October 4, 2015

Race for Safe Haven - Two Bullets

[Posted by Ted H]

End of act 1....not too thrilled at how it turned out, but this was me just trying to wrap it all up, long ago losing all my momentum I had through last years NaNoWriMo...one day I'll probably go back and fix it, like many things I've written here...

Anyway, October means we begin our final countdown to NaNoWriMo 2015!

--------------------------------------------

[Race for Save Haven - Two Bullets]

            "Holy shit, that might be them," Jason said as the sounds of an approaching truck grew louder. "Great," Laura said "Now we can get out of this dump." Williams was in back, looking over Jenny when he emerged to see what the sudden commotion was about. "They made it," he said aloud with a relieving sigh, recognizing the sound of that truck that he listened to so many times before, always as an annoyance, but this time a welcoming sound.
            "Now you kids can head to Safe Haven and possibly make it through this apocalypse," he said as Jason looked back to him and nodded. Williams then gazed up, apparently lost in thought. Jason looked at him and wondered what he was thinking about. Laura paid no heed and made for the stairs to greet the group on their return.
            "No sense in putting it off," Williams said finally. "What do you mean?" Jason asked as Williams reached for a handgun and ejected the bullets one at a time onto a table. "Your friend is very sick now, near the end. It's quite painful, I've seen it firsthand more times than my soul can bare." He picked up two individual bullets and left the rest on the table. "It would be torturous to try and move her at this point. She made a request," he said as he reinserted the two bullets into the gun.
            "You can't..." Jason started, but couldn't place any words after that.
            "Can't what? End a terminal suffering. I have no drugs to treat her with. No way of lessening the pain. All she wants is for the nightmare to end, and for her to not be able to rise again."
            "Why two bullets?"
            Williams closed his eyes. "No one should have to face death alone," he said "And I'm not that far behind her anyway. Why not now myself? I have no interest in cataloguing my own demise to this infection."
            "But before-"
            "Reality is a cruel wakeup."
            "You're a doctor, a scientist," Jason pleaded "We could use someone like you."
            "I've caused nothing but suffering since this all began," Williams said "Brandon seems to be able to live with what we did...What we did so others can survive...But my conscience can't bear the weight. Maybe it's because I'm dying, I don't know. But just like that poor girl inside, I just want it to end.
            "What do I tell the others?"
            "Tell them the truth. Tell them also to never lose hope, to not be weak like me. I've done terrible things I've rationalized away. And now that I've reached the end of my usefulness in this world, in this apocalypse, it's time I answered for my sins. I'm locking the door behind me. My last act on this earth will be of mercy, before I turn the gun around and prevent my own turning."
            Jason said nothing as Williams nodded and made for the back room where Jenny was. The door closed and the lock made a loud click sound. Jason closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable sound of a gunshot. Then another shot soon rang out, followed by the sound of a body falling to the ground like a ragdoll would, and there was silence.

No comments:

Post a Comment