After the Pandemic: A Night To Remember (654 hits)
Category: Quotes & StoriesRating: 1.89 on 20 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by Benny (View user info) at 2005-08-13 08:32:13 EDT
A strong wind blew outside rattling the glass window that Adrian looked out of. The old tree that grew in the back yard shook its branches and appeared to flail around in a fit of rage. Autumn had stripped the tree bare and now this winter storm seemed to be adding to the abuse. Normally Adrian would have been fast asleep in a storm like this, the sounds of heavy rain and distant thunder soothing to him. Storms weren't for everybody he would readily admit but he had always found them appealing somehow.
It wasn't the storm that was keeping him awake but rather the disturbing news he had seen on television. Riots and mass violence were things that happened in other countries or in other cities certainly not something that would ever happen in his home town. At first he had watched with confusion, thinking he had somehow misheard the location. When he had started to recognize places in the news footage he had felt sick. The reason for the sudden attacks was still unclear but the news reporter had voiced his opinion about anarchists rebelling against capitalism. Adrian didn't know what could make people act that way but he was pretty sure sticking it to the man didn't involve killing people and mutilating their bodies.
Adrian had watched the news in growing horror when the power had gone out, instantly silencing the program and killing all the lights. That had been three hours ago and still the electricity hadn't come back on. Feeling a little foolish he had rummaged in the dark for his metal baseball bat. Holding the bat made him feel a little safer and secure in the dark house. Since he wasn't able to sleep he had stood at his bedroom window watching the storm.
About a minute ago the next door neighbors dog had started going ballistic, barking and growling menacingly. Adrian couldn't see much in the darkness so he wasn't sure whether the dog was barking at the storm until a brilliant flash of lightning illuminated his backyard and showed him that three men had just entered through the back gate, which led into the park behind his house.
"What the fuck" Adrian muttered in surprise.
He hadn't recognized any of them in the brief glimpse he'd gotten. Since he didn't know them he could only guess that they were up to no good. His hand reached for the phone near his bed before he remembered that with the power out he wouldn't be able to call the police anyway. Adrian bent over and picked up the bat that he had earlier lent against the wall. Three against one were going to be very bad odds he thought but if they tried coming into the house he didn't know what choice he'd have.
A few moments later there were some loud thumps downstairs which Adrian guessed was them banging on his back door. Taking a deep breath he cautiously started going down to the kitchen where the back door was. Half way down a load crash echoed through the house.
"Piss off you fuckers, I've got a gun!" he yelled, attempting to sound as tough as he could.
More banging and then the sounds of broken glass being pushed aside. One of the intruders grunted something that Adrian couldn't understand.
"I've already called the cops so you'd better get out of here!"
The noises in the kitchen grew louder as the three men renewed their efforts to get into the house. With bat in hand Adrian ran towards the kitchen thinking to brain them as they tried to come through the window. A flash of lightning showed him that the situation wasn't as good as he'd hoped. One of the men was already inside, getting off the floor and ignoring the broken glass cutting into him. He didn't seem to register any pain which could only mean he was either so drunk he'd lost most of his sensation or he was on some kind of mind altering drug.
Before the man could gain his balance Adrian swung his bat and connected with the intruder's head. The right side of the man's head caved in and he fell to the floor twitching. The adrenalin pumping through Adrian's system stopped him from dwelling on what he had just done and focused him towards the other two.
"You want some of what your friend just got, huh mother-fuckers!"
The other two assailants ignored his threat and started climbing through the broken window. With a cry of frustration and adrenalin fueled anger the baseball bat connected repeatedly with the intruder's limbs and heads. After what seemed like a full minute of swinging the men were no longer moving and Adrian had to fight the urge not to vomit.
The bat hit the floor with a loud clang as Adrian's shaking hands lost all strength.
"Jesus, forgive me" he uttered as he grabbed at a bench top to stop from falling over. In the darkness it was difficult to assess the amount of carnage but he felt wet patches all over himself. A salty taste on his lips made him spit in distaste. Blood and gore covered him. The smell of an abattoir assailed his nostrils. The man who had made it into the kitchen now lay still and didn't appear to be breathing. One man was slumped halfway through the window and had a large shard of glass through the throat. The third had fallen into the garden outside and was no longer in sight.
Bile rose to his mouth and vomit suddenly jetted out in a quick forceful stream. His stomach clenched uncomfortably for a while and then it was over leaving him feeling drained and dirty.
He had to get clean. The smell of vomit and blood made his mind a frantic thing. Stripping off his clothes he went to the downstairs bathroom and washed himself in warm water. The tank had retained a good deal of its heat even after no power supply for a few hours. Scrubbing until his skin was red and sore he made himself put down the soap and turn off the water. Getting out of the shower he felt a little more human as he put on a thick white bath robe.
Not looking towards the kitchen Adrian made his way back upstairs and changed into fresh clothes. He put on a pair of sturdy boots and made his way to the front door. He had to get help from a neighbor. As much as he didn't really want to he had to confess his actions to somebody. The thought of staying in the house with a couple of corpses sickened him. After what had just happened his house just didn't feel like home to him now. It seemed menacing and alien.
