THE NEW WORLD: CHAPTER VII

In Peril

Lima, Pennsylvania. 4 months after the outbreak.

Craig and Randall rides through the unincorporated community, and just like any other places they ahve witnessed is nothing but in ruins. They pass by ruined and abandoned houses, some of it are occupied by corpses, more vehicles that were used as obstacles, walls, and such. There are even body hills, one even is taller than that of a house, and several craters scattered around the community. The putrid smell of rotting corpses was enough to nauseate the 2. They rolled up their windows but it did not help and only made the scent worse, the powerful smell was enough to make them wear gas masks.

The father tries his best to drive off roads that will lead them deeper into the city of Philadelphia. As it being a major city and the population is over 1.5 million, who knows how many waves of zombies will ever come out of the ruined city. And amongst the populous, there are survivors, but they might have experienced something different that will change them and will turn them into something dangerous and capable of doing something wrong. Randall cannot stop but glancing around him trying to see if anything comes over and may attack them. Craig worringly looks around as well, the child inherited his fathered eyes.

Most of the ruined buildings that they passed by begin to crumble within the strong winds that decided to fly through. In the distant they can hear the sounds of missiles being dropped, and that rumbling on the ground also proved to be a factor in the fall of these buildings. Many people fell under the rubbles of debris, they even pass children who did not look as young as Craig.

Speaking of the missiles, the deployment of the object began a month after the outbreak, only within 2 weeks, majority of the United States of America were tainted by the virus, and seven days later everyone started to turn into the familiar flesh eating creature that everyone in this world knows. The missiles were their last results to contain the virus within major and populous cities. The smaller communities within the cities were occupied by the Army, even the Naval and Maritime branches of the United States were deployed in order to occupy the ones in the coastal states. But this will only aid the virus in spreading as by this time they never did understand it.

The United States were willing to sacrifice cities that has 'succumbed' to the virus in order to save majority of the west, but this only put everyone in peril.

Chester, Pennsylvania to Bridgeport New Jersey, Commodore Barry Bridge.

"Oh no" Randall's simple yet appropriate reaction upon witnessing the decrepit Commodore Barry Bridge. They look over to their left to see a massive crater that left its mark in Philadelphia and the ruin around its area. The Delaware has already poured into the crater and turned it into an open lake. Debris of sorts has already flowed under the bridge and it ranges in what you would expect in a whole city being destroyed; even corpses wouldn't go unnoticed.

With this realization Randall made haste to Vineland, like Philadelphia, it is a populous city and may very well be a crater by now. But obviously both father-son have to remain hopeful in order to see the most important woman to them. He tightly holds the wheel and his legs shake, both of them are restless by what they witness in each succeeding meter. Once more, Craig can only look at his father who is a nervous wreck despite having a calm exterior. All the boy can do now is wish that her mother is there, the only thing a child can ask for. He does not want to add to the stress that his father is already experiencing.

And so far, nothing looks good for them. Most of the census designated places are either burned to the ground, swarmed by the dead, or in ruins; all these 3 things are now extremely common. Basically nothing looks good for them they can only sit and await whatever they may face.

"Please be safe, darling please" Randall mumbles under his breath. Almost begging to anything, gods, objects, even down to the zombies itself. Something that can make him believe that his wife is in harm's away, both of them - especially Craig - will not be able to handle the death of his mother. Even thinking of her death may worsen the emotion that they feel. Once more, Craig's sighs lie on his father's trembling face, he does not know and cannot do aynthing. He understands that being quiet is the best thing that he can do now, so he remained so.

"We're here dad"

"I know... please, please"

"We will save her right?" Craig's innocence pierces through. His eyes show sadness but no tears dare to drip down his face.

"We should, we will, you're right, we will save her Craig"

As they were about to enter the neighbourhood of South Vineland, their vehicle has finally given up on them. No more gasoline, and the wheels are almost worn out. The car is not in the best of condition - practically useless- and so they have to leave it. But Randall will never give hope up, just hearing his son was enough to push him through whatever hell he faces.

