Chapter 4 - D4

The local authorities were no longer able to find me. If I did encounter any of them it was easier to escape than before. They were too reliant on that ID watch that tracked my every location. The zombies were easy to outrun or avoid as well, especially if I remained silent.

I turned the corner and hid in an alleyway to catch my breath. If it weren’t for the zombies, it would’ve been harder to get away. I should’ve felt sorrow for what was happening around me, to the people that I once knew, but I wasn’t. Guilt gnawed at me.

No matter how poorly I was treated, I had still believed in the value of life. But look at me now, one day into a zombie outbreak and I would gladly use what was once a valuable life for my own survival. I shut my eyes tightly and gritted my teeth, no, as long as I didn’t take any of their lives myself that value still remained…right?

My thoughts and emotions were conflicting each other. It’s fine, I just don’t have the time to think about anything else but running. I threw a quick glance at my bloodied wrist, grimacing slightly before I continued my escape to D4 with the hope that once I’m there, everything would start to sort itself out and get better.

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I was almost there, I could see the black, fifteen-meter, metal gate with the words D4 in white. A bit more and I would be out of this hell, but as I approached the gate a new sense of foreboding filled me. The gates were open, they weren’t supposed to be.

I stopped in front of the ominous black gates and just looked at it, then behind me. A known horror loomed behind me, and I felt as though another was waiting for me up ahead. I shook my head to get rid of those eerie thoughts and looked behind me once more. It really wasn’t just a dream. Zombies were walking about, attacking anything that caught their attention.

Letting out a breath that I didn’t realize I was holding, I made my way forward. As soon as I stepped into D4 I could immediately feel the change in the air as the stench of death attacked my nose. I quickly covered my nose as I took small, hesitant steps forward.

Nothing around me looked familiar, though I was never in this district, even I knew it shouldn’t look like this. Unlike D3, there weren’t many alarms going off, no drones in sight either. I looked up, the patrol blimp that was normally in the skies of each district wasn’t there either.

As I continued to walk deeper into the district, bullet holes and bloodstains littered the walls of almost all the buildings in sight. The windows that would display information were either smashed in or showing errors.

Crunch. The sound came from behind me and fear immediately rose up in my entire being. I stood still, not wanting to alert it; I was too tired to run anymore and the adrenaline was wearing off. Both the wounds on my leg and arm were beginning to hurt by the second.

I heard the footsteps get faint and was about to move when they came back. ‘Is it staying in this area?’ I panicked. A few seconds later I realized that it wasn’t staying in this area, no, zombies were slowly filling this area.

They came from all directions, and this is the first time that I’ve gotten a good look at them. Movies and comic books would always show zombies as green, monster like creatures with outstretched arms that wanted to eat your brains.

One part of that is true, they are monsters. Pale monsters whose eyes were glazed over and gave off a foul stench of death with flies swarming around them, missing limbs and torn flesh with fresh blood dripping from their wounds, each giving a vague time of when and how they were killed.

Looking at them scared me, if I’m not careful that could be me. I couldn’t move recklessly but I couldn’t stand here forever. As I was trying to come up with a plan I saw her, standing in a space between the undead, staring at me, waiting for me.

I gulped, my life was on the line and I was about to follow something that looked like me and called herself The End. But what other choice did I have? The wound on my leg was becoming overbearing and I was presented with three options, one was to wait here until the zombies cleared out, two was to try to break through them and three, three was to follow her.

No matter how desperate I was, she was an unknown entity. She wasn’t as monstrous as the zombies but she certainly wasn’t human either. Human, the word made me scoff. Humans tried to capture me because they didn’t believe me but she helped me, multiple times.

The answer was clear, I slowly made my way towards her and with each step I took, a zombie was moving out of the way. They weren’t moving because of me, their movements were mindless and hard to follow, but she knew where they would move and stood in a safe spot, waiting for me.

