Rage: A Story of Survival

by Greene, Dane

  Brian’s response is simple, yet it makes more sense to me than my lavish ideas. His answer reminds me of why I trust and like Brian. He’s rational and able to look at things in a fairer perspective. He might be the only person who could help me with something I’ve had on my mind for a while.

  “I have one more question, Brian, and I’m warning you: this one is more serious.”

  Brian looks at me, and I can see a deep hesitation, but he nods.

  “Listen, I need to know: do you think I’m losing it? Am I still capable of leading everyone to safety?”

  Brian looks a little surprised, but he collects himself. He remains silent for several minutes. My headache grows worse every second, and I start to feel like there’s an intense pressure pushing on my head.

  “You might be, not because of what happened with Dawn. Lately, it seems like you’re wearing thin. To be honest, though, we’re all cracking up a bit. Even if you’re starting to crack, you’re holding us together. If you were to lose it, some of the others would as well. Aaron, please be honest. Are you worried you might break?”

  The pressure on my head seems to lessen a bit as I think about it. I know I’m slipping a bit. Even so, I’m pretty sure I can keep it together until we reach the island.

  “No,” I say. “I know I can keep it together, at least as long as it takes to get everyone safe. After that, I should be able to pull myself together. Besides, even if I do break, on the island, everyone will be safe, so what does it matter?”

  Brian nods, and I can tell that what I’ve said will stay between us. We stay quiet for a while. My headache lessens, and I continue the patrols around the ship. When we reach the next town, there seems to be a dock, and Brian and I decide to take the boat in closer for a better look.

  When we’re nearing the shores, I see some Palemen but think nothing of them. They’re too far out to be any real danger, and unless we plan to dock, I see no need to even mention them. When I look at one around fifty yards out on the shore, I see that it used to be a man. He looks angry, and my headache worsens immediately, so I close my eyes. When I do, I hear someone scream at me from the shore.

  “I’ll kill you all! I’ll rip, tear, devour. They killed them. They killed them all. Her face! I saw her face torn. I saw it ripped. I’ll kill them all!”

  The words are dark, and I’m disturbed by them. They wake something primal in me, and a shiver runs up my spine. I look back, and something tells me that the shout was from the man.

  As soon as I acknowledge this, my mind is assaulted not only by the Paleman who yelled, but also by all the ones on the shore. Their screams are full of anger and rage, and I know I’m not hearing them with my ears.

  The pressure of their collective rage presses on me, and my mind starts to crack under it. Somehow, I manage to stand and walk down to the cabin of the boat, muttering to Brian that I need to rest, but I’m not sure.

  When I make it to the cabin, the voices get louder. If I don’t find some way to block them out, I know I’ll go mad. Chris wriggles under the surface, pushing to break free. Primal rage emanates from me, and I understand where the headaches are coming from. Chris did something to make me hear the Palemen, and I’m not sure I can fight it.

  All my concentration goes into trying to control myself as I fight waves of anger. As I wander around the cabin, I stumble into someone.

  When I look up, I see Sophia. She looks at me, and there’s fear in her eyes. She tries to speak to me, but I can’t hear her voice over the screams of the Palemen on shore. She grabs my shoulders and hugs me, and I become a little more grounded. The voices are still there, but she helps keep me in check with reality.

  She puts a finger up, and I know she’s telling me to hold on for a minute. I’m not sure what she’s planning, but I can’t afford the energy to argue. All I can do is trust her and believe that whatever she wants to do will work.

  Putting my hands over my ears, I try to focus on my surroundings and push out the Palemen. It doesn’t work. The more I resist and fight them, the more lost I become and the stronger my urge to kill the others on the boat becomes. When Sophia returns, my mind starts to fantasize about ripping her apart and about the taste of her flesh.

