Page 4 of Ragnar

Bending down I snatch up my bag, slinging it over my shoulders before I stare at the double doors, building up the courage to open them.

The doors were my father’s pride and joy. It is a double feature that requires a second person to close them. They can’t be opened from the outside, only the inside. The first one gives a hiss as it releases the airlock. Both Kaine and I give a harsh cough at the dust that rushes in. Not wasting any time, we rush up the stone stairs to the second, smaller door.

“Be safe.” She murmurs before throwing it open just enough for me to move through before quickly shutting it behind me. New fear surges to the surface as I look up into the dimly lit warehouse above me. This fear always hits me when I am exposed to the outside world. A world that used to be safe, but now wants nothing more than to kill me.

On the off chance that something heard the doors being opened, I quickly climb the stairs. Sparing the warehouse only a glance, I move to the bay doors. Pressing my ear to the cold metal, I listen for movement on the other side. When I hear nothing, I drop to my belly and lift the door a few inches. I can waste no time getting out, every second giving time for something to start hunting me.

Bright light spears me in the eyes, blinding me for a moment as I try to see if there is anything waiting to ambush me on the other side. The sight that greets me breaks my heart and for a few seconds I lay there to gather my inner strength. It is a risk but the memories that assail me are paralyzing.

My childhood home sits a few yards away, destroyed by ransacking monsters long ago. The broken windows are reminiscent of the tears in my heart, tears that feel like they are constantly bleeding, my grief escaping like blood from a wound. No amount of grief will bring them back though. My sisters have to be my priority now. Sisters that need me to be strong.

Shaking my head to clear away the grief, I push forward crawling into the outside world, quickly standing and drawing the rifle from my back. When nothing rushes forward to eat me, I turn and shut the door the way it was before. Pulling out a compass, I use it to find North and then begin my trek to town. My mind is blissfully numb, survival my only thought.

Stepsville, Texas isn’t a large town. The college there was the only thing that brought it life before the fall. My parents never liked it, finding the rush of people too much for that small of a town. They moved us into the countryside when we were little to avoid the rush. Loved it as a child. Not so much as an adult trying to survive the end of the world.

By car it would have only been a ten-minute drive into the city center. By foot, while avoiding the main roads? At least half a day or more of walking. If I have to stop and hole up somewhere to avoid being eaten? There is no telling how long it could take me. Despair hits me hard and I have to fight myself to not turn around and go right back to the safety of our home. The further I walk, the more the numbness fades.

The clearing surrounding the warehouse crunches under foot, the grass dying in anticipation of the coming fall. If only the sun would die with it. Risking a glance upwards, I want to cry at how hot the day already promises to be. Even this early in the morning, I can feel the sweltering heat begin to weigh on me as I move into the somewhat cooler shade of the trees.

The only downside is that though it is cooler, it isn’t safer. Scanning the trees around me, I am careful to listen for any signs that I am not alone. The terrain also takes most of my attention the further I go from the safety of the warehouse. For about an acre or two surrounding the destroyed house, the terrain is barren. Here in the trees, it is hard work to not trip over the many rocks and stumps sticking out.

Though, I guess I can consider myself lucky that there aren’t that many caves around. The more caves, the more monsters that can hide inside of them. As it is, every shifting shadow sends a pang of fear and panic through me until I am a mess. Who I was before the fall is slipping out of me little by little until I feel like a failure. Grasping desperately for the calm of my inner deputy, I take a moment to gather myself.

Breathing deeply, I scan the surrounding area slowly. Thank God I do, because otherwise I wouldn’t have seen the beast crawling through the underbrush towards me. A surprised shout is ripped from my throat as I bring my gun around to point at the ugly bastard.

The beast is a mix between a cat and a rabies infected racoon with a touch of alligator thrown in. Its body is that of a cat, the head of a raccoon and a thick alligator-like tail. Fangs are revealed as it hisses at me, crawling low to the ground. Giving a horrid purr-like chitter as it gets closer. With a cry I swing the rifle at it, connecting with its snout with a sickening crunch.

The beast gives a loud cry before rolling in the grass, seeking to rid itself of the pain. Taking the opportunity to flee, I turn and run further into the trees, mindful of the sounds of pursuit as I go. The lengthening shadows make me paranoid, and I am already jumpy when I hear the howl of the beast I left behind, or at least I hope it was that one…until I hear a chorus of sounds go up. They are eerily like a coyote pack on the hunt, the cries echoing all around me until I am convinced there are hundreds of the little monsters.