When I arrived at where she was standing, she moved to another clearing, it wasn’t too far but enough to manage with my wound. I held my breath as I made my way through the zombies every time she guided me. She took simple paths that required me to walk, I didn’t have to hide or run, and I didn’t have to make any movements that would make the wound on my leg worse.

Finally, I made it out of the horde of zombies. “Thank you” I said as I looked at her, this was the first time in a long time that I’ve ever looked at someone directly as I spoke. She nodded at me before disappearing.

I turned around to face the hurdle that I just overcame, to say I was surprised would be an understatement. It’s a miracle I even made it out of that safely.

Not wanting to spend any more time here I left, I had to find Rina and I didn’t even know where to start. But first, I needed to treat these wounds.

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I eventually found somewhere to hide. The house wasn’t in the best of conditions but it had to do. It’s unbelievable how much damage those things caused in the span of two days. D4 wasn’t as cushy as D3 but it certainly wasn’t this bad. There weren’t any tall buildings like those in D3 either, where we had towering businesses, this district had two-story ones at most. In D3 you wouldn’t be able to see all the rooftops unless you went on the tallest building there, but here, you need only go on the lift of a two-story building and you would be able to map out the entire area. The entire vibe was different as well, neon lights would light up D3, it would have information windows on almost all the buildings and announcements playing in most areas. This place, though it wasn’t as amazing as D3, it looked like the people were happy here.

I let out a sigh, this wasn’t the time to compare the two districts. “Menu” I called out but nothing appeared.

That’s right, I don’t have my ID watch anymore. I looked at my wrist, the fabric that I’d torn from my jacket to stop the bleeding was drenched in blood. I was now limping; all of my adrenaline was gone. For the first time in this long day, I didn’t have to run, but if I didn’t treat my wounds I may very well bleed out.

My search for a first aid box was painfully slow but I had eventually found it in one of the bedrooms. The shiny white box with a red cross on it. There were tools nearby too, this way I wouldn’t have to search for anything to open it.

Without my ID watch I couldn’t do much, most of the things in a person’s home required one. That goes for opening a first aid box too. I picked up the nearby hammer and smashed in the lock. The box didn’t have any antibiotics so I had to make do with the wipes, gauze and pain killers.

When I was finished treating my wound, I got up to lock all the windows in the room and barricaded the door with whatever small items I could manage to move on my own. I knew I had to look for Rina but in my current condition I wouldn’t be able to do much. I didn’t get to take a bath for the entire day nor eat a single meal, I was proud of myself for making it this far.

Food. I took my backpack off and opened it, I forgot that I had found a granola bar in the kitchen. It’s better than nothing. After eating the snack I limped towards the bed, I’m sure Rina is safe, she’s always been able to get herself out of tough situations. This was my last thought as I laid my head on the pillow and drifted off into a peaceful slumber.

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‘Aren’t you sleeping far too peacefully for someone in your situation?’ It seems like even in my dreams I could see her.

‘I guess you can call this a dream, but the only difference is that you’ll remember every single thing that happens. That’s how your dreams will be from now on.’ As she said this I recalled the first dream I had and how I remembered every detail when it came true.

“Why?” I asked her.

‘You know why. You’re just not ready to accept why,’ her response was vague.

“Why did you help me?” I tried for a different question.

‘I will always help you,’ she didn’t even answer my question this time.

“Why did my dreams come true?” I decided to ask.

‘Your dreams didn’t come true, you just knew what would happen,’ She answered my question but I’m not even sure if you can consider that an answer.

I was getting frustrated; her answers weren’t helping and it was just leaving me with more questions. I just wanted to wake up, if she wasn’t going to give me answers I would have to find them on my own.

‘Yes, waking up now would be a good idea,’ and just like that I jolted awake.

The low, guttural groans of the undead sounded close by as they filled my ears. I was about to look for the source but was forced to swallow my screams, my sweaty palms covered my mouth as I took fast, labored breaths. Beside the bed, a zombie was standing over me, its vacant eyes locked into mine.