Genocide | Joshler

Prologue

I was running.

The tears trailing down my face mixed with blood and dirt splattered all across it. The moment was on repeat in my head. Her blood curtailing screams echoing through the trees as her flesh was ripped off by ravenous remains of what people would used to refer to as the dead. The spine trembling sounds of her insides being ripped right from her bones was imprinted into the creases of my brain. Her flaxen blonde hair became tainted with her own blood and theirs. Her shaking hands reaching out to me as if I could make it all better, hoping it was just a dream. But when her sparkling indigo eyes were no longer in my view, I ran. I couldn't save her, so I would have to save myself.

They clumped together in herds, they were stronger that way. My only weapon was a measly pocket knife which was fine if there was just one of them. But now there was 30 maybe 40 of them. The ones who weren't gnawing on my wife where chasing after me.

I just left her there, in a pool of her own blood, becoming seasoned with the iron like substance which they craved. We were running away from them together, but she had tripped on the root of a tree and the weight of the bag on her back held her down. They were fast, they reached her before I could and immediately took her life away from me. I stood there in shock and I screamed all until one of them reached out to try and grab me. I said one more thing to her before running:

"I love you, Jenna. I'm sorry."

Everything ached in my chest. My lungs from running and my heart for Jenna. I don't know why I wanted to live. But something inside me kept telling me that this wasn't the end for me. So I kept running until the grunts and moans of the dead were much quieter than before. I reached a small gravel road, it broke apart the forest and I could see the sky. It was blue and bright, as if it didn't know what was about to come out of the forest behind me.

I ran across the street to the other side of the forest before picking a tree and climbing it. I sat silent among'st the trees, waiting for the pack to pass through. I prayed that my gut feeling was right, that this wasn't the end. Because I didn't want to just survive,

I wanted to live.