Hybrids: A New Species

Colorado, Year Eight since the end

The blazing sun warms the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. Within the thick forest rests a cabin. The one story wooden cabin is surrounded by dark green trees. Completely isolated from the outside world. Surrounding the cabin, are hidden trenches with sharpened wood stakes sticking up. They are traps for any of the undead or unwanted trespassers to fall in to. A man named Benjamin lives there with his wife, Pamela, and eight-year-old daughter, Hailey who has come down with a fever. Ben is thirty years old and stands about six feet and two inches tall, with short dark black hair, brown eyes, and a rugged beard.

Eight years ago, when the deadly virus emerged, it caused panic throughout the world. The media explained everyone had the virus in them and what it did to people. Cases of first death, and reanimation was caused by the virus. Ben had to make a choice. He was living in Denver at the time when he heard the news and feared what would happen. He had a feeling people would begin rioting and chaos would explode. So, he took a chance at safety, and decided to move him and his pregnant wife to his wood cabin in the mountains. He normally used the cabin for hunting trips. Eight years has passed since the virus made a massive impact on the world, and Ben has been able to keep his wife and new daughter safe from this apocalypse.

The sun is close to setting, and Ben is outside in front of his cabin, chopping up wood. He stops, and wipes the sweat off his face with a dirty old white rag,

“That should be enough” he says with a rugged voice.

Ben picks up some logs of wood he chopped up and carries them in the cabin. The place is small but big enough for him and his family. The interior is made up of a wooden floor and walls. A few old paintings decorate the wall, along with small antiques in shelves. To the left of the entrance is a living room with couches and a fireplace. Ben drops the wood logs by the fireplace in his living room. across the living room are two doors, one leading to his and the other leads to his daughter’s. They’re right next to each other. He goes to his daughter’s room, where his wife Pamela is tending to her. Ben walks in and sees Pamela over Hailey bed. She’s wiping her head with a cold towel. Pamela sees Ben walk in and she stands. She is a few years younger than Ben and stands up to his shoulder, she has blonde hair and blue eyes, a real beauty.

“How is she?” Ben asks Pamela.

“Not too well, her temperature has gotten higher since last night.” she answers.

Ben kneels next to his daughter’s bed. “Hi sweetie, how you doing?”

Hailey has blonde hair and blue eyes, just like her mother. She has never known what the world was like before. She was unfortunately born when the dead began rising. Ben has tried his best to keep his daughter away from horrors of the outside world. Hailey has only seen a few of the Fallen before. However, she was always watching from her bedroom window, witnessing her dad put a blade or bullet through their heads. There’s only so much that Ben can protect his daughter from, but he tries his best to give her a normal life. Even in times like this. Hailey has always asked her parents why she can’t meet other kids, but they always answer her question with, “It’s not possible.” Ben has never brought in people to live with them. He doesn't trust them. He believes they have been able to survive for so long because of their isolation.

“My head hurts daddy” Hailey whimpers.

Ben shows sorrow in his face, “I’m sorry sweetie. I wish I could make the pain go away.” Ben lays his hand on Hailey’s forehead, it’s hot to the touch. “Daddy is going to town to find you some medicine. So wait for me?”

Hailey smiles, that warm smile Ben loves so much. “Okay daddy.”

Ben kisses Hailey on the cheek. He turns to Pamela, “I checked the traps, the well is cleared out and made sure everything is okay while I’m gone. I got some wood chopped up as well.”

Pamela embraces Ben, “Please be safe, and come back alive.”

He smiles, “I always do. I’ll be back tomorrow around the afternoon.”

Ben kisses Pamela and exits his daughter’s room. He grabs the old camping bag by the front door he packed earlier in the day, with supplies he was going to need for his short trip to the nearest town. Ben grabs his hunting knife, with a five-inch, high carbon steel blade and a sturdy metal hilt, his 10mm gun, and holsters it to his leather belt.

