Episode 8: Trail

Episode 8

"Trail"

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

I started walking through the snow, it was freezing out. I don't know how long I'm going to make it our here. It's been too long since I lost Kayla, I wonder if she is even still out here. She is a survivor, she can make it. I am not going to stop looking for her, the only thing that will stop me now is death. The sun was going down and it was going to get dark soon. I was thinking about sitting down later to make a campfire but my mind was set on finding Kayla and Brandy. I was even ignoring the stinging pain in my shoulder from Jess shooting me. It could wait, I've been shot before. I cupped my hands over my mouth and breathed into them, I was already cold and I've been out here for a couple minutes. It only gets colder when it's night.

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

Nobody said anything. Elise told us to go to the living room, and she went over to Terrence to be with him. She told Ryan to come with us. Elise didn't seem too upset at first, I think it was the shock. Soon, I'm sure it will finally hit her, and she'll be angry. I don't know if she will take it out on us and kick us out. I hope not, it's very cold out there. I'll give Jeff a couple hours, his body will shut down and he will be dead out there. It hurt so much to do that to him, Jeff was once part of us. He was a good leader, I just sent him out to die. Someone needed to stop him though, he was only going to get worse. I sat down on the couch next to Mark, he was still asleep. I wasn't sure why Terrence pointed a gun at Jeff in the first place, but I'm sure he had his reasons. Ryan sat on the couch across from me beside Julie. He buried his face in his hands and started crying.

"Why did he do it?" he cried.

Julie hugged him, she was always good with kids. I'm sure she can make Ryan feel better, but after what had just happened, I think it's going to take some time.

Mark opened his eyes and he woke up in a panic. He started breathing heavily, his skin was still a pale colour.

"You okay?" I asked him.

"I can't-breathe!" he cried.

We all panicked, Ned ran into the kitchen to get him some water. I pat him on the back a bunch of times.

He finally let out a huge gasp, and he was breathing again.

"What happened?" I asked him.

"I don't know," he caught his breath, "I feel like shit."

"Do you need any water?" Ned asked, coming in the room with a glass.

"Sure."

Ned gave Mark the glass and he downed it quickly.

"My heart feels like it's about to rocket out of my chest."

That scared me, when you're infected, your heart beats fast. I checked it earlier, it was fine! I rested my hand on his chest, it was going faster than normal. It was around two beats a second. I slowly brought my hand away from it and looked at Ned, he was the one who knew the most about these things.

"I don't know," Ned said, "You are having the symptoms, pale skin, feeling sick, fast heart beat. Yet, you haven't turned."

"Maybe I'm immune." he joked.

"Where's Jeff?" Mark asked after a moment of silence after the joke.

I sighed, nobody said anything. It was hard to explain.

"Did he-die?" Mark asked, looking very concerned.

"No," I said, "We-we kicked him out."

"What? Why?"

"He killed Terrence, Mark. He went crazy. He was a danger to all of us."

Mark just lied there on the cough, baffled on that answer. He tried getting up, but he fell to the ground. He was really weak. I grabbed him and lifted him back onto the couch.

"Let's not worry about that right now," I said, "Something is wrong with you. We need to find out."

"Maybe it's just a cold." Mark said.

"No way of that," Ned butt in, "A cold doesn't give you a fast heart rate, and it definitely doesn't make you that weak."

"Then what is it?" I asked concerned.

"I'm not sure. It's weird isn't it." Ned said, thinking hard.

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

My knees gave out and I fell into the snow. I started coughing, I saw my breath puff out with each cough. I grabbed a tree and lifted myself up, my hands were red and I couldn't feel them. My toes were frozen numb, and my ears felt like they could fall off at any given moment. I took a shaky, deep breath in. Then out. I looked around the place, everything looked the same. Frozen forest. Why couldn't Gus waited until summer to attack the mall? Dammit. I started walking, maybe I would get lucky and find something. That was very unlikely, but I wasn't going to get anywhere staying still. After walking for a long time, I found a river. It was the same one that we fell into running away from stranglers. The same one Ned almost died in. This time, it was frozen over. Just goes to show how cold it's gotten in the past week. I kept walking, I jumped over the river and kept on moving. Maybe if I could find the highway, I could find some sort of building. Once again, very unlikely, but I had nothing to lose. The thing that was the worst out of all of this, was that I didn't feel guilty at all for killing Terrence. I had almost forgotten about it, and taking that dying old lady's stuff about a week ago. All the things I've done, I just don't care anymore. I have no room for guilt. Everything I have lost, it really changed me. If I don't find Kayla, I will probably kill myself. I have nothing left on this world, the only thing I care about now is my daughter. I just need to find a rope, and any of these trees will do.

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

"Terrence." I said, tears falling from my eyes.

