to the ground. I got on top of her and started choking her.

"You bitch!" I screamed, "Leave me alone! Let me find my damn daughter!"

She looked at me in fear, like I was some sort of monster. I was then struck over the head. I fell to the ground and passed out again. While I was passed out, I had more visions. I had visions of Kayla and Brandy dying. Over and over again in different ways. It was horrible to see, but I couldn't do anything about it. I saw Kayla and Brandy lying face first in the snow, dehydrated. I then saw them get attacked by stranglers, and I saw them getting attacked by a bandit group. So many horrible things. I woke up in a panic. A man and a kid were looking over me, one looked around the age of fifty or so, and the other looked around the age of ten.

"So you're awake." said the older man.

"What?" I asked, confused.

"You attacked my wife, Elise." he said.

I could barely remember anything, but I do remember attacking Elise. The vision was very blurry though.

"Sorry." was all I managed to say.

"I'm Terrence," he said, "And this is my son Ryan." he pointed to the little kid.

"We walked in from hunting to see you choking my wife. So I smacked you over the head with my rifle. You were out for a the rest of the night. It's morning now."

"I'm really sorry," I mumbled, "I don't know what's gotten into me."

"You're just lucky you haven't turned. We found your group being attacked by stranglers. I honestly though you were a strangler when I walked in. Your whole group is fine actually, showing no signs of infecting. Except for one."

"Who?" I asked.

"Mark. He is awake, but he has no memory of a lot. He says he feels sick, and his skin is very pale. They're all in the living room if you want to find them."

Not Mark, he was the only person keeping this group alive. He can't die. He makes the best leader. If he dies, we have nobody else to keep us going. I sat up and tried to slowly stand up. I think that hallucination of Sabrina and Samantha set me off on Elise. I hope these people don't hold it against me. They were kind enough to let us stay here, and they saved our lives. Why the hell did I attack her? I slowly walked to the living room, where the group was hanging out. Jess was sitting next to Mark, he was lying down, and Ned and Julie was talking on a couch. Ned looked okay, he had bandages around his ribs. Maybe he broke some. Other than that, he looked fine for plummeting into a bunch of rocks. Elise was reading a book in a rocking chair. Once I got there, everyone stared at me for a little while. Elise looked panicked, and she stared at me nervously like I was going to attack her again. I don't blame her.

"Hey." was all I said.

Nobody said anything, they just continued sitting there in silence.

"Elise told us what happened." Julie said to break the silence.

"I know, I'm sorry." I said.

"You've never done anything like that before? Why?" she asked me.

"I don't know, something weird happened to me."

I didn't want to say I hallucinated about Sabrina and Samantha, since that makes me sound crazy. Which I am, but I don't want people thinking I'm more crazy that I actually am. I was thinking about leaving the group earlier, since I am becoming crazier by the minute. That was just a thought then, but now after attacking Elise, and having that vision about Sabrina and Samantha, telling me I was no good for the group, I may have made my mind up. I think it may just be best I leave the group.