The Minstrel Entries 7-8

**Phatnutsack** 23rd September 2009, 11:08 pm

Entry 7

It was Knoxville, he was the one pulled by the mutant. I turned my head to see where he was, to see if there was anytime left to save him. There was only time to drop the stuff I had, and pull. And that's what I did. I shot the mutant all around, that seemed to work. But the zombies were pulling him back from the fence which we had closed after we exited the area. His left hand was being tugged on. We was kicking his right leg around trying to keep balance on the sidewalk. They were fierce, the man was right. They were all pulling for hunger's sake. There was already blood coming from the upper arm from scratches and minor bites on the wrist and lower arm. There was no chance for him to survive, but I couldn't leave him there. I was pulling for a long time. John helped shoot off the zombies that were climbing the fence, and Rod helped pull on his leg as I pulled his arm.
"Don't let me go...please!"
"You know me, I wont!" I looked into his eyes, and there was something I've never seen before. Fear. He was afraid to die. He let out a cry as the blood dripped into the cracks of the side walk like a puzzle. Now those cracks were canals of blood. He then let out a scream. We pulled our hardest, and then we finally got him.

We fell back from the victory of tug of war. We all panted except for Knoxville who was laying on us, back facing our way. He seemed to be lying on top of his right arm. "C'mon man, we're not safe yet." He then groaned. Whats wrong I thought. We turned him over, and he was pale as the car John drove in. Then we saw why, the arm was gone. We looked over to the fence, and the zombies had it in their hands and mouths, feeding on it like a bunch of ethiopian kids. "No...no...no no no not now please." I began to cry. "not you!" He let out a weak gasp. I just sat their on my knees. The puddle of blood began to make leaves and small pieces of trash move back. The blood poured out into the street after a quick time. He was dead already. I then sat on my butt, head leaning on the car door. I put my hands over my eyes, and began to bang the back of my head on the door in shame and failure. Nothing special was said before he died, no short speech, no message to pass on, not even a good bye. He just died like that, like no meaning.

I finally pulled myself together and got up. My clothes were stained with blood as well as my hands. I got into the car as Rod rushed into the passenger seat. I looked at the lifeless body that was once moving only a minute ago. I saw the reflection of myself in the car window and looked away in shame. We drove off. It was a very quiet trip. But the anger inside was ready to come out like a cheap snake can gag. I was biting on my lower lip, then began to grind my teeth. We were driving for a while, I think it was just to shake off the heat. We finally stopped at a junk yard. As we got out I finally let out my rage. I dropped my guns, let out a yell, began to toss things around. They just watched, closed the gate and walked away, trying not to get involved to get me anymore angry. Then I began to smack things down off boxes and crates. I clinched my fists and let out a yell agian. I calmed my self down. Then I looked at the car door as I saw the blood of my stained hands placed gently on it. It was still wet and dripping.

The junkyard was a perfect safe haven. It was out of town, lots of walls and fences, and a big building where we could stay, but not too big where we could get lost. As we entered when it was still quiet a man waiting there happily greeted us. "Hi, the name is Devin Flanagan." We shook hands. The man was something I wasn't expecting. He had brown hair, it was a bit long, he was 5"7, pretty ok weight and had glasses. I was assuming he was white from the name. The other man, John, was 5"9, was pretty skinny, but athletically built, and he had a mohawk. Well sort of, I was assuming it was because his hair was parted to the side. Probably couldn't find any gel. Together, they were...nothing alike. Both were very different from each other. But it don't matter, we're safe.

It was about 7:27 pm as we began to eat. "Now lets pray." said Devin. Haven't prayed in a while. He cleared his throat as we held hands, and closed his eyes, maneuvered himself in the chair, and began to pray.
"Dear Lord," he said the speech with much enthusiasm, "thank you for being there for us, as your angels from the sky watch the only remaining sacred souls. As the mighty fall, but the weak prevail, bless us with your gratitude and wisdom. For then we may find ourselves a better place to call home. And Lord, thank you for your blessing gifts of two more folks we can call family. And watch over those less fortunate to still be talking to you through the eyes and mouths of hell, and through the gates of hell. And give us strength, for that we may fight off the Devil's children, as they mock us with their lust and hunger. Ah men."
"Ah men." we all said at once. "Now let's eat." I reached over to the potatoes as Devin gently slapped my hand. He wagged his index finger at me. I was shocked and pissed off. "We ask for our food when it's across the table."
"Oh let him do whatever the hell he wants!" erupted John, "it's not like it'll help him out later on.
"Fine, take it." Devin made a jester. I felt bad for having to have made a scene. Devin swallowed what seemed to be embarrassment. Then began to eat.