"We're going on foot, you can keep up right?" He asked the boy, who is much more than prepared. Indeed, Craig was more than ready and so they hopped off the car and grabbed the only necessary things from the back of their truck; food, ammunition, melee weapons, extra clothes. Other than those minimal and important things they abandoned what they had for whoever wishes to take it. "We won't need this now" Randall declared. They finally remove their masks and kept it safe and easy to grab, they held their weapons firmly and jogged quickly.

Strong winds breeze through and howls, it indicated a storm's approach.

"You ready kid?" Randall asked Craig to which the boy replied "Always dad, just lead us". He felt proud and lay his hands on top of the boy's head "Damn right". The continues to move as quiet as possible, they cannot hear them as well because of the strong winds that decided to breeze through. Randall's eyes continues to look forward and Craig glances behind from time to time. Zombies roam around them but luckily they are yet to be attracted to them.

"Can they smell us?" Craig asked his father as he sees one walking towards him. "They do" Randall replied honestly and they moved away from where the zombie stand, to their right. They started to sprint away. They see an opening and seeing it as an opportunity he took it, it was out of instinct that made them move. They quickly ran around the block trying to get away from the horde but their slow movements somehow made it much harder to avoid.

"There is too many of these fucks"

"What do we do?"

"We cannot mow pass'em kid… we need to find a break"

"Dad… ladder" Craig pointed to a ladder propped onto one an electric post. They quickly made their way to it even with no plan in mind. Randall moves up the ladder to a house and Craig climbed up first and so his father followed. They are well aware of what they have done, but they have committed to the rooftop of this house. The father stupidly fired his gun and the gunshot echoes, and suddenly all of the zombies started to run towards them.

With no time to waste Randall quickly moves to the edge of the houses and drops the ladder on top of an alleyway. Craig moved first and held the ladder in place with his whole body, half of the roof is slanted and the other is flat. It was supposed to be a balcony, but it remained unfinished. Randall easily follows through and they kept doing it until they are on house adjacent to theirs. It was their house as the owner of the house is owned by Amanda's older Brother, Dylan.

"How many kid?"

"54… 5 … 6… 63…6 7"

"All right" 67 of those things are scattered around their street, and most of them are directly in front of their house. The portion of the horde that they attracted earlier loss sights on them, but continues to walk towards their general direction.

"Do we kill'em?"

"No, they have to be under 10 if we want to go in there directly"

"We need a miracle"

The 2 start to look, think, pray, for a way to get inside the house. A very common thing that they will have to face, the sudden loss of escape routes and possibilty of being cornered like animals. Craig looks through his binoculars and inspects their house for any movement that someone is in there, or else they just killed themselves unwittingly. As the looks through every window he starts to get irritated, almost angry that there is no sign of his mother.

"If you are looking for a light kid… we cannot, the poles are broken so n-"

"Dad dad.. light light, second floor" Craig panics and gave his binoculars to his dad and sees the light. He waves his hand and his wife starts to cheer by herself in their house. She used a mirror in order to reflect the light back at them.

"I'm coming darling, stay there" As Randall is filled with joy and looks for a way to go to the house, Craig's attention was elsewhere. He looks on the street to their left in Mildren avenue. A woman walks up and they remain unnoticed by her. She is covered in muck, blood, and parts of her body have been bitten off. The bone on her shin was exposed and clearly rotting, the view stunned Craig. She started to scream upon witnessing them and some of the zombies in front of them started to sprint towards her and pounced on her. She tried to hold her own but it seems futile as her body was to weak.

"Oh no… dad do we help her?" Craig asked his father. He starts to panic as they sit their doing nothing and panic from within, but Randall truly remained calm and somehwat remorseless. He grabbed his rifle and aimed at the woman, the kid tries to pull his dad's arm as to not kill the girl.

"Dad... please, we can save her"

"Take a good look boy"

"Dad, plea-"

"She is bitten to death" Randall said softly as to not shock his son, "look away, and look at your mother, please" he added. He wishes to protect whatever innocence Craig have. "Dad?" Randall ignores him. He slowly turns over to his mother and though blurry, he can see him smile. He knows it is gentle and warm, but he bowed his head and covered his ears as a gunshot fires through. And after the sound, the woman's shrieks of agony grew louder. Tears finally falls down on his cheek. He hugged his boy as his innocence is scarred.

