Mr. Cooper's Reality

The thick swampy brown water swayed with the slowing footsteps of Tommy Grady, a young teenager stuck in a pool of unforgiving dead fish. The moon lit up the bamboo ladder in front of him. The boy climbed quickly, his heart pounding out of his chest. The sounds of the muffled screams from behind him increased his speed across the poorly built bridge. The bridge made a sharp right and led into a wooden hut. Tommy turned around, he stopped, stunned with fear. The thin, scrawny man with the burned eyes and no mouth ran toward him with loud muffled screams. His long greasy hair swayed as he ran. Carrying a blowtorch in each hand, ready to burn young Tommy to death. Tommy quickly turned around and dove out of the small window and landed in the nasty murky water.

Tommy lifted off his bed quickly and flopped on his floor. He got up slowly rubbing his sweaty forehead. “Tommy lets go, breakfast is ready!” His mom called out to him from down the stairs. He didn't bother to brush his nappy headed shaggy hair; he put on his pair of dark blue pants on from yesterday and jogged down the wooden stairs. His mom grabbed the sleeve to his black Metallica shirt with her index finger and thumb. “Didn't you wear this shirt yesterday?” she asked.

“Yeah, is that bad? It's the weekend, no school.” He replied.

“Well, I hope you at least change tomorrow.” She said.

“You know me momma.” Tommy said as he brushed by his mom to get a couple pieces of bacon.

“That's what I'm afraid of.” She said. Tommy chuckled. He slipped on his loosely tied shoes and made his way outside. His friend James was walking up his driveway.

“Hey bro, they finally finished that haunted house down the road. My mom said she'll give us a ride, wanna tag along?” James asked.

“Yeah, sure.” He replied, turning around to open the door. “Heading to that new haunted house with James and his mom. I'll be back later.” He said to his mom.

“Okay, just be safe.” His mom replied.

“Alright, lets go!” James said excitedly. “So do you have your costume ready for Halloween?” James asked as they started walking to his house.

“Not really, I don't really know what I'm going to be.” Tommy replied.

“Dude, you could use your dad's old blowtorch, take out the fuel and you got a start.” He said.

“I don't know, what else would I wear with it?” Tommy said. As the words left his mouth he couldn't help but to think about his ongoing dreams about the unknown man. The speechless, psychopathic man with the blowtorches. He started thinking about the dreams now, clouding his mind with an imaginary chase through a dirty swamp and wooden village.

“You alright, man? You seem out of it today.” James asked.

“I'm good,” Tommy replied. “just had a bad dream.” He scratched his forehead while he massaged his left eye with his palm.

“What about?” James asked while turning into his driveway.

“I'll tell you when we're not with your mom.” Tommy said. James opened the door.

“You boys ready to go?” Cynthia (James's mom) asked. The two boys nodded then walked over to her van and got in. Tommy jumped in the backseat, James got shotgun. “So how is your mom doing?” Cynthia asked.

“She's doing good, miss Cynthia. I think she said something about going to dinner with you and Mr. Kevin tonight.” Tommy replied.

“Yeah, she emailed me a couple days ago talking about that. If your mom can get John away from his video games.” She said.

“My dad does love his video games.” Tommy said. James quickly turned around in his seat.

“Dude, I owned your dad in a game of Free-For-All last night! He kept on running into the same room over and over again.” James let out a little laugh. “He's pretty good. Not good enough to mess with this though.” Cynthia rolled her eyes.

“I'd love to see you try to do that in real life.” Tommy said.

“Hell no, dude. Your dad's been to Iraq like three frigging times.” James replied. Cynthia made a right turn into the parking lot of the newly opened haunted house. The large black building had the Grim Reaper holding his chipped scythe on the building next to the red letters which spelled 'Death's Portal'. Next to the haunted house was a small video game store labeled 'Gamer Place' and a fast food restaurant was in the same complex along with other miscellaneous shoe stores and clothing stores.

Cynthia slowly parked to the closest parking spot she could get. “Alright boys, I'll be back to pick you up in a couple of hours.” James and Tommy hopped out of the van and started walking toward the haunted house.

“Dude, this is gonna be so much fun!” James said jumping up and down using Tommy's shoulders as support.

“Ten bucks you crap yourself before it even starts.” Tommy replied.

James pushed him slightly. “Dude, don't put me down today of all days.” Tommy pushed open the left glass door and held it for James. “You pay here and I'll pay for lunch.” James said.

“Kick ass.” Tommy said as they walked up to the counter. It was very dark on the inside of the building. There was a glass case with nick-knacks you can purchase on the right wall with very little light. The counter was straight ahead of them. On the left of the counter there was a walkway that looked more like a purple portal with the word 'Enter' above it. To the right it was the same just with 'Exit' over it.

The guy at the counter was very old. He wore a black hooded cloak with some blood stains on it. The scythe next to him itself was drenched in blood. He leaned over the counter, blood could be shown dripping from his jaw as if he just got done eating a raw steak. “Welcome to Death's Portal, how many of you will be going to hell today?” The old reaper asked.

“Two.” Tommy replied as he took out his wallet.

“Twenty dollars, young soul.” He said.

“Here ya go.” Tommy said handing the man two tens.

The man pointed to the portal. “Thank you, and have a nice journey through Death's Portal.” The man laughed maniacally. They walked through the walkway which made a sudden right. They stood at one end of another hallway. Bodies with hooks through their chests were up four or five feet on the wall. Blood dripping from their toes. The wiggled and moaned and weakly cried for help. They looked very realistic.

“Dude, this is so cool.” James said. They walked down the hallway which then turned them left into a big empty room. A big empty dark room.

“I can't see a single thing, man.” Tommy said. The lights flickered on then off in a quick second. He saw a thin man standing ten feet in front of him. They flickered again. The man was two feet closer. The man was only wearing a pair of dirty brown pants, he was very skinny, pale, and had thin, greasy, long hair that came down to his elbows. They flickered again, he was gone.

“Dude, I'm about to crap myself...” James said. The man quickly grabbed James's shoulders from behind him tightly. Jame screamed. “Fuck!!” The lights came on bright as ever. The man was once again gone. Tommy laughed. “Dude, that's not funny!” They both walked through the room and into another.

The room was dark red. Fog crept up their ankles. A cloaked man what looked just like a black smudge ran across their path. The boys walked slowly on the red stoned path. To their left and right were dead bodies, some still alive. The doorway three feet ahead of them had a poorly build wooden sign on the right that said 'Entertainment Room'.

It was barely lit by two torches that hung up on the wall. In the middle of the room was a wooden table with leather straps on the sides holding in a victim. The black cloaked man walked up the the table ignoring the boys. He stared at the man on the table. The cloaked man removed the hood from his face revealing a bloody skull for head. He turned, grabbed the scythe that was leaning against the wall next to a hanging, rotting corpse. “Please don't kill me!” He screamed.

“Kill you?” The cloaked man questioned. “You're already dead.” He stated. He raised the scythe above his head and swung down, piercing the stomach of the trapped man. The man screamed, not dying at all. He lied there, wiggling and screaming. The cloaked man turned, his empty eye sockets focused and the two boys. “You two,” He said as he raised his boney hand and pointed at them. “come with me.” The cloaked man walked past the squirming, bleeding, screaming man and unlocked a wooden door.

The boys walked toward him. Tommy got pulled back by the man, James stopped two. “Get out of here while you can! Get the fuck out now!” He screamed and squirmed more.

“Lets go, I don't have all day.” The skull faced man said. The boys past the door like he wanted them to do. The man shut the door behind them. “Ah, here are my workers.” The man said. From left and right there were many people working to activate many odd looking contraptions, putting together scythes, washing skulls and other bones, taking eyes out of decapitated heads, cutting off arms and legs with hacksaws. “Where are my manners? My name is Grim.” He said. “Do you want to see how I gain my slaves?” Grim asked. Without an answer he walked in to the next room. In the room was all black walls with a chair in the middle. There was a male tied to the chair with rope. The skinny man from before walked quickly up to him and pummeled him. “There's another working man.”

