Chapter 4

“Dam it’s cold.” Nate shivered. He stuffed his hands into his pockets for warmth.

“Are you serious bro? This is cake compared to the mid-west. You Cali scrubs shouldn’t complain until you’ve felt real cold.” Taj bragged.

Nate looked over at the giant brute. “Excuse me sir!” Nate said in a snobbish tone of voice. “Just because you had to deal with snow in the savage lands to the east of here doesn’t mean you get to belittle my feelings. I have struggled and am currently struggling, thank you very much.”

Taj barked in laughter, “Man you sound just like her. I’m a use that the next time I see her.”

“Ah maybe you shouldn’t. That’ll get me in trouble.” Nate said scratching his head.

“Ayo Taj!” Someone from down the block called out Taj’s name. they both looked over.

“Ugh, I’ll see you around bro.” Nate said immediately pulling away from Taj.

“He’s not that bad yo.” Taj said but Nate wasn’t hearing it. The man calling Taj over was known as a drug dealer and if his father ever found out he was hanging around him, he’d get his ass whooped.

He made the rest of the way home by himself after saying his goodbye to Taj. Nate entered his apartment building and took the elevator up to the eighth floor. The sun was just beginning to set when he entered his family’s apartment. It was a small two bedroom one bath apartment. One bedroom for his parents and the other he shared with his little sister Emily.

Nate usually got home before anyone else. After warming up some food he went into his room and threw his backpack in the corner. “Thank god I won’t have to see you till Monday.” He said.

Kicking off his shoes he jumped onto his bed and relaxed. Before he knew it his eyes were blacking out as he fell asleep.

He woke up hours later groggy and confused. It was dark in the room and the apartment was completely silent. Why didn’t anyone wake me up for dinner? Was the first thought that crossed his mind as he looked at the time. 10: 55 pm.

Stretching in his bed he yawned deeply before getting up. He walked towards the door and swung it open. The door opened up to the living room and on the opposite side was the room that belonged to his parents. The bathroom was to his left and so was the kitchen.

What he saw when he looked at the kitchen completely floored him. His mom lie there on the floor, a puddle of blood beneath her.

“Mom!” He shouted as he ran towards her. “No. NO. NO! Mom, please wake up!” He shook her frantically.

Check her body idiot! Nate found multiple stab wounds on his mother’s stomach. He picked up a dish towel trying to push the blood back in like he saw in the movies. “Mom please.” He begged as tears welled up in his eyes obstructing his vision.

He heard footsteps to his right, Nate looked over but his vision was distorted by the tears. When he blinked his eyes he suddenly saw himself staring at his father who held a bloody knife in hand. “Dad?” Nate said uncertainly.

“Shhh!” Michael Walker said hushing his son.

Nate was terrified of his father. The bloody knife was in his hand, blood all over his shirt. Nate didn't know why he killed mother, but he he didn’t want to be next. He got up as his father drew near, Nate turned and made a break for the exit.

“Nate don’t!” His father warned.

Nate ignored his father and ran for the door when he suddenly slipped on something. He fell onto the soggy wet floor. Lifting his hand up he saw blood dripping down his finger. He looked around him and saw nothing but red painted all over the carpet and walls. He turned to his side and threw up.

He was on all fours vomiting when he saw a hand in the corner of his eye. The small hand was without a body but he recognized that petite little hand anywhere. “No…” Nate whimpered. The hand seemed to be reaching out to the teddy bear that lie six inches away.

“Son, it’s not what you think.” He heard Michael say from behind him.

Nate stood up abruptly, pain, anger, and rage coloring his emotions. “How could you?!” He shouted.

“Listen, just here me out…” Michael sniffed the air a few times perplexed. “Does it smell like gas?” He asked. But before Nate could answer another head was beside his father’s. All Nate saw was a chunk of meat and a burst of blood erupt from his father’s shoulder as he crashed to the floor.

Nate looked up and saw his dead mother chewing with blood smeared all over her mouth. He saw her swallow before bending down again for another bite. His father went down screaming as Andrea Walker, bit into her husband over and over again.

What the hell? This can’t be real! This can’t be real!

“Amazing isn’t it?”

Nate jerked his head to the side and saw something sitting on the kitchen counter. If he thought he couldn’t be any more shocked then he already was, he was sadly mistaken. Once he saw this figure he couldn’t help but scream a loud girly terrified scream filled with true horror.

The creature sitting on his sink just smiled a large smile that reached its temples. “Am I not appealing?” Nate just noticed the nasty thing sounded like a female but its face was so horrid and disfigured, it was too difficult to tell. Blisters and boils followed by large scars and crater-like pockmarks. But that wasn’t the worse part. What terrified him the most was that part of its head seamed to inflate and deflate as the thing breathed in and out. It looked every bit like a monster from a horror movie.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

“That’s enough with your husband. Why don’t you get a taste of your son?” The thing laughed.

Nate saw his mother turn toward him and stand up. “Mom?”

Andrea didn’t respond. She drew closer and closer licking the blood off her mouth as she drew near. Nate knew what he had to do. Every zombie movie told him what should happen next. But as he looked up at his mother he felt so weak.

“Mom please.” He begged. He knew his mom wasn’t in there but to acknowledge that fact meant his mom was truly dead. The thing wore his mom’s face and looking at it made him want to hold her and beg her to act normal again.

The zombie lunged at him suddenly. Nate was prepared to shove her to the side but he slipped on his sister’s remains. The zombie fell atop him. It’s mouth clacked right above his nose, he could smell the stench of blood from how close it was to him.

Nate struggled to push the thing off but it seemed to have strength much greater than his mom had. It was easily over-powering him. Nate looked to the side trying to reach for the knife but it was eight feet away and in his father’s hand.

