The Darkest Heart

A bead of sweat collected above my brow. My lungs were burning. My body tingled like ants were crawling inside of me. I slowly crouched down. Softly. Quietly. The bush was dense. The leaves tightly packed, almost woven together. Beams of light cut through the spaces between the leaves. My body felt heavy. I steadied my squat by gently placing my right hand on the musky dirt beneath me. I used my left hand to balance myself, and a small branch cracked. In the silence of the forest, the sound echoes. They heard it. I held my breath and become a statue. Maybe they won't see me. Three men covered in mud and blood, holding machetes, they take soft, precise steps. Hunched over, moving like lions stalking prey. One of the men stared intensely in my direction. I look into his deep black, empty eyes. Soulless. He snarls and bares his grotesque teeth. Sharp and pointy, yellow and black. My heart is in my throat, all I can think is, 'This is it. This is where I die.' Suddenly, there's rustling in an area across from where the men are standing. They take off in the direction of the sound. They disappear into the thickly overgrown forest. The sound of their chase gets further and further away. I wait for what feels like eternity. My legs shaking from exhaustion. I fall forward. I was entombed in this place...too afraid to come out and run. Too lost to know what direction to go. I feel something cold and smooth under my right hand. I gently unearth the object. A small, gold, heart-shaped locket. I bring it up to my face and open it. There's a picture, a beautiful woman. Who was she? How did the locket end up here? Was it her lovers?  They were probably dead. I finally muster enough nerve to push my way out of the leafy cage. I cautiously step out, mindful of every crunch beneath my feet. My senses are in hyper mode. Every sound is an intense ringing in my ear. I can see every leaf moving from the slightest change in the air. My skin felt sunburned. Every hair on my body stands up. I'm on edge. I slowly look around for the tops of buildings. I need a direction to run in. There's a cry in the distance. It sounds like a woman. Again, this time in a direction to my left. I hear the woman scream again and all I can think is, 'They're gonna hear her. It's now or never.' I take off running in the direction of the commotion. The branches of the trees are heavy with leaves. As I run, I duck under the branches and jump over fallen trees. As I sprint, I scan the area. I see a clearing and in the distance, the ruined and abandoned city. I run through the mud and brush. The branches hit my face. There are thorny vines... they cut deep. The screaming is getting louder, I must be getting closer. Suddenly, I burst out of the forest. I'm running through waist-high grass. The terrain is uneven. There are dips and small hills. I see a path crossing the field and there she is. A woman, running full sprint. Screaming. I immediately lay low and wait to see who, or what, is chasing her. I never hear them coming, a sudden swift Crack!  A hard thud on the back of my head. Everything goes black. When I wake up, my hands are tied, my feet are tied, and it's pitch black. The floor is dirt. It smells metallic. In the dark, it's hard to judge the size. For all I know, I'm in a box or in the middle of a room. I escaped one disaster to end up in another almost instantaneously. Worst of all, I don't know if I'm going to be eaten or left to die. Exhaustion sets in and I drift off. I hear footsteps in what sounds like a hallway. I don't know if I'm dreaming. Then, I hear a voice. It's my mother. She walks up and looks down on me. She says in her smooth calm voice, "Today is the big day! Get up lazy! Get ready....get up...." The voice changes deep and forceful. "GET UP!" I wake up and a brick-sized hole is opened at head height. Light shines into the room. So, I'm not in a box. The beam of light is intense. It cuts through the darkness. The deep voice of a man blasts through the silence again. "GET UP!" I rise to my feet and ask, "where am I...what do want?" The man speaks again, "So you talk. You're not one of them. Where did you come from and are you alone?" "We were moving camp. I was separated from my group. We came from the south." The man is quiet. He thinks before asking his next question. "Where did you find the locket?" I had put it in my pocket when I heard the screams. I reach down to my worn-out jeans. It's still there. Why would he ask me that and put it back in my pocket? He speaks again, "Did you kill for it or find it?" "I found it in the forest." He balks in disbelief, "Bull! You'd be dead if you were in the forest. The skin eaters would've gotten you. Nobody goes in there and comes back out." My legs begin to shake, I can't remember the last time I had water or even ate a piece of bread. I fall to my knees. "I'm not lying, I found it there. I heard a scream and came running out of the forest. I was being hunted." "Come closer and let me see your eyes," the man instructs me. I get