The Runaway

[XxZeraphinexX]

The Runaway

Hi, my name is Jack River. I never thought i would write a diary, but yeah here i am and it´s the only thing left safe to do.

All startet about 4 weeks ago. I got in a fight with my dad and runaway. Always had a hard time with him, but now... i miss him. I often run away and hide for a few days. Never did me any good, but that´s what i do. There aren´t many places around Muldraugh to hide, but it´s always an adventure. I like the railyard, but can´t really hide there, since they work 24/7. The lumber mill and construction side aren´t either good spot, since they have nothing to hide inside. So i ran this time south to the old warehouse and hoped nobody would see me.

It was a nice day and all startet good. We got up early since dad and me wanted to go fishing near West Point. Was nice to have a good breakfast without a fight and a day ahead which could be a good one. But then out off nowhere the radio stoped playing dads favorite song and all went south. He got so angry and yelled at the DJ miles away. What came next shut him up.

If i recall it right it went like that:

" We have a important message for the people around Muldraugh and West Point, Kentucky. The govenour declared a case of emergency. Everybody should stay inside and wait for the police or national guard. The is a outbreak of an unkwon illnes. Please stay away from people who look pale and behave strange. Please follow the rules we will repeat from now on between the news. As for now Knox county is looked up and declared a quarantine zone. Don´t not try to leave this area. Police , army and national guard are
going around and evacuate everybody. Please stay home, lock your doors. Keep your family safe and if you can barricade the windows. To make sure the Evac teams find you, hang a red or withe sheet out of you front window and write the number of people inside on it. As for your own safty follow the rules. People on the street might get shot or arrestet. We will report news and further reports about the situation. Please keep your radio running and follow the rules. The govenour promises that everything will been soon back to normal."

Dad was shocked and scared. Never i saw him this confused. First thing he did was jumping up and yelling at me to do what he says. Sure dad, sending me to the gorcery store while you barricad the house. Ofcourse we got into a fight about that. I don´t want to get shot, just because he things we need more canned food and water. But in the end i ran as usual. But not to the store, just away from home. I didn´t know where to go, but for sure i stay away from the streets and crowds. So where to go. The Railyard was my first thought, but with the few hundert employees there a bad choice if things go bad.
Lumber mill, nope no way. There is nothing to hide in and the workers aren´t happy if they catch me again.
The contruction side, for what will or should be a apartment complex at some point. The few workers probaly won´t be there, but there is nothing to do or hide. The warehouse to the north. i wanted to check this often, but since it´s close to houses and i would have to run through half Muldraugh it´s a bad choice. I recalled that a friend told me about a warehouse south of Muldraugh. If iremember right it´s just south past the gas station and then right at the crossroad. Sounds good to me, only problem would be i have to pass the police station or this creepy bar if i don´t wanna sneak through the woods and that´s the last thing i wanna do if crazy people are out there.

So, my plan wasn´t great and most likly will cause more trouble than good, but have to get away from dad. On my way from the house near the laundromat ( http://pzmap.crash-override.net/#0.4195761713015377,0.22423857942125552,237.3763137997696 ) i heard screams and gun fire.
So i was worried. A stray bullet could ruin my day and running into a crowd which is going nuts would be better either. I sneaked trough the gardens between the tree line and houses to stay away from the street. Not that i was easy to spot, i´m short and didn´t look like a tank nor athlet, but i´m ok with what i look like. As i passed Doc Cortmans Office i was shocked. The door was broken down and some wierd guys standing around there. They looked like sleep walking, barely moving and making wierd moan sounds. Also their skin made me worry,
so pale and grey. Better stay away from them and not making any sound to let them know i´m here.
The rich people houses looked all so abanoned and only on the street some people had been standing around. Looking as wierd as the once infront the doc house. Which worried me, but also gave me a bit of a save feeling. As long they stand there and don´t seem to be alertet, i was save sneaking through the gardens. Something feelt strange. barly a noise was to hear. Then i fall over something. As i looked at it, i nearly screamed but could keep that to me. It looks like that this thing or whatever to call was a dog. still the chain linked to the dog house, but not really looking like a dog. Looks like someone or better something had a meal on it. I´m scared shitless. Really? Wtf is going on. And how this got out of hand so quick. Didn´t they say it´s all ok and will be solved quick. So what should i do? Go back to dad or get to the warehouse
and wait a few days till it´s over? Damn. I don´t wanna be with dad if he freaks out, he most likly shoots me.
So south it is. But way more careful then before, cause something is not right in the neighbourhood.

