isolation chapter 4

8/9/2019 Isolation Chapter 4

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Chapter 4

A Single Thread Breaks

Charlie didnt think he had a chance in hell of toppling Grayson over as he ran up

the stairs. His was rig ht. Graysons arms closed around Charlie before he even made

contact with his body.

Graysons grip was lik e iron . Charlies breath flew out of him in a whoosh. The grip

tightened and Charlie waited to hear his ribs crack from the inhuman grip of the reanimated

Grayson. He struggled to break free, but he couldnt breathe . There was no escape from the

dead embrace. The grip tightened around him. Charlie felt agonizing pain throughout his

chest and lower back. He screamed again and Grayson answered with an unintelligible

sound and squeezed tighter.

Charlie remembered the dead people from below. Not that they were chasing after

him, but that when he stopped running they stopped chasing him. Fighting his fear of being

squeezed to death Charlie stopped trying to break free. It took a will unknown to him to

accomplish this feat. He had to concentrate on becoming still; to relax, which was a hard

enough thing to do seeing as his life was being wrenched out of him by a huge naked dead

guy.

He slowed what little breath he had. His heartbeat dulled in his head and his visionbecame clear. The stench bleeding off of Grayson into his nostrils made him want to vomit.

It smelled of formaldehyde and decaying organs. He couldnt panic , and if he did all would

be lost; he would die in the arms of a naked dead man. The thought of it sent chills down

his entire body. Charlie didnt know what else to do. He went limp in Graysons arms and

waited. He heard the slow dragging footsteps of the dead people coming up the stairs after

him.

Charlie closed his eyes thinking it would be better to die in the blackness than to see

a naked giant up close and personal as the last thing he saw before death. To his surprise,

Grayson let go and Charlie fell to the floor like a loaded sack.

It took a few moments for Charlie to catch his breath. He didnt move or stand u p.

Air was a must for his deprived lungs and he took in all that he could. His chest was sore as

he breathed in and he wondered how his ribs didnt snap from Graysons iron -like grip. His


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lower back felt on fire. It was like a white hot poker had been inserted just above his hips

and it was moving around between his vertebrae. He looked behind him and saw the people

from down below. They stood there silent on the steps staring at him. He looked up at

Grayson and he, too, stood still staring down at him. He looked down again at the floor not

wanting to stare at the dead staring back at him anymore and a low, Hmmph, escaped his

lips.

As long as I keep still and dont run from them they dont bother me , he thought. Charlie sat

there and ran many things throug h his mind. All his questions came to answers he didnt

like or was too squeamish to think about for long. He didnt look up yet; didnt want to at

the moment. That might just send him to the Funny Farm. Charlie wanted to wake up now.

It was all a terrible dream; a nightmare that he longed to be away from. He closed his eyes

and wished with all his might to wake up from this horrific ordeal. Charlie slowly counted toten out loud hoping that when he opened his eyes he would be back in his bed and nursing a

hangover. He didnt care how bad the hangover was just as long as he woke up and all of

this was a bad dream.

Charlie opened his eyes and saw two huge feet. They had grass stains on the sides

and as he looked he could see dirt caked between the t oes. He wasnt dreaming. They were

Graysons feet. He looked up and Grayson who loomed over him like a giant. He stood

there silently looking down on him. This was no dream. His eyes went to the stairs and they

were still there not moving just staring at him.

A sigh escaped his lips and Charlie got up. His body hurt from the fall, Graysons

bear grip, and now his head began a low thumping at his temples.

Great Charlie said, A god damn headache on top of all this.

The D ocs living room was obl ivious to Charlie before he got up. He rubbed his

temples trying to ease the headache that was coming like a speeding bullet when he saw it.

The living room was in total shambles. Furniture was turned over and the flat screen TV

was off the wall and lay smoking on the floor. The D ocs shelves were broken and theircontents scattered all over the floor in no meaningful order. It looked like a tornado had hit

the room. Charlie walked through the living room looking at the destruction picking up tiny

pieces wondering what they might have been while recognizing some things. He unplugged

the TV from the wall socket fearing a fire would immerse from the smolder. Grayson


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followed him with silent feet. Charlie walked back to the center of the room and was just

about to turn the small loveseat back upright when he saw the body underneath it.

It was the Doc.

The only way Charlie knew it was the Doc was because of the watch that glinted off

the single ray of sunshine that leaked through the smashed front door. It was the LSU

watch the university gave him. The D ocs body was a mass of stomped flesh and bones.

No feature was visible on him. Charlie recoiled from the sight. The D ocs head was

pulverized and his arms were all but flat and bent at odd angles. He looked closer and saw

bones sticking out from the D ocs arms and legs. A large pool of blood was spreading

beneath him. Charlie turned away from the Doc so quick he bumped into Grayson, who

stood behind him.

