The Spirit

We rush down the sidewalk, fast, yet quiet. We rush next to a strip mall when Bill turns to his side, “Into the Subway, hurry!”

Discord and I turn on a dime as he opens the door to the Subway. We rush through behind him, before the door is slammed behind us, and two people push a table in front of it. They turn to face us as I put down the unconscious body. One of them speaks, “There are more?”

Bill leans on a wall, “Yep.”

I hear a different voice speak up, a English one, “What kind of creature is that?”

“Discord, Spirit of Chaos.”

I stand up, and face the two at the table. One man wearing bronze and red armor, Roman look to him. The other wears a silver armor, and a helmet with its visor flicked up, almost like a knight out of a storybook. He looks right at me, “Do you trust this Spirit, good doctor?”

I nod, “Discord can be trusted. Come on now, I heard you had an injured man.”

The knight leans off the table, and starts to walk deeper into the store, “Follow me, good doctor, he’s down here.”

I follow after him as he travels to the back of the store, where a bunch of beds are set up. On a bed in the corner is a black man wearing a blue polo with a white undershirt. Standing next to him is a little girl in a red hoodie. And apparently tending to the man is a black girl wearing a simple white shirt.

I walk up to them, my boots clicking against the tile. The woman taking care of the man stands up, and faces towards me. The knight speaks from behind me, “Move out of the way, Whisper, we have someone who can actually take care of him.”

She glares at me as I stop a few steps away from them.

The man speaks from behind me again, “You can trust him. Now move, the good doctor shall take care of him.”

She doesn’t move.

A faint voice speaks from behind her, “Let him through... Whisper.”

She relents, and moves to the side, keeping a close eye on me.

I nod my thanks, and take the last few steps towards the sick man. I take a knee right in front of him, “What’s your name?”

He sighs out, “Lee...”

I nod, “You look quite sick Lee, seems like your burning up with a fever. Where’s the injury?”

He slowly looks down at his arm.

I follow his eyes, and see the wound on his arm, “That’s quite the nasty bite, must’ve hurt. Looks human, probably from one of the zombies.” I switch lenses to try and see the infection, “Hmm, I can’t seem to identify it. Neurological, viral, not identified. Alright, Lee, I need to take a sample. That means cutting some skin off.”

I hear a little gasp to my side, and turn my head to see it was the little girl who gasped.

I smile at her from behind my mask, “Don’t worry, it won’t damage him permanently. Just some temporary pain to solve this illness. I do suggest you turn away for the next part.”

I turn back to Lee. I take my knife out from it’s holder, and flick out the blade. He looks at the knife, “A bit... unorthodox.”

I nod, “You gotta use what you have. Alright, this is going to hurt. On three.”

I get the knife right near, “Three.”

I cut off a small piece of skin, and grimace along with him. The girl gasps again, didn’t turn around.

My mask opens from the right side. A peatry dish comes out of my mask, and I put the sample within. My mask whirs around for a bit, before the side opens up again. It hands me a syringe filled with a blue liquid.

I take the syringe, and roll up Lee’s sleeve. When I find a good vein, I inject the syringe in.

I smile at Lee, “There you go, should be fine by tomorrow.”

I stand up, and back off as the little girl goes to him. I reach up, and give the syringe back to my mask, to be kept full for a later date.

I turn, and take a door to the roof. I walk up a few flights of steps before stopping on the edge of the roof.

I stare into the distance, the Florida sunset. The sky thrown into a beautiful mix of violets and oranges. A cool breeze rushes by, signifying the season to be Winter.

I hold up my hand, and run some magic through it, “Come in Twilight, come in.”

She responds, her voice sounding like it was right next to my ear, “Reporting in, Survivor. Anything for us to document for today?”

I speak back, “Way too many things. Landed in my old neighborhood. We secured a tablet and a gun to bring back. Discovered that the world is now being roamed by zombies-“

She interrupts, “Zombies!? Like, undead creatures brought back to life?!”

I look over the parking lot below us where said undead roam, “The undead, walkers, biters, geeks, Romero’s kids, whatever you want to call them. Basically, we need a portal as soon as possible. One to fit, say, nine.”

She responds, “Nine?”

I nod, even though she can’t see it, “There are others. Survivors.”

She takes a while before responding again, “Alright, we can get it set up by tomorrow to tell you where to go.”

I nod again, “Good. Survivor out.”

I cancel my magic, and she goes silent.

With the silence, I can hear the metal boots walk up to me. The knight leans against the roof like me, “What do you think, good doctor? Is this the Plauge?”

I shake my head, “No, this is something completely different. Black Death killed, this thing controls and resurrects.”

He looks over the zombies, “Than what caused this? Was this the Earth’s Judgment by God? Was I summoned here to see what our sinful ways would do?”

I sigh, “I don’t think this is an act of God. I know it isn’t. Things I’ve seen, I know one doesn’t exist. At least, not that one. No, this was caused by one of us. Lee was infected when he came into here, carried the disease to every body here.”

He points out to different zombies, “But look! They’re all decomposed! What happened to cause there to be so many bodies to begin with? What could cause this other than the wrath of God?”

I look over at him, “Humans, we caused this. In the race to have the better weapons, we eliminated the world. Everyone died, except one.”

He looks at me as well, “How do you know this, good doctor? This entire land is foreign and strange.”

I sigh, “This land is my home. I know this, because I am the Survivor. Don’t call me ‘good doctor’, I am Survivor.”

He nods, “I’m Sir Palmer, good to meet you.”

I humm, “Sir Palmer? Strange, I have the same last name. Well, Sir, welcome to Florida, the Sunshine State.”

He smiles at me, “And welcome to the group, Survivor. Come, it gets darker. I’ll set something up for you and the Spirit.”

I smile back, and we both start to walk back, “That sounds good.”

That is, until I had the sensation of being watched.

I turn around, and see a zombie starring at me in the distance, “What?”

He turns around as well, “Oh, him. He’s different than the others. Just stands there, and watches us. Wears strange armor as well. Moves sometimes, but he moves more like a man than one of them.”

I switch to a magnifying lense, and get a closer look at him. He wears a hockey mask, with red lines on it, and a scar in the upper right portion of it. He wears some type of coat, with black clothes on everywhere else. The most intimidating thing is the machete he carries in his hand. I can see him grip it as he stares at me. All the zombies just ignore him, and he just glares at me.

I shudder, and turn around, “Right, let’s get to setting up our stuff.”