One hand was on his mother’s neck, the other trying to reach for a knife too far away. “Please mom! I need you to wake up!” He shouted.

Nate’s strength was draining quickly. His mother drew closer and closer. “Please god.” He begged.

He heard the thing cackle. “God won’t help you boy.”

His mom was two inches away now. It wouldn’t be long before he joined his family in death. This isn’t fair. Why us? Why me? He asked god.

He placed both hands on his mother’s neck as tears streamed down his eyes. “Forgive me.”

Nate gathered his remaining strength and bucked his hips while simultaneously jerking to the side and shoving his hands forward. He managed to get his mother’s animated corpse off of him. He ran for the knife by his father’s side. Picking it up he brandished it at his approaching mother.

“Oho! Look at you Mr. Bad Boy. Will you kill your mother now?” The thing cackled as its head inflated and deflated in rhythm with its laughter.

Nate didn’t pay it no mind as he lunged with the knife straight into his mother’s chest. She’s probably stuck in their watching herself commit these atrocious acts. He thought to himself. Whether it was a justification or the real truth he didn’t know. Nor did he care.

When he shoved her aside he thought he was free but his father began rising. “Dammit!”

“Ohohoho!” The thing continued to laugh. “You humans are far too entertaining!”

Nate didn’t give his father a chance to stand. He embedded the knife into his father’s skull stilling the animated corpse. But as he tried to pull out the knife he found it was stuck fast. He was still pulling when something hit him from the side.

“What the hell.” He barked as his mother’s corpse barreled into him. The sound of teeth gnashing together sounded just above his ear, the warm breath of the corpse sending tingles down his spine. “I thought you were dead!” He spat.

“She is dead. Ohohoho! Or did you mean when you stabbed her in the heart? Yes she was dead then too. Ohohoho!” The thing sounded like a seventy-two year old smoker that was about to die of lung cancer.

Nate pushed his mother off and ran over to the bat by the door. He pulled it out and swung at his mother’s head like it was a baseball. With a loud crack, mother’s corpse went crashing to the ground. He thought it was dead but the zombie moved again.

“This is impossible!” He shouted as he swung again. And again. And again. Until the animated corpse's head was little more than bloody meat paste.

“Good job. Now I have to kill you, unfortunately.” The thing wiped at its eyes like a human would when they laughed too hard and were wiping away the tears. Only this ‘thing’ had green foul-smelling tears that were thick in substance—instead of being watery like real tears.

Nate took one step back tentatively before turning around and sprinting for the door. He made sure to watch his step lest he slip on his sister’s remains. He was ten feet away from the door when suddenly the creature flashed in front of him. It stood with its back against the wall moaning.

“Are you leaving me Nate?” Its horrid face, along with its raspy voice completely shattered the image of whatever she was trying to pull. Nate turned tail and ran for his room shutting the door closed behind him.

He glanced around in the dark room afraid she might suddenly appear. “Nate? Nate… Nate honey let me in.” The thing sounded from outside.

“This can’t be happening.” Nate wanted to scream. His whole body was filthy and covered in his family's remains. All he could smell was the metallic smell of blood mixed with gas.

Gas! That’s it!

Nate shoved his hands into his pockets as the thing began scraping against the door. “Nate, honey, let me in…”

Nate pulled out the thing he was looking for. It was his grandfather’s old pocket lighter. Nate carried this everywhere, ever since his grandfather passed away. He flipped it on and shoved the door open. The thing squealed in glee as it saw him. Nate threw the lighter at the kitchen and slammed his door shut again.

“NATE!” It yelled in a warbled voice when suddenly a loud explosion tore through the air.

Nate felt himself flying across the room and smashing through the window. His stomach clenched in fear as he saw the eighty foot drop. His body propelled to the floor at fast speeds. “NOOOOO!” He yelled all the way down.

…

“NOOO!” Nate yelled sitting up abruptly. He took several deep breaths then rubbed his face. “That damn dream again.” He groaned.

He kept running for hours on end last night. Finally settling down when he couldn’t see even the faintest light from a bonfire. Only then did he hide in a bush to get some sleep but his sleep wasn’t very restful. Ever since the ‘incident’ he’d been dreaming about that nightmare over and over.

The police didn’t believe him when he tried to explain what happened. His fingerprints were all over the murder weapon and blood spatter analysts said he had enough blood on his person that he was definitely the killer.

Once that came to light any talk of ‘demons’ was silenced. The police even beat him, thinking he was trying to go the insanity route and be placed in some mental ward instead of prison. But what he got was worse than prison. He was sentenced to Black Watch Asylum.

The jurors thought God or some other force intervened to save him from dying when he fell eighty feet. But that wasn’t true either. He saved himself.

If I can survive demons then I can survive this. Nate said to himself resolutely. His train of thought was interrupted when two prisoners suddenly appeared.

The two prisoners were both white. And the Nazi symbols tattooed on their bodies told Nate all he needed to know about these two.

“We heard you screamin. Dangerous to be screamin like that.” One of them said. He was a bald fellow with a Nazi symbol tattooed onto his head.

“Around these parts, folks know to travel quiet, being quiet, and remaining unseen. You’d do well to remember that Nemo.”

“Fuck you.” Nate said. He knew backing down in prison wouldn’t be good for his image. There was no one around here but still, he couldn’t let himself be walked all over.

“Nemo’s got quite the tongue don’t he?” The bald one laughed.

The skinny one just glared at Nate. Nate noticed he was a young teenager just like him. “Word of advice Nemo, head east.” The bald one said turning away.

The skinny teenager glared one more time at him before walking off. Nate only relaxed when they were out of his sight. “I hate this place.” He said in a whisper.