Embrace The Madness Ch. 04

A harvest in Appleton

*

Miles away from the city, Dwayne stirred within his sleep to find himself not alone in the bed. His mind was still fairly foggy of the previous events the evening before. Slowly, becoming more aware to his surroundings and conscienceless, he felt the warm sensation of Felicia -- the young female passenger from the Expedition -- attempting to cuddle closer against his chest.

Still confused over the events of the previous evening, he gently sat up against the head of the bed. Taking an extended moment to look around the room, he began to better gather his thoughts. For starters; Where was he exactly? What had happened inside the city? And what exactly did the two of them do?

He tried to make sense of what he could remember while attempting to depict reality from what could have been caused by having too many drinks. He gently moved Felicia more on to the pillow. The nerve wrenching pain that started from his ankle had made him cringe as he began moving his foot away from its current comfort zone. Instinct took its hold for a second, and as Dwayne turned his attention toward the table, he noticed the already open pill bottle along with some remaining powder residue still spread around the table.

The more he glanced around the room, the more it clicked within his conscience mind of at least some of the events from the later evening. Pouring a couple more pills across the table, he took the cellophane that they had used the night before, setting it over top the two pills. While holding the plastic in place so that the pills didn't rolling around on the table, he began using his lighter to crush the pills into a fine powder. Grabbing the already rolled piece of paper once it was fine enough, he quickly inhaled -- one pill per nostril -- trying to clean whatever remaining powder there was.

Taking in a deep breath, he slowly began to exhale as he laid back against the bed. It hadn't taken long for the effects of the pain pills to kick in; before the agonizing pain within his ankle had started to fade. Of course, his movements of trying to get comfortable again only caused Felicia to gently stir within her own restful peace. Gently fluttering her lids open, those soft honey-brown eyes peered upward as a smile formed over the corner of her lips.

Unfortunately, he had no time to enjoy even the softest of life's treasures, as the sound of screams came from outside his bedroom window...

Snapping back into the terrible reality that was going on all around him, Dwayne quickly sat up in the bed. Noticing that he was laying alone, he gave a long sigh of disappointment as he realized he had been only in a dream state at the time. Sitting up against the edge of the bed he gave his room a look over, trying to jar his memory.

Quickly bringing his attention toward the side table beside the bed, he had noticed the bottle of pills -- which like in his dream state -- had been left open and remaining residue still etched into the tables surface. Obviously, he had already gotten ahead of himself the night before, and even before the pain had a chance to kick in and attack his nervous system, he poured two of the pills onto the table and proceeded to repeat the same actions as in his dreams. Reaching down toward the floor near the side of the bed, he grabbed his jeans from the day before and sat them on the bed beside him.

Pulling his wallet from out of the back pocket, he pulled out the first plastic card he had his thumb on -- his state I.D. and separated the powder into lines. Using the rolled-up piece of paper from the night before, he took four fairly equal lines up his nostrils. After taking a deep sniffling inhale, making sure nothing fell out, he sat the piece of paper down on the table and inadvertently allowed it to unroll just enough to make out his handwriting from the inside of the paper.

Reaching out for the piece of paper, he straightened it out so he could better read the digits that were written out in a pink ink. It took his fevered memory a moment to register the events of the previous evening, but he soon remembered the bar-tender. Reaching for his pair of pants again, he quickly reached inside the front pocket of his jeans and pulled his phone out. Noticing the small light in the upper corner of his phone--signifying either a text message or missed phone call--he quickly slid his thumb over the screen.

Are you still coming over? I'm waiting for my favorite yoga partner one of the missed messages read, along with a picture message of a young female --barely eighteen-- dressed in a nearly see-through white one piece and a pair of sheer, baby blue, yoga pants

Scrolling through the few other messages that he had missed since the signals were up again, he came across a second message that not only matched the one asking if he was coming over, but also the number on the piece of paper. Still through the few messages that he had read, there was still nothing from Layla. Still, if service had been restored enough for texting purposes he figured communication was running as normal.