Ben usually leaves his cabin and goes into the woods to hunt animals for food. He mainly obtains squirrels and rabbits with snare traps. If he’s lucky, he hunts for bigger game like elk and deer. It hasn’t been easy surviving, but with a well for water and being able to grow food in his own backyard has made it easier for them to live. Growing up, Ben learned many survival skills from his father.

Georgetown is the nearby town Ben will visit. It’s only about three miles from his cabin, so he tries to find as much supplies as he can, since he doesn’t make this trip so often. He only makes this trip if he’s in need of any supplies like tools and medicine. The town is completely abandon, except for the occasional undead that roam around. The last time Ben came to the small town, he saw a herd of the undead there. They’re easy to avoid since they walk slow, however, when they surround someone, it can lead to a gruesome death.

Ben walks out of his cabin, and he starts walking the trail he made to head for Georgetown. He made various check marks along his custom-made trail, like specific cuts in trees or certain rock formations, so he can find his way back and forth. Before Ben takes a step into the woods, he stops, and looks back at his home with a nervous look. He worries for his family’s safety and hopes he can find medicine for his daughter’s fever. Ben takes a deep breath of determination and heads out.

It takes Ben a couple of hours to arrive at Georgetown. The sun is setting and it’s almost night. He’s on top of a hill where he has a wide view of the town. Ben sets his bag down and pulls out a pair of binoculars, so he can scout the town for signs of people or the Fallen. The small town is in complete ruins. There are various half eaten bodies laid out on the streets and destroyed buildings from fires. Georgetown was peaceful. In the events of the Fallen, people from the cities down the mountain destroyed and looted the small town for food and other supplies.

There is no sign of life besides the few corpses moving around on the streets. He keeps searching around to see if he can spot the town’s local pharmacy. Ben notices a few gas stations and some partially destroyed buildings. Then he sees it. The town’s main pharmacy. The name is faded out, the only words that can be made out are “Lo” and “Pha”. Ben hopes that these locations aren’t completely empty.

A sudden movement comes from a nearby bush behind Ben, and he immediately grabs his hunting knife with his right hand, strapped to his belt, and prepares for what is to come. Sweat drops down from his head and he becomes cautious. The movements from the bush get louder and he grips the handle of the knife tighter and has it close to his chest for a quick strike. He has his left hand on his 10mm, in case he needs it. Ben’s heart starts to rapidly beat and the creature that hides in the bush appears. Ben takes a step forward, going for a striking kill. Then he suddenly stops. He puts his hand down and smiles. The mysterious threat turned out to be a small rabbit and Ben lets out a nervous laugh.

“You scared me little guy.” he laughs.

The rabbit runs away and Ben watches it flee from the area. He shakes his head in shame and turns back to the view of the town. Suddenly something attacks Ben from the right and knocks him to the ground. This creature snarls and snaps at him. Its undead face is rotten, with milky white eyes and bloody teeth. It’s reeks of rotten flesh, dried blood, and human feces. It’s the undead humans that roam the Earth. The Fallen. It’s on top of Ben, trying to gnaw off his face. He has his left hand on its throat, using all his strength to stop it from trying to bite him. Ben looks to his right and see his knife on the ground. He reaches out for it with his right hand, but fails, it’s too far from him. He looks back at the disgusting corpse’s face. A mix of blood and saliva falls from its mouth and lands on Ben’s cheek, it’s warm. He clenches his teeth,

“Get off you bastard!” Ben yells.

He rolls the Fallen and himself over to his knife and he ends up on top. Ben grabs his knife and thrusts it into the moving corpses head. It lets out a gory scream, and its body begins to shake, as if its having a seizure, killing it. Ben is breathing hard and looks into the eyes of his defeated opponent. He removes the knife from its head. Black blood drips from the blade. He wipes the blood off the Fallen’s body and quickly looks around, to make sure there aren’t any more of them nearby. Ben lets out a sigh of relief and stands back up. He sheathes his knife and grabs his bag. Ben begins to get back on the path to town. He has won this close encounter from death.