Rage: A Story of Survival

by Greene, Dane

  “I love you, Dad. I promise I’ll see you again.” The words sound hollow coming from me, but the way he holds me tells me they meant something to him. Charles holds me as he takes his final breaths. Then I set his body down and grab the binder he gave me. There will be time to grieve and question later. For now, I need to focus on getting out of this bunker.

  As I walk through the hallways, I avoid the lifeless bodies scattered throughout them. Whenever I hear the patter of footsteps, I hide, knowing there are likely some infected down here. Before long, I make it to the emergency stairs unmolested.

  The stairs are much clearer than the hallways, and I climb up to the surface. Once I’m outside, my eyes adjust to the light of the moon. When I look around, I see a barbed-wire fence surrounding the compound I’ve emerged from. While I’m looking around, I notice a sign nearby: “CDC Headquarters, Atlanta Georgia.”

  There’s no one in sight, and everywhere I look is dark. No artificial light emanates from anywhere. Remembering my way around the city, I’m confident I can escape it before dawn. Without another thought, I start walking. The only thing I stop for is to loot clothes, a backpack, and other supplies from some empty stores. The walk through the city is a silent and empty one.

  Once I’m a few miles from the city, I lie down under a tree and rest. What I first intended to be a rest turns into sleep.

  When my eyes open, they react to the bright noon sun. It takes a few seconds for my eyes to adjust, but when they do, I look around. From what I can tell, I’m at a random tree along some road. All I remember after escaping the city is walking, without plan or purpose, in one direction. Remembering the map I took from a gas station, I pull off my backpack and open it.

  Digging around the bag, I stop when I see a three-ringed binder. My hand grabs it, and I immediately pull it out. As I open it, a thirst for answers overwhelms me. My eyes scan the pages; most of what I read only confirms what I know. I only learn anything once I get past the medical files and onto the last pages, which are personal.

  My name is Sophia Emeret, and I was doing observation at the local hospital. Unfortunately, that was the site of the outbreak—and also the place I was infected. My family, except my father, was visiting that day and was murdered. The suspicion is that I fell victim to the disease and killed them.

  The impact of the words hit me, and I feel like I should be devastated. For some reason, I feel nothing, even though I know these things are true. Without memories of them, it feels like I’m reading a story.

  “I’m sorry, Charles. You were so kind to me, and I’ve let you down.”

  The book falls out of my hand, and I sigh and look to the sky. Staring at the noontime sky calms me, and I watch clouds for a while before looking back down. The three-ring binder lies next to me, and I go to pick it up and put it away when something catches my eye. When I pull the binder closer, I see the last page. There is a hand-scrawled note. The writing is sloppy and barely readable.

  “Dear, Sophia. Go to Chicago. The weaponized bacterium originates there.”

  Spatters of blood cover the rest of the writing and make it unreadable. Part of me is glad I can’t read the rest of the note. Chicago is a direction I can move toward. As wrong as it makes me feel, I’m better off without family or grief to tie me down.

  My first few days of travel are difficult, but I adapt to the efforts. The skills I had before the infection come back to me. My other memories don’t. As I travel, I run into plenty of people, and I learn to offer my medical skills in exchange for food. The first few times I try to warn people about the disease, but I learn to avoid the subject. I never stay anywhere for long. Instead, I stay on the move. A few months pass, but I reach the city of Chicago.

  Throughout my journey, I don’t run into any of the infected. For the first time, on the edge of this city, I face an infected. A man stands pale and foreboding. Even from this distance, somehow, I know what he is. My spine tingles at the feeling of pure hated directed at me. Without another word, the man screams and starts moving toward me. His jagged movements are rough as he stumbles forward. My limbs freeze, and I stare as the man approaches.