The two boys were stunned and amazed at how realistic it looked. The long haired man looked directly at Tommy. The look was terrifying, it send chills down his spine. Grim walked past the man, the boys followed. He opened another door which was the exit. “Thank you for visiting, come back soon.” Grim said. The boys left.

“It should have been longer.” James said as they walked down the sidewalk to go get something to eat.

“It was realistic as hell.” Tommy said, thinking about that stare.

“It was scary as hell too. I was about to throw up, did you smell that place? The front desk was cool and all but the bodies smelled so...gross. And did you see the way that guy was looking at you? Did you know him?” James asked.

“No, I've never seen him before.” Tommy said. They walked into the McDonald's. They walked up to the counter.

“Ah, the smell of greasy fries. Way better then that smell back there.” James said.

“May I help you?” Asked the black guy behind the counter with a snotty attitude. James always had a thing with black people. He didn't dislike them or anything, he wasn't racist at all. Just for some reason he's never met a black person that's liked him.

“Yeah, two number fours, large sized.” James said.

“I'm gonna go find us a place to sit.” Tommy said. “This place is packed.” He left to go find a seating place. Tommy found an unoccupied booth in the rear corner of the restaurant. He plopped down and slid over to the corner. He folded his arms in front of him on the table and rested his head there. He gently closed his eyes, thinking about the glare of the long haired man.

Tommy lifted his head, no one was moving. He looked around, no one was moving a single muscle. It was like life had put itself on pause. Tommy got up out of his seat and walked to the counter. James was right around the corner holding the tray of food, frozen in mid-step. “James?” He said puzzled by everything. James didn't talk, blink, or move. Time itself had stopped. Tommy walked slowly out of the McDonald's only to find and empty parking lot. It suddenly got very cold.

“Do you feel that?” Asked a deep whisper. Tommy looked around. No one was there but him. Everyone in the McDonald's had gone, vanished, disappeared. He turned back to the parking lot. There was the man in the middle. The man from the haunted house...the man from his dreams. The only difference from the real man and the dream man was that the dream man's eyes were burned and he had no mouth whatsoever. This man had eyes and a mouth. The thin hair dangled from his greasy skull. His scrawny chest was scarred all over. The dirty, brown, blood stained pants flapped with the wind. With a blowtorch in each hand the anorexic man ran towards Tommy.

“Dude, wake up” Said James as he dropped the tray on the table. “Eat up.” Tommy took a long sip from his soda and started unwrapping his cheeseburger.

“I'm so tired, man.” Tommy said.

“What time did you get to sleep last night?” James asked.

“Regular time. It's just...these dreams I've been having. They tire me out.” Tommy replied.

James, who was shoving french fries down his throat asked. “What were they about?”

Tommy took a deep breath and replied. “It starts out with me running through a nasty swamp in the middle of the night. I'm not just running...but...I'm being chased. While being chased I find this ladder made out of bamboo or something. It's a small ladder. When you climb up it it leads to this kind of wooden village, it's weird.”

“Wicked, dude. So who's chasing you?” James asked.

“You wouldn't believe me if I told you.” Tommy said taking a huge bite out of his burger.

“Dude, you can tell me.” James said. “Please?” He begged.

Tommy looked out of the window while chewing. He wondered why he looked out the window. Was it for dramatic effect while James waited for an answer? Or was he trying to find the long haired man through the crowded parking lot? “Do you remember the part in the haunted house, which by the way made no sense at all, where the long haired dude was beating the hell out of that guy in the chair?” Tommy asked.

“Yeah.” James replied.

“Him. But in my dreams he was different. His eyes were...like...burned or something. And his mouth, he had no mouth. He carried blowtorches too. Which is why I was acting weird back at the neighborhood when told me to use my dad's old blowtorches.” Tommy said. He let out a slow breath of relaxation. Relieved that he told someone and finally said something. He didn't forget about that haunting glare of the man though. The images still linger around in his brain.

“Are you sure you've never seen that guy at the haunted house before?” James asked.

“No.” Tommy replied.

“He's gotta know you. I mean, he must know you if he were to looked at you like that.” James said. They sat there quietly while finishing their meal. While they walked out of the McDonald's James asked. “Dude, wanna go back there and ask for the guys name? Maybe he's just got a lot of makeup on and you don't recognize him.”

Tommy thought about it for a second before letting out a doubtful “Alright.”

“Alright.” James said as he and Tommy walked back into the haunted house. They charged up to the counter. Before the old hooded man could begin James had already started talking. “Hey dude, my older bro knows the dude with the long hair, him and my bro were supposed to hang out later tonight. My and my friend Tommy here were supposed to be tagging along. We forgot his name and my brother can't find his charger for his cell phone so we can't ask him because he's at work. We don't want to ask the guy either because we don't want to offend him or anything. He's a scary dude.”

Of course all this he said was a lie. The old man looked under the counter and pulled out a folder. He eyed the papers inside. “Hmm...Nicholas Cooper's his name.” The old man said.

“Thanks, dude.” James said. They walked out of the haunted house quickly and turned left to go to the game store. “Nicholas Cooper. Ever heard it?” He asked.

“Never in my life.” Tommy replied.

The rest of the day was normal. They looked at some video games, then went home. While they hung out til dinner time that name 'Nicholas Cooper' bounced against the walls of his skull. His brain hungered to know more.

Later that night he ate quickly and went to his room. He walked across his bed to his black desk with his desktop turned on. He went on the internet and googled 'Nicholas Cooper'. He searched through over twenty pages of shit. Nothing interesting had shown. He started to grow tired. He leaned out of his chair and onto his bed. The time on his clock said 10:32. His eyelids started to get heavy, they stung just by being opened. Suddenly everything was dark.

Tommy woke up in the middle of the night. The window between the bed and computer desk was wide open. He got up and leaned out to look. He saw a large building through a small patch of woods. The sounds of faint screams could be heard from there. The cold nights air blew through his skin. Curiosity raged though his veins. He had no choice but to climb out of his window and climb down the loose bricks. The dead leaves crunched under his running feet. The moonlight shined his path to the building. The building looked burned, abandoned, windows were broken. It was a large building too, four stories tall. He stood there staring at the building. His fists clenched in fear of what might happen to him and busted through the door.

Bright lights blinded him temporarily. He rubbed his eyes, waiting for his vision to adjust. When he could see he saw that he was in what looks like a hospital. Nurses were racing to their patients, men in white coats were passing by. Tommy walked forward slowly, confused. How could a place so dark and deathly on the outside look so clean and bright on the inside? “Get him!” yelled a gruff voice coming from the hallway to the left. Two built men were running down the hallway at full speed. Tommy stood there watching them. Still in shock of where he is. He turned his head to the right to see who they were chasing. Tommy turned his head back to the men just in time to be tackled to the ground.

He struggled to get out. “What the hell? Let me go!” He yelled, wiggling for freedom.

“Shut the fuck up!” The man on top injected a needle into Tommy's neck. Tommy's struggling got weaker and slower until he soon fell unconscious.

Tommy woke hours later in an empty white room, tied to a metal chair which was bolted to the ground. Ahead of him was a glass window. On the other side of that window was his mom, she looked different though. She looked...older. Next to her was a handsome black-haired doctor reading off a clipboard. “Do you understand?” He asked her.

“Yes, doctor.” She replied.

He flipped a few pages before looking back at her. “He's created a different universe for himself. He believes his name is Tommy Grady, he also thinks he's fifteen years old. Apparently today when he got loose today he went to a haunted house called 'Death's Portal' with his best friend 'James'.”

“Death's Portal?” She questioned. “That place has been shut down for well over ten years.” She said.

He struggled in the chair. He turned his head to the left, looking at himself in the mirror. He screamed. Blood dripped from his lips onto his chest and raced down his ribcage.

“He's stopped eating completely, he thinks he's not real and that the life as Tommy is reality.” The doctor said. “I'm sorry Mrs. Cooper.” The End

Deadly Night

He was walking on the dark and rocky sidewalk in the middle of the night (12:32 AM to be exact). He was coming from his twelve hour shift at McDonald's. His job was shit, his one bedroom apartment was shit, his pay was shit, he looked and felt like shit. His shitty name was Rich...Rich Crews. Rich is not a very lucky person when it comes to his job. He got punched by a customer because he accidentally gave him the wrong change back....even though it was only thirty-eight cents. The cool winds of the night made it all worth it though. Stuck in that god awful smelling building all day long isn't good for a man.

