My End

                                                                 My End

      Nobody knows what has happened. Some have their theories but nothing is for sure. All I know, is that this is like nothing I have ever seen before. Fathers against sons, husbands against wives,  brothers against brothers.  A large group of Flesh Eaters  is rapidly increasing in size and is consuming the earth’s population one person at a time. If one of these bloody cannibals bites an innocent person.. He will then become one of the killing machines, adding to the growing group.
     It’s been only a few weeks and I have already lost my entire family. I now ride around the country helping others to ensure the same does not happen to them. All I have left is my mare, and as a result, I have become closer to her than I ever thought I would to a horse. She’s all I got left and I do my best to make sure I don’t lose her to this chaos along with everything else I've ever loved.  I've never believed in naming horses but lately I have been calling her Rose, the name of my beloved wife.
     I have a feeling I am coming up to the next overrun town; I don’t know if it is the stench of rotting flesh or the faint screams I hear in the distance. I begin to ride faster to help any survivors left. I arrive just in time, there’s two men left and they’re running out of ammo.  I take a look around and the things that I see are so disturbing  my stomach twists and turns like I have never felt before. There’s fires in almost every building.  These blood seeking savages are everywhere. 20 or 30 of them are clawing at the building where the survivors have taken refuge. I can see a few of them off in the distance, feasting on their latest catch. Puddles of blood and  corpses line the streets. I can’t bare to look at the bodies of the lifeless children lying so still and cold on the ground.  Brings back too many memories.
     The creatures look like as if they are just merely walking dead. They have big gaping wounds in their bodies, organs falling out of their torsos, some are even missing limbs. Obviously they cannot feel pain, and they don’t seem to ever actually die unless there’s a bullet in their head. There is no negotiating with them, they can’t even talk. I’m not sure they can even  think, they only want one thing and without a gun, there is no stopping them.
     As soon as Rose’s hooves left the dirt road and hit the paved streets,  the sound alerted a few beasts nearby. Their heads pop up like hounds and they begin to run after me.
      “YA!! YA!!” I holler with a bit of fear in my voice. Rose got the message and gallops away as fast as she can. I have not yet seen any of the savages go after animals, but I do not want to take the chance of leaving her alone in this undead crowd. I noticed the survivors motioning for me to come into their place of refuge through the window, but first I have to ensure Rose’s safety. As I am still riding around with the beasts not too far behind, I see a fenced in pen with unharmed cows roaming. They are frightened but untouched by the Flesh Eaters. I decide it is ok to leave her in the pen until I can help the survivors clear out some of the maniacs, or at least get them some ammunition for their guns. Rose jumps the knee high fence into the pen but I remain in the saddle just in case I need to make a quick get-a-way. I then discover that the mindless dummies are too stupid to step over the  barrier but instead, stand at the fence as if it was a brick wall. I used this opportunity to lessen  the number of the cannibals. I jump off Rose, take out my rifle, and with perfect aim, put a bullet in each one of their heads.
     The safe house is pretty close but walking on foot can be quite dangerous. I take my chances and head towards the hoard that is trying to claw their way into the building. I start to pick them off one by one, but after a few shots fired, the loud gunshots start to intrigue the hoard. They stop what they are doing and turn their attention to me. At that very  moment, I thought my life was over. Little did I know, it was not mine I should have been fearing for.  I try to shoot while running backwards, but it was not turning out well. With adrenaline pumping, I drop my gun and make a full fledge sprint towards the cow pen. I never knew they were so fast. I barely made it and practically tripped over the fence. Out of fear that the hoard will soon break the fence, I decide it's time to go. As I gasp for air, I throw my leg over Rose’s hind quarters, and give her a hard kick. She jumps over the fence and happens to land in front of one of the monsters. I just want to get to safety, so I yell at her over and over again, not knowing the consequences to come. She refuses to go because she is spooked. They start to swarm around us,  mumbling and groaning. They are hitting her and clawing at her, beating her bad. She then bucks me off and I land inside the pen, hitting the ground so hard, I black out. Even in my daze, I still hear the loud noises of the monsters, and my beloved crying for help. Next thing I know, somebody grabs me from underneath my arm and I am lifted up onto a horse. I am still pretty dazed and I can barely see, but out of all the blurriness, I got a glimpse of  Rose’s lifeless body being trampled on by those God forsaken savages.  I blacked out once more.
     When I came to I was lying on a cot and there were two men sitting in chairs near me. I recognized them as the survivors from the wretched town I had just lost my last bit of hope in.
     “Good morning!” he said with a smile. I wondered how he could smile at a time like this.
     “Mornin’” I replied emotionless, as I sat up, along with some groans due to pain. “That my gun?” I pointed at the dirty rifle lying on the table.
     “Oh, yes it is, I found it out by the pen, right before I saved your life. I saw the whole thing, ya know”
     “Yeah… thanks for that.” I said with no gratitude intended. I couldn't care less now that I have lost absolutely everything.  The man just kinda chuckled and handed me my gun. I took a look around and realized we were in a house.
     “Where are we?” I asked out of curiosity. It turned out that after the hoard started chasing me, the survivors were able to escape, jump on their horses, and head back to their homeland with some unexpected baggage. Here, the fowl creatures were few by the number and many survivors settled in this particular land. “Well thanks again, but I gotta run.” He offered me a horse but I refused so he gave me some crackers and I was on my way.
