The Mercy of the living

Chapter 1. A Normal Day.

I was driving down the highway in my Crown Victoria cruiser when I was running low on gas. I stopped and got out my car. I walked around to the back of my trunk and popped it open. I grabbed my gas canister and went to the closest gas station I could find. When I arrived I saw what looked like a car junk yard. It was quiet. Too quiet. I walked up to the pumps and saw a sign that was banging against one of the pumps in the wind. It read"NO GAS". I looked around wondering what I was going to do with no gas for my cruiser. I took off my hat and got down on the ground to look under a car. I saw two legs and a hand reach down for a teddy bear. A young girl. I got up. "Little girl?", I asked. " Little girl.". The girl stopped walking. "I'm a policeman.", I said."Don't be afraid,OK? Little girl.". The girl turned around and it looked like her face around her jaw had been eaten away. "Oh,god.....", I said in shock. I started stepping back and pulled out my 357. Magnum. The "thing" started speeding up towards me. I lifted my gun, aimed at its head, and pulled the trigger. BANG! It fell back from the gun shot and landed down on the ground, dead. My magnum was smoking."What the hell was that?",I thought to myself.

I woke up and got dressed in my sherrif's uniform and said goodbye to my wife and son. I got in my cruiser and drove off to work and I arrived at the station and parked my cruiser in my spot. I walked inside the station to my desk. "Good morning Ryan." I turned around. It was Leon. "Oh. Good morning Leon." I replied. "So how's your wife Taylor?", he asked me. " She's doing fine.",I said. I quickly walked back to my desk. My boss came over to me and said I had to go on patrol. I got in my cruiser with my partner. We stopped by a fast food restaurant and got some lunch. I started to discuss the difference between men and woman. We joked about it for a while then we stopped. "So how's Taylor man?". " Well, lately whenever I try, it's like she gets impatient, like she doesn't want to hear it after all. The last thing she said this morning, before I left, she said:"sometimes, I wonder if you even care about us at all." She said that in front of our kid. Imagine going to school with that in your head." "Well, look man. That's just shit couples go through. Did you uh, did you speak?", Shane told me. I replied and said" That- That's what she says. "Speak. Speak", I said sarcastically. "The difference between men and women, I would never say anything that cruel to her. Especially not in front of John." The radio in our car beeped. "High speed pursuit in progress. Requesting all backup in the area immediately." I flicked on the sirens on our sheriff's cruiser and off we went. The radio buzzed in again." Be advised, they have fired on police officers, one county officer down and wounded." I picked up the radio. "Copy that, 10-4", I said.

We met up with the other officers and set up a road block and a spike trap on the road. I quickly got out the car and pulled my colt python out of my holster. I aimed down the sights and was ready. Leon came up to me and said" Maybe we'll get on one of those shows, like worlds craziest police chases,what ya think?" "What I think Leon, is that you need to stay focused, make sure you got a round in the chamber and your safety off." Leon loaded his gun and turned off the safety. We heard sirens and saw the car that was being chased. It ran over the spikes and flipped out of control. The car was being torn apart as it rolled across the road and it finally crashed in the grass and stopped. I lifted up my revolver and aimed carefully. I stepped over to the flipped car carefully. Suddenly, the door opened and a criminal appeared holding a handgun. One of the officers started yelling,"Gun gun gun!" "Put it down!", I shouted. The criminal raised his gun and opened fire. I had no choice but to return fire with the other officers. Bullets flew past my ears and I fell to the ground in pain. I had been hit. My partner killed the criminal with a shot to the head. " Ryan!", he yelled. "I'm alright!", I replied. " Man I saw you get hit,that scared the heck out of me man." "Me too.", I said. My partner looked at me and said," we'll get you a new vest?". "Yeah". A third criminal started to climb out the car. I turned to my partner and said to him," listen you never tell Taylor that happened, ever. " "you understa- ah!" I got interrupted as I got shot in my right shoulder blade and fell to the ground in pain. My partner killed the criminal who shot me with his shotgun. "Ryan! He's hit! Leon! You get that ambulance and tell them we got an officer down and you do it now! OK Ryan you listen to me shhh shh. It's OK your gonna be OK." More officers rushed to my position and I blacked out.

I saw a vision of my partner talking to me. "Hey. We really want you back at the station. Everyone misses you there." He was holding flowers in his hand. "I'm just gonna put these on your bedside table, OK?" I woke up in a hospital bed. I looked over and realised the clock wasn't working. " Shane? Shane, you in the bathroom?" No answer. I turned over in my hospital bed and looked at the clock. It wasn't working. I fell out my hospital bed and started to call for the nurse." Nurse! Help! Nurse! Help!", I tried to yell with my raspy voice. I went into the bathroom and drank water from the tap.

I burst out the door and stumbled down the hallway. The place looked a mess. Bullet holes covered the walls. Blood painted the floor and walls red. I walked over to a double door and on it was written in big black letters,"DON'T OPEN,DEAD INSIDE". I heard something moaning behind the door. Then a hand emerged. The door started to rustle along with its board and chains. I ran down the stairs and out the hospital in terror. "What the hell is going on?", I thought as my heart was racing.