As the last bit of greasy french fry sweat dripped off his slowly cooling white face he heard a high pitched scream coming from the woods to the left. Rich couldn't see anything of course, it's too dark. He stopped for a second to see if he can look through the trees, but gave up and kept walking. Not even five minutes he was walking until that fearful scream can back, words followed it, words that echoed through the air and into Rich's ears. “Help me! Someone help, he's going to kill me!” the female voice screamed. Rich's curiosity took over and pushed through the bushes. As the screams got louder Rich grabbed his knife from his black pants and flipped the blade out.

What he saw made his eyes bulge, his face pale and his lip quiver in fear. He dropped his knife and started sweating again. His veins instantaneously filled with fear and fright. He stared at what was happening right in front of him: a beautiful blond woman was lying on her hands and knees completely nude. Struggling and squirming to get away from the large hairy claws holding her waist. The arms following the claws were just as hairy. It's chest was thick, and just as hairy as its arms. The beast had large pointy ears sticking out of its mane-like fur, reddish, brownish fangs stuck out of its snout slowly dripping a combination of blood and drool onto her arched back. It's eyes were red, bright red, bright blood red.

The thing growled and bent over the girl thrusting himself in and out of her. It slowly brought his right claw up to her shoulder, and as the moonlight crept over the dark and dead trees the beast pierced the woman's right shoulder with it's large sharp claws. She screamed out in pain as a river of blood slowly ran down her chest and trickled off her nipple, creating a pool under her. The thrusting got faster and faster as the black haired fiend wouldn't stop. He removed his claw from her shoulder, blood poured out of her shoulder faster. The sight of Rich caught her eye, she stared at him and begged for help. He didn't do anything, he stared at her then stared at the monster who had got his head closer to her neck, breathing on her. He got faster and harder. “Please!!” She screamed. “HELP ME!!” He stood there in shock watching her get rapped. The beast reached his arm over her shoulder and to her belly. He howled and lifted up. When he lifted he scrapped his claw up her stomach and breasts, stopping at her neck.

Rich stared hard, to scared to move, too scared too think. The thing stood tall, seven or eight feet. It had rough fur all over its body, it's feet were just as clawed as it's hands were. Blood dripped off it's groin from the girl. The thing stared back at Rich and growled. He just stood there in his shivering skin watching the beast stare back at him. The moonlight shifted away, creating a patch of darkness. The creature grabbed the dead girl's left arm and ripped it off. He started slowly eating it, not taking his eyes off Rich.

“What...what are you?” Rich said. The thing stood, it's snout closed in, it's legs shortened, its claws turned to hands, and eventually he looked human. His short black hair blew through the nights wind as he stood there with blood still on his groin and now all over his mouth and jaw.

“I...” He said softly as his eyes reflected off the moonlight. “...am death.” Rich picked up his knife. The naked man sat and laughed as he continued to munch on the arm. “You think you can fight me? I've killed more people then you've seen. I've been around since the 1800's killing your kind off; you think you can kill me with a knife? Ha!” He continued to laugh as he feasted. “She certainly tastes better then she feels...they're always squeamish the first time though; it's better when they're dead.” He started to bite off the index finger of the body.

Rich ran at him and stabbed the squatting body in the shoulder. He turned his head slowly with a smile on his face. He opened his mouth and licked his lips, blood dripped from his tongue. Rich took a few steps back, stunned that it didn't seem to hurt him at all. He turned and ran away from the cannibalistic beast. After ten seconds of running he herd a howl from behind as he wished as he was able to run faster.

The snarling and growling behind him got louder and louder. The next thing Rich knew was that there was a very heavy weight on his back and he was face first in a pile of dirt and leaves. It growled and sniffed him. The weight suddenly got a little lighter. “I don't want to kill you so easily like that, I want to see it with my own eyes.” As Rich tried to get up he slammed its foot on his back. “Ah!” Rich screamed out in pain. He chuckled and kicked him in his side, flipping him. He bent down and grabbed a some-what medium sized rock.

He mounted Rich on his stomach and smashed the rock on his face. The crunching noise from his nose echoed through the trees. “No! Please! Let me go!” Rich yelled. He bashed the rock a few times on his head. He screamed, coughed, and choked on his own blood. He tossed the rock out fifteen or so feet and grabbed a larger rock to his side. He lifted it high with both hands. “Please...no...” Rich said weakly. The man let out a slow and long smile, blood dripping from his jaw. “Yes.” He let both arms down as fast as he can; crushing Rich's skull completely. - The End

Harry And Freddy

“Look here you rosy cheeky mother fucker, If you don't get me my fucking pancakes I'm going to blow your goddamn brains out then skull fuck the shit out of you!” Said Harry Kramer to his overweight wife wile sitting in his dirty recliner.

“I'm getting your fucking pancakes, just hold your asshole shut!” She replied as she lightly smacked him over the head with today’s newspaper. She dropped it in his lap as she walked her round and blue robed self over to the kitchen to brew some of the finest pancakes (and by finest I mean best pancakes in a three feet radius) anyone has ever tasted.

Harry pulled the newspaper out of the damp plastic wrapping. “Oh, fuck! My shits all wet!” Harry said as half a cup of cold rain water poured on his pants.

“I think they got a pill for that!” She said.

“Shut the hell up, Kim!” He said frustrated. Harry read the front page of the newspaper and sighed. “Another robbery happened last night!” Harry said over the sound of the small television in front of him.

“Damn those thugs. Coming up in our state scaring our people. Who the hell do they think they are? They ought to be caught and put in jail for the rest of their life's.” Kim said. “Want bacon?” She asked.

“The fuck. Do I want bacon? Yes I want bacon!” He said bristled as his short greasy, brown, hair shined through the morning sunlight of the window of their small trailer.

“Well sorry! Last time you ain’t want no bacon!” She snapped.

“Ain’t want no bacon my bearded ass...” He muttered under his breath.

His cell phone rang loudly on the table next to him where his beer was. Everyone knew when Harry's phone went off all thanks to that annoying Dukes of Hazard horn. “Hey, it's Harry.” He said into the shitty fifteen dollar Wall-Mart phone. “Yeah, alright. Want me to bring my gear?” He asked into the mic.

“Who is it?” Kim asked.

“Goddammit woman, shut the fuck up! Can't you see I am trying to talk here?” He replied. “Alright, I'll be there in twenty, bah.” He hung up the phone. “That was Freddy.” He said to Kim.

“What did that uppity rich fuck want?” Kim asked.

“That uppity rich fuck wants me to go down there to his office and talk to him about a deal.” He said.

“Harry, when you gonna get out of this building job and start making some money? At least switch company’s so you can get paid more.” She said finishing up the pancakes.

“Look, I'm trying here but ain't nothing's opening up.” He replied as she set the plate of pancakes on his lap. “About fucking time!” He said.

“Your-fucking-welcome.” She said as he sat there and ate his pancakes.

He blindly picked a dirty pair of jeans, grabbed his backpack, and drove to his bosses office in his old, rusty, and paint chipped 1987 Chevy Silverado. It was a thirty minute drive to the office with no air conditioning. His only fun was pretended that he was driving 1971 Cuda with the air conditioning on and Lynyrd Skynyrd's Free Bird playing loudly. Eventually he made it to the small wooden building on the side of the road. He pulled up on the rocky driveway, jerking side to side. As he grabbed his backpack and left the truck a man came out of the house wearing a tank top and a pair of shorts. Harry shook the man's hand. “Hey Freddy, how ya doing?” He said.

“This mornings been a little busy but it'll get fun.” Freddy said as he laughed softly.

“So what's the fucking plan?” Harry asked.

“Hey, what's with the fucking language? Did somebody piss in your pancake batter?” Freddy replied.

“Shut your mouth and lets get to business okay?” He said.

“Alright, lets go.” Freddy said as him and Harry walked into the small building.

