The Rotting Flesh Book 2: Deadman’s Wonderland
Chapter 9: All that remains

The orange sun slowly appeared from the horizon illuminating the once dark and tranquil earth. The black ford ranger raced through the forest making use of the only path available to it. Within it sat four people returning from a very successful supply run. The back of the truck and the trailer were loaded with boxes and boxes of tinned food. Unlike in the old world here people ate not for their fill but for sustenance since canned food was the only thing available to them well unless they hunt. Merlyn was asleep in the back seat while Praise and Demzel kept Shepherd who was driving company.

“You know the guys back at the camp are going to be thrilled when they see what we’ve got” commented Shepherd as he pictured the children’s faces when they saw the toys he had managed to get them

“True, I’m going to need a really good rest when we get there” replied Praise

Rain season had passed and now it was extremely hot be it morning, afternoon or night so there was a lot of sweating.

“The heat being irritating also works to our advantage though, because it accelerates the decaying of those undead bastards” commented Denzel

Due to this fact it was on few occasions that one would stumble upon hordes of the undead.

“What goes on through that big head of yours, you always seem off topic” said Shepherd

They drove for about half an hour and finally reached the area they parked their vehicles. It was not located within the camp from the camping site because the trees made it impossible for the cars to come through.

“Damn whats that smell?” asked Denzel as he closed his door behind him

The stench of blood filled the air. The whole area close to the camp smelled the same way. There was no sound except for the chirping of birds and insects.

“Is everyone still asleep at this hour” asked Merlyn noticing how quiet it was

Under normal circumstances they would already be a lot of noise around camp, the children screaming and playing and also the campers talking and laughing.

As they walked to the camp looking around for anything out of place, they braced themselves for attack. Being the first time they came back finding it so quiet they had taken their firearms from the car and carried them just in case.

Looking around and behind them Praise covered their rear. As she slowly followed behind them something cold dripped on top of her head, at first she ignored it and thought maybe it was morning due. Another drop hit again and another which ended up irritating her so she wiped it off.

Thats odd how can due be this thick she thought as she felt its texture

The moment she set eyes on her fingers her heart skipped a beat. There was a red sticky substance on them which she clearly recognised.

Blood her eyes widened

She stepped a few steps back and began slowly look up. Deep down she feared the worst and what she saw above her instantly drained all the strength from her knees, she fell leaning against a tree. It drew everyone's attention

No no no no please no no no no please no she kept wishing this was a dream

“Hey is everything okay?” asked Shepherd seeing how quickly her eyes had reddened

Merlyn walked towards her and Praise extended her hand signalling her to stop.

“What is it?” she asked worried

Slowly moving her shivering hand she pointed upwards. The others followed the hand and when their eyes met with what Praise had seen, Merlyn slumped to the ground without a sound. Denzel froze in place sweat forming on his forehead, he stood there staring atop the tree like someone who had seen a ghost.

Right above Praise was the lifeless body of one of the group members. Her body was so destroyed bones pierced out of so many places making her look like a tattered piece of cloth hanging from a branch. Her left foot was the one stuck in between branches while the rest of the body hung. Blood had rushed to her face turning it a dark purple while the blood from the other multiple openings was dripping to the ground. Shepherd turned and ran in the direction of the camp

Please no

The closer he got to the camp the clearer the situation became. Torn limbs and lifeless bodies were everywhere, it was like the aftermath of a war zone. The stench of blood thickened as he got closer. His body began to heat up from all the mixed emotions he was having, how did things turn out like this. The strength in his body was vanishing but he had to keep walking, the others were too dumbfounded to even act.

Merlyn sat on the ground, Praise leaning against a tree and Denzel frozen in place, they were all quiet and traumatized beyond measure. No word had been uttered between them since they saw the hanging body.

By the time Shepherd reached the camp site all his fears had manifested, it was a blood bath. There was no sight of a living soul, everyone was dead. Some were headless, others had holes in their chest and the rest either had missing limbs or their internal organs hung out.

A rush of nausea hit him and he threw up. He had never seen anything like this, it was like a picture from war movie.

What kind of animal would do this?,………no Sofia! He thought and started looking around for her

“Sofia!!” He called hoping she would answer

As he walked around searching for her among the almost unrecognizable bodies something moved behind trees a short distance from him. He had only caught a glimpse of a figure appear and disappear behind a tree. His pulse raced and he tried really hard to calm himself down but it was to no avail, his thoughts were all over the place. Reaching for his gun he slowly approached using the trees as cover

“Whose there, I’m armed!” he called out

No one replied. He got closer and once he was within range he jumped into view aiming at them.

“I’ll shoot!!” he yelled and when he realized who it was he dropped his gun

Three children were clumped up together in a bundle, shivering. They were pale, their eyes as blank as the night sky.

“Hey, are you okay?” Shepherd asked trying to keep his composure too

“De De de Dead, they are all dead” said the oldest girl in her