Running harder I make it to another clearing, this one with a broken-down fence between me and the nearest stand of trees. Despite the terror inducing sounds coming from behind me, I cautiously slow down and scan the area in front of me, inspecting for any of the horrors that could be lurking.

With no monsters in sight, another savage chittering cry from behind me makes me careless. Bounding for the fence, I am determined to put it between me and the hoard coming for me. My legs take me to a downed portion, and I quickly leap over. Freedom carries me on the wind and is quickly stolen from me as I feel a burning grip on my lower leg. With a scream, my own momentum slams me down to the ground, hard.

Stars dance before my eyes as I try to regain my breath, the creatures getting closer every second. Panic sets in and all my previous training is forgotten in the face of death. Sitting up and running on autopilot, I reach for what has ahold of me.

My fingers find the barbed wire before my eyes do and I bit back a scream at the shredded flesh of my ankle. No time. The beasts can be seen in the darker shadows, moving like a wave in the darkness, assessing me as I struggle to undo the wire that has wrapped itself into my skin and my pants.

One is quite bold, stepping free of the trees to snarl at me before sniffing the ground, walking in almost a straight line to another point before sniffing again. To my surprise though, none of them make a move for me. Not looking a gift horse in the mouth, I manage to pull the wire from around my leg, grimacing at the wounds. There is nothing I can do about them until I find shelter.

Shakily I climb to my feet, staring down the ugly critters, afraid they might surge forward in a wave to kill me if I wait any longer. Only…they don’t. Not even one moves past the invisible line that they all crawl forward to sniff. The pace it in a group, creepily chittering at each other as they prowl.

Unease fills me as I look around, holding in my whimpers of pain. Awareness of the noise I am making silences me. In the silence I become aware of an oppressive feeling. Being in the open is never ideal and the little monsters in front of me obviously know something I don’t. Crouching low, I rip off a piece of my pant leg to wrap around my ankle, wincing at the sting it brings. The rusty metal makes me want to cringe and fears of tetanus make me want to cry. I cannot though. I must stay strong and move on, praying that whatever invisible force holds the tiny nightmares back stays working until I am long gone.

Moving low to the ground I make it to the cover of the trees; opposite the ones I came from. Every few feet I look back to see if they have followed but they never do. They are gone, as eerily as they came. My heart is in my throat, fear eating at me until I take off at a run again, my injured leg making it difficult but not impossible. All the while, a litany of curses play in my mind and self-recrimination weighs heavily upon my heart.

The image of my sister and her swollen, infected wound gives me the burst of energy that I need to reset my course for Stepsville. My compass thankfully wasn’t lost in my fall, and I pick up the pace again, running full out for the city. My leg throbs and burns but I block it out, determined to get as far as I can before I must attend to it.

Ducking under a low hanging branch, I scan the shadows around me, not wanting to be caught unaware by any more of the cat-gator-coon monsters. Giggling quietly at the name, I maneuver myself into the sparse light, letting it guide me as well as my compass.

A bush shivers ominously to my right and I pause, squinting through the shadows to try and see what caused it. Time seems to slow as I wait with bated breath, a whole slew of creepy crawlers being possible until an innocent rabbit hops out, moving stealthily. With a relieved sigh I move to continue when a bone chilling roar echoes through the trees, loud and clear.

This time my whole body begins to shake as I burst into a run, knowing instinctively that it doesn’t belong to a cat-gator-coon. The sound seems to go on forever, followed by more of the roars, getting closer with each one. My mind is in a panic and tears of fear and frustration fall down my face as my ankle finally gives out beneath me.

Unwilling to give up I scan the trees around me, trying to find somewhere to hide as another roar, much closer, sends me into fight or flight. Guns be damned. With how large this thing sounds; they won’t do much good. Using what little strength I have left; I climb to my feet and hobble to a nearby tree.

Hand-over-hand, I climb until I am at least ten feet off the ground. The sound of trees and brush being crushed has me swinging my head to the left, staring in horror as a true living nightmare comes into view. Two things occur to me at once. One, I am nowhere near high enough in the tree and two, I’m dead. The monster’s head is higher up than I am!

Eyes bugging out, I scoot back trying to merge myself with the trunk of the tree and disappear. It resembles nothing I have ever seen before and yet there are features that are familiar. The shape of it is like a massive wolf…if wolves were covered in black iridescent scales and had the sails of a Spinosaurus from forehead to tail tip.

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