Suzy’s Strange Saga
It might be wishful thinking on your part, but you desire to be able to go home and stay there is a lot stronger than trying to find some place new. In fact it seems like every time you try something new, it turns into a clusterfuck.
“I want to go home and give it one more chance. If it turns out staying there isn’t a viable option, then I suppose we can leave town.” You say.
“Okay, but you’ll have to give me directions.” Johnny says and starts pulling out of the driveway.
You pass by a few soldiers dragging a few more bodies and placing them in a large pile outside one of the homes in this area. Another large pile of bodies is burning outside yet another home. Nobody tries to flag you down or anything though, you’re guessing that between the dark, the uniforms and the jeep, if anyone is actually paying attention to you driving through, they probably think you’re just more soldiers patrolling around. It isn’t like this is most stable of situations right now.
You continue to tell Johnny where to turn and drive and you go through another area where the National Guard has a presence. Again, you have no problems for the most part. However you then start hitting areas that are still suffering from conflict and in those cases, pretty severely. This is where some soldiers notice you a lot more and try to call out to you, presumably for help.
In one case, you see two soldiers ragged and bloody running desperately from several of those rabid people. They cry out for you to stop, but naturally you and Johnny just keep driving. You hear some faint curses and screams as you put distance between you and the unfortunate soldiers.
You eventually drive through areas that have been completely overrun by rabid. In fact you find that the military doesn’t actually have that much control at all over your town and that there are far more of the rabid roaming around either chasing down normal people or attempting to break into houses. Most of them don’t attempt to attack you, or if they do, you just continue driving fast enough that they don’t get the chance.
By the time you get to your own house, your neighborhood is eerily quiet. There are definitely signs of past conflict all over the place, but there is nobody on the streets and most homes are not lit either. (Though you do see broken doors and windows on a lot of them) Fortunately your own house doesn’t look damaged (At least not from the front)
You half expect to get swarmed by crazies as soon as you park in front of your house, but fortunately that isn’t the case and you manage get in the house as quickly as possible.
“Can’t see shit, but I’m sort of afraid to turn on a light.” You remark.
“I know what you mean. Wouldn’t want to attract those things. I got a small flashlight on this rifle. It shouldn’t be too noticeable from the outside. So what’s the deal with this shelter your brother built?” Johhny says turning on the flashlight and briefly shining it around the room and the nearby room.
“I don’t know yet. I mean all I know is the entrance is hidden and that Peter was looking for it. In fact, I’m wondering if he already found it and locked himself up in it. Seems like he would’ve heard us.”
“We haven’t been that noisy. Besides, maybe he thinks we’re intruders and is laying in wait to ambush us.”
“Possibly. I’d call out his name, but again, I don’t want to make more noise…ah to hell with it. PETER?! Are you here?!” you said in a raised voice, trying not to shout too loudly.
There is no answer.
“He could be down in the basement or upstairs.” Johnny says.
“Maybe, I still think he would’ve heard me though…let’s go check his room. If he did find out something about the shelter, maybe there will at least be a clue there.” You say.
“Where’s his room?”
“The connected garage. It’s near the kitchen up ahead.”
You cautiously move about in the dark with Johnny taking the lead. You’re holding on to your pistol the whole time being paranoid about something attacking you in the darkness. Johnny slowly opens the door to the garage and shines his light inside…
You find Peter and another unknown man both not quite entirely dressed, but that isn’t the disturbing part. The fact that they’re both dead is the disturbing part.
“Holy shit, that’s Peter.” You say.
“Who’s the other guy?” Johnny asks.
“Dunno. Probably a client or boyfriend or something. He said he was with someone when I spoke earlier today with him.”
“Hmm, looks like there was a struggle. This place is obviously a mess.” Johnny says shining the light all over the room.
He shines the light on Peter and the other man and then gets a closer look.
“Hmm, looks like they both suffered quite a bit of blunt trauma before their necks got snapped. It certainly wasn’t those rabid people that did this. I’d wager if it was, they’d have chunks bitten out of them. Bandits perhaps, but this house doesn’t look ransacked.”
You stand there in silence as Johnny goes on about who could’ve possibly done this.
“Suzy? You okay?” Johnny asks.
“Huh? Yeah. It’s just…well sort of weird. I was pissed at Peter for the bullshit he said on the phone. Seeing him dead like this…is well…I dunno. I feel like I should feel something, but I don’t. Maybe I’m becoming desensitized or something.”
