Outbreak week 3- Trystan

Trystan Hurst

Outbreak- Week 4

         The stench of dead flesh fills my nose as I enter the cabin. The smell glues my feet to the floor, and I freeze not even breathing. The roamer stands in the middle of the living room slowly walking and looking for his next meal. I contemplate what to do in my head, whether or not to turn and run or tackle him. Before I come to my decision, I realize I’m on the ground with this thing coming for my face. I throw my arms up over my face and punch him in the nose and struggling to throw it off of me. I didn’t have much of a chance to assess this roamer, which looks to have been a grown man. As I struggle against his surprising strength I wonder who he was. I’ve encountered roamers in packs but never really taken into account that these were once humans. Now that I’m face-to-face with one and he wants to devour my flesh I try to imagine what he was like.

         Before I can imagine who he was, his crushing weight is lifted off of me. I blink rapidly at Bri who has returned the favor of saving a life. After living in this cabin for almost a month, this is the first time we have both encountered roamers alone. We have killed several while we have been here, but they have never been very close to the cabin, let alone in it. Most of the roamers stay around the lake in search of anything living, mostly bears and wildlife which is good for us. I pull myself off the floor to help Bri who seems to have taken my spot glued to the floor. She stands right in front of the roamer who just tried to eat my face wide-eyed and shocked it seems. In the few seconds she has to stare incredulously at this creature we have seen several of, I grab the sword from her hand and launch at the roamer. I want to kill it before it can kill either of us and I aim for its head but before I make it to him, Bri has tackled and pinned me to the floor.

         “Do you want to kill us both?!?” I shout in her face but it doesn’t faze her. She is still staring at the roamer as if seeing one for the first time, and to my surprise he isn’t trying to attack us. He is standing about 6 feet away, and then I realize he is not a roamer. He is not dead. I shove Bri off me and she looks at me as though she forgot she had just tackled me when I was trying to save us both. “He’s alive.” I whisper. She throws a finger up to her mouth, hushing me. She studies the man a few moments longer and cocks her head and turns to me. “That’s my uncle.”  She says as tears begin to trickle down her cheeks.