Shit, Charlie said. He moved away from Grayson so he wouldnt be touching him. He looked around

again and the people from down below now stood in the living room with him. They

moved closer to him. His hair stood up on his arms. Charlie shuddered and spat on the

floor after tasting the bile that was at the back of his throat. He looked back down at the

Doc again wanting to cry, wanting to curse him; scream at him for his wild experiments that

defied and mocked the laws of the universe. He didnt know what to do. His head was

pounding now. Every heartbeat was like a knife in his brain jabbing at the soft tissue within.

He was trembling.

Then the Doc moved.

The pool of blood around him was now a huge lake to Charlie. Ripples from the

Docs movement s seemed like red tidal waves lapping on infinite shores. The Doc was

moving. His whole body was moving, heaving up and down in some unnatural rhythmic

pattern on the floor, but going nowhere. Charlie thought it was some nameless thing of old

trying to emerge itself from the red lake to be birthed into this world. Then the Doc the

nameless thing in the lake spoke.Its voice was wet and slippery. No tangible words could be heard. Only wet slurs

and groans lathered by the congealing of the D ocs blood on a crushed larynx as the

backwash of blood filled his smashed and open throat. Charlie heard screams in his mind

from the thing before him. His muscles went limp and his jaw dropped open. The pain in

his head doubled. This isnt right, Charlies mind told him over and over like it was fired


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from a shotgun. He began walking backwards going nowhere. His body shook in hard

spasms. The screams he thought he heard were his own. Charlie turned and looked at

Grayson and saw the splatters of the blood on his body and his hands. He cringed and

looked down. There was blood on his clothes and skin. The D ocs blood transferred from

Grayson to him. Charlie felt the wet encroachment of vomit at the back of his throat; the

sharp pain in his stomach that told him his food was coming back up. The Doc screamed

then, if one could actually call it a scream. The wet pier cing wail shot through Charlies ears

and went deep down to his heart to the very core of his being.

Charlie covered his ears and then his eyes not wanting to hear or see anymore. He

leaned over as the world swam in his vision. Tears welled up at the bottom of his eye lids.

This was all too much. Nothing made sense anymore. The world was spinning out of

control in a gale of madness and he was alone at the center being sucked down into a huge whirlpool in a dark sea of insanity.

The Doc screamed again. Charlie turned back to look at him. Grayson moved then

and began stomping on the D ocs already mutilated body. Each foot stomp sent blood

flying and Charlie felt the warm liquid hit and cling to his body. He turned back to the stairs.

The ten dead people walked towards him. He noticed they werent looking at him , but at the

Doc. He thought he saw hatred in their eyes, but dismissed the idea as soon as his frayed

mind thought it. They went past him to the Doc and began stomping on his body. It was

madness. Charlie didnt know if he could hold on. His sanity was held only by a few threads

and they were snapping in this maelstrom. He watched them stomp the D ocs body, al l ten

of them and Grayson, emotionless, stomping a dead person; the Doc, his friend who cared

about him. Their feet became red with his blood and still they continued stomping, but now

they made their own sounds.

It sound of dead people was deafening i n Charlies ears. He slumped to the floor as

tears fell from his face and bounced off the hardwood floors like rain drops from an unseen

cloud. The landing of each foot as they crushed the Doc sounded like giants and Charliecould feel each one vibrate through the floor.

It came from deep within him. It was primal and pure. Charlie screamed. The

scream was both fear and agony combined and could have been a howl in its primal tone

and timber. He stood up; his body went taut and he screamed at the dead.

Why cant you be dead? Why couldnt you just stay dead!?


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If they heard him they paid him no mind. He looked down at the D ocs body and it

was still moving, still trying to find a way back to the world; to stand and defy every known

law in the universe. The D ocs voice was nothing more than low gurgling sounds now.

Charlie closed his eyes to block out the insanity before him. He opened them a second later

and the walking dead were staring at him. Charlies vision doubled and he saw two of each

dead person. He shook his head to try and clear his vision, but it didnt do any good.

Charlie was shaking out of control. He needed to leave and get out of this nightmare.

Anywhere was better than here he told himself and began looking for a means of escape.

Downstairs was no good. No door went to the outside. He thought about going

out the back door, but that meant going past the people that had came from downstairs. He

wondered if Grayson would follow him; if they all would follow him. Charlie sat still and

tried to calm his nerves. No more sound came from the D ocs body on the floor; that wasgood. It allowed him to think somewhat; to get a foothold in reality and navigate this storm

he was caught in. He breathed fast and ran one hand through his brown shaggy hair.

Ok, Charlie, you can handle this. Just stay calm and you can get yourself out of here

and remain sane.