“Well, like you said, he was an asshole to you earlier.”
“Yeah, he was. In fact I think part of the reason why I came here was the hope that he hadn’t locked himself inside the shelter yet, so I could yell at him in person and maybe even kick his ass. (Sigh) Guess that isn’t necessary anymore. Also don’t know if he actually found the shelter or not and now I’m paranoid that whoever killed him is still in this fucking house.”
“We can find out the latter pretty quickly I should think, we can just make a quick search. As for the former, well that’s up to you really.”
It’s the middle of the night, you’re in a town full of trigger happy military and cannibalistic crazies, you’ve just found your brother and his lover dead in the garage, you’re hanging around a guy who is unhealthily obsessed with you and to top it all of, you’re getting tired.
At this point you don’t want to risk anymore travelling.
“Well, let’s do what you said and check the house out. If everything is safe, let’s just camp here for the rest of the night and start looking for the shelter tomorrow with fresh eyes.” You say.
“As you wish.” Johnny answers.
First thing you do is finish checking out the ground floor. Everything turns out okay and fairly untouched. Even the backyard doesn’t have any nasty unwanted lurkers in it either. (As added protection you and Johnny shove a few chairs in front of the back and front doors just in case any DO show up)
You head upstairs and cautiously search with Johnny. Much like the downstairs though, you find that there isn’t anyone lurking up here. You even manage to find the courage to peek your head into Kelly’s room, but given how messy her usually room is, you don’t know if she’s ever returned here. Who knows what’s happened to her.
Finally you end your search of the house by heading to the place where you started from, the basement. Again, not much looks different and fortunately there isn’t anyone down here either. Not worrying about someone seeing a light source down here you turn the lights on and find your own room is about the same as you left it. You shake your head that the though of all the bullshit you went through this week, only to end up back here. Makes you wonder why you bothered.
“So…this is where you lived huh?” Johnny asks.
“Yep. This was my lot in life. It wasn’t much, but it was mine. I was happy here you know? (Sigh) If only things never changed…Hm. Just realized you’re the first person other than myself that’s been in here in a long time.” You say.
“What about your boyfriend?” Johnny asks.
“Bobby? Not as much as you might think. We actually hung out upstairs when nobody else was really around or over his house as unpleasant as that could be at times. Honestly I sort of preferred that nobody come in here except me. This was my haven from the outside world and wanted to maintain that illusion as much as possible. Funny, but even with all the chaos going on out there, I still feel very safe here. Anyway, I guess nobody is lurking in the house.”
“Guess not. Either that or they’re very sneaky. So are you going to be sleeping down here then?”
“I believe I will. I figure even if we can’t find the shelter tomorrow, I will have at least gotten to sleep one last time in my own room before we leave.”
“Don’t worry, we’ll find it. In fact maybe I’ll do a little searching while you’re resting.”
“Heh, well good luck with that. I know it seems like an easy task since the backyard is only so big, but somehow Ben managed to hide it pretty well. Only his son Tommy used to consistently know where it was located and moved. Besides, I wouldn’t want you to suddenly drawing a pack of those rabid things due to you shining a flashlight around outside. Even if there is a privacy fence around the back.”
“Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine.”
“Yes. Yes, I imagine you would be…Johnny…you weren’t in the military yourself at one time were you?”
“Nah. Following orders, regimented life, not really my thing. Had enough of that growing up with my mom. Why?”
“Just wondering. Due to all the shit that’s been going on, we also haven’t had much time to talk. I still don’t know that much about you.”
“Heh, well you know. Like I mentioned a few times, I’ve been a bit of a drifter. Nothing really exciting though, it’s just the way things have turned out for me.”
Johnny starts shifting his body a bit. He’s trying not to look nervous about you asking deeper questions about his past, but you can tell by now when he’s being evasive.
“Okay, so I’m gonna leave you to your haven as you called it. If anything urgent comes up I’ll be sure to let you know.” Johnny says.
Johnny turns and starts to leave then he stops to turn back to you.
“You know I love you right?” he says.
“I… know Johnny…and we’ll talk about that tomorrow as well.”
Johnny doesn’t reply, he just turns around and heads upstairs.
Well barring any unforeseen problems you’ve got two big issues to tackle tomorrow. The shelter location and Johnny.