Randall shot the girl on the leg, she fell down and is slowly being devoured. She cussed him for what he did and he cannot do anything about it, he made a decision to give up his own humanity in order to preserve his son's, admirable, but cruel. Randall apologizes directly to his boy's ear.

"I am so sorry… sorry… we cannot save her… she was de- she could have never made it… sorry kid"

Most of the zombies right in front of him ran towards her, he used her dying person as a distraction. Cruel, but it seems to be the right thing for him. He looked up to her wife and she can feel her dissapointment, and he can feel his son's resentment towards him.

"Craig get up..." He pulls his boy up but he appears to be heavy and do not wish to be picked up. "We need to go now"

Randall puts down the ladder and tries to move Craig, but his emotions made him too stubborn to move. He tries pulling him but he does not move and can only look at his father with disgust. Randall has no choice but to lift him up and carry him. Fortunately for him he can still carry his boy effortlessly. He starts to run and even scream as to how hard everything is for him.

His wife opens up the door and Craig falls down and Randall had to pull him. The 2 burst through the door and Dylan closed the door. Randall uses his body to hold on the door expecting a rushing wave of zombies come through, but there was none.

"Amanda… Craig.. please make him calm" He handed Craig to his mother as if he was nothing but a babe.

"sweetie… hey… mama's here" She pulled his son's face gently up to hers and looked him directly in the eyes. "Mom… is everything okay?" Cry ended up crying and Amanda pressed her face onto her son's.

"it is now, now that we're together" Craig embraces his mother and he can finally cry. He wails in his mother's arms. Randall's felt shame and kept his distance from his own family, afraid.

"it is now, now that we're together" Craig embraces his mother and he can finally cry. He wails in his mother's arms. Randall's felt shame and kept his distance from his own family, afraid.

"Randall… brother" The 2 grown men embraced each other.

"Dylan… you had too" Knowing what happened outside he tried to calm his brother-in-law down. Dylan Miller, Amanda's elder brother. He is a military doctor and has faced the worse of war during his service in Afghanistan, which forced him to retire earlier due to the trauma that he had to endure, and later became a farmer in order to have a peace of mind and then returning to become an anesthesiologist.

"so.. what happened?"

"Explosions, it was like Afghan, but worst… just… the night would lit up because of the missiles, and when you go out, you see people eating each other. Tearing the very flesh off someone's faces"

"Thank you for being here… so much…"

"You're welcome, I should be angry at you but… why should I?"

"Because… it took me this long to come back home"

"Well.. you do not have to worry now"

The 4 family members caught up by telling the other's their experience in this new world that all of them had finally expected. Randall mentioned Tobias and his knowledge of the virus and shared it to Dylan and Amanda. Though he was not able to have a copy of what they have discussed, his comprehension, which have been developed as an attorney proved useful and was able to give the most important details. The information caused the 2 to be more worried, as death is really the only way out once someone is infected by this virus.

"So if we die? Will that make us infected?" Dylan's raised his question.

"No, the virus is not airborne from what me and that Tobias observed, and when we die… us the living nothing happens"

"So how do we get infected?" Amanda asked.

"Saliva, if we get beaten, we're infected immediately. Everything in those zombies if somehow we consumed it we get infected"

"And, we have no cure?" Amanda asks as the fear in her eyes is clear as the tears that fell down her face. A clear personality that the family has is how emotional they can be, and they cannot help it. Randall stumbles upon his words trying to give a hopeful answer, knowing there isn't, but they all lead to the same conclusion. "No" He replied. She gave Craig a tight hug as now they fear more for their lives.

"You mentioned they hunt" Dylan asked in order to shed some positive light on their situation, but any information regarding the virus is nothing but negative from what they have observed.

"Yes, like wolves almost, one of them sees you and before you know it they are all onto you, they're like, bees or something"

"They hate sunlight?"

"Yes, the UV rays of the sun damages their skin and their eyes, even flashlights are strong enough to just blind them"

"They can't distinguish it?"

"It seems"

"Then we need black-lights and flashlights?" Dylan declared as he starts to roam his house looking for the 2 objects.

"Yes"

Dylan stood up startling everyone and started to look through some of the papers on their walls, floors, and the shelves, he is looking for something. Having no idea what it is the other 3 sat there and watch him go through their things.