The building was as small in width but it was very long and very cold. “This air conditioning is fucking great.” Harry stated.

“Yeah, it took a couple extra stings to pull to get this.” Freddy replied as he lead him into a small office with a desk and a chair on each side. Freddy sat in the chair on the other side as Harry sat down in the chair in front of him. Freddy grabbed a large roll of paper from the corner out of the dozen rolls he had.

“Alright, here's the plan.” He said as he spread out the large piece of paper. On the paper was several pictures of a house in all sorts of rooms. Freddy pointed at a window next to a small child's bed with a fish tank next to it. “This window is always kept open, we can enter here.” He slid his finger down to a picture of the kitchen. “Wife's always here watching television and cooking. The children are at school and the husband's at work, this is the perfect time to get in there.” Harry looked at the pictures then up at Freddy.

“This one's a little more planned out then the last one, huh?” Harry said.

“Our last one wasn't such a success but this one will be a trillion times better. We split half the cut and you might get some A/C and a quick fuck by a cheap-o downtown.” Freddy said as Harry studied the pictures thoroughly.

“So when do we get started?” Harry asked.

“Right now, lets go.” Freddy answered as he grabbed the black backpack to the right of the desk and they both headed out of the house. Harry got into the front seat of his truck as they both tossed their backpacks in the bed of the truck.

“Where's this house at?” Harry asked.

“It's in that fucking rich neighborhood ten minutes from here.” Harry pulled out of the rocky driveway and towards Goldstone Residents, the rich neighborhood.

Harry and Freddy talked about the family and how much the might make out of it. “So there's Johnny, the son, he's four years old. The little girl is Samantha, nine years old. They're both at school til two o'clock. The man of the house is Richard, he's 32 and an officer or something in the military. Then there's the old lady, Julia, she's 30 years old and a stay at home mom.” Freddy said as he showed him pictures of the family.

“Where's the house?” He said as he pulled into the neighborhood.

“Third house on the right down this road.” Freddy replied. Harry pulled over on the side of the street in front of the house.

They each grabbed a 9mm handgun from the bags and jogged quickly into the backyard. “That fucking window's all the way up there.” Freddy said. “You still got that ladder in the bed from the Henderson's job?” He asked.

“Yeah, gimme a minute.” Harry said as he ran back to the truck and came back with a small ladder. “I think we'll have to jump.” He said. Harry set up the ladder and grabbed his bag. “See ya up there.” He said while climbing up the house. Freddy followed him.

“Dammit this house is cold.” Freddy whispered to him as they put on their ski masks.

“Keep your mind on the money, Freddy.” Harry stretched his arms side to side. “Lets do this.” He said. They both swung the packs across their backs and walked casually down the stairs into the living room. The couch to their left had a few magazines on it with a glass of water on the table in front of them. The fifty-five inch television was blaring with Rachael Ray cooking a greasy piece of chicken. There was a wall separating the kitchen from the living room; the wall only went a certain distance allowing there to be comfortable space for people to come in and out.

Harry turned into the kitchen and grabbed the woman's hair. She screamed. “Who the hell are you? What is this?” He slammed her head into the marble counter.

“Bitch, shut the fuck up before I go seven different types of crazy on your ass.” Her unconscious body fell to the floor slowly bleeding from her skull on to the tiled floor.

“Shit! Fuck! You killed her!” Freddy yelled.

“Not yet dumb ass, she's just knocked out. Get a fucking paper towel and stop the fucking bleeding!” He yelled at him as he sat her down on a chair and tied her up with a rope. Freddy applied pressure on Julia's head. Harry walked into the living room and grabbed the remote. “I can't stand this shit. What channel is Comedy Central?” Freddy looked over at Harry.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” He said.

“No I'm not fucking kidding you!” Harry looked at the DVD collection. “Fuck that shit, they have a whole South Park collection.” Harry set his gun down on the table to work the DVD player. “Alright! Now we wont be so fucking bored this time.” Harry yelled.

“Bored? Last time you cut the fucking kid's tongue out and jammed it up their cat's ass!” Freddy replied.

“Oh wah, get the fuck over it!” Harry said as the South Park theme blasted on the TV.

Freddy opened up the refrigerator. “Hey! They have Coke!” Freddy said excitedly.

“Pass me a can.” Harry said. They both chilled out, drinking their sodas and watching the crazy shenanigans of the South Park boys. A few episodes and many cans of Coke later a loud and sharp scream came from the kitchen.

“Aw, fuck...” Harry grabbed his gun and walked over to Julia and smacked her on the left side of her beautiful and bloody face. “Shut up you stupid cunt! Or I will kill you.” He said staring at her with devilish eyes. Tears ran down her soft cheeks mixing with the blood. Dripping on her lap. “Hmm...I bet you taste good, don't you?” Freddy said lifting the end of her purple dress.

“Please don't hurt me! I'll give you anything!” She said. They heard the sound of the door of a truck slam shut. “Richard!” She screamed. Harry put his gun in her mouth.

“The fuck did I tell you? Freddy, get ready.” Freddy grabbed another piece of rope and a hammer from the pack and slid another chair next to Julia. “How much rope you got it there?” Harry asked.

“A lot.” Freddy laughed.

The front door opened quickly. “Baby, I got an hour of free time for lunch - what's going on here?” He said as he walked in. Freddy swung the hammer at his mouth and swung it at his left knee. Richard yelled out in pain.

“Alright, tie his ass up along with Julia.” He commanded.

“When was I the fucking bitch of the group?” Harry asked.

“Hey, I got us this job - so you can at least put in a little extra fucking work!” Freddy replied.

“Get me another soda...” Harry said as he dragged the man by his left leg.

“Who the hell are you people?” Richard said weakly while he tied him up. Harry grabbed him by his collar.

“Your worst fucking nightmare...”

Richard stared at the masked man with complete and speechless fear. “Okay good,” Harry spoke. “now that we're on the same page here I am going to inform you on what the fuck will happen: we're going to steal every mother fucking thing that catches our eye and you're going to let us.”

“Please...just don't hurt us.” Julia said.

“We'll do whatever we goddamn please.” Freddy said while tossing Harry a coke.

“What's the time?” Harry asked while opening the soda can.

“What do I look like? A fucking watch?” Freddy replied.

“It's one twenty seven.” Richard told Harry.

“Hey!” Freddy yelled as he smacked Richard across the face with his gun. “What the fuck, did I speak to you?” Harry took off his mask and let out a slow, long, breath.

“Take your mask off, it feels great.” Harry said. Freddy took his off and rubbed his hands through his hair. Resting his hands on the back of his neck, Harry stated eying Julia up and down. “What are ya thinking?” Freddy asked.

“I'm thinking about having a little fun.” Harry replied. He grabbed the end of the dress and pulled it over her thighs and in her lap. Harry rubbed his gun on her white underwear.

“Please,” She cried. “don't do anything.” The doorbell rang.

“I'll answer it.” Freddy said. “In the meantime you both shut the fuck up or I kill the wife.” Freddy opened the door just a little so the mystery person on the other side couldn't see.

“Package for...” The delivery man wearing all brown looked at the white piece of paper taped to the foot long box.

Richard screamed. “Help!”

“What's going on in there?” The delivery man said as he got on his tippy toes trying to see inside.

“Fucking a.” Freddy said as his grabbed the mans hair and pulled him into the house. Harry shot him in the leg. The man screamed as he fell to the ground. “This is what happens when you scream like a little fucking pig.” Freddy pulled him in front of the couple and put his gun to the back of the delivery man's head.

“Please don't kill me, I pay you!” The delivery man yelled. Freddy pulled the trigger. Blood splattered all over the couple. They both screamed. Harry laughed.

“What do we do with the body?” Harry asked.

“I'll deal with the body, you go get shit for us to sell.” Freddy ordered. Harry jogged up the stairs and started putting random expensive items in a brown sac he had in his back pack. Freddy pulled up another chair from their table and sat down in front of them. “So, how's your day been?” Freddy asked Richard. He lowered his head, dripping blood from his mouth. “I asked you a quest-”

“Fuck you!” Richard interrupted, spitting blood at him.