But those are issues to deal with tomorrow. Right now you’re going to pretend that none of the shit that’s currently happening is actually happening and enjoy your haven, if only tonight.
“I want to go home and give it one more chance. If it turns out staying there isn’t a viable option, then I suppose we can leave town.” You say.
“Okay, but you’ll have to give me directions.” Johnny says and starts pulling out of the driveway.
You pass by a few soldiers dragging a few more bodies and placing them in a large pile outside one of the homes in this area. Another large pile of bodies is burning outside yet another home. Nobody tries to flag you down or anything though, you’re guessing that between the dark, the uniforms and the jeep, if anyone is actually paying attention to you driving through, they probably think you’re just more soldiers patrolling around. It isn’t like this is most stable of situations right now.
You continue to tell Johnny where to turn and drive and you go through another area where the National Guard has a presence. Again, you have no problems for the most part. However you then start hitting areas that are still suffering from conflict and in those cases, pretty severely. This is where some soldiers notice you a lot more and try to call out to you, presumably for help.
In one case, you see two soldiers ragged and bloody running desperately from several of those rabid people. They cry out for you to stop, but naturally you and Johnny just keep driving. You hear some faint curses and screams as you put distance between you and the unfortunate soldiers.
You eventually drive through areas that have been completely overrun by rabid. In fact you find that the military doesn’t actually have that much control at all over your town and that there are far more of the rabid roaming around either chasing down normal people or attempting to break into houses. Most of them don’t attempt to attack you, or if they do, you just continue driving fast enough that they don’t get the chance.
By the time you get to your own house, your neighborhood is eerily quiet. There are definitely signs of past conflict all over the place, but there is nobody on the streets and most homes are not lit either. (Though you do see broken doors and windows on a lot of them) Fortunately your own house doesn’t look damaged (At least not from the front)
You half expect to get swarmed by crazies as soon as you park in front of your house, but fortunately that isn’t the case and you manage get in the house as quickly as possible.
“Can’t see shit, but I’m sort of afraid to turn on a light.” You remark.
“I know what you mean. Wouldn’t want to attract those things. I got a small flashlight on this rifle. It shouldn’t be too noticeable from the outside. So what’s the deal with this shelter your brother built?” Johhny says turning on the flashlight and briefly shining it around the room and the nearby room.
“I don’t know yet. I mean all I know is the entrance is hidden and that Peter was looking for it. In fact, I’m wondering if he already found it and locked himself up in it. Seems like he would’ve heard us.”
“We haven’t been that noisy. Besides, maybe he thinks we’re intruders and is laying in wait to ambush us.”
“Possibly. I’d call out his name, but again, I don’t want to make more noise…ah to hell with it. PETER?! Are you here?!” you said in a raised voice, trying not to shout too loudly.
There is no answer.
“He could be down in the basement or upstairs.” Johnny says.
“Maybe, I still think he would’ve heard me though…let’s go check his room. If he did find out something about the shelter, maybe there will at least be a clue there.” You say.
“Where’s his room?”
“The connected garage. It’s near the kitchen up ahead.”
You cautiously move about in the dark with Johnny taking the lead. You’re holding on to your pistol the whole time being paranoid about something attacking you in the darkness. Johnny slowly opens the door to the garage and shines his light inside…
You find Peter and another unknown man both not quite entirely dressed, but that isn’t the disturbing part. The fact that they’re both dead is the disturbing part.
“Holy shit, that’s Peter.” You say.
“Who’s the other guy?” Johnny asks.
“Dunno. Probably a client or boyfriend or something. He said he was with someone when I spoke earlier today with him.”
“Hmm, looks like there was a struggle. This place is obviously a mess.” Johnny says shining the light all over the room.
He shines the light on Peter and the other man and then gets a closer look.
“Hmm, looks like they both suffered quite a bit of blunt trauma before their necks got snapped. It certainly wasn’t those rabid people that did this. I’d wager if it was, they’d have chunks bitten out of them. Bandits perhaps, but this house doesn’t look ransacked.”
You stand there in silence as Johnny goes on about who could’ve possibly done this.
“Suzy? You okay?” Johnny asks.
“Huh? Yeah. It’s just…well sort of weird. I was pissed at Peter for the bullshit he said on the phone. Seeing him dead like this…is well…I dunno. I feel like I should feel something, but I don’t. Maybe I’m becoming desensitized or something.”
“Well, like you said, he was an asshole to you earlier.”