  My body finally snaps to action when his fingers rip across my face. Throwing up my hands, I push him as hard as I can. As his body flies back and slams into the ground, pain assaults me and blood gets into my eyes. As I scream, some primal sense awakens in me and I can feel the echoes of my wail bouncing off the surrounding landscape. Despite the blood in my eyes, I can see, or rather feel, where he is. Something snaps inside me, and the pain fades. With no sight, the world becomes an echoed red image in my mind, and I run to the man on the ground and slam my foot into his head once, twice, three times. Eventually, I lose count. The head caves in, and instead of revulsion, I feel joy.

  My joy fades when my leg slips on the gore, and I fall back. I fail to catch myself and roughly hit my head against the ground. The only thought in my mind is that I want more.

  Chapter 6: Aaron

  May 25th

  Sunlight burns my eyes as I open them. Even though I know it’s morning, I find myself wanting a few more minutes to sleep. I try to roll over but stop when something cold and hard pushes into my side. Curious, I open my eyes and take a closer look. Seeing a black handle, I realize it belongs to a gun. My first instinct is to panic, but then I remember where I am. The dreams I was having a few minutes before fade, and reality sets in. With a sigh, I get up, knowing I won’t be able to sleep anymore.

  As I leave my family’s room, I do a quick headcount to see who’s still asleep. That’s when I notice that my dad is missing. He volunteers for patrol duty often, so I’m not worried. His dedication to patrol shouldn’t surprise me, since he has always focused on his work. He means well by it—he always has. In some ways, I guess he has always been doing it to protect us. Now, his dedication is just more obvious.

  Since it’s still too early to try to do any work, I decide I’ll go talk to him. It’ll be nice to figure out what he’s thinking. My father is easy to find. A basic perimeter sweep brings me to him. He’s perched on the now-destroyed stairs, the only entry into our new home. As I approach him, my dad speaks to me without turning around.

  “Hey, Aaron. Up already?”

  Memories of my parents saying they have eyes in the backs of their heads come back to me, and I smile. “Hey, Dad. I was up, so I figured I’d talk to you about what we need to do now that the top floor is secure.”

  “Well, I was thinking of doing some renovations. We’ve managed to get along well these past few days. As things calm down, tempers and personalities will clash if we’re all in the same small space. My walk around the perimeter gave me a couple of ideas of things to do that will expand our living space. The most important thing is building a way into our sister apartment, which shares the stairway with us. I checked it out earlier this morning, and it’s as secure as this one. There’s also office space in the store below our space here, and it’s raised high enough to be safe. If we remove the stairs and put a hole in the floor up here, it should give us a little extra space.”

  “Sounds like you have your plan pretty figured out. How long would it take you to get those spaces ready?”

  He looks at me. “Well, it depends on how much help I have, but if we don’t run into any trouble securing the areas, it’ll only take one day. Making them livable after that will take much longer. What are you planning to do today?”

  “Well, I was looking at our supplies, and we need more. I was planning on recruiting some people to come with me to the supermarket. We would raid what food and supplies we could there.” Telling my father my plan is risky, especially since it involves leaving our sanctuary. My hope is that he’s grown to trust my judgment these past few days. Looking at him, I see some apprehension in his expression. He looks at me, and I find it hard to read him.

  “Suppose we’ll both have a busy day today,” he says. “Why don’t you start waking everyone up. There’s a lot of work to do, and we�
�re losing daylight. Make sure to ask if anyone wants to help me. If anyone volunteers, send them here. I’ll stay put. Oh, and be safe out there, okay?”

  Smiling, I nod. “Yeah, of course I’ll be safe, Dad.”

  Following my father’s advice, I go through the apartment and wake everyone up, starting with my family. It only takes a few minutes for everyone to gather in the room closest to the stairs. This room has become our unofficial meeting room, and whenever we gather together, it’s in here. Once we’re all gathered and everyone has their attention on me, I begin speaking.