“Look here you little fucker, you're starting get on my nerves.” Freddy said as he put the barrel of the gun to Richards groin. “I will shoot your little cock off you good for nothing shit stain!”

“Puh...please, don't shoot me...” He said getting dizzy. The door opened, it was the two blonde haired children.

“Mommy! Daddy!” They both yelled. Freddy grabbed their hair and yanked then toward the chair and quickly shut and locked the door.

“Harry get down here, the children are here.” He said loud enough for Harry to hear him clearly. Harry came down the staircase with the brown bag half full.

“Got some nice fucking jewelry up there.” Harry said.

“Calm down with the fucking language, there's children present.” Freddy said. Harry chuckled. The sounds of police sirens could be heard from outside. The car door slammed. Before Harry and Freddy had time to tie the kids up there was already knocking on the door.

“If any of you say anything I'll kill the fucking boy.” Harry whispered loud enough for them to hear.

“Trust him, he will.” Freddy enforced Harry's statement. Harry jogged out the back window to meet up with the cops out front. He hid his gun on the inside of his pants behind him and walked around the house.

“Howdy officer, may I help ya?” Harry asked as he held out his hand.

“Officer Jones, nice to meet you.” He said as he shook his hand. “Someone called about gunshots being fired. Said it was coming from this house.”

“I'm sorry officer but I ain't gotta clue about what ya talking about.” Harry said innocently.

“Sir, can a step inside the house?” The officer asked.

“I don't see a problem with it. But the front door's locked, we gotta go through the back door.” Harry said leading him through the yard and inside the house. Officer Jones walked into the living room and looked to the left. He quickly went for his radio.

“Officer Jones calling for back-up!” He yelled. His right hand went for his gun. Harry shot both of the officer's knee caps. The kids screamed at the sound of the gunshots. Officer Jones looked up at the family. Harry placed his foot on the back of the officer's head.

“This...boys and girls. Is what happens when you squeal like a little pig.” Harry said as he continuously stomped on the officer's head, not stopping until it was as flat as one of his wife's horrible pancakes.

“Why did you have to kill him!” Julia screamed.

“Hey, what the fuck did I say?” Harry yelled. He moved the body over to the side and grabbed a knife.

“What are you gonna do?” Richard asked.

“What I said I was gonna fucking do.” Harry replied as he cut the ropes of Johnny and pushed him in front of his parents.

“Don't kill him!!” Julia screamed. “Take me instead!” Harry ignored the offer and raised the little four year old boy by the hair. His parents stared at him.

“Don't you fucking hurt him. I will kill you!” Richard yelled. Freddy laughed.

“Say bye fucking bye.” Harry said. Johnny cried and screamed for his life. “Yelling wont help you piece of shit.” Harry threw him to the ground and started pummeling him. Johnny eventually stopped screaming and breathing.

“I suggest you all shut the fuck up! Julia's next.” Freddy said. They continued to cry but stopped speaking. “There we go.” He said. Freddy walked into the kitchen for a glass of water. “Want anything Harry?” He asked.

“I'm alright.” Harry said piling up the bodies of the cop, the delivery man, and the bloody, bruised, and beaten body of Johnny. “Fuck! Freddy, come look at this.” Said Harry looking out of the window. Freddy rushed over.

“What is it?” He questioned while slightly moving a curtain. It was a couple cop cars outside. “Fuck, man. Alright, we can make it to the truck if we cam make sure they all are in here. Got the keys?” Freddy asked.

Harry rubbed his hand over his pocket to make the keys were there. “Yup.” Freddy grabbed the brown bag and moved upstairs. “First order of business.” Harry said. He shot the little girl Samantha between the eyes, Richard in the penis, and Julia in the vagina. Harry ran upstairs with Freddy.

“Come on!” Freddy said. The hopped out of the bedroom window and climbed down the ladder quickly with no hesitation. They hopped the right side of the fence and ran straight through their neighbors yard and jumped over that fence. While running Harry put a few bullets from his pocket in the pistol magazine and loaded it.

“Over here.” Harry said as he kicked in a glass back door. A dog and man ran onto the room. Harry shot both of them. “Grab those keys!” Harry yelled as he quickly shot the remaining family which was standing scared.

“Let's go.” Freddy said as they both went into the garage and got into the gray Ford Focus. Harry tossed the brown bag into the backseat.

“Where are we going to?” Harry asked.

“My house to get cleaned up and get a clean set of clothes. Then we hide the car and take my truck. After that we should go out to eat.” Freddy replied while driving off. - The End?

Hungry Night

I'm lying in bed awake, it’s three AM. I'm tired as fuck and can't sleep. The TV’s still on, I zoned out while watching shitty pieces of late-night television. The sounds of Disease, a poorly produced hospital drama television show buzzed around in my ear. I started to think about Lisa, my ex-wife. She left me a few months ago. She said my personality got boring and depressing after a while. I loved her so much. The buzzing stopped, my attention was focused on the TV which had seem to turn off by it's self. I stared into the black screen for an all of five minutes, not curious to why my television was off. The next thing to grab my attention was someone banging on my door. “Help! Please help! Open up! Hurry!” I slumped slowly to the door.

I opened the door. A beautiful young blonde girl, probably in her twenty’s was at the door crying and screaming. “He’s going to kill me, help me!” I opened the door and she pushed me to the side running in. I looked to see what was chasing her. There was a man walking slowly toward me. I shut and locked the door not really worried. I turned to the woman sitting on my couch.

“What happened?” I asked while getting my .357 magnum from my end table drawer. She looked at me with teary green eyes and replied.

“My parents came over for dinner, my dad grilled out in the backyard. He must have forgot to close the back door. Earlier I woke up to my parents screaming. I ran to the bedroom to see if they were okay...they were...opened up…dead. There was blood everywhere, it was so horrible. That man was eating my father. I ran out as soon as possible, your house was the closest in sight.” She went back to crying. Eating? I thought.

A scratching sound was coming through the door. Then continuous bangs. The girl screamed as I opened the door quickly and without thinking I shot him between the eyes. He stepped back, I looked at his face. His eyes were black, the skin around his jaw was torn off, he had black colored blood all over his mouth and shirt. The man slowly dropped to his knees as dirty blood poured from his face. His torso fell and landed on my porch. I turned to her slowly “This isn’t a man…it’s a monster.” I said. She screamed and pointed behind me. As I turned back to see three more bloody men with black eyes, growling, salivating blood at the sight of me. I slammed the door shut and locked it as several bangs were coming from the outside. “Get upstairs, quickly.” I told her while moving a table chair against the door knob.

I ran upstairs and looked out of the window. There was an entire group of them, twenty or thirty. I turned on the TV to see if anything was about this on the news. The pail anchor looked scared but talked fast. “There are many sights and reports of the man eating monsters that have now spread to here. It has only been three hours since we have received the first report of them in America. Many and more people are dead and dieing. If they bite you, there's said to be a slow and painful transformation and eventually you turn into one of those creatures. So block off your house, windows, and arm yourself and wait for help.” Many of those monsters came rushing from the back of the news studio and started attacking the news anchor and ate him.

“Oh my god…what has happened…” she said. I looked out the window, then walked to my closet to grab my hunting rifle.

“I’m Adam.” I told her while dumping all of my ammunition into my old backpack.

“Sheri.” She said still teary bur frightened most of all.

“We need to go to Jim’s General Store. That place is pretty sealed up at three in the morning. If we can bust in and barricade it we’ll have supplies.” I said

“They said stay here.” She replied.

“That’s bullshit, we stay here we die.” I opened up my window. “My house is small enough to jump on the hood of my truck.” I took my keys out of my pocket and unlocked the truck with the button mechanism. “I’ll be right back.” I turned around and she grabbed my arm.

“Wait, don't go, you'll get eaten!” She said. “I got a rifle, I'll be fine.” I jogged downstairs and grabbed a chunk of ground beef I had started defrosting for dinner tomorrow.

I reached for my old pocket knife from hunting and cut myself on top of my left arm just a little bit. “What are you doing?” She asked shocked.