without much happening, i got to the little cabin we used to drink in. For now everything looks good for me, but this changed the second the bells of the church startet ringing for the benchhoppers. Yeah i totally forgot it´s sunday, now i know... I could see people moving towards the church or crawling... yes this guy was crawling .. like....FUCK, his leg bones are visible and the lower legs are gone.
Why is this thing moving? Shouldn´t he be dead? What is going on here? Better not find out and hurry before things turn bad and i can´t find a way south. I can hear the country music from the Biker Bar and hope this guys are still alive and not gonna eat me. Better i avoid them as well. But therefore i have to sneak trough a patch of forest, cause on the otherside there is the gas station and the police department.
It looked good till i steped into a trap. Fuck that hurt, but luckily for me it was just a wire trap and my boots are surdy enough to keep the wire away from cutting into my leg. Still i was so scared and suprised that i couldn´t hold back my scream. This was the first time i saw one of them close. Moaning and shuffling from the parking lot infront of the bar he came closer and closer while i tried to get out of the trap. I just got away
because the forest doesn´t get cleaned and the branches on the ground made him trip. That gave me enough time to free myself and limb away. Still, this was scary and not a thing i want to happen again. So i watched every step careful as long i have to sneak trough the wood.

It must have been around 4 or so that i reached the crossroad and turned right. About 1 mile that road down i got to an open in the forest and could see the warehouse. While concernd that maybe this creatures might be there too, i took my chance and sneaked closer. i couldn´t see any of them or someone alive either. So i got close to the main building and took a careful peak into the offices. It looked empty as far i could see.
By the time i checked the surroundings the sun set and i had to find a place to stay for the night. That was when i heard a noise from the inside, the place i wanted to be. Not knowing better i check the doors if they are looked. The bad thing... all closed but the last one i checked. The good thing, i get in the little garage. Not a good place to hide, but better then staying outside. As i was slowly checking the inside i found some
chips and a soda, good engough for now. But the real treasure for now was the pipe in the bathroom. It was long enough to serve as something to keep this thing away and the screwdriver and wrench would be helpful too, i guess. With this i checked the rest of the building, which was only the garage itself.
And found the reason i hear this scratching sounds. One of them... trying to get out of some tires it steped into. Wasn´t sure it was one of them, but in the moment it saw me it startet moaning and crawling to me. I didn´t know what to do, but i had to get rid of this thing. So i did what i never thought i could do. I smashed his skull. I feel so bad. I killed, took someones life away. But do this things really live?
It didn´t screamed when i hit it first, didn´t try to defend itself. The only thing it did was reaching out for me and moaning. That was the first time i couldn´t think straight and wouldn´t be the last time to come.

After all what happend i took a chair from the waiting area and barrikaded myself into the bathroom. That when all fell of and i burst to tears.
What have i done? I left my dad alone. I kill...no. It was dead, wasn´t it? I cried myself to sleep.

The next day wasn´t a good to start. Still thinking about what i did the day before. My chips had been gone last night and so was the soda. But i could fill the can from the tab, so atleast i had some water to drink. With mixed feelings i started to check out hte other buildings. One was a small storage and i could pry the door open. Since it was locked i wasn´t suprised that it was empty and had a lot of crates inside. I started checking whats inside the crates and got some nice suprises. How would have thought they store MRE in there and waterbottles. Looks like this one crate was a emergency pack. Next to the stuff had been some books. A survival book about basic hunting and what kind of mushrooms you can eat, one about fishing, not that anywhere near would be a place to fish, but for the nights i have it to read. One is about basic cooking
and making juice and the 4th is about basic carpentry"How to avoid splinter in your finger". Overall, some stuff to learn, eat and drink. The one crate must have been a shipping for a building company. It had a pack of nails, a hammer, some screws and a screwdriver and a manual about generators, but none is seens anywhere here. Oh well, better then nothing. The other crates had gardening stuff and some cloth as well
some camping suplies. In one corner was a prying bar, which should prove handy.

I spend my day traing my burglar skills, by prying doors open and some locker and office desks. I didn´t find much, but made sure i´m alone. As if that is calming me down. Not quite sure if i would be happier with someone alive with me or not. But at the moment i prefer to stay alone.