  “Hello, I want to thank everyone for their strength these past few days. We’ve all pulled together and created a place where we don’t have to fear attack. If you’re like me, you’re starting to feel a little constrained by our current living conditions. My father has a plan to expand our space three times over. He’d appreciate any help he could get. Aside from our living conditions, there’s also the matter of food. We currently have enough supplies to last a few months. It’d be best to scavenge the supermarket for anything edible before others get the same idea. My plan is to go myself, but anyone willing to brave it with me is welcome company. Anyone who’s interested in either task, come talk to me and I’ll fill you in on the details.”

  As I look around the room, I expect to see excitement and some apprehension. When I see that many of the faces looking at me are filled with annoyance, I’m shocked. All the adults, aside from my mother and Jason’s grandfather, look at me with reluctance and flat out disrespect. They still see me as a child.

  “What do you or your father know about anything?” Jason’s grandmother says. “Why would we risk ourselves when there’s no need? You say we don’t have enough food, but how can I be sure that you’re not trying to trick us into doing your dangerous work? As far as helping your father goes, my family already has a place to live. Why would we go through the effort of helping you make a home for yourself?”

  As I stare at Jason’s grandmother, I’m filled with anger. How could she be so foolish and blind? She’s lucky she ended up with my family; most people would have thrown her out into the streets to die. Before I reply to her, Jason’s grandfather cuts in.

  “Honey, you’re being very disrespectful. If it wasn’t for this kid and his family, we wouldn’t be alive. We owe it to them to help. We’re all in this together, and being selfish is dumb.”

  Jason’s grandmother throws him a venomous look, but she backs down. Jason and his grandfather have always been the only sensible members of that family. Without them, it would have been too risky to invite Jason’s family here. Calming myself down, I reply. “Thank you. Before we start our work, I want to see if anyone else has ideas about what needs to be done around here.”

  Silence is my answer, and as I survey the room, I start to conclude that no one has anything to say. That’s until my mother stands and walks forward. “I can think of one thing that might be useful. We don’t know enough about the disease that drives Palemen. For all we know, it could be curable or we could be immune. It would be wise to capture and examine someone who’s become infected to learn more.”

  My mother’s idea is a very good one. Having a solid understanding about how the disease transfers and functions is invaluable. Palemen are incurable monsters to me; I never thought to learn more about them or the disease they carry. Now I start to doubt my presumptions. It’s quite possible that this disease will die out or that there will be a way to combat it without the use of violence. The one thing I’m unsure of is how she plans to study the Palemen.

  “You’re right that knowing more would be helpful, but what are you planning?” I ask.

  “Well, it might seem crazy, but I need to get someone who’s been affected by the disease. They also need to be alive, since it’s the most efficient way of collecting information. Also, I need someone to help me get supplies for the examination. If anyone’s interested in helping me, talk to me after we’re done here.”

  After my mom finishes, she sits back down. Scanning the room, I see that, aside from my mother, the adults have looks of disgust on their faces. Why is it possible that my friends and I can see what needs to be done, but our parents can’t? Age may beget wisdom, but it also degrades critical thinking, I decide. No one else speaks, so I prepare to close the meeting. Before I can say anything, Jason speaks up.

  “I’ll do anything if it helps us against the Palemen. Let me know what you need, Stephanie.”

  “Thank you, Jason,” I say. “Unless someone else has some input, I say we get our days started. If you want to talk to me, I’ll be packing supplies for my supermarket trip.”

  Smiling, I walk away, glad there was no heavy opposition in the meeting. Next, I get to work, starting with a list of supplies I’ll need. It isn’t long before I’m joined by my sister Melany. She tells me she’s going to join me.

  “Melany, I appreciate the help, but are Mom and Dad okay with you going?”

  Melany smiles and answers me. “Yeah, Mom said I’d be safe with you, and I want to get out of here. I haven’t contributed to our home yet, and I want to. Besides, if I go with you to get supplies, I can decide what to bring back.”

  Smiling, I pat my sister on the head; I know she has no reason to lie to me, so I trust that my parents gave her the okay. She isn’t wrong. If she comes, she’ll be able to grab any books or supplies to keep her entertained for the next few months. Food will be our primary target, but without entertainment, we’ll go crazy with boredom before we starve.

