Sunrise

The suns first rays filtering in between the blinds gently moves across the room as a cloud passes. There's movement outside the window followed by the sound of children's laughter. Confused, I sit up to see where it's coming from. Looking down and across the yard, I slowly remember who I am. My mind recollects itself from it's first waking minutes. Three children are running around with tennis rackets hitting pine cones fallen from the nearby trees, back into the forest that borders the back lawn.

"Hi Daddy!" a voice yells. I realize it's coming from one of the kids and it's directed at me. The boy waves and chases after the two girls who run inside downstairs. I slump back into the bed trying to figure out whats going on and where I am, a confused sense of doubt clouding what I feel is reality. "That's my son?" I think to myself "I don't remember having kids, am I ill or something? It's like noon, why am I still in bed?"

"Jake? Sweetheart? We're going to have lunch outside! Come join us!" I don't recognize the voice but it somehow sounds familiar. Still a little out of it, I make my way out of bed and down the stairs. As I open the sliding glass door to the backyard, a glass shatters upstairs followed by a loud thump. I turn and run back up to the bedrooms to find what the sounds came from. A dog begins to bark sharply outside. Ignoring this I proceed to the last bedroom, which appeared to be a children's room. Looking around I realize it's my bedroom from when I was a child. As I take a step into the room the dog begins to yelp and howl in terror and I hear the children scream. Turning back to the hallway panic floods my body but I feel a kind of warmth that comes with it. That's when I stopped and saw what was blocking my path to the stairs.

A man is slowly shuffling towards me. His right arm below the bicep is gone. Only bits of graying flesh dangle from where the limb should be. His head is cocked to one side and his eyes seem unable to focus. His arm and stump are outstretched, reaching towards his prey. A screwdriver protrudes from his shoulder on the stump side, only the handle visible. I tried to open my mouth to speak but at the same time the smell hits me. I double back and stumble over a large toy firetruck. Choking on the putrid stench this man was emanating, I can barely pull myself up. The horrible aroma is overpowering. I can hardly think, feeling as if breathing means death. Closing my eyes, I slowly back to the corner and force myself to inhale. The stale air fills my lungs. Then I recognize the smell; and I open my eyes.

The smell brings hate. I look at the thing two feet from me I had mistaken for a man, and I charge. A war cry erupts forth from me as I tackle the figure to the floor. Squeezing my left hand around its throat, my right finds the handle of the tool and rips it from the corpse. My knuckles white, I plunge the screwdriver into its flailing hand pinning it to the floor. Instincts take over as I scoop up the firetruck and began violently mashing the head of this abomination. I don't stop myself until the toy snaps from the sheer force of the blows. There is no longer a face. Just a gaping hole that skull fragments and brain matter seemed to have burst out from. I feel the rage slowly dissipate that had just compelled me to destroy any ability this creature had to exist. The screams fill my ears again and I run downstairs.

There are dozens of them. More of these beings begin pouring in through the windows and open door. Some with faces of people I knew and loved. They turn, and start slowly moving towards me. "I have to get outside to them!" My thoughts racing "There's gotta be a way out upstairs!" My heart pounding I run back up to the bedroom I awoke in. The bed is gone, along with all the other furniture. Only the single window remains. "Jake!" It's her voice again "Come here! We're out here!" I cross the room to the window and scan the yard. Then I see them.

I know she's my wife. She's beautiful. The boy is mine, I still don't recognize the two girls. They're crouched in the middle of the back yard, the swarm in a wide circle around them. Her arms are stretched around the children huddling them close. She looks up at me with tears in her eyes. Then she looks back at the sea of undead around her. The forest is nowhere in sight. The creatures stretch on for miles, no end in sight. When her eyes return to mine they're fierce, her face serious. Then she smiles.

"You know what you have to do to see us again."

The swarm rushes them. Thousands of outstretched hands grab them and begin to pull in all directions. I feel my head whip up. Bellowing into the sky, my body hurls itself through the open window. The eyes look up, and all I feel is numbness. Then rage.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!"

I bolt upright on the cot soaked in cold sweat, my skin hot. I whip my head around to scan my surroundings and find myself staring down the barrel of a Mossberg 500. My eyes focus on the person leveling the shotgun at my head. It's Xander.

"Are you feeling okay buddy? Because I really don't want it to end like this."

I shake my head a little bit then reply.

"Yeah I'm straight. Damn nightmares again. The same one."

"Shit." He laughs and lowers the shotgun "Almost cocked it that time"

Using the gun almost as a walking stick, he props himself up and stands.

"We better get moving soon. Days about to start and I'm hungry. We gotta find food."

I rub the sleep from my eyes and look up at the sunrise. A single cloud drifts away from it.