We Are Humanity (Preview)

Chapter 3 - Safety, or Trap?

I wake up, I'm not camping, I'm hiding. It's like a dream. You know you have to do something, to live, but you just can't. You have to do what the dream tells you. I decide to start a fire, luckily swifters can't see, but have some kind of sensor in them that picks up motion.

After the fire, i remember what my dad told me. "You're weak, you can't stand up for yourself. You'll never be a man." This upsets me everyday, I tell myself to run, find others, but I can't. I'm afraid. I'm lost, in my thoughts. I decide after about a day, that I will leave, head east towards somewhere. In movies people always choose a direction and go, without knowing what to expect.

The sun starts to hide behind the mountains, letting the darkness overthrow it, but it will regain its strength to rise and overthrow the darkness. It's a never ending cycle. I'm like the sun, but only at sunset. I let the fears overthrow me, but never rise to conquer them. However I'm rising, slowly, I can tell I'm peaking over the mountain, just enough for people to see a slight bright color in the sky. Speaking off light, it's gone.

It's morning now, and I'm waking once again. Through the thick forest, limiting my sight to about a mile. Haven't seen a single living thing, just leftovers from the swifters. They don't bite their prey, they are strange creatures.

They are an ugly green, almost like dead grass, with a few black and grey patches on their arms. Well if you can call them arms, they have a sharp blade, still green, as an arm. You can compare it to the guy from Terminator, how he morphs his shiny arm into a sword like blade, and stabs John's mom in the back.

Within four hours of walking, I hear a crackling sound. Like gunfire, and gunfire means people, which either means help or death. I pickup my paste, I'm at a running/jogging state. Then I'm in an open clearing, with nothing in sight but trees and grass.

I start to lose hope, then I hear something else, not gunfire, not a scream, but the sound of a rifle cocking, so a bullet goes into a chamber ready to fire at its target.

"Well, ain't I glad to see you, Patrick", the man says, saying Patrick in a sharp tone. He's behind me, so he can't see my face.

"I'm done, this is it", I mumble. Then bam. The stock of the rifle hitting my head.

"Speak up! Now you better say something within five seconds, or you'll never say anything again!" Now he's angry.

"I'm not Patrick..."

"Nice try boy", sounding agitated now. I'm expecting to hear a bang. Than hear nothing at all. However I lose it.

"I'm not Patrick! And I have nothing to do with you! I haven't seen a human in forever, and this is what they are like now?", I stand up, turn towards him. He has his eyes fixed on me, I can tell he's confused. One brow up, the other down.

Next thing you know, he shoots. I close my eyes. I don't feel anything, is this how it feels to die? Painless?

"Run!", he yells. My eyes open so fast I thought my eyelids would fly into my skull. He's already seventeen yards ahead of me. I look back, it's a swifter. Running faster then a cheetah. I bolt.

The man is old, a bit over weight, so I catch up. Two pairs of eyes full of fear. -There is no way we can outrun this!-

"I have a hunters shack a few dozen yards ahead!" The man exclaimed, with his little breath he has.

The swifter is about a hundred yards behind us, we have a small opportunity to live. I run faster, and faster, the man picking up speed as well. I start to see the shack, then look behind and I'm able to see the dark patches on the swifters skin.

I swing the door open, the man runs inside, slamming the door behind him. He throws a rug off the floor, easily removing the wooden planks, revealing a small hole. He jumps down, tells me to join in. The hole is moist and barely enough room for us. The last bit of light disappears when he puts the floorboards back. Quite, dark, and I'm in a hole with a man who just tried to kill me.