"What are you looking for?" Amanda asked as her brother walks pass the both of them.

"Well from earlier they can run right?" Dylan asked Randall.

"Yes, only between 1 hour to 6 , after their death… why?" and he replied.

"Then we need to make a plan to get out of this place on foot, if those things see us they will kill us yes?"

"Yes, plan?"

"Yes, and also to get flashlights"

"What are you looking for exactly Uncle Dylan?" Craig asks as he slowly gets up, wanting to help his uncle in his small search.

"A map of Vineland kid"

"Why?"

"We need to scout the area and see how many of this things are surrounding us, we find an opening and take it... we can wait them out then slow them down... assuming those people running out there have recently died"

"We wait them out, then slow 'em?" Randall added to Dylan's enlightenment, "Exactly" Dylan replied. Randall immediately helps his brother-in-law as it is the only thing that can probably get them out of this situation or at least the only thing positive they have learned so far. The 4 of them went to different parts of the house to look for a map. Majority of the house are covered in papers of all kind, so the map could have been unwittingly taped on the windows or walls.

They scour through every part of the house, from the attic to the basement,but the map was just no there. As they move around the house, turning everything inside-in and upside-down, their attention from the zombies outside dwindled. Something out of the ordinary happens.

As the 3 adults rush around their house searching, Craig was being distracted by what is happening from the outside than in here. They allowed him to do as he pleases, but they need the help.

"Mom?" Craig called out but he has no reply, he kept continuing until he had to grab her by the arm.

"What is it?"

Randall remains at the attic by himself looking through old files, books. Opening and surfing through the books to see if there are maps on its pages.

"Found anything?" He shouted down the hatch and he continued to check. It bothered him how there is no reply, but he shrugged it off as them being busier than he is. He looks through the window of the attic and still sees the zombies swarming the woman's body, devouring her down to the bone.

He turns away from what he caused and it makes him worry. He calls out to them once more but again, no reply. Randall looks through the hatch in fright as he feared for the worst. He can hear slow and heavy footsteps climbed up on the stairs, and it made him more terrified. They got in, but he heard no screaming from down below, they managed to hide.

All the thoughts for the worst came pouring in, from them being eaten to him abandoned in his own house and trapped, or the worst of humans who snuck in and sliced his family; and it made the most sense for him. With the footsteps inching towards him, his anxiety blasted through his own end, "This is the end" He thought to himself. But he remembered his gun, that he left downstairs. "Fuck" He softly whispered.

With the footsteps immediately under him, he gets up and his arms up, whatever comes up he can only punch it. "Randall?" Dylan's voice came through and and immediate wave of relief pushed around his body, but something about his voice made him tick. Dylan's voice is stern and confident, but this time he seems nervous. The cracks in his voice came through when he asked for him again.

"Randall, buddy you up there?"

Randall has no reply.

"I'm coming up" Dylan said. His voice is shaky, again, not the voice that Randall knows. He can hear climbing up the ladder, and the worst thoughts rush into his mind once more. A gun to the back of Dylan's head, and when they go downstairs Craig and Amanda are hurt. Randall tightly closes his eyes. Pitch black, that is all he can see, the footsteps he can hear clearly, the panicked breathing that he emits, and the loud thoughts erupted in his head. "Randall?" He opens his eyes and sees Dylan, sweaty, and shaking and other than that, fine. No gun to the back of his head, no wounds that suggests fighting, just fear manifested as sweat.

"What is it?"

"Come with me, downstairs, you better see this"

"Is it horrible?"

"Worse, come on, be quiet" The 2 men get down the stairs as quietly as possible, they might be surrounded. Randall enters some o the rooms on the second floor and looks outside, the same hordes are still there, the zombies stay under the shade as much as possible. "What is it?" Randall asks and Dylan can only point at the doorknob. Randall steps closer to analyze it but Amanda pulled him back.

"Just look" Dylan said, his voice nervous. As they look at the doorknob, expecting to see a miracle for them, but it comes as tragedy. The door knob twists and turns, as if someone is attempting to open the door. Randall, not believing this walked up the peephole on the front door, and it was a worse things. He immediately steps back and pushes his family behind him. They remained quiet for as long as they can.