closer to the light and look up. "You don't have their eyes. You were hauling tail outta them woods. Scraped you up pretty good." The door opens. A stocky, wide-shouldered man stands there. He has a thick beard. His clothes are clean. He reaches toward me and unties my hands and feet. "You look like hell. With your nasty clothes, you could pass as one of them...but they don't speak. It's like they forget after the change. What's your name kid?" "Everyone calls me Y." He laughs and says, "Y? Cause they wonder WHY you're still alive?" He hands me a bottle of water and grabs me by the shoulder. "Come with me. I have some questions for you and what were you chasing after?" We walk out of the darkness and into the light. We are in some sort of maintenance building. The windows are boarded up from the inside, the doors are barricaded and bolted shut. Another tomb. There are full supply shelves on every wall. Everything you would need to survive for months, maybe even years. I look down at his hip. There's a gun in a holster. Insurance. In case things don't go well. That must be why he let me out. Well, that and I'm not a skin eater. There are a couple chairs sitting in the middle of the room. There's a small fire with a pot over it with some kind of soup. It smells like Thanksgiving. My stomach growls. The hunger pains quake through my body. As I stare at the food I ask, "Could I please have some of that? It's been days since I've eaten." The man looks at me sympathetically. "Sure kid. Eat as much as you want. But be easy with that water." He walks up to a shelf loaded with kitchen supplies. He grabs bowls and spoons. Walking towards me he says, "Sit down. I'll feed you and you answer my questions." I sit, then he sits. "You give me the information I need and I let you stay the night. If not I send you back out there." He nods toward a door. He looks at me sternly. "I don't want to be in here but it's crazy out there! The world has ended. I'm just trying to figure out if it's worth going back out there. Ever since the city went quiet, I haven't seen people in almost a year. Except the skin eaters.... but you can't call them people." He pours soup into the bowls. "You were out for hours. It's night. The only reason to go outside is if you want to die. They hunt in big packs at night. I think they can see in the dark." I close my eyes. I'm taken back. I can still hear the screams. I was with my group... my family. It was night when we were ambushed. There was about twenty of us. We were told to stay away from the city and out of forest by other travelers. We didn't stay far enough. We were too close to the treeline. There was rustling... and then screaming. I was startled awake. As I came out of my tent I could see it was almost dawn. The dark night sky was starting to brighten as the sun came up. The men were fighting with the skin eaters. Everyone else was running away. Into the woods. Panicked, terrified, and forgetting the warning, I ran with them. I watched people I loved die and get dragged into the dark forest. I ran in and got lost and disoriented, the trees all looked the same and I couldn't tell where I had began. As the sunlight got brighter, I finally saw the skin eaters. I ran and hid. I got away. I don't think anyone else did. I began to cry. I fought it and composed myself and took a small sip of my soup, my hand shaking. The man shook his head, "I'm sorry kid, we've all lost someone. It's been tough. I need info on where you came from and who warned you. I'm looking for someone." I began to zone out, I remembered the bush and looking into the man's black eyes. His teeth. I stop eating the soup for a moment. Death had become such a normal, everyday thing but I never thought I'd lose everyone in a single morning. The reality finally started to set in. I felt the walls closing in and all of a sudden I couldn't breathe. "I'm alone," I mumble, looking past the man. "You ok kid?" He asks. "T-t-they're all gone." "Hell, I'm sorry. Eat, get some rest, we'll talk in the morning. Just don't touch the windows or doors, " he instructs. I feel safe here, so I calm down and finish my soup. The man gets up and pushes his chair towards me. "Here, put your feet up and get some rest. We're safe here. Don't make any sounds and we should be fine. I'm Gunner." He walks over to a corner and lays down. "In the morning we'll see if we can find any of your people. No funny business, you'll get us both killed." I quietly answer, "Yes sir." As I lay there, instead of thinking about where my people could be... the locket called to me. I dug it out of my pocket. All of the dirt was gone now. It was shiny. Pretty. The fire glistened in the reflection. I opened it. I stared at the woman's picture, studying her features, looking into her eyes. Then, I notice her mouth. A slight smile. As if she knew a secret and wasn't telling. I can't help but smile, too. Gunner sees me and asks, "Did you love her?" I tell him, "I don't know who she is, but someone loved her." I close my eyes and fall asleep.