October 25, 2009

• Coincidence (Pt. 5)

      They Don’t Have Lights (Pt. 1)
      Insubordination (Pt. 2)
      Of Rats and Men (Pt. 3)
      Obedience (Pt. 4)

      Throughout history, running has always seemed like a decent and respectable solution to a majority of problems we come across.  Certainly, no exception was to be made here.  The difference right now, is that I’m not exactly sure what I’m running from.  Sure, I’m obviously running from hordes of mutated human beings with a craving for blood, but in actuality, I can’t help but feel it is more than that.  I feel like I am running from my past.  I feel like I am making another excuse for when things aren’t going the way I had envisioned.  It seems as though by running, I am taking out some kind of frustration at everything that has gone wrong that I can’t fix.  I was always selfish like that.
      It was refreshing, however, to see my sister look like she actually cared about me.  Too often she was “stuck” with me.  Tasked with the arduous chore of supervising me while my parents went off to one of their social gatherings.  Here though, we were running.  Running down the streets that I had only ever seen before out of the window of the mini-van.  We were both alive, and maybe that was it.  She was being nice to me now, because I was the only thing that was still familiar to her.
      When the two men with the masks appeared in the distance they didn’t take long to notice my sister and me.  They quickly picked up their pace in an attempt to meet us.  When they were close enough, they both paused rather briefly.  I figured they wanted to make absolutely sure that I wasn’t going to lunge at them and bite their faces off.  To my surprise however, instead they both exclaimed, almost simultaneously:  “Travis!”
      There were now three very confused people around me at this point, my sister, who looked at me and then them, attempting to make the connection, and the two men who stared at each other both seemingly completely shocked.  The masks belonged to Mr. Boyle and Mr. Hosch.  Mr. Hosch was my 6th grade teacher, one of the most patient people I knew, certainly a step above my parents.  Then there was Mr. Boyle, the psychiatrist that me parents felt that I desperately needed.  He was always a little out of the park in my opinion, and sometimes it really felt like he was the one who needed to be on the sofa.
      “You two don’t know each other?”  My sister finally said.
      “Not in the slightest.”  Mr. Boyle answered.  “I am John Boyle, I’m Travis’ psychiatrist here.”  He had a limp in his right leg.
      I’m not entirely sure how excited I was that Mr. Hosch was now learning that I had a psychiatrist, but I don’t think that really mattered anymore.
      “and I’m Danny Hosch, Travis’ teacher.”  Mr. Hosch confirmed.  “Is this your girlfriend Travis?”
      “It’s my sister, Becca.”  They all shook hands, as they did though, I noticed that Danny did not seem to have full control of his left arm.  The formality sickened me.  Who really needs that right now?  It’s somewhere past midnight.  We are in the middle of a hostile environment, and there are no safe looking places for miles.  The decision to remain together as a group was unspoken and unanimous.  We all started to move on toward a destination that my two mentors said they had in mind.  The occasional squeal in the distance reminded us of where we were, and the occasional rustle of some debris on the road reminded us of how scared we really were.  The only person who paused was Mr. Boyle.

  *****************

      Travis noticed me pause.  I don’t know if he could see what I was seeing, and in fact, I’m not even sure if what I was seeing is real.  It was Travis’ sister.  While the girl herself seemed perfectly fine, but there was something wrong around her.  It seemed like the ground, wherever she moved to, was being blackened, charred.  It is so weird for me to say, and I don’t even know how to describe it.  The only time I have ever seen anything like it before was that creature that Danny and I had seen dead on the side of the road, not even these zombie like creatures seemed to emit these – I’m going to call them invisible flames.  Heh, Danny, we didn’t even know each other’s names until we found Travis.  What a coincidence.
      She glanced at me, and I at once began moving with the group.  I hope she does not notice that I am beginning to sweat.  I hope she does not notice that my hand is a little tighter on the trigger of my gun.

   

      … to be continued.

   

   

  • 9:09 am
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