“Making bait…” I answered as I turned my arm over and let my blood drip slowly on top the beef. I wrapped my arm with a small towel I had on the table. I slowly walked over the the window and opened it. It's freezing outside. I made sure that I had my .357 and my rifle ammunition and I made sure I had my magnum in my pocket. I handed her the rifle. “I'm going to lure them across the street. When I jump down on my truck I want you to toss me the rifle and hop out, okay?” She nodded. I kicked the screen out and threw the beef far across the street. The monsters quickly ran to the beef. “Hurry!” I said as I moved fast and jumped out of my window. As soon as I landed the rifle landed on my back. “Ow!” The rifle fell off the truck. She jumped out and landed on her ankle. She screamed in pain. I quickly helped her in to the truck, ran around the hood, tossed my rife in the bed and got into the truck.

She yelled. “My ankle!” I cranked the truck up and pulled out of my drive way fast, hitting some of the monsters.

“It'll be okay, pull the seat back and just try to calm down.” I said.

The streets we’re flooded with the monsters, I was hitting most of them that were in my way. “Are you sure about this?” She asked.

“Yes, if I wasn’t we’d still be back there wouldn’t we?” I replied.

“I guess…I'm so scared.” She started to get teary again.

“It’ll be okay. We're gonna get to the store and bandage you up.” I pulled up on the side of the Jim’s General Store. “There’s a latter right there, we could climb up. There's door on the roof that is always unlocked. Can you climb on your foot?” I asked.

“I can try.” She replied. I grabbed my stuff and helped her out of the truck.

“You go first, in case you fall.” I told her. She slowly climbed up, using all her upper body strength to pull on her right leg. When she made it up I swung my rifle to my back and climbed up.

Right before I opened the roof door Sheri asked “How are you positive that the door is unlocked?” I looked back at her.

“I work here.” I answered. I slowly turned the knob and swung the door open. My heart stopped for a second as nothing came out at me. I took out my .357 and walked down the dark stairs with Sheri's weight on my shoulder. I walked through most of the isles looking for the first aid kits. Sounds of footsteps suddenly surrounded us.

“Halt!” Yelled a husky voice. “Man or zombie?” The man yelled as two lights hit me and Sheri's eyes, blinding us.

“We're clean, get the fucking light out of my face!” I ordered.

“Cut em off.” He said. The lights went off but I still couldn't see.

“I'm Shadow, this is Raven.” As my vision got clearer is was to build males wearing heavy police gear and holding automatic rifles.

“Do you know where the bathroom is around here?” Raven asked.

“The rear left.” I answered. Raven jogged off to go use it.

“So what's your story?” Shadow asked.

“Well, I came home after a tiring day at work. I work a twelve hour shift here and it was busy earlier today. I ate some left over chicken from the other night and played some video games. About an hour of that and I had a Mountain Dew, slumped on the couch and started watching Disease and she came banging on my door, the monsters had got to her parents. I gathered up my rifle and magnum and made for the store, and here we are now. What about you?” I asked.

“Me, Raven, and another officer was assigned to bust in a house and arrest some junkies. They were not junkies, they were those creatures. A couple took out my third man from behind, me and Raven got out of there. When we got out of the house there was so many outside. We ran for the squad car and drove here.”

A couple hours passed of silence and darkness. Shadow and Raven were over in their own corner talking. Sheri came over to me and sat right next to me. “Thank you, for everything.” She said.

“Your welcome, Sheri.” I took my cell phone out of my pocket to check the time. It's five o’ clock. I looked through the window and it was still dark. Sheri slowly started to doze off and lie her head on my shoulder. Three hours of nothing passed by. I checked my phone again. It's eight-fifteen. I looked out the window and it was still dark. What the hell? How is it still dark? I gently walked away from Sheri to go see the police officers. “Hey, Shadow, what time you got?” I asked. He looked at his watch.

“Eight sixteen, why?” He asked.

“It's still as dark as it was at three.” The radio they were using on there chests started to give out white noise. After three seconds a soft spoken voice started coming through.

“Any survivors out there, come to the city harbor. I repeat, any survivors, come to the city harbor. There will be boats there waiting for any survivors. The boats will go to France, We have information that they have already developed a cure. The boats leaves in four hours.” Then the radio went back to the white noise, then off.

“A cure? Already?” I said. Shadow looked at me.

“It's possible, France is where it all started two weeks ago. Haven’t you been paying attention to the news?” He said it like it was an ordinary disease, certainly it wasn't.

“No, I certainly haven't.” I said.

“So how do we get to the harbor in four hours?” Shadow said.

“We drive fast, I have a truck near the side of the store. We can walk around the side of the building and I'll give you guys a lift. Grab all of your supplies and pack up” I said.

“We'll take our car.” Shadow said as they left without saying 'bye'. Sheri stuck by my side grabbing food and drinks off the shelves. I unlocked and opened the front door to the store and lead Sheri to the truck with me. She rushed to the passenger seat, I followed behind her into the drivers seat.

“Thank you, again.” Sheri said as we started driving.

“For what?” I asked.

“Saving me, if you didn’t id be one of those…things.” I thought to myself. Does it make me a hero? Like Superman, or Batman? Sheri closed her eyes and slowly fell asleep. I didn’t notice how cute she was without her eyes all watery. Her blonde hair was blowing a little bit outside of the open window. My eyes got heavy as I started to swerve. No, can't swerve, gotta stay focused on the road and get to the harbor. We got to the harbor in a couple hours.

“Sheri, wake up.” I nudged her gently, she woke slowly, opening her eyes gently.

“Hmm…? Are we there yet?” She said slowly and softly.

“Yeah, we gotta hurry before the boat leaves.” I grabbed my bag and hers then left the truck as so did she.

There was a man standing at a gate at the entrance of the wooden bridge of to the boat. He was wearing the standardized army AC-U’s with a M4 automatic rifle strapped to him. I walked up to him. “Are you cut, bit, scratched, or any blood in your mouth, nose, eyes, fingernails, or any other body cavity?” He said quickly.

“No, we're clean.” I answered.

“Okay, go right into that white gate over there.” He pointed right behind him. “That will do a full body scan to make sure you don't have the virus.” Me and Sheri passed the military soldier and entered an eight foot gate. A beam of light scanned our bodies then paper gently slid out of a machine on the other side. A man wearing another soldier looked over the paper.

“You both are clean, there's a room prepared.” He handed me a small silver key that had the numbers '218' engraved in it. “You're room is on the second floor, eighteenth door to the left.” He said.

“Thank you.” I said taking the key, walking toward the the boat. The boat was extremely crowded, Sheri was holding my hand tightly. It was very loud too, lots of chatter saying that France didn't have the cure. And lots of tears and talk about dead relatives.

Me and Sheri made it to the small room. It had a one person bed, a small couch, and an end table next to the bed with a clock. “I'll take the couch.” Sheri said.

“No, you've been through a lot, you deserve a bed.” I put our packs down and laid on the couch. It was lumpy and uncomfortable. Sheri laid down on the bed and curled up with the blanket tired as hell. She slowly started to fall asleep.

I woke up a few hours later to the sound of crying and whimpering. I looked over and it was Sheri crying on her bed. “Sheri...” I walked over to her and knelt at the edge of her bed. “what's wrong?” I asked her. She turned to me.

“I'm scared...what if one of those test's were wrong and I turn into one of those monsters. Or what if someone else is and well die?” She asked.

“It wont happen, Sheri. These scientists are top of the line.” I wrapped my arm around her waist and hugged her gently. “Everything will be okay, we just have to get to France and we'll be safe.” I told her.

“What if we don't.” She replied.

“We will, just go back to sleep, okay?” I stayed there on the edge of her bed until she fell asleep. It took one week of nonstop riding. My back ached because of the uncomfortable couch but we arrived at a harbor in France. We were greeted by solders carrying guns pointed directly at us.

American soldiers stepped ahead of the group and raising their guns. One of the American soldiers yelled over the group. “Survivants! Survivants!” I had no idea what they were saying. Obviously it was French for something because the other soldiers backed down. One of the French soldiers walked up to one of the American and spoke.

