WICKET

JUNE 2016

Deep in the open plains of Wicket, Alex Skirr was speeding down the road. It was pitch black and a thundering storm was raining down on him. With only the headlights of his car to guide him, Alex drove in stressed silenced with only the sound of his car engine, rain drops on the top of his car and the occasional thunderstorm lighting his field of view for a brief moment. Alex was being pursued by the authorities due to a string of crimes he committed and had made a hasty get away, but now he is regretting not taking the time to properly prepare as his car was slowly running out of gas.

“FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK” Alex began screaming as his car began stuttering and slowly losing speed. “FUCK!” Alex screamed as he pulled over and his car died. Alex sat in defeated silence as the sound of the raindrops began hitting the roof of his car with a lot more force. Alex waited a few minutes, to take in his situation before finally deciding to act. Alex hadn’t seen a single house or a living soul ever since he left Happyvile and he knew it would be safe to leave on foot. Alex turned off his car and put the keys in his pocket, before taking a deep breath and pushing open his car door, stepping out and quickly locking it. The rain hit him like a ton of bricks and his clothing did nothing to protect him from the harsh weather. Dressed in a grey hoodie and sweatpants, with black sneakers, Alex was very underdressed. Alex went to the trunk of his car and got his gear, a metal flashlight and a machete. Alex began walking but decided to cut through the open plains rather than stick to the road in case patrol cars picked him up.

After 30 minutes of trudging through the wet grass and mud, Alex saw a single-story house in the far distance and began making a beeline for it. Alex reached the house and did a quick look around but noticed that this house was completely isolated. There weren’t any cars, garages or anything else around, it was just this house. Alex quickly knocked 3 times and waited, trying to think of an excuse for why he was there. After a few minutes Alex knocked again much more loudly and still, no movement. Alex pulled on the door handle and to his surprise it was open, so he went in planning on making an excuse once he was out of the rain. Inside the house, Alex closed the door and when he turned around, he was surprised. The house seemed to be completely abandoned.

The wooden floorboards were completely dirty, the wallpaper was peeling and had sections ripped or removed, exposing the wooden structures. The ceiling had drops of water running through it, hitting the floorboards. Aside from furniture and other basic home items, the house was completely empty of anything.

“Hello?” Alex called out as he began making his way through the house. Right from the entrance was the living room, with only a single ruined couch. The couch was damp and soggy, with the green from it washed out. Connected to the living room was the kitchen, which was equally ruined as the living room. The bench was dirty and stained, with dark red markings he didn’t want to find out what it was. The fridge was open and empty, with nothing inside and the various cupboards and drawers were also empty. Alex continued through the house and came across a small hallway with 3 rooms. The first two rooms were what he assumed to be bedrooms, as the only thing inside them were empty bedframes. Like the rest of the house, they too were also ruined. The last room was the bathroom, with a giant tub and shower curtain against the wall, a toilet opposite the door with a small screen window above and opposite the bath tub was the sink, with the cabinet mirror smashed, exposing the empty insides. Alex went back to the kitchen and opened the door that leads to the outside and saw nothing, as the open plains seemed to stretch for miles and miles.

Alex closed the door and went to the kitchen, pulling a stool and then taking a seat, resting his machete and flashlight on the counter. He sat silently, contemplating his situation. While not the most ideal situation, at least he was out of the rain and far away from the cops. All he had to do was wait out the thunderstorm and then he could be on his way. It wasn’t until he sat down did he noticed that the thunderstorm seemed to get louder and the thunderstrikes more frequent. Suddenly, Alex head the sound of the wooden fence breaking and he immediately became on edge. With a machete in one had and the flashlight in the other, Alex slowly walked to the door leading to the front and peaked through the window. He saw what seemed to be a black figure tumbling over the fence. As the figure began standing up, Alex noticed it had a red glow in its eyes. When it stood up, it locked eyes with Alex. Alex was a bit taken aback and quickly moved back from the windows, with his machete in a defensive stance. Alex then heard the the backyard fence snapping and quickly rushed to the window and noticed another black figure with red eyes, tumbling over, before getting up. The figured locked eyes with Alex and slowly began walking.