It had stopped raining but there was still a strong wind and thunder periodically rumbled in the distance. Walking out the front and onto the side walk he heard someone screaming nearby. A young woman in a sodden nightgown suddenly ran past him a look of terror on her face. Given another time and place he would have appreciated the sight of her scantily clad figure but such thoughts didn't cross Adrian's mind now. A mob of hundreds were making their way down the street towards him and the direction the girl had fled to. There was something not quite right with the way that the people moved. It was like they were all drunk or stoned, just like the three that had attacked him before.
Not wanting to be there when they reached him Adrian sprinted in the direction that the girl had run in. He ran like he had never run before. He ran into the night and straight into the mouth of hell.
User Reviews
Submitted by Amontillado (user info) at 2007-03-27 22:32:51 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Fey (user info) at 2007-03-20 09:17:11 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
"...made his mind a frantic thing." <-- This I really liked.
Submitted by Snare (user info) at 2007-03-16 03:22:18 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
You sir, put my Bladeraver shit in the shade!
Submitted by JonnyX (user info) at 2006-05-17 19:14:43 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
still good
Submitted by knucklesnelson (user info) at 2005-08-31 23:03:32 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Wow this rocked, although i doubt this is really your first post. Maybe under the benny name. This is way too good to be a first post.
benny
benny
bennaaaaaaaay
benny and the jets.
Submitted by supadupapupa (user info) at 2005-08-16 23:35:45 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I liked this one a lot. It has more of a personal touch to it, hits a little closer to home.
Submitted by hcp28 (user info) at 2005-08-16 16:30:57 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
There isn't enough zombie love in these. Good job.
Submitted by JonnyX (user info) at 2005-08-15 17:10:44 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by nrduncan (user info) at 2005-08-15 15:04:59 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by zakalwe (user info) at 2005-08-13 20:09:43 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
have another +2 for being an 8000 user. it makes no sense, but I love it when another one pops out of the woodwork and does something as good as this.
Submitted by Benny (user info) at 2005-08-13 17:43:14 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Thanks for the positive reviews guys. I haven't written anything for a very long time. I've been happy reading other peoples work up until now, it's just I thought maybe I should also contribute.
ATP for me is right up there with Necrosiac as being my favourite posts. I picked ATP as my first post because it's something that anyone can contribute to (Thank you Jack).
Thecaes: Thanks for the pointers. I hope a little practice will iron out any bugs.
Submitted by Jack_McCallum (user info) at 2005-08-13 17:09:49 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
For fuck sake...
Related Tales...
ATP - Intro http://www.ubersite.com/m/61238
ATP - Background
-Corrigan http://www.ubersite.com/m/61296
-Variant C http://www.ubersite.com/m/61350
ATP - Smith tales
-Archangels 1 http://www.ubersite.com/m/61513
-Archangels 2 http://www.ubersite.com/m/61755
-Archangels 3 http://www.ubersite.com/m/61985
-Archangels 4 http://www.ubersite.com/m/62289
-Archangels 5 http://www.ubersite.com/m/62570
-Smith in D.C. http://www.ubersite.com/m/64167
-Smith at Sea http://www.ubersite.com/m/64857
-Smith: The End of the World (1) http://www.ubersite.com/m/66658
-Smith: The End of the World (2) http://www.ubersite.com/m/68176
-Smith: The End of the World (3) http://www.ubersite.com/m/69626
-Smith: The End of the World (4) http://www.ubersite.com/m/69714
-Smith: The End of the World (5) http://www.ubersite.com/m/69802
-Smith: The End of the World (6) http://www.ubersite.com/m/71864
Submitted by Jack_McCallum (user info) at 2005-08-13 17:07:36 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Zak... you have a lot of catching up to do.
Here are the links to my ATP tales... the first three were foundation as well as stories.
Submitted by Jack_McCallum (user info) at 2005-08-13 17:05:38 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Well... another one.
I feel like a proud daddy.
Welcome to Uber... and the world of ATP.
Solid tale, by the way.
Submitted by munkeypants (user info) at 2005-08-13 16:50:58 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Nice!
Submitted by zakalwe (user info) at 2005-08-13 15:56:01 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
never having read an atp post before, I didn't know what was going on here. but it was pretty good. and it's always nice to see a new poster start off with fiction rather than a stupid camwhore.
so does the disease turn them into zombies or madmen or something?
that's it, I'm going to have to dig up McCallum's original post now and read it. I've been avoiding the series for too long.
Submitted by thecaes (user info) at 2005-08-13 10:13:11 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Hey, not bad dude. First post? That's surprising...I've seen you review lots of stuff. Why choose an ATP story?
It was nice to see a smaller story set in this world, just involving one guy defending his home. Lots of authors did the big tales (which is fine, too).
I thought some of your sentences were a bit run-on. Just a little too plain and a little too long without punctuation marks, which made it feel like a monotonal description to me.
Submitted by thecaes (user info) at 2005-08-13 10:10:00 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Thank you, Bill Cosby, you saved the Simpsons!
-- Homer Simpson
Saturdays of Thunder
Submitted by stardamage (user info) at 2005-08-13 09:26:02 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
It's good to see someone new doing this.
Makes me want to go back and continue my series...hmm.
Submitted by GodChicken (user info) at 2005-08-13 09:19:46 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Here's a +2 for a first post by someone who is trying.
You've been registered a long fuckin time for this to be a first post though..
Alter?