Anarchy on Earth

~8~

(Above: Jackson Polk, as of September 9 2018)

We walked along the shoulder of the road, never seeing a car drive by. Eventually, we had caught up with Henry who, oddly enough, had been too tired to go on after about a mile.

"I haven't seen anything, or anyone yet." Henry wheezed, walking with us.

"We should be coming up on Brookevale soon." I said, restless.

Suddenly, a concerning sight to see erupted in front of our eyes. Right where Brookevale should be, about 600 yards forward, was a town, engulfed in a raging fire, with smoke billowing skywards.

"Oh god..."

Then we noticed the sound of gunfire. Chattering, pinging gunfire.

"Riots!" I yelled. "Come on!"

We ran down the road towards Brookevale. Everyone was scared of the riots. They had started in "The Ghettos" and then spread to Pinedale. No one thought they would touch Brookevale though... but maybe it wasn't the riots. Maybe it was the mysterious "Pathogen" going around, causing people to commit mass atrocities-

"That's it!" I cried, as we ran.

"Huh?" Miranda asked.

"There's a new terrorist group going around! They're making people kill others, and then those who don't comply are tortured until they do, and then they kill anyone in sight!"

"Terrorists?" Henry asked.

"Yeah... the thing we saw on the bus." I said, as we neared Brookevale's gates.

We stopped, and I tried to pull them open. They were locked. I looked farther into the district, and saw chaos. People, running through the streets, being chased by other individuals, some escaping, others being knocked down, and pulverized, their remains scattering through the streets.

"It's the terrorists!" I shouted, beginning to scale the fence.

"I'm still not buying it." Henry said, Miranda nodding.

I dropped on the other side into Brookevale, and immediately, something pounced at me. I looked over, and swung my pipe. The thing fell to the ground, bleeding from its head. It was another alleged terrorist. I thought it was dead, and ran towards the gate.

"Hurry! Get over-"

The thing wasn't dead.

I felt it hit the back of my head, my face plowing into the gate. I spun around, and kicked the thing. I staggered back, and jumped at me again. I dodged, and then it was its turn to face plant. I grabbed its filthy head, and cracked it against the fence. The skull broke, and the body slumped to the ground. Miranda screamed, (oh... wait, that was Henry) and I backed away.

"You just killed a man!" Henry yelled.

"It wasn't a man! It was a wretched THING!"

They shook their heads, but scaled the fence too, and soon were standing with me.

"Where do we go now?" Henry asked.

"I don't know... Go get your families, and meet me back here in an hour. We need to get out of the district."

"Where are we going to go?" Miranda asked.

"Pinedale... I have family there." Henry said, hopefully.

"Okay. Good luck to all of you. Stay safe." I said, and turned in the direction of my street. It seemed to be one of the clearer streets. Thank god.

I started to run down the street, ignoring, and shoving past the groups of people screaming down the street. I turned down my street. A small pack of the insane murderers piling on top of a body, and more blood was spurting onto the ground.

"HEY!" I yelled, trying to get their attention, trying to get them to come off the person.

HA! Looking back on it now, when I yelled out, it was the worst mistake I had ever made in my life.

The pack turned around. The whites of their eyes reflected the light from the fire. Then, I realized, that all their eyes were was the whites. They stared at me for a second. The word zombie came to mind. All thoughts of terrorism slipped my mind.

"Stop it!" I shouted stupidly.

The 4 monsters jumped at me, baring their teeth. I was starting to doubt these were even humans at all. I swung my pipe at the first one, and it rocketed aside. I shoved the next to the ground, and stabbed the third one. The pipe got lodged in the monster's rib cage, and I couldn't pull it loose. It fell to the ground, dead.

"Dammit!" I yelled, facing the final beast. It seemed to linger back, as if hesitant. I stared into its milky white eyes. It stopped.

"Go away!"

I laugh back on that moment now as well.

A few seconds later, the beast was running straight at me. I ducked away, and heard a gunshot ring out, surprisingly close. I heard the body of the beast fall to the ground.

"What the-" I started.

A guy ran up to me, wearing a white hoodie, his face completely concealed. He held a pistol in his hand, and a sword in a scabbard at his side.

"You're welcome." He said, his voice low, and raspy. "You got friends, kid?"

"Yeah..." I breathed, startled. "Why?"

"My name is Jackson. Something really bad is happening, in case you hadn't noticed." He said, as a police car whizzed by, a radio playing in the background. It was blaring news.

"The mystical disease still spreads along the east coast, and it causes extreme rage, and deterioration... watch-"

It was all we had time to hear, before the car erupted in flames, and skidded down the street, just to land in some house, the infrastructure collapsing everywhere.

"No... darn cops. They'll be here. The things are drawn to the noise."

"Strangers." I said.

"Huh?" Jackson asked.

"You know... stranger danger..."

"Ah. I like you, kid. I just hope you live through today, unlike the rest of these idiots. This your house?"

"Yeah." I said, getting ready to run. "I have to go make sure my family is okay-"

Jackson gripped my arm, and pulled me onto the sidewalk, just as a guy in a motorbike sped by.

"Kid, with any luck, your family is dead. I hope not worse for them." Jackson said.

I shook his hand off. "No," I denied, "they're still in there! And, stop calling me kid!"

"Sure, kid." Jackson said, as I saw a grin spread across his hidden face. His expression changed quickly. "Fine. Go in there, but don't go in unarmed. Take my sword."

He unclipped his sword, and gave it to me.

"Don't you need this?" I asked, warily. "I also, have no idea how to use this."

"You'll learn. If I ever see you again, give it back to me. Good luck, my friend."

"But I don't even know you!"

He gave me a curt nod, and took off down the street, slipping 2 knives out of his jacket sleeves. He took down 2 strangers with the knives, and kept going. The superman of the apocalypse. Huh.

I began to think, as I crept up to my house. The disease... was it linked to the strangers' deadly behavior? For all I knew, the electricity was still up. If my mom, and brother weren't there, I had a lot of stuff to clear up, before I left. I glanced at my watch.

"And only 45 minutes to do it." I sighed, and opened the door.