Entry 8

Well I woke up this morning to a great scene. There was the sunrise. Big as it would be if I held it in my hands. It was beautiful. I felt the warm rays charge upon my flesh. The clothing made shade, so I rolled up my sleeves. Then I flexed my shoulders against the force of the sun. It never felt so good. Then I examined the area, there were beautiful spots to have a picnic in on this wonderful morning. Then I felt a cold hand land upon my warm shoulders. "Great huh?"
"Jesus, don't scare me like that!" I exclaimed. It was John.
"Sorry, just couldn't help but do that. Always funny to ruin someone's moment. I was actually kicked out of a house once for walking in on my roommates having sex. "
"Wow."
"Yeah, and they began to yell at me 'Why don't you knock!', when I said it was an accident they said, 'Liar!'."
"Oh, too bad they didn't believe you."
"Oh no I was lying." I let out a little chuckle.
"Hey you like riddles?"
"Uhh sure." He began to start a conversation with me. He turned so his face faced mine.
"Ok, what crawls on 4 legs, then walks on 2, then finally 3?" I thought about it for a while. This was a tough one. I could have sworn I heard this from some where?
"Give up?" I saw John's eagerness to tell me.
"Yep."
"A baby, as it crawls on 4 legs, then as it grows older it walks, then finally at old age, it uses a cane. There's another way to say it but it's awful."
"Hmm." I parked my hands in my pocket and began to enjoy the warm and touching scenery. Then John went inside, and a little while later, came out with a golf bag. "Wanna play?" Never thought someone like him played golf. I agreed, why not.

After a vigorous game of golf, we headed back inside. Rod and Devin were chatting, having some conversation about where they been, who've they met, what person they dated that was a celebrity. The last part was a lie of course. But what the hell, let them enjoy it. Me and Rod began to talk about our plans, we didn't know what to do. We didn't know weather we should stay here for as long as we can, or if we should head North. It was a tough decision. So we talked it over with the rest of the group. They said they had enough supplies to last us years until we need to worry about moving. Plus there was a garden on the roof. It was a very good defence system. There were heavily barricaded walls. An ally way with a big heavy metal safe like door that could only be opened by the key we were told. Then there were two cheaply made turret guns. 4 M16's on each turret. They were stacked up high with a scope atatched and created from the others. It was very effective. There were 4 big muzzles at the end. And the ammo went in one way, so there were no confusing ammo parts beating around the gun handle as you shot.

It's night time, at least I thought it was. I went to check outside, nothing there. Not even a single speck of a twinkling star. I just stared at nothing but blue, and whole lot of it. I went back inside, nothing there. At this point I knew it was a dream. I checked for my team, no one in sight. The only thing in the room was a big wooden piano with ripped and scratched pieces of it. Then there was a man sitting there and playing it. It was a beautiful song. It went along with my dream. I can't remember, like all dreams, what I did to make the man become terrified. Then he calmed down, and turned back to continue playing. The man was either Devin or Rod. I couldn't tell exactly as the shadows from the light above seemed to make his face darkened and well disguised. Then I woke.

There were some sounds at the gate. I got up to see what it was. I stood on my toes, peering outside the window with my hands placed below it for leverage. There was nothing. I examined the area a bit. Then a man flourished from nowhere. He was calling for help. He must have knew that there were survivors from the guns and freshly burnt rubble of wood. He yelled louder. Then he must have heard the muffled sounds I heard. His head slowly turned left, then in disbelief and shock, he stood still and let them tackle him down. He was now on the ground bleeding as they feasted upon his bones and flesh. It was terrible. He reached up to the spring fence and grabbed a hold of it, hoping to get enough leverage to make it out alive. His hands were blood stained. I remember the foul stench, even though all the doors and windows were closed, I'm pretty sure I know the smell of death from having seen and given it to someone a numerous amount of times. His screams became silent, as he choked on his own blood. Then they were done. Nothing else was left but the nearly skeletal corpse.

We came out that morning, inspecting the body from the other side of the fence. "Why didn't we just let him in?" Flies swarmed around him as the body's flesh was peeling slowly from the flies and birds. The hand was still hanging on to the fence. The only partly clean piece of flesh of man hung there until John kicked the fence and made it collapse on it's host. The birds were in a tree, cawing as they seemed to have looked at us. "We'd better head inside. They're hungry." We all walked casually to the fort. I looked back at them, only across the street. It felt as if they were cawing at me only, like if I was the only one there. I then hooked my hands on the outside of my pockets, placed my arms tightly to my sides for warmth, and followed the group. "Ok so any plans on how to get the fuck out of here?" John seemed to be irritated.
"A few actually." Devin reached back behind the desk he was resting on. He then pulled out some sort of map. "it's a rough sketch of this area, but more detailed." He slowly and carefully rolled it out.
"Right here is where we'll first lead off. The alley way. We'll make our way East which is right going out of the alley way. Then we'll go off on to this part of the building. The wall should be easy for us to keep ourselves concentrated on our forward." he began to get more detailed on what we have to do, but I don't remember all of it. "Ok from there we should head off into a garage area which should have tons of working cars. So everyone got it?" No one questioned the plan, maybe we didn't care. "Good," he let out a grin, "now, let's get packin."