  Before I lunge at her, I see she has my daughter, Evelyn, with her. At first, I’m mad and confused, unsure of why she would bring my daughter here. But I realize that it stopped me from attacking Sophia. There are those who need my protection. My mind cannot break now. I have no choice but to fight off the voices. I understand what Sophia wanted to accomplish. My desire to protect Evelyn and the others fuels my efforts to drown out the screaming and the pain of the Palemen.

  When I think about my daughter’s safety and the responsibility I owe everyone, the voices seem to lessen. Then I realize that I’m hyperventilating, so I force myself to calm my breathing and put myself into a meditative state. The Palemen and their voices are there, but I don’t fight them. I accept them but refuse to let them affect me. The screams that blocked all my thoughts dull to a yell, and I accept it. I’m in control now, and I know that I can’t lose control again.

  Now that my mind is clearer, I question how I can hear the Palemen. It must be linked to what Sophia told me about being affected by the epidemic, even though I’m not infected. Regardless of what’s happening, there’s nothing I can do about it right now. There’s no choice for me but to deal with it until I can go somewhere without Palemen.

  “Dad, are you listening to me yet? Sophia said we could bail water for a while. She said it would be nice to give Jason and Melany a break.”

  Evelyne looks at me, and I smile to try and hide the worry inside. Sophia gives me a concerned look. She may partly understand what I’m going through. After all, she said she was sensitive to the Palemen as well. If she thinks physical work is the best cure, who am I to argue?

  “Sure thing. I’m sure they could use a break, but are you ready to work hard?”

  Evelyn smiles, and the voices quiet down a bit more. “Of course. No one’s let me help yet. They tell me to watch. Hey, when are we going to find a new boat and make it to the island? The others say there are going to be other kids to play with on the island and that I’ll have to go back to school. Is that true?”

  She asks me so many questions that I’m not even sure where to start. There are some things, like the children, that I’m not even sure of. Like the rest of us, she’ll have to wait for answers and see when we get there.

  “Honey, slow down. Let’s take care of one thing at a time. Now, if you want to talk about all these things, that’s fine. If you want to bail water, then we better get moving.”

  Evelyn pauses for a moment before running off to find Jason and Melany.

  “Aaron, what’s going on?” Sophia asks me when Evelyn is out of earshot. “Are you going to be okay? Has Chris come back?”

  “No, Chris is still silent, but the Palemen aren’t. All their pain and rage press into me every second, and I don’t know why. Sophia, I don’t know what’s going on. But I have it under control now, thanks to your quick thinking.” Sophia looks at me, and I know I can trust her.

  “Aaron, remember, I won’t hesitate if you turn rabid. You remember my promise to you, right? Even now, I’ll put you down if you’re beyond saving.” After I nod, she continues.

  “I do care about you, and if you need me for anything, let me know. You need to keep it together for a little longer, okay? We will be far away from any Palemen soon.” Sophia hugs me tightly, and we embrace for a while before breaking apart and going to find Evelyn.

  We find her and start working to bail water from the ship. The bailing is hard work, but it helps to keep me distracted. After a while, the voices fade to a near buzzing. Every once in a while, there’s an outburst from a strong Paleman, but after the first few, they become easy to manage.

  As I work alongside Sophia and Evelyn, we laugh and joke. My mind wanders a bit, and I fantasize about us on the island. My hope is that we’ll make it
there together. In my fantasies, we’re on the beach in summer, and in the winter, we’re in a cabin, reading books by the fire.

  There needs to be more than promises for me to make it to the island. If I don’t have a reason to live after we make it to Garden Island, what’s the point? My decision to live away from the others seems foolish. Being in a civilization with others is exactly what we all need to move on.

  Besides, the Palemen can’t last forever. They may be mutated, but they’re still human. At some point, they’ll die out. After that happens, if I don’t have some contact with others, it will be much more difficult to rebuild and rejoin what remains of society. The damage to the electrical system is extensive, but I bet that, without the Paleman threat, we could have lights and other utilities within twenty to fifty years, if not sooner.