“Yeah, he was. In fact I think part of the reason why I came here was the hope that he hadn’t locked himself inside the shelter yet, so I could yell at him in person and maybe even kick his ass. (Sigh) Guess that isn’t necessary anymore. Also don’t know if he actually found the shelter or not and now I’m paranoid that whoever killed him is still in this fucking house.”
“We can find out the latter pretty quickly I should think, we can just make a quick search. As for the former, well that’s up to you really.”
It’s the middle of the night, you’re in a town full of trigger happy military and cannibalistic crazies, you’ve just found your brother and his lover dead in the garage, you’re hanging around a guy who is unhealthily obsessed with you and to top it all of, you’re getting tired.
At this point you don’t want to risk anymore travelling.
“Well, let’s do what you said and check the house out. If everything is safe, let’s just camp here for the rest of the night and start looking for the shelter tomorrow with fresh eyes.” You say.
“As you wish.” Johnny answers.
First thing you do is finish checking out the ground floor. Everything turns out okay and fairly untouched. Even the backyard doesn’t have any nasty unwanted lurkers in it either. (As added protection you and Johnny shove a few chairs in front of the back and front doors just in case any DO show up)
You head upstairs and cautiously search with Johnny. Much like the downstairs though, you find that there isn’t anyone lurking up here. You even manage to find the courage to peek your head into Kelly’s room, but given how messy her usually room is, you don’t know if she’s ever returned here. Who knows what’s happened to her.
Finally you end your search of the house by heading to the place where you started from, the basement. Again, not much looks different and fortunately there isn’t anyone down here either. Not worrying about someone seeing a light source down here you turn the lights on and find your own room is about the same as you left it. You shake your head that the though of all the bullshit you went through this week, only to end up back here. Makes you wonder why you bothered.
“So…this is where you lived huh?” Johnny asks.
“Yep. This was my lot in life. It wasn’t much, but it was mine. I was happy here you know? (Sigh) If only things never changed…Hm. Just realized you’re the first person other than myself that’s been in here in a long time.” You say.
“What about your boyfriend?” Johnny asks.
“Bobby? Not as much as you might think. We actually hung out upstairs when nobody else was really around or over his house as unpleasant as that could be at times. Honestly I sort of preferred that nobody come in here except me. This was my haven from the outside world and wanted to maintain that illusion as much as possible. Funny, but even with all the chaos going on out there, I still feel very safe here. Anyway, I guess nobody is lurking in the house.”
“Guess not. Either that or they’re very sneaky. So are you going to be sleeping down here then?”
“I believe I will. I figure even if we can’t find the shelter tomorrow, I will have at least gotten to sleep one last time in my own room before we leave.”
“Don’t worry, we’ll find it. In fact maybe I’ll do a little searching while you’re resting.”
“Heh, well good luck with that. I know it seems like an easy task since the backyard is only so big, but somehow Ben managed to hide it pretty well. Only his son Tommy used to consistently know where it was located and moved. Besides, I wouldn’t want you to suddenly drawing a pack of those rabid things due to you shining a flashlight around outside. Even if there is a privacy fence around the back.”
“Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine.”
“Yes. Yes, I imagine you would be…Johnny…you weren’t in the military yourself at one time were you?”
“Nah. Following orders, regimented life, not really my thing. Had enough of that growing up with my mom. Why?”
“Just wondering. Due to all the shit that’s been going on, we also haven’t had much time to talk. I still don’t know that much about you.”
“Heh, well you know. Like I mentioned a few times, I’ve been a bit of a drifter. Nothing really exciting though, it’s just the way things have turned out for me.”
Johnny starts shifting his body a bit. He’s trying not to look nervous about you asking deeper questions about his past, but you can tell by now when he’s being evasive.
“Okay, so I’m gonna leave you to your haven as you called it. If anything urgent comes up I’ll be sure to let you know.” Johnny says.
Johnny turns and starts to leave then he stops to turn back to you.
“You know I love you right?” he says.
“I… know Johnny…and we’ll talk about that tomorrow as well.”
Johnny doesn’t reply, he just turns around and heads upstairs.
Well barring any unforeseen problems you’ve got two big issues to tackle tomorrow. The shelter location and Johnny.
But those are issues to deal with tomorrow. Right now you’re going to pretend that none of the shit that’s currently happening is actually happening and enjoy your haven, if only tonight.