Skimming through his call list, he found Layla's number and called it, pressing it against his ear as it rang on the other end. The call was picked up by the voice mail message, and after ending the call, he dialed her number again.

"She never answers on the first ring," he told himself as the phone continued to ring.

It didn't do any good. Soon the voice mail message was playing and once again he ended the call. Maybe Zeek and the others were correct. Maybe Layla had become one of those creatures. He wasn't about to give up so easily however. Maybe she just didn't have her phone with her. Skimming through and dialing a few random numbers within his call list, he was soon facing the very same issue. No matter which number he dialed, they all ended with the same error message.

A sigh of disappointment escaped his lips as he sat his phone on the end table once again. Leaning back against the head of the bed, he allowed his eyes to close for a moment as he found himself once again in thought. Suddenly, he was pulled away from his thoughts as the sound of someone knocking came from his bedroom door. Slowly standing away from the edge of the bed, still nursing the twisted ankle, as he began to work his bad ankle into the pant leg, trying to get dressed as quickly as possible.

Not too worried about a shirt, he grabbed his phone from the side table and shoved it into his pants pocket. Finally reaching for the set of crutches--which was given to him when he first arrived-- he tucked them beneath his arm-pits and carefully made his way toward the door. Pulling the door open he peeked just around the corner, looking directly at Felicia.

"Well good morning. Would you like to come in?" He asked as he pulled the door open against the chain.

"Good morning to you as well." she began with a smile. "Unfortunately, I have other things I have to do."

"What brings you knocking on my door?" Dwayne asked curiously, undoing the chain and pulling the door open further.

"Zeek would like to talk to you now that you've had some time to sober up."

Stepping back away from the doorway, he grabbed his shirt -- from off the corner of the bed, and pulled it over his head. "What does he want to see me for?"

"He didn't say. He just asked me if I could come get you and I agreed." she replied still standing off to the side of the door frame.

Finally, Dwayne was ready and slowly stepped on the other side of the door way, closed the door behind him. Felicia lead the way through the fairly long hallways. Following closely behind, he found himself taking in more of the interior than he had the night before, but as he glanced around the long hallway, he quickly realized his new place of rest was a spare hotel room. The two of them continued for a moment longer until finally stepping into the main lobby -- which had been modified into more of a social recreational room.

As both Dwayne and Felicia walked through the lobby area, Dwayne witnessed several of the town's population lingering around a few tables, drowning neighboring conversations with their own. Dwayne wasn't one to eavesdrop -- or allowed it to appear obvious when he did -- but as the two of them continued toward the main entrance doorway, he had easily overheard a short story of a couple people being attacked within the infirmary.

Stepping through the large French-style doors of the front of the building, Dwayne was nearly blinded almost as soon as he stepped out into the blazing sun which was hanging high in the sky. Neither Felicia nor Dwayne knew how to tell the time by reading the sun only, and so their best and greatest guess was it was sometime close to high-noon, maybe a little later.

Making their way along the sidewalk, Dwayne was taking in the current scenery of the small town. He had taken into consideration however, that even in the warmth of summer, the sounds of birds were scarce. His slow progression with the crutches caused him to make deliberate time to walk down the hot pavement. It took nearly a half hour before they reached the center of town.

Reaching the town's City Hall, Felicia pulled the door open, allowing Dwayne to enter before stepping in behind him.

"Wait here." she said before disappearing around the corner.

Dwayne hadn't even had enough time to get comfortable before Felicia was coming back around the corner, motioning him to follow her. Soon the two were moving through a small hallway and almost immediately, Felicia pushed open the door that lead into Zeek's office.

"Dwayne. Nice to see you again. How's the ankle doing?" Zeek asked, sitting against a large cherry red leather chair.

"Getting better thank you." He replied taking a seat on the opposite side of the desk. "You wanted to see me?"

"I did actually. I wanted to see how you were feeling since last night. After all, we did sort of abduct you," Ezekiel said with a bit of a chuckle.