After a few days of making me a comfy place to hide upstairs in the main building i startet to worry about everything. I heard a chopper fly by and gun shots from the town. Also my food wouldn´t last forever and the water would run dry at some point. So what to do? I was thinking a lot about the situation and came up with a plan. A bad one but still my plan. So i got a backpack ready with some MRE and water,
took the prybar and a boxcutter i found. After i got my reconbag ready and made my place safe and secure i went of to see whats going on in town.

To stay unseen i decide to walk trough the woods and leave little tape marks on the trees to find my way back. I didn´t know the the forest was so dense around here, but still had some free spots inbetween. It feelt like half a day i needed to get to the street leading into the town. The first thing i noticed was this strange smell. Like a burger you left on the paddio for way too long. But there was nothing to see. Only from the distance you could hear a humming. So i careful sneak up to the gas station to see whats going on there. One of them was standing between the street and the parkinglot half hidden behind some trees. As quite as possible i got closer to check if there are others or only that one. I´m not sure if i could put that thing down or i would not, but i have to find a way to deal with them. As i got closer i could see 2 more infront of the
store entrance but was to stupid to watch my steps and stept on a branch. That of course made the one comeing for me. So was easy decision to make. With low volume i tried to talk to him, but yeah, only moaning and slow but sure coming for me. What i didn´t noticed at this point was that the moaning alertet
the other two. After moving backwards i saw him struggle with some roots and jumped for it. Quick i swinged the prybar and crushed his head, but in the same moment an arm reached for me from the side. At this point i nearly died. Not because of them, but of the heartattack of this suprise. My bad the prybar was stuck in the first guys skull and with a box cutter i couldn´t do much. I tried to slice them, but the only thing what happend was the blade breaking. So whatto do, backing up and hoping for a wonder. But that would come unless i come up with something. Sometimes you have to be lucky or die. This time i was lucky, while moving backwards to keep an eye on this things i fall over a rock. First i was angry but realised that this would be my
chance to change something. So i lifted it up and waited till the first was close enough to hit his head by trowing it. I got him, but just as hard to made him fall. That was when it struck me. They are slow, at least these ones. So by circle around i made it to the first i killed and tried to remove thr prybar. But as much as i tried i couldn´t get i loose. So again some circling around and a second try with now sucsess. So back to the rock and tried my luck with that one again. After around half an hour circling and trowing and trying to get the prybar out i made it. One with the rock, the otherone with the prybar down. I felt so good, but then i felt so bad that i had killed again. Either i get over it or i probrbly will die by one of them or of depression.
For now, nothing could stop me, so i chased my luck and went to the store of the gas station. The doors stand open and inside it was empty. The shelf had been plunderd but some stuff they either missed or had enough. Got some food and drinks, bottle of vodka and some tools and magazines. The really good thing was the walkman and a book about trapping and one called "Make your home unique and build your own furniture". Not that i´m that good or have the tools to build such good furniture, but it showed me how to connect planks without using screws and nails. Also got some other stuff i´m happy about. Toilettepaper, toothbrush and toothpaste as well a brush for my hair. Stupid, but if you have to live without you learn to value this things. As i packed my stuff and made sure nothing is gonna suprise me, i realised that the humming got louder.
Something is comeing from the south. I´m sure that can´t be any good after all what happend. I made it into the trees, but just as i needed to be in there. Some trucks came flying in, not the normal trucks you would see here, more like some kind of armored military trucks. The guys on top didn´t looked friendly and less as i saw the mounted guns whirling around and looking for targets. Yeah i know they said stay inside or get shot, but that? Isn´t it a bit much to deal with somekind of minor outbreak? But on the other hand these things are here. Whatever, i make my way back to the warehouse and wait for the things to come.

 

 

First: Sorry for my bad english.

Feel free to comment and leave feedback. If you like i continue.

[vanorfeadiel]

Thanks for posting the story Zeraphine.

 

Two things you might want to consider to make it a bit easier to read:

 

1-Format the text so that sentences are a bit easier to read.

 

For example the above instead of below:

 

1-Format the text

so that sentences are a

bit easier to read.

 

2-Use Grammarly to spellcheck.  It's free and pretty good.  My first language is French, so my English isn't that great, but Grammarly definitely helps me with spelling and grammar and hopefully I won't make too many native speakers cringe on the quality of my writing.

 

Your story has some good part.  That being said, I don't think too many people will read through it without a rewrite.

 

I hope you make the effort to re-post it with my suggested tips above and that you will continue it. 

 

Good luck to Jack River.   I hope he survives longer than Joe Dead.

[XxZeraphinexX]

Thank you for the reply, i went trough and made some changes wil check for the grammer check.