Silent Warrior

Strange new World

The first thing Jodie sensed was pain. Pain that woke her up. She slowly opened her eyes and found herself in a strange room she had never seen before. If she hadn't known better, she would have said she was in a hospital or at least something similar. However, she was not wearing a hospital gown, but fresh clothes. Someone had taken off her shoes. The sun was shining through one of the windows, showing Jodie a paved street with houses. It looked like a suburban neighborhood.

Slowly she sat up when suddenly the pain from her gunshot wound returned. Jodie drew in a sharp breath and grabbed her stomach. Slowly, she lifted her T-shirt and saw that someone had wrapped a fresh bandage around her wound. As the pain slowly subsided, Jodie looked around more closely. There were more beds in the room. However, these were all freshly made and empty.

Hesitantly, Jodie turned to the edge of the bed and carefully placed her feet on the cold floor. She propped herself up with both hands and shifted her weight to her legs. They felt quite wobbly, but eventually Jodie managed to stand hands-free and took a few small steps forward. Her wound ached with each step, but Jodie ignored the pain and walked closer to the window.

Outside, she could see not only the houses, but also vegetable fields and well-tended front gardens. And there were people on the streets, talking and laughing with each other like there was no end of the world out there with them.

Where the hell was she? And where were the others? Was this all a dream, perhaps? Jodie staggered to the door, still a little unsteady on her feet. Without further problems it opened and Jodie entered a half-dark hallway. She opened a door and entered the cleanest living room she had seen since the apocalypse began. There was no dust anywhere and the floor was polished to a shine.

Still barefoot, Jodie stumbled more than walked across the room and headed for the front door. Next to the front door were her shoes, still filthy. Jodie slipped into them, even though she knew she would get blisters afterwards. Bending over was difficult, not only because she was still very wobbly on her feet, but also because her bullet wound hurt.

She gritted her teeth, even though her eyes went black for a moment when she stood up. Focus!, Jodie scolded herself and grabbed the door handle. The door opened without further ado. Bright sunlight flooded the room blinding Jodie even for a moment.

Without hesitation, she stumbled outside onto the porch and looked around in utter confusion. It was as if she were caught in a dream. On the street in front of her there were well-kept houses, with lawns that looked like they had been freshly mowed. People were walking up and down the streets completely carefree, chatting, greeting each other, or waving to each other from their porches.

Once again, Jodie wondered where the hell she was. Was she perhaps dreaming the whole thing here? Or was she already dead and this was the afterlife? But then she wouldn't feel any more pain, would she?

Reluctantly, like a shy deer, she went down the porch steps and entered the wide paved path. She had to find out where the others were. Which way should she go? To the left or to the right? Where should she look?

Jodie instinctively chose left and tried to walk along as normally as possible to avoid attracting attention. Just because these people had saved her life didn't automatically mean they could be trusted.

As she walked swiftly down the street, her eyes darted restlessly back and forth. Were Ashley, Noah, and Beth perhaps being held in any of the houses? Had they perhaps already been killed? But then why had she been left alive? It was only now that Jodie noticed that she no longer had any weapons. Her knife, her crossbow...all gone. Shit!

The thought of being completely unprotected made her lose her guard for a moment and she stumbled and fell. The impact made her wound throb badly and she blacked out again, this time definitely worse. She tried to sit up while black dots danced in front of her eyes. She felt dizzy.