"I'm not as drunk, or hung-over, so I guess I feel pretty well," Dwayne also chuckled as he shifted slightly within the chair. "About last night, could you explain what happened and where exactly I am?"

"You're currently in a small town formally known as Appleton Ohio," Zeek replied before taking a deep breath. "From last known acknowledgement, by way of AM radio, U.S. Military began the first bombardment of the inner city first thing this morning."

"But -- cell phones still have service." Dwayne stammered, trying to understand exactly what Zeek meant.

"As does some power. Still, it won't be long before the grid collapses. Like I said the night before, Ohio isn't the first state to have fallen," Zeek said, his arms slowly crossing over his chest as he leaned forward slightly.

"If they didn't start bombing until early this morning, then what were the helicopters flying overhead last night?"

"Chances are, what was flying into the city as we were leaving, were either military being sent in or high-level evacuations," Zeek quickly commented.

"So there's still hope that Layla got out of the city?" Dwayne sat in the chair, quiet, for a long moment as he allowed the current information to process.

"I have two of my best men in the city right now. If your girlfriend, or anyone else, is still inside the city, they'll bring them back." Zeek replied.

The inner city had fallen under bombardment. Hearing it he just couldn't believe it, the idea of everyone he had ever known; loved or hated, was gone. Leaning back against the chair, he sniffled, trying to fight back the emotional roller-coaster that he had just found himself on. Using one the crutches to help balance, he slowly stood up and stepped away from the chair. He didn't need to hear anything else, nor did he care for any other news at that moment.

Taking a deep breath, he slowly exhaled it before turning his attention toward Zeek once again. "I would like to once again thank you, but..." Dwayne began but trailed off near the end.

"But, what?" Zeek asked, giving a side glance toward Felicia.

"It's nothing. Forget I said anything." Dwayne turned for the door after pushing his chair back in against the large oak desk.

Stepping through the only entrance of the town's City Hall, Dwayne allowed the door to close behind him as he allowed his attention to travel skyward. He still couldn't believe what he had heard. Was it possible everyone he had ever known was gone? Was it really possible that was the reason Layla, nor any of the others he had dialed, had answered? Pulling his phone from inside his pocket, he began to skim through his saved pictures.

"Hey Dwayne!" he heard Felicia holler as he continued skimming through the several selfies he had stored, or had last been sent before the towers had failed.

Glancing over his shoulder, he watched as the barely legal teen begin to bounce her way closer. Not bothering to slow his pace, already knowing she would catch up to him either way, he continued making his way along the sidewalk as he stared back into his phone.

"Is everything alright?" Felicia finally asked once she had caught up to him.

The long drawn out breath of a sigh was the only reaction she received as they continued walking. In all honesty, he didn't want to talk about it. He was still trying to come to some kind of understanding about the situation; not to mention, his girlfriend was still inside the city. Was she dead, or one of those creatures?

"Is that her? I mean, your girlfriend?" Felicia asked, looking over his shoulder at the nearly half naked model.

"No, that isn't Layla." he replied, skimming his phone through a few other messages before tucking it with the pocket of his jeans.

"There's a highly unlikely chance she is still alive," she emphasized, referring to the images on his phone, as she kept pace with him. "You can't keep beating yourself up about it."

Dwayne had heard her, but it didn't mean he wanted to listen to what she had to say, at least when it came to the corruption undergoing in the city. "If there is anything I'm beating myself up about, it's the simple fact that I ran out of the city without her."

"Be that as it may, you would have likely met the same fate had you stayed. In all honesty, we saved your life."

Sadly, he couldn't deny the truth and she was very accurate with her words. They might have taken him miles away from the city, but they had saved his life. The town really wasn't that big, in fact it might have taken someone no more than a half an hour to walk from the east side of the town to the west. Finally reaching a small park, the two of them began to make their way toward one of the empty benches and sat down to rest. The two of them sat for a long moment, listening to the sounds around them.