  These thoughts distract me until I see Sophia stop her work. When I look up, what I see terrifies me. On the shore, I see a multitude of Palemen. Among them, one stands out, and I hear him screaming orders with clarity. He’s commanding the Palemen around him to destroy the boat. That’s when I realize what’s about to happen, but it’s already too late.

  Before anyone can react, Molotov cocktails start hitting the boat. The fire spreads over the outside of the boat immediately. Filled with desperation, I pull my gun out. Before I can fire off a round, though, I hear a single shot. I look toward the source and find that Brian has fired his rifle. The bullet strikes the general, and he falls down.

  His mind issues a last command before it’s silenced. All the Palemen now see us as the cause of their rage, and they’re told to pursue us until we’re dead. There’s nothing we can do that will make them disperse now. Their sole focus is our destruction.

  With frenzied desperation, I go to the wheel of the ship and turn the boat toward the shore. While I do so, I scream for everyone to gather supplies and abandon ship. The others hear, and everyone gathers as much as they can before jumping off the ship.

  Before I jump off, I find Evelyn and grab her hand. Together, we rush to get some food in a bag before jumping ship. Luckily, the Palemen aren’t in the water. Instead, they’re focused on the incoming ship.

  Everyone gathers in a circle, and we scout out a small shack nearby, which we can swim to. The boat collides with the shore and shatters into a flaming wreck, distracting the Palemen.

  When we make it to the shore, I take point and use a hatchet and Dao sword to dispatch any Palemen in the way. Since most of them are distracted by the boat, only two or three fall to my blades.

  When we get in the shack, we start fortifying the doors and windows. We all go into the bathroom, which only has a window in the roof, and block and lock the door. The door is solid steel and looks strong enough to hold back the horde.

  When I look around, I see that the bathroom is large. I guess that this was likely a place to shower after hitting the beach. After a few minutes, we hear Palemen on the outside walls, and their voices assault me. There are hundreds, and they’re accompanied by scratches on the walls. Like a damn being broken, the voices rush in on me, and it’s too much. Around me there is only rage.

  Chapter 19: Jason

  August 24th

  Aaron twitches while I watch him. It’s obvious that he’s in a tremendous amount of pain, and I’m not sure he’ll ever wake up.

  As I listen to the scratching noises coming from the walls, I can’t help but feel exposed. There’s no telling how long we can hole up in this place. We have food and water, but even with what we salvaged from the boat, we have a week before supplies run out.

  This situation looks hopeless, and to top it off, Aaron has collapsed and lies unconscious. When I look around, I see that the others look as panicked as I do. None of us seem to think we’ll survive this.

  Evelyn screams and yells as tears roll down her face. She’s been screaming at Sophia ever since Aaron collapsed.

  “Help him, Sophia! You’re not a good doctor if you can’t help him! He’ll save us. I know it!” My ears close to her pleas for help. It hurts not to listen, but I’m not sure what we can do for her. The poor girl has driven herself into a frenzy, and there’s nothing any of us can do for Aaron right now. The only thing we can do is wait and hope he comes out of it.

  As I watch Sophia, I notice her grab something from her bag. Whatever she grabbed, she forces Evelyn to take. Thinking of what I would do in that situation, I figure she must have given her something to put her to sleep.

  The pill has no immediate effects, and Evelyn, angry at being forced to take something, lashes out at Sophia. After a few minutes, though, she becomes silent and falls asleep.

  Sophia did the right thing by drugging Evelyn. The girl was past calming down. I envy her a little, because it might be better to not be awake tonight. If these walls don’t hold, or the Palemen make it inside, we’ll all die here. Going out in your sleep would be the best way to die.

  When I look back to Aaron, I see that he’s still twitching. Brian is sitting near him, and he has his gun ready. Something has been up with Aaron lately, and I figured this has something to do with it. Seeing Brian ready to shoot him tells me that it’s something dangerous.

  I’m so focused on watching Aaron that I don’t see Melany approaching me. Only when she taps me on my shoulder do I realize she’s there. Though I’m a little startled, I manage to maintain my composure.