  Not long after Melany starts helping me, Brian joins us. There’s no reason to ask him about his motives. If he’s here, that’s enough for me. With three sets of hands, we finish the packing and are on our way. We walk a few miles, and after checking to see that there are no Palemen around, I stop my sister and friend. They look at me, confused.

  “Sorry to stop you guys, but I wanted to fill you in on the plan. As you know, we’re heading to raid the old supermarket. It should still have supplies since it was converted to a trade market after the power went out. If things go well, I was hoping we could also stop by some other places. My old martial arts gym is close to the supermarket. My hope is that it’s still supplied with melee weapons. Some are for show, but the majority are authentic—and sharp. While we’re out, I also wanted to check up on Luke. I’m sure he’s fine, but it’d be nice to confirm it.”

  Brian looks at me and gives me a quick nod. He’s okay with both stops. Melany also remains silent, which is normal for her. Convincing them was easier than I anticipated.

  After finishing our preparations, we leave the apartment and start walking toward the supermarket. The walk is uneventful. We avoid the Palemen we run into, and unlike a few days ago, there are no fires or people screaming. All that remains of the chaos is the bodies of the dead littering the streets.

  When we reach the supermarket, I see the shopping carts all over the parking lot. It’s then that I realize we don’t have a way to bring the supplies back home. My face flushes with embarrassment, and I stare at Brian and Melany. Out of nowhere, Brian speaks up.

  “Um… how about kid-carriers?” Brian halfway mutters his sentence, and I look at him, confused. After an awkward second, he clarifies. “I figured it out on the way over. Why don’t we use kid-carriers that you attach to bikes? I’m willing to bet that there are some bikes and carriers here. They might be our best bet for moving supplies. Also, on a different note, pet foods are edible, and people wouldn’t have thought to grab them. So if you want, we can grab all the pet food. We might find we need it to ration our supplies. We don’t know how long we’ll be stuck in the apartment.” Brian avoids making eye contact with me as he’s speaking. Both of his ideas are brilliant.

  “Brian, you’re a genius. Let’s get to work.” We start working on the task at hand and gather supplies. Brian was right about people leaving behind the bikes and dog food. With the bikes and carriers, we manage to make several trips to the apartments in only a few hours. We clea
r the store out of anything useful, and we find ourselves with plenty of time to go to my martial arts gym.

  We decide to leave the bikes in the storefront under our apartment. They work well for carrying large amounts of supplies, but their maneuverability is rather poor. We all agree that walking to the martial arts gym will be safer.

  As we walk to the gym, the sun shines down on me. Even under these circumstances, I find myself enjoying the exposure to the outside. The apartment is safe, but the windows are small, and not much light comes in. If I’m going to be inside the apartment for the next few months or years, I’ll definitely have to find a way to the roof.

  The sun also helps us spot any groups of Palemen, so staying a safe distance is easy. Only when I notice a group of two Palemen on their knees do I become curious and want to risk getting closer. Before now, I’ve only seen Palemen milling about. From where we are, I can’t see what they’re doing.

  “Hey, do you see that?” I whisper while pointing. Brian and Melany look toward the Paleman, and I can see that their curiosity is piqued as well.

  “You want to check it out? It looks like they’re digging or something,” Brian replies, and I nod. We move toward the Palemen. As we approach, I see what they are doing, and my stomach churns. Beneath the Palemen lies a body. The Palemen above it have ripped open the stomach and are busy chewing on the man’s intestines. It all makes sense: the Palemen are still living, so of course they have to eat. Before I turn away in disgust, some movement catches my eye.

  Behind the Palemen, hidden in some bushes, is a little girl. She’s waving but not making a sound. Seeing the danger she’s in, I immediately decide that these two Palemen have to die. Not wanting to draw in more Palemen, I pull out my hatchet and combat knife. I signal Brian and Melany to stay put, but Brian shakes his head and pulls out a homemade garrote wire. With his help, we should be able to take them out at the same time.