“L'abri de survie est sur la route. Les mendecins ont la cure il.” The American soldier shook his hand.

“Je vous remercie. Okay everyone! The survivor shelter is down the road! They got doctors and they got the cure. So please stay together. You're going to be all right!” He said.

“Shit, look!” One of the soldiers pointed out into the distance. It was a large group of the monsters. They were running incredibly fast and spitting up a green substance. Guns started going off, doctors and civilians were rushing out of the shelter with the green substance leaking from their mouths. Sheri turned to me.

“You said nothing bad was going to happen!” She yelled and ran off scared.

“Sheri, get back here!” I yelled and ran toward her, chasing her. “Sheri please, stop.” I ran faster almost catching up to her. I grabbed her arm and yanked her back. “If you want to survive then stop fucking running in random places without thinking.” She turned around looking at how far she had ran.

“Where are we?” She panted. “I don't know...” I replied.

I looked around, apparently we'd ran so far while they were busy devouring each other they didn't even know we were gone. “Where is everyone?” Sheri asked.

“Dead...” I equipped my hunting rifle to my front just in case. A loud thud came from behind us. Sheri screamed while I turned around and raised my rifle. It was one of those monsters lying on the ground. His rotten smelling dirty black blood splattered all over the road. Sheri backed away covering her nose. I looked up wondering where it came from. I heard the sounds of Sheri throwing up behind me as I examined what I saw.

“Um...Sheri...” She turned around coughing, wiping her mouth.

“What?” She replied. The monster crawled to his feet while a large group of monsters were walking carelessly off the roof then slowly scrambling to their feet. Some of them puking on each other.

“Fuck...” I walked back slowly as they stared at me and Sheri.

“Adam...wha-what do we do?” She said holding my arm.

“We run.” I turned around quickly, running as fast as I can with Sheri holding on to me, keeping up with my speed. They followed behind us incredibly fast. If I can't find a way to get out of this we'll both die.

I turned into an alley and found was I was hoping to find. A ladder. “Go! Climb the ladder! I'll be right behind you!” I told Sheri as she climbed the ladder. I shot as many as I could to hold them back. I climbed the ladder after her. When I got on top of the building where the ladder took me I shot the bolts off the ladder to push it over with my handgun from my pack. Sheri sat down for a second while I loaded the guns. “Here, you take this.” I handed her the handgun. “Use it wisely.” I told her.

“Thank you.” Sheri replied. I walked to the edge and looked down. It was terrible. They were clawing at the wall. They're fingernails snapping off. A few off them spat up on each other, burning straight through they're dead flesh.

“What do we do now? We're stuck up here on this roof forever?” Sheri asked me. I thought for a while about what to do. I turned to the left. I stared at the other building.

“The buildings are close enough for us to jump across. If we can continue doing that I'm positive we can get into the military base here and find a safe place to stay. Monsters started to climb up the other buildings, closing us in.

“What now?” Sheri said. I turned around and saw that the ocean was behind us.

“We jump!” I ran off the building and dived into the water. Sheri followed as the monsters almost grabbed her. The harbor was close by and empty, we swam for there.

“Where did everybody go?” Sheri asked.

“I don't know, but I'm sure we can find weapons near by.” I replied. We scavenged around picking up a couple of automatic rifles and hand grenades. “Now we have to go to that survivors shelter down the road to find the cure.” I told Sheri. “Just stay close.” I walked toward the shelter slowly but carefully, with the stench of rotten flesh stuck in the air, blood, teeth, and body parts all over the hard gravel. I ripped the curtain off the shelter to see inside. The 'shelter' was more of a large cloth with a wooden support. No one was in there, but there were lots of metal suitcases with 'Cannibal Cure' written on it.

“These cases are it.” Sheri smiled faintly, “We've got it!”. I turned to look at her.

“I told you we'd be okay.” I told her as we sat there for a few. “Y'know, this is the first time I have ever seen you smile before...It's cute” Sheri's face got red and slightly turned.

A man came through the roof wearing a gas mask and a black military suit, carrying a large silver pistol. “We have the cure.” He looked at us and raised his pistol. “Are you infected!?” His voice sounded distorted through the mask.

“No, we're normal!” I yelled.

“We got survivors. Bring them along? Two, a male and a female.” The man said keeping his gun pointed directly at me. “Okay.” Two ropes come from above as the sounds of a helicopter can be heard from the roof. Two belts with climbers gear were strapped to them. “Put those on, it'll pull you up.” The man said standing there waiting for us. Me and Sheri put them on as soldiers started pull the ropes lifting them to the helicopter.

When they pulled us up there was four soldiers wearing black with gas masks. The other solder came back up with two large cases filled with the other metal cases with the cure secure inside. “Okay pilot, to the base!” The man yelled over the loud sounds of the helicopter. Me and Sheri sat in the helicopter not knowing where we are going.

“Hey, what's going on?” Sheri said trying to make herself heard over the helicopter.

“We're going back to our main base to get the cure analyzed to make more copy's to save our race and stop theirs.” The man next to her replied.

“Is there anyway we can help?” I asked.

“We'll find out.” He said. I looked out the side of the helicopter to see it still dark. I haven’t seen daylight for weeks. All the monsters look like tiny ants, clumsy, evil, fast, ants.

The helicopter eventually landed inside of a large silver underground hole. A light came from the left of me, it was about the size of a door. The helicopter calmed down so now me and Sheri were able to hear each other think. Suddenly lights came on brightening the entire circle. A man in a black suit came out to greet the men in masks and me and Sheri. “Hello,” He said as he shook my hand. “I'm Charlie Marsh, head of the research development in this whole disease.” He shook Sheri's hand also.

“I'm Adam, this is Sheri. We're survivors.” He looked back at me.

“I know, follow me, I have something you might want to see.” He started walking back towards the doorway. We followed.

What we saw was indescribable, there was so many rooms and each were small and had one monster each into them. “Why the fu-” I started to talk then he interrupted me.

“We created the first monster, using a simple chemical unknown by man. This chemical almost instantly kills your brain cells and replaces them with the urge to eat human flesh.” He continued. “The point of all this is to create the cure with a chemical that will replace your brain cells to erase the urge, then sell it and make millions of dollars. Unfortunately it got out of control, so for that matter we assembled our own task force of hundreds of skilled soldiers to take them all out, and help the ones in need of it. Does this make any sense to you people?”

Sheri grabbed his collar and yanked him into a wall. “Those monsters you created killed my parents you fucker!” She punched him hard over and over again nonstop. Charlies face was already bleeding and bruised. He was crying for help but the other soldiers already left and no one was around but us. Only the echos of the banging on the walls and the cry's of Charlie rang down the halls. Smack after smacking sound hit his face hard. I turned away to make sure no one was going to interrupt her. I heard a ticking sound on the floor, I looked down to see what it was. It was one of Charlies teeth. The sounds changed from her fist hitting his face to her fist hitting his face hitting the wall.

“Sheri, that's enough.” I pulled her back as she kicked his face hard one last time. He was crying his bloody eyes out, tears running down his face. Blood dripping from his mouth as another tooth slide down the blood fall that was trickling the side of his face. Sheri turned to cry, the sights of her parents death was probably still haunting her in her thoughts. I walked over to her to hold her gently, comforting her. Surrounded by dead people who remain to be living all because of some mother fucker that wanted money. “I'm sorry, about your parents. This...monster will get what he deserves.” I told her as she turned around, looking up at me with teary eyes. A river ran down her cheek, I wiped it off cleaning her face. She let out a giggle. She looked into my eyes and gently kissed me then turned red in the face.

A loud alarm sound came from around us. “Yes...they're being freed!” Charlie said coughing on his blood. I stood there for a second wondering what that meant until I looked down hall. It was those monsters, just more deformed then usual. Experiments gone wrong maybe? But they were slow, and their groans sounded like they were in pain. Me and Sheri backed away slowly. When they reached Charlie they started to dig their fingernails deep inside of his skin, taking their slow time, pulling down. Slowly their fingernails began to snap off. Some of the others began to bite. He screamed in pain and screamed for help. No one was there to listen. I started to jog quickly down an unfamiliar hallway not knowing where I am, Sheri followed. There was no escape so far, just a lot of empty rooms, nothing more.