The front door began pounding and Alex turned around in full panic, slightly scared now. “Stay the fuck back!” Alex screamed as he raised his machete, ready to attack. Eventually the door gave in and a hand broke through the door, before another hand and then the whole body tumbled through. “I’m warning you!” Alex screamed as his grip tightened. Alex shined the light and was able to make out the mysterious figure. Its skin was completely black and covered in mud and rain, its clothes also covered in mud and its hair completely gone. The red eyes illuminated its face and Alex saw it was completely scarred and mangled, no longer resembling a human face. The creature screeched and lunged at Alex, who thrusted the machete forwards and impaled the creature through the chest. The creature was stronger than Alex expected, and it pushed through the machete. Alex, nearly lost his footing, but managed to lift his foot and kick the creature off to the ground, before kneeling on its stomach and hacking its face, killing it. The red glow immediately faded away and left, revealing the eye sockets to be empty. Alex didn’t have much time to dwell on this as he heard the backdoor burst open, this time another creature running towards him. Alex got up and with a clean cut upwards, cut the creature’s head off diagonally. It ran into the wall and fell down as blood began shooting out from its head. Alex heard more screeching in the distance and quickly rushed to the kitchen window and what he saw nearly sent him into a panic. He could see in the distance hundreds of creatures, each with the same red glowing eyes, running towards the house, as more began emerging from the ground. “Oh fuck!” Alex said as he began looking around, trying to weigh his options. Unfortunately the other side of the house was just as bad as the front yard also had creatures rushing in.

The first creature from the horde rushed in and Alex easily killed it by slicing it in half with ease, then the same with the second. This time 2 creatures entered and after immediately hitting the first one with the machete, the second creature used this opportunity to tackle Alex, causing him to drop his machete. Alex was pressed into the fridge and the creature was inches from Alex’s neck, trying to bite into it. Alex was able to get his hands on the creatures head and neck and kicked it in the stomach, making it bend over and allowing Alex to get behind it and shove the creatures head into the fridge, before pulling the door back and slamming it in multiple times, reducing the head to mushing and painting the inside of the fridge red. Another creature ran in and Alex was prepared as he grabbed it by the throat and turned it to face the counter, before lifting it and slamming it on the edge repeatedly, eventually caving it’s face in as it fell to the ground. Alex took a few steps back to rest on the wall as he saw this creature spasm on the floor, bleeding out from it’s crushed head but he wouldn’t have a lot of time to breath as the window behind him was broken by a creature, who went straight for his neck. Alex managed to catch it in time, but not before it managed to take a small bite.

Alex screamed in pain as his hands were desperately trying to stop the creature from biting deeper as more hands began pulling at him. With fear and anger in him, Alex was able to pry the creature’s mouth off his neck and threw it over the counter as it fell on the ground. Alex grabbed his flashlight from the ground and whacked the creature across the face, knocking it onto the floor as he straddled it and bashed it’s face in, turning the yellow glow of the flashlight red as blood sprayed onto the flashlight. Alex quickly picked up his fallen hatchet and stood up, preparing for the numerous creatures entering the house. Alex slowly continued backing into the hallway with the bedrooms, killing one creature with a machete swing across the head, and another with a vertical slash before stabbing the third one through its chest, getting caught. More and more creatures continued piling into the hallway, as Alex used the dead creature as shield, blocking the creature’s gropes and swings as he was crushed into the wall. With a mighty shove, Alex managed to push the creature far back he could kick it and have it tumble the others before rushing into the bathroom and shutting the door. Alex put his entire weight into the door and had his foot planted into the ground, dropping the flashlight and applying pressure to his neck as it continued oozing blood.

The sounds of the creatures screeching, and the raging thunderstorm was becoming deafening as Alex was beginning to lose his stand as the door continued banging. Alex noticed the window above the toilet and was sizing up if he could fit through. A hand managed to break through the top corner of the door as a hand reached through, but Alex quickly stopped it by stabbing his machete into its hand, cutting off the index, middle and half of it’s ring finger. The creature didn’t retreat and continued swiping at Alex. Slowly, more hands began breaking through and digging their hands into Alex’s flesh. With another deep breath, Alex picked up the flashlight and threw it through the window, shattering it and then on a mental count of 3, Alex ran and jumped onto the toilet, hoisting himself over the window and past the shattered glass, before rolling his body over and finally dangling outside the window. Alex got a small glimpse of the horde before he kicked off the wall and landed on the grass with a heavy thud, tumbling forward and falling flat.

Alex quickly got up and thanks to his minor adrenaline rush, ignored the fact his ankle was sprained and he was slightly limping. To his horror, thousands of these creatures were rushing to him, there wasn’t a break in the giant swarming circle. Alex was surrounded as the circle slowly began closing in on him. Not ready to die, Alex prepared for a final attack. The first creature went down easily with a clean cut, the second one was also easily dispatched with another slash. Alex slowly began to lose strength, from both the blood loss and multiple bite and scratch wounds. Alex accidentally slashed too deep into the third creature, getting his machete stuck in it. Another creature jumped onto his back, biting full force into his neck as one more came from the side and tackled him from behind, making him land on his stomach and began biting into shoulder. More and more creatures began dogpiling onto him, with some biting into his ankles, arms and hands. Alex’s screams slowly became gargles as blood began pouring out of his mouth and he began to drift into unconsciousness. The horde of creatures stopping biting into him and got off as Alex laid motionless. After a few minutes of remaining motionless, Alex’s skin began rotting and turning black, its hair falling out and his bones snapping back into place before it slowly got up. Its eyes began emitting a bright red glow.