He looked around again at the total destruction of the D ocs living room. Then he

looked at Grayson. He wondered why Grayson mutilated the D ocs body. Then wondered

why they all did. Were they, on some primal level, angry at the Doc and taking out their

aggression on him for bringing them back? Charlie then wondered if the dead before him

could understand him. He shrugged as he looked at them, Cant hurt to try it.

Charlie was hesitant at first. He felt foolish even thinking such a thing, but then

called out, Grayson can you hear me? Can you understand me? Do you know what I am

saying?

Grayson didnt answer. Charlie tried one more time. Do you understand me ,

Grayson?

Charlie waited for a few moments to see if it took time to register in the dead giants mind. Nothing came from Graysons lips , so Charlie called out to the rest to them. He

called them by their names one at a time asking each one the same questions. Charlie started

laughing as he waited for the dead to answer him. This is insane,he thought. Im asking dead

people questions. Questions! What the hell am I doing? What answer could they possibly give me? You

need to get out of here, Charlie. Now!


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His thoughts got him moving. He walked away from Grayson and the other dead

people. He needed to get out of here before his world shrank and he was nothing more than

a gibbering idiot on the floor.

Charlie thought of the town. That was going to be his salvation. They couldnt

have killed everybody yet. After he said this he wondered what time it was. He didnt have

a watch and the clock on the shelf was a pile of mangled plastic and wires. Charlie would

have to go to the Doc and look at his watch, if it still worked after the stomping. His mind

told him not to go look. He looked left out one of the windows. A long crack ran down the

entire length of the glass. The sun was still shining and Charlie guessed he still had a few

hours of day light left. He didnt know how long he had been unconscious down below in

the lab. He could have been out for hours. He didnt know. The thought of night time, the

dark with all these dead people around made him jerk. It was a thought he didnt want tothink about.

He didnt have a car, so he had kept mental notes on how long it took him to go to

the different places in town and even out to the D ocs. He looked out the window again and

thought he could make it to the boarding house before dusk. He had to try. Charlie made

up his mind that he would not look at the D ocs watch. What if he moved again? What if

he screamed again? It was something Charlie didnt want to think about and didnt know if

he could stand it. His mind was already fragile. The past events only moments ago still

echoed in his mind and he didnt want to repeat them.

Charlie made up his mind quick. He was going to the shelter. Charlie took a deep

breath, held it and then exhaled slowly. The clean air was heaven sent to his body and he

took another long deep breath. He walked toward the door and looked back over his

shoulder. Grayson and the other dead followed him. Charlie closed his eyes and imagined

they werent there; wished they werent there. He opened his eyes and continued walking.

The slow shuffling feet of the dead echoed in Charlies ears. He couldnt let that

sound get to him. He had to make it outside and then to the shelter. Charlie didnt know what to expect when he got to the shelter, but it had to be better than this. Anything was

better than this hell come to life.

He turned back to see if the dead were still following him. They were and the hairs

on the back of Charlies neck and head stood on end so much that it felt like his scalp was

being pulled tight. He was almost to the door.


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Charlie was a few feet from the door when he turned back to look at the dead

following him. His thoughts became clearer with each foot step. The hope of escaping the

Docs house drove him onward. He couldnt run and it took all Charlie had to keep himself

from doing so. He would make it to the shelter and everything would be ok. People would

be alive in the town, he just knew it. Charlie was close enough to the door to look outside.

The glare was still bad and it took him a few seconds for his eyes to adjust to it. When they

did his world came crashing down. He could feel the threads of his sanity starting to break,

one thread at a time.

The door was a wreck. Splinters of wood clung to the door and jutted out in every

direction from Graysons pounding. They seemed like long teeth to Charlie , daring him to

trespass. The opening was wide enough for Charlie to get through, but it would take some

effort to squeeze through it . He didnt know if the door would even open after his firstglance at it. But he had to get out of here and when he looked out the crude opening he saw

them.

Shadows walked on the green grass towards the D ocs house. That was all Charlies

mind allowed him to see. The sun was still glaring like a fireball and the people that walked

towards the D ocs house were cast in shadow to Charlies eyes. He waited , hoping beyond

all hope that it was real live people coming to investigate; people from the town coming to

his rescue.

His hopes fled from him when his eyes became adjusted to the light. He saw the

familiar gowns. The dead wore those. Charlie didnt want to believe it at first, but it was

true. It was more dead people and they were returning home, back to the place where they

began this crazed afterlife.

Charlie fell to the ground in despair. His breath stopped; stolen by the dread that

crept through his body. His mind was blank. He heard the dead foot steps behind him

stop. Charlie looked out the opening again, his hope fled on the wind. The new dead

marched towards him.

isolation chapter 4

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