For someone who had spent his entire life in and around the normal noise of the city, the silent sounds of a country setting were pretty peaceful. Unfortunately, even for as peaceful as the small town was, he still couldn't shake the madness currently running rampant within his head. Those very same thoughts were being swept away however, as the peaceful sound of chirping birds were soon over-powered by the sudden screams coming from the towns infirmary.

Curiosity had quickly struck the two of them and soon they were both rising fromtheir seats on the bench. Of course, the curious nature was not always the best idea to follow. Soon the inner walls -- or lack thereof-- were breached and many of the infected were flooding the inside. Panic had erupted quite quickly, as many ran around trying to get to the closest building they could, others weren't nearly as lucky. The screams continued to fill the air, only to be drowned out by the over powering sound of angry snarling.

Felicia --who had the speed over Dwayne-- had gotten several steps ahead, although she was quickly slowing her pace and even back-stepping, as the sick continued to spread out into the streets. Like so many others already, she panicked, quickly turning on her heels and heading the way she had originally came. Running past Dwayne, not taking the time to stop but simply waving her hand once as she ran by, as she began her way toward the hotel.

It hadn't taken Dwayne long to see Felicia's reason for turning around. The sound of tortured, snarling growls only grew louder as more continued to find a way inside. Dwayne was already beginning to turn around himself as Felicia once again ran past him, this time in a heat of panic, flinging her arm as in a way to signal him to follow her. Pretty certain that was her silent intention, he was doing his best to stay caught up with her.

Crutches could be a very complicated concept until one got the hang of them. Even for something as simple as place the crutches in front of you and swing forward, it made going faster much harder to achieve. Dwayne wanted nothing more than to desperately drop the crutches and run after Felicia, but unfortunately, any time he put even the slightest amount of pressure on his foot, he wanted to immediately double over in pain.

At this point it's every one for themselves, because even as he continued his attempt at escape, he found he could no longer see Felicia anywhere in sight. The snarling growls sounded just over his shoulder, and for a very good reason. As he turned his attention, just a brief second, it had been enough to make two vital mistakes. Taking the moment to acknowledge just how close the walking corpses were, he didn't pay enough time and attention to where he was setting the end of his crutches.

He found himself stumbling forward. Instinct had kicked in, releasing his hold on the crutches, he tried regaining his balance only to collapse forward on the pavement. With both hands around his ankle, he yelled out in pain. Suddenly the pain in his ankle was the least of his worries, as he felt the abrupt pressure of someone falling on top of him. Reaching for one of the two crutches, he began trying to push and shove the heavier male --who was desperately trying to bite and claw at his torso-- away, while also trying to scoot himself across the ground,

Soon another had come to join and just as it lunged forward --or collapse on top of Dwayne-- he was just bringing the crutch upward for another forceful shove against the heavier male, as the weight shifted as the other infected figure impaled itself through a wide-open mouth. The shifted weight had caused him to miss his intended target however, which ended in the sudden and uncomfortable sensation of pressure against his thigh. Bit or not, he wasn't about to simply lay there and take it.

Taking the crutch once again, he began using the wider end, with more force this time, to shove the heavier set male away from him once again. After several forceful thrusts against the male's skull, the infected male was now a motionless corpse. His victory was short lived however, between having an already bad ankle and now being bitten, his chances of getting away began to look grim. Making the situation even worse, even as he tried to gather his crutches and attempt to return to his feet, he felt the sudden impact of someone rushing into him.

Like sharks to a fresh wound, several more had begun to swarm around him and as the one that had lunged toward him had made contact, he was once again forced to the ground. Now belly down, the only option he had was to army crawl, while getting the diseased figure off him. That, sadly, was not the way things would turn out. Even as he tried to twist and turn, desperate to shake whoever was currently lying on his back, it did him no good as others began to fall around them. He could feel the scratches being scarred into his back -- must have been a female by the way they shred through his skin.

These nails had caused tears to fill his eyes, as the open wounds began to burn. The blood, his blood, began to fill the sides of his shirt as those around him continued to tear into the open wounds. He could hear screaming from everywhere, or maybe it was his own screams that also echoed within his head, even as he continued to desperately crawl away.