There was a sign on the side of the wall with an arrow pointing ahead of us saying 'Stairway exit' on it. I made my way for the exit door. I opened it and started climbing the stairs. Sheri closed it behind her and then she was right behind me. The sounds of the monsters scratching and pounding against the door can be heard from all the way up. The stairs were about six to ten floors. We finally made it to the top, a large silver door with an 'exit' sign on it. I opened it as fast as I can, not hesitating to leave that place without looking back. Outside it was dark, as it had been for the past few weeks now. There was no monsters, all around us was fresh grass. I heard the door slam shut as Sheri was right behind me puffing and panting. “No..” She said. “No more!” She laid down on the outside grass.

“I have a feeling it will all be over soon, Sheri.” I told her as I laid down too. My legs ached and burned. Sheri scooted closer to me until our shoulders touched. She looked at me, I looked at her. She leaned over and kissed me on the mouth. As I got lost into her eyes I went to kiss her back. But at the same time she slowly rolled on top of me, kissing me again. She rested her hand on the back of my neck, barley supporting herself with her elbows on my chest. The tops of her breasts visible. She rested her head next to mine, completely resting her body on me. Sheri slowly fell asleep...I stayed awake.

She had been asleep for five hours now until she woke up. I laid there with her on top of me, my eyes closed, just resting. She gently rolled off of me, probably thinking I was asleep and didn't want to wake me. I slowly opened my eyes. “Adam?” She spoke.

“Yes?” I answered.

“Where are we? I mean, where did the helicopter take us exactly?” She asked.

“I don't know.” A sparkle of light hit the corner of my eye. “Look, over there.” I pointed to a faint light in the distance. “We might be able to find out where we are.”

“But we don't have any guns. Those soldiers took them.” Sheri replied. I pulled two small pistols from my sides and handed her one.

“Here...” she took it. “stole them from the helicopter.” I told her. I stood up and so did she as we started walking towards the light in the darkness.

It was a lamp, a lamp outside of a large green tent. “Excuse me, is anyone here?” I said getting no response. “Excuse me! Is anyone-” A coughing sound interrupted me. My grip tightened around the pistol, hoping I wouldn't have to use it.

“Who's there?” Said a fragile but rough sounding voice.

“I'm Adam, and I have a girl with me, her name's Sheri.” I heard him clear his throat.

“None of your are hurt are you?” He asked.

“No, we're not infected.” I heard a snapping noise from behind me. I turned and it was just Sheri who had accidentally stepped on a twig from what looks like old remains of a campfire.

“Come in, come in.” The voice said as I unzipped the tent opening and entered. It was as big as it was on the outside. There was a small sleeping bag with a pillow. The lamp was in the middle. There was an open backpack filled with food. On the other side of the food there was four walkie talkie's lying down. Sitting in the corner messing with what looks like a fire starter was an old man. A small old man only wearing a black shirt and blue pants. His white hair, bald on top but formed around his head like a cloud. “Hello!” He said delightedly with a smile. “I'm Joseph.”

“Nice to meet you Joseph.” I told him.

“I was just about to have dinner. Will you join me?” He asked.

“Yes! I am starving.” Sheri replied almost instantly.

“Well then, looks like I will be cooking for three.” He said cheerfully, happy to see normal human beings for a change. Joseph grabbed the pack full of food and headed out front. Me and Sheri sat right beside each other as Joseph started the fire then sat across us.

Sheri laid her head on my shoulder closing her eyes resting. Slowly falling asleep at the warmth of the fire. “Poor girl,” I said. “hasn't had a good nights sleep in days.” Joseph looked at me while cooking some beef using an old pot.

“What about you?” He said. “She looks fine, but your facial features say you haven't slept in a good while, or rested.” He flipped the beef over cutting it down some.

“I've been protecting her.” I replied.

“So how did a fine looking couple like you meet?” He asked.

“Oh, me and her?” He nodded. “We...she needed my help one nite...I was available.” I said wrapping my arm around her. Smiling for the first time in days. After a while of cooking, Joseph divided the beef onto three paper plates.

“I don't have forks, knives, or condiments so you'll gotta live.” He chuckled placing a plate and front of me and a plate in front of Sheri. I gently woke her. I ate mine slowly, while Sheri ate her's with no mercy. I gave to her what I didn't eat. “You two can sleep in the tent tonight if you want. There's enough room for all of us.” Joseph said.

“Thank you, sir.” I said to him while burning the paper plates for a bigger fire.

“I'll leave the fire on for warmth tonight, it's pretty cold.” He said crawling into his sleeping bag. Me and Sheri laid next to each other near the opening so she was warm. When Joseph started to faintly snore Sheri whispered into my ear softly.

“I heard what you said when he was talking about us being a couple.” I looked at her.

“I'm sorry.” I whispered back.

“Don't be.” She gently kissed my cheek, wrapped an arm around my chest and fell asleep. To be perfectly honest, I liked the idea of us being a couple. I thought about it some more until I completely fell asleep. I woke several hours later feeling fully refreshed. I heard Sheri giggling outside of the tent and Joseph chuckling. I stepped out of the tent carefully, still a little tired. Sheri ran up to me and hugged me. “You're awake.” She said.

“How long was I out?” I asked her.

“We've been up for only three hours so I would say twelve hours.” Joseph said. Wow. I thought to myself, I slept. I guess it takes a bunch of man eating monsters and a very cute girl to get me to sleep. It was still dark though.

“I miss the sunlight” I said.

“So do I, I haven't seen the Sun in over a month.” Joseph said.

I though I heard faint foot steps for a moment. “Shh..!” I stayed perfectly still not making a sound. They're faces turned as white as ghosts scared to look around. “Do you hear that?” I asked them. The both turned their heads left and right. A monster jumped out from behind the tent and quickly scratched at Joseph. I reacted as fast as I could and equipped my pistol and shot it dead on the side of its skull. Joseph screamed in pain at the one scratch on his arm. I took my shirt off and wrapped it around the scratch tightly. “Joseph, there's a building five minutes away. It has the cure somewhere with it's scientists. I need you to hold on, we'll fix you up!” I told him over the sounds of his yells.

I went in the tent then came back out with two of the walkie talkies. I turned them both to channel three. “Take this.” I gave it to Joseph. “Me and Sheri will be in touch. Just don't give up!” I told him as I got up and started running as fast as I could to the building. Sheri was barley able to keep up. I swung the 'exit' door open and sped down the stairs faster then I ever have before. I got to the bottom door. The monsters were still banging and scratching. “Sheri, are you ready?” I asked her as she nodded. I quickly opened it. We continuously shot off our pistols killing them one by one.

I turned to Sheri. “Stay here.” I ordered her as I ran down the hall to find the dead body of Charlie Marsh. I felt around his jacket to find a syringe in his pocket labeled 'cure' on it. I ran back to Sheri talking into the mic piece of the talkie. “Hey Joseph, how ya holding up? Still alive?” I asked. A weak, painful voice came from the other end.

“Hurry...” I rushed past Sheri as she was right behind me. A voice came from the talkie. It wasn't Josephs.

“Don't bother giving your friend the cure.” A gunshot went off through the talkie.

“Oh my god!” Sheri said from behind me.

“Hello, I'm Mark, Mark Parker, one of the top researchers in this little project. Sad to say in order to get rid of it we are going to have to launch a nuclear missile into the facility and everything around it.” I kept climbing the stairs.

“Shit!” I yelled. “They're going to fucking nuke the place just to get rid of the problem.” I kicked open the door and looked toward the tent to see a man in a white coat get lifted off into a helicopter.

Me and Sheri walked into the grass. We both stopped in our tracks. She collapsed, crying in my chest. I held her up weakly, stunned by the large number of monsters surrounding us. She looked up at me with a tear running down her face. I looked into her eyes seeing her and everything we've been through the past month. I softly kissed her. “I love you.” I said. She kissed me back. I held her tightly. We both looked up, seeing the missile raining down from the dark nights sky above us. She looked back to me and started to speak. “I love-” The end...