The Wicked

Jack

The sun rays seeped through the window and splashed on my face, and I woke up, blinking and rubbing my eyes. I walked out and into the living room. To my surprise, Atris was already awake and was working on fixing a hand radio.
        “Good morning, Atris.” I said.
        I startled her by saying this and she jumped and let out a tiny squeal. “Oh. uh, good morning to you too.” She put her radio back into her bag and stood up, looking at me. “Thank you again for taking me in. How can I make it up to you?”
        I chuckled slightly. “You don’t have to do anything other than just doing some simple chores. We’ll be doing our best to just survive out here. We have to stick together you know.”
        “Okay, I can do that.”
        “I noticed the radio, are you having troubles with it?”
        She got into her bag and pulled out her radio again. “Yeah, I found it in the streets in a nearby town. I can’t get it to work. Do you think you could take a look at it?”
        “Sure thing. I’ll see what I can do.” I took the radio from her hand looked at it. She went back into her room after thanking me. I sat down on the couch and tossed the thing around in my hand. The radio was a little box and had two knobs, one on both sides of it. There was a plastic strip with a channel measurement in it. I turned it around and took the battery cover off of it. There were no batteries in it. I put it on the coffee table. “Found the problem.” I laughed.
        She came out in a rush and picked up the radio. “What’s wrong with it.”
        “No batteries.”
        She blushed and looked at the radio. “Oh. Yes. I knew that.”
        I chuckled and took the radio from her. “Don’t worry. We’ll find batteries. We need to go into town later anyway to find supplies. We’re not going to survive long with the rations we have now.”
        “Can I go with you? I don’t want to be left alone.”
        I nodded. “Alright, I might need some help anyway if we get in a pinch.” She took the radio, put it back into her bag and went into her room again. I sat down and took a sigh. The fire was out by now, and I noticed that it was cold inside again. I didn’t want to use all the wood in one day, however, so instead I was going to have to scavenge from the surrounding woods.
        I got up and went to the window to peek outside. There wasn’t anything that I could see. The snow was still fresh and the only tracks were from Atris walking up to the house. “I’m going to get fire wood. I’ll be right outside.” I yelled to Atris. I waited for a response, but there was none so I opened the door and stood out on the front patio. Just to be safe, I grabbed the hatchet that was stuck in a log next to my house, and I proceeded to go to the woods.
        It was peaceful in the woods. The sunlight seeped through the hibernating trees in such a way that made you think you were in a fantasy story. The snow was a beautiful white blanket on the untouched ground, and the trees were giants protecting their sacred home. There was a slight breeze that traced its way through the trees and whispered its hymn in your ears. The collage of natural ornaments was quite a sight to behold, and I stood there in awe of the beauty. The sight almost made me forget all the resent events.
        I shook my head and got back on track. I almost hated to taint such a tranquil place, but we needed wood to survive more than I wanted to preserve this. Besides, if everywhere was hit as bad as New York was, then it was only a matter of time before nature consumed the rest of modern civilization. Just then I realized that there should have been some kind of military or evacuation support back in the city. The military must have been overrun if a city as big as New York City was left to fend for its self. This thought was a little disheartening, but at the same time, expected.
        I walked along the edge of the lake that was a short walk away from my house, keeping an eye out for any loose wood that I could use. Off in the distance, I heard crunching snow from footsteps. My heart jumped and I dove behind a rock lying on the beach. I heard the steps coming closer and I readied my hatchet in self-defense. The footsteps were just feet away now and peeked my head up over the rock. It was a dog. He looked like he had been walking for days, stranded. I got up and started walking to it, but it whimpered and started retreating. I stopped and kneeled down and stuck my hand out in a beckoning motion.
        “It’s alright, I’m a friend.” I said in the warmest voice I could manage. He seemed to be intrigued by the unfamiliar presence, but was still cautious. I showed him my hatchet and put it on the ground in a peace making manor. I didn’t know if I could take care of a dog in these times, but my heart really went out to it. After a moment, it cautiously took a step forward and came towards me. I stuck out my hand and it sniffed it and then licked it in approval. I made an attempt at petting it and hesitantly, he let me, wagging his tail.
        His ear flicked up, and he turned his head, growling. I picked up my hatchet and got back behind the rock, and he coward behind me, whimpering. The sound of crunching snow came closer, but still far away enough that I could barely hear it. I peeked around the rock to see it, and there was a man standing on the lining of the woods, about twenty yards away. He just stood there staring into the distance not moving. His eyes were blank and had lost all color, and his skin was pale. My heart was pumping with adrenaline and my hand was ready to strike should he come over here. I didn’t bother calling out to him, by now, I knew he was infected.
Suddenly, my vision went blurry and my chest started hurting again. I fell over into the snow with a swarm of thoughts flooding into my mind. Looking over to where the man was, I could see a hazy figure charging towards me and I struggled to get my hatchet. The figure was only few feet away and I couldn’t find the strength to lift the hatchet. He leaned over my limp body and got down. I could feel his breath on my neck as I struggled and tried rolling away from him. His mouth was about a two inches from me when he jerked up and turned around. I blinked and my mind was clearing now. What I saw shocked me. The infected man was lying on the snow flopping around with the dog pinning him by the neck.
        The pain subsided finally and I got up, grabbed my hatchet and killed the infected man by driving it into his head. His eyes rolled to the back of his head and his torso bent awkwardly upward as he yelled out a horrific sound. Then, all at once, he went limp. The dog let go after several seconds, his mouth still bloodied. I pet him and called him a good boy, but I was worried that he would get infected from the blood getting in him. There wasn’t anything I could do except wait, however. For now, though, I was just grateful that he was there, or I wouldn’t have lived through that.