  “Jason, we need to do something. Everyone’s anxious and afraid. Brian’s determined to watch over Aaron, and Sophia’s determined to watch over Evelyn. Everyone’s starting to lose hope. You and me need to do something to help give everyone hope again.”

  Melany’s right: the only thing sitting around is going to do is make things worse. Though I’m not sure what we can do to help, anything is better than sitting and waiting for death to take us.

  “Yeah, you’re right. What do you want to do?” Melany pauses and I can tell she doesn’t have a plan. She was expecting me to have some idea of what to do. I can’t think of anything, though, and we sit in silence for a minute. When I’m starting to think there’s nothing to do, she speaks up.

  “I wish there was some way to scout out things. If we could get a look at what we’re dealing with, we may be able to find a way to run past this mob.”

  Her idea is simple, but I realize she’s right: we can’t give up without scouting. It might seem like we’re outnumbered now, but we might be wrong. For all we know, we could slip through the Palemen. The only way to find out would be to go through the building and check the windows.

  When I listen to the scratching, it seems like it’s only coming from the outside. As far as I can tell, no Palemen have made it inside yet.

  “What if we checked inside?” I ask. “I doubt the Palemen have found a way in yet. Even if a few have made it inside, I can shoot them.” Melany nods, and I can tell that she’s excited about the prospect of escape.

  “Why don’t we grab a bag, too?” Melany asks. “This place could have some food. That way, even if we are stuck here, we’ll have some more time.”

  For all we know, the Palemen might calm down and leave in a week. If we find extra food, then it might keep us supplied long enough to make our getaway. The more I think about it, the more reasons I find to scout the building. We could also find tools to better barricade the door to the showers—or even weapons and things to set traps. As I ponder the possibilities, I’m excited to explore the building.

  Melany and I start getting ready. I walk over to where the bags are stored, then grab the one that seems empty. It’s a little heavy, but I figure it’s as good as any.

  Next, I grab Melany and we talk to the others and tell them our plan. Everyone approves, and I can see it sparks some hope in them.

  We make a few more preparations, and I get my rifle. After checking to make sure everything is working, I load and shoulder it, then go to the door.

  Melany and I remove the barricades from the door. Then I have her open it. I ready my rifle and look around, confir
ming my earlier thoughts that the hallway is secure.

  After triple checking, I step through, making sure to stay alert as I do so. After I signal to Melany, she follows my lead and shuts the door behind her. On our way through the building, we don’t see any Palemen. Oddly, I also notice that there’s no scratching on the walls. Somehow, they must know what room we’re in.

  How they’re behaving is interesting. I would have expected them to force their way in. There’s no general, but the Palemen are acting in unity. I’ve never seen them behave like this, and it’s making me uneasy.

  When I look through the windows, we pass them, and I see that we’re surrounded. The bodies I see outside the windows are so thick that I can’t see past them. All I see is a literal wall of flesh.

  As I catch Melany’s eye, we both know that escape right now is impossible, at least from what we can see. She signals to see if I still want to continue exploring. Since the Palemen are inactive, I see nothing to lose, and I nod yes to her.

  As we go through the building, I make sure to memorize every turn we take and make a virtual map in my head. If we get the chance to come out again, I’ll have to remember to draw a map before we do so.

  The search proves uneventful until we run across what appears to be a breakroom. It’s then that I realize what this building is. It must have been a staff hut for the lifeguards who worked at the nearby beach.

  As if to confirm this, I remember seeing a lifeguard tower nearby when we were swimming. Since this was a staff area, there’s a good chance we’ll find something useful in these lockers. I signal Melany to go through the lockers while I stand with my gun sight on the open door. Since I’m facing away from her, I can’t see what she’s doing. Every so often, she slips something into my bag. I enjoy the silence for a while and think about how well things are going.

  As if to spite me, the sound of footsteps comes from the hallway. They’re drowned out by a loud crash coming from behind me. When I look back and see that one of the locker doors has fallen off, Melany looks at me apologetically.