     I wish  I could feel the slightest bit of relief from walking down the road without a beast in sight, but I didn’t… couldn’t. I feel hopeless and as if life isn't worth living anymore. The sun beats down on me but I don’t even bother to wipe my brow. I must have been walking for awhile because when I look up, I am on a secluded dirt road. There is an open field to my left and for some very odd reason, I am attracted to the cool, green grass. I step into the field and immediately notice a very bizarre horse. I can’t believe my eyes, I think I see a horse on fire, yet not in any kind of pain. “Have I gone mad? Or maybe it’s one them.” I thought. I walked slowly up to it with astonishment. It was a black horse but red with flames. It wasn’t scared of me one bit. It looked into my eyes and I then felt peace overcome me. He was like my angel, here to save me from this horrible place. I could see so much passion in his eyes. I could just feel he wanted me to get on his back. Not for one second did I worry if I would get burned. I slid onto his back and sure enough, it was pleasantly cool. When sitting on this horse,  I felt hope again. I had a feeling we could do anything together. I slightly nudged him with the heels of my boots and he began to walk. I felt alive again. I shall call this stallion Gabriel, the name seems fitting.
     I have decided to continue my search for survivors in need of help. As the next few days go by, it seems I've been having better luck. I have helped save many people and my pride has returned. As I ride through a town, the soft roar of Gabriel’s flames soothe me. There seem to be less flesh eaters around but I still stay very observant. As we pass by some houses, I here a faint cry.
     “Whoa!” Gabriel stops. I turn him around and make my way back to where I heard the cries. I jump off the stallion so I can search the alleyways. I turn a corner and slightly jump when I almost run into a child sitting against the wall. His head was on his knees and he was sobbing.
     “you okay, son?” the boy stopped crying and looked up at me. I saw multiple scratches on his face. “Did one of those creatures do that to you?” He shook his head no.
     “I fell” he said. He got up and dusted off his pants then wiped his tears. He looked to be about 8 and had blonde hair.
     “Well lets get you home” I motioned for him to follow me. “Where do you live?” I said before I even thought if his parents were still alive.
     “That way” he pointed down the street.
     “Where are your parents. Why are you out here alone anyways?” He looked down at the ground and shrugged his shoulders.
     “You don’t know?” He shook his head no again and I assumed he didn't want to talk about it. I was getting the idea his parents were dead.. or undead. But I figured since the kid wouldn't talk, I would have to see for myself. As we walked up to Gabriel, the boy didn't seem to find the horse as magnificent as I did. He just looked at him as if he was a regular horse. “You don’t see the… never mind” Something told me not to ask. I mounted the stallion then lifted the boy up behind me. “Hold on tight” We rode off in the direction the child had pointed. We were riding for awhile when I started to get thirsty. “You thirsty, boy?”
     “Yeah.” I knew there was a watering hole up ahead. When we got to it, I lowered the child to the ground then jumped off. I cupped my hands and sipped water from them. I splashed my face to cool off. The child watched me and did the same. I smiled then used my shirt to clean his face.
     “Ready to tell me why you were so far from home, alone?” I asked hoping to get an answer this time.
     “My brother chased me” He refused to look at me. He just stared at his reflection in the water.
     “He chased you?” The boy shook his head. I knew this could not be good.
     “I ran to my friend’s house but he was sick or something. Mrs. Connors was crying and she said I had to leave. So I kept walking for a whole day till you found me.” I did not like this story. I needed to change the subject and I needed to change it fast.
     “Hey, uuh, I never asked you your name.”
     “William” He finally looked at me.
     “Well William, I’m Mike. We need to continue before it gets dark” I said as I stood up. William stood as well and followed behind me.
     The sun started to go down and in turn, I became nervous. I hated dusk, That’s when the beast seem to lurk.
     “HERE!” William shouted. He almost seemed excited, which I could not understand; I felt anything but excited. “That’s my house!” He pointed to a white house. I stopped the horse quite a ways from the house. We got off Gabriel and I told William to stay behind me. The door was open which made me very uneasy. The boy kept wanting to walk beside me, but I would nudge him to stay back. We walked very slow up to the  house. It was quiet, almost like the quiet before a storm. We were still quite far from the house when a lady walked out of the doorway. She was one of them. I whipped out my gun and was about to blow her head off when I was startled by William shouting.
     “MOM!!!” He began to run towards her and I tried to grab his arm but he was too fast. He was so happy to see his mother again. I watched in terror. He ran up to her with open arms and a huge smile.
     “MICHAEL!!!” I yelled. “STOP!!” But I was too late. He hugged her and she sank her teeth into his shoulder. This time, I didn't think twice about it, I shot her in the head and she fell to the floor. I ran to William and you could see the pain in his eyes. He was breathing very heavily and was panicking. I kneeled beside him and held him in my arms. “Calm down, breathe slow, it’s okay” I very well knew it wasn't going to be okay. He looked me directly in the eyes and began to breathe a little slower. I felt tears running down my cheek. I didn't even want to think of what was to come. I grabbed a hold of the pistol in my boot but did not equip it just yet. I looked over at where I had left Gabriel only to see a pure black horse standing in his place. When I looked back at the boy, I did not see William, I saw Michael, my son. My eyes became very wide and no matter how hard I tried to snap out of it, I could only see my beautiful boy. My eyes filled with tears and I could barely see. I smiled and hugged my boy. I was so happy to see him again; I've missed him so much. Next thing I know, he starts to make weird sounds. My heart drops and I lose my smile. Without even one thought, I pull out my pistol and point the gun to his head. But do nothing. The boy just lies there making weird sounds, not yet acting on his urges. The thought of making a run for it did not once enter my mind. Suddenly his eyes change; they are no longer Michael’s or even William’s, they are of a blood seeking savage. I cannot lose my son again. I know it is not him inside but I still cannot pull the trigger and I fear that this... is my end.