"Please wake up."

I grabbed his hand while he was lying on the floor, I squeezed it.

"Please." I cried.

I knew he wasn't waking up, Jeff killed him. Stabbed him straight through the chest. I couldn't believe it. I should have known from the time he strangled me. I was a fool for keeping him here. If only Terrence and Ryan never found them being attacked by stranglers in the woods, he would still be alive. It's their fault he's dead. These people need to leave. Rage filled my body. I picked Terrence up and slowly brought him to the bedrooms. I rested his body onto a bed and left the room. Tears still falling from my eyes, I walked into the living room where everyone was.

"Leave." was all I said.

"What?" Jess asked.

"You heard me, you people are bad luck. Leave my home."

"Please Elise," she said, "Mark is sick, and he needs to rest. We won't make it out there. I understand your anger. Trust me, I've been through it. Just sit down with us, and we'll help you through it."

"He killed my husband." I cried more.

Jess got up from the couch and hugged me, I didn't try to resist it. I know these people didn't do anything bad, it was just that Jeff.

"It's going to be okay, we'll help you. You helped us, it's the least we can do." Jess said.

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

I saw a cabin not too far from here, it was a lot smaller than Elise's cabin. This could save my life though, I ran to it. Once I got there, I opened the door and walked it. The place didn't have very good insulation, but it was something. I saw some granola bar wrappers on the ground, and some empty water bottles. I sighed and sat down. I rested my back up against the wall and thought to myself.

"Please," I looked up, "Please let me find my daughter. She means the world to me."

I sat there for a few seconds and laughed a little bit.

"I don't deserve it do I?" I asked myself, "I don't deserve to find her. I've done so many horrible things. Maybe all I deserve is to die out here in the forest."

A water droplet fell from the ceiling and onto my hand. Maybe that was my sign for I should die. If only Samantha was here to see what I've become. She would have left me a long time ago. I snapped myself out of it, what the hell am I doing here? I need to go and find Kayla, even if it kills me. I stood up and opened the door to the cabin and kept on walking.

"I will find her." I said to myself.

I then stopped and looked at the ground, there were footsteps. They were very faded, but they were here. They were probably strangler footsteps, but it could be Kayla. I know that was a long shot, but I don't think there are many people living out here. I started following them. After walking for about ten minutes, I found some people lying down in the snow in the distance. I was about to pass out from the cold, but I needed to keep on pushing. I ran up to the figures lying in the snow. There was one man and one woman. They were dead, shot. The blood still looked fresh. It was bright red and glowing in the snow.

"Are you guys okay?" I asked.

Who was I kidding, they were dead. I sat down next to them, then I lied down. I decided this was it, I had no energy left. I hope Kayla is going to be okay in this world. Once I die, I will watch over her.

I closed my eyes and that was it. I took one last breath in, and breathed out. I saw Samantha in my mind. She looked disappointed in me. That didn't last long though, a setting appeared around her. She was now inside some kind of dungeon. She was restrained by some buckles. She was buckled to the wall. She was crying, and desperately trying to get out.

"Crying isn't helping anything." said a raspy voice.

A man emerged from the darkness, I never got a good look at his face because his back was turned to me. He was wearing a suit, a navy blue one. He was very slim and tall. He had curly, black hair.

"How are you doing?" he asked her.

"Please, let me go." Samantha pleaded.

"Sh, sh, sh. It's okay. I don't know why you don't like this place. I'm giving you a home, why aren't you thankful?"

"This isn't a home."

"Yes it is, you only go down here when you're bad. Stop being bad and then you can come upstairs with me. We could really be something here, but when you keep trying to escape I have no other choice but to lock you up here."

"Why can't you just let me leave?" Samantha cried.

"Alright, enough talk. You must be punished. That's why I brought you down here in the first place. Maybe you won't try to escape next time after this."

I tried yelling at the man, but he couldn't hear me. I grabbed a long metal pole out of some kind of furnace. He touched her arm with it. She screamed in pain. I heard some men in the background, and the vision started to fade. I opened my eyes and I was looking at the sky. There were some men around me.

"Is he dead?" asked the voice.

"No his eyes are open."

Why does this keep happening to me? I almost die, and some people come and find me. Who's here now? I struggled to sit up, I looked around. There were five men around me, they were all in some kind of uniform. It was almost like a military uniform, but it wasn't. They were wearing a navy blue uniform, with white padding. They all had a symbol on their shoulders. It was a picture of a man's face. I wonder what it was for.

"Are you okay sir?" a man knelt down in front of me.

"I was." I said.

"What are you doing out here in the cold?"

"Dying." I said.

"We can help you sir, we are from a place called Lockwood. We are here to help you. We can bring you back there."

Lockwood, why did that name sound so familiar?