        I retrieved the hatchet from the lifeless body and cleaned it off in the snow. After some time, I finally gathered some wood, paying close attention to my dog as I did. To the reason I called him my dog is that he followed me around everywhere I went. He seemed to have grown attached to me and, quite frankly, I was glad to have him around as my eyes and ears, and if it ever came down to it, as my body guard. Once I got as much wood as I could carry, I headed back to the cabin, which was only about a hundred yards from where I was in the woods.
        I stacked the wood by the door and knocked on the door before entering, to let Atris know that it was me. I opened the door and found that the living room was exactly how I left it. The dog followed me in and after a few seconds of sniffing around, decided that it was safe and curled up on the couch. I looked at him and he looked at me, and I just grinned. “Alright, you can stay here,” I laughed.
        I looked around and noticed that it was very quiet and still cold, so I got us a fire started with some of the wood I had just gathered. Within minutes the house already felt much warmer. I wondered why Atris had not come out to say hello. I knocked quietly on her door. “Atris, are you alright?” When there wasn’t an answer, I slowly opened the door. Atris was lying on the bed asleep and holding a picture in her hand. I covered her up and kissed her forehead and put the picture on the nightstand next to her. It was a picture of a little boy, maybe three years old. A tear fell from my eyes when I realized that this was probably her son. I turned to leave, but just before shutting the door Atris caught my attention.
        “I never did tell you my past, did I?” She sat up and looked at me, taking the picture off of the nightstand.
        “No, I guess you didn’t.”
        “He was my son, as you’ve probably already guessed. His name was Jack. He was two and a half years old.” She choked up. I walked over to her and she scooted over on the bed, allowing for me to sit next to her, and I did. Tears were falling from her puffy eyes, and my heart truly went out to her. “He was all I had in this world.” She barely managed to get the words out and she started weeping. I put my arms around her and held her tightly. “About a week before the infestation, I had to go on a business trip, and I couldn’t take him with me, so I left him with my parents. When I first heard about the infection, I got worried and called my parents. They didn’t answer.”
        “Where did they live?”
        “They lived in Georgia. I called them several times and they still didn’t answer. I was going to get a plane to them, but all flights had been cancelled that day due to this ‘Mysterious Pandemic’. So I got in my car and started driving but about five minutes into town, I saw everyone was running the opposite direction. In the distance, I saw those things out there. So I turned the car around and drove as fast as I could away from them. I drove until I ran out of gas and I happened to end up on the outskirts of these woods. With nowhere else to turn I headed into the woods, figuring it was safest to be away from any major population. After an hour of trekking, I stumbled across your cabin. And now here I am. I still don’t even know what has happened to my boy, or if he’s even alive.” She paused and started weeping again. I just sat there next to her and held her. Both of us were silent.
        The dog came into the room and Atris got startled. “I picked him up in the woods, looking for wood. He saved my life from those things. One of them almost got me.”
        “Does he have a name?”
        “No, I figured you might like to name him.”
        She looked at him and started thinking. “How about Jack?”
        “I like it.” I said and smiled. “Come here Jack.” I said and put down a hand beckoning him. He jumped onto the bed and lay down at our feet. Atris smiled and I think it was the first genuine smile I had seen from her since she got here.
        She looked at me and remained silent for a moment. “You know, I seriously considered whether or not it was worth moving on until I met you. My son had been taken from me, my life had been taken from me, and the world had been taken from me. Every single thing that I had once loved, cherished, or knew, was ripped out of my hands in just one day. But then I came across you, and you brought into my life hope. Hope for a brighter future. I can never thank you enough for that.” With this, she hugged me. I was awkward at first then warmed up to her. I was just glad that I could mean so much to someone in this new, unforgiving world.
        I broke away from her. “So look. It’s getting late in the day, so I’m going to go into town tomorrow. Tonight, we can just hunker down. Tomorrow, we also need to work on boarding up the windows and setting up our defenses.”
        “Oh, okay.”
        I put my hands on her shoulders and looked her in the eyes. “I promise, if it’s the last thing I do, I will help you find your son.”
        She looked down. “Thank you,” she said in a very quiet voice.
        I got up and went into the living room. I made sure that all the drapes were pulled. It wouldn’t stop something that wanted to get in, but it would at least keep things from seeing that people were home. Tomorrow, Atris and I really needed to board up the windows.
        I went into the kitchen and got a chair. I went outside, onto the front porch and sat it in the snow. I sat down and Jack walked up next to me and sat his head in my lap. The sun was setting and the horizon was turning a brilliant pink and red. I took in a long sigh and pet Jack on the head. “Jack, what are we going to do?” I said to him, shaking my head.
        The wind blew and a chill went down my spine so I went inside, taking the chair with me. I put another log on the fire for the night and went to my bedroom. “I need to clean up tomorrow too.” Looking around I noticed that everything was still dusty. I went over to my bed and lay down. Jack jumped up onto the bed and lay next to me. He curled up and started whimpering. “What is it, boy?” I sat up and looked at him. He seemed to be uncomfortable near me. I pet him and comforted him, and he started to settle down. “It’s alright, we’re safe in here.” After a moment, he rolled over on his back and fell asleep. The position he slept in brought about a little chuckle. His feet were spread open and his front paws were curled into him, and his head was bent in an awkward way. It was kind of cute.
        I lay back down and stared up at the ceiling. The whole house was quiet and slightly cold. I remembered the incident that happened today. If this was going to happen every single time I get in a pinch, I was seriously worried. I started wondering what was causing this. After about an hour of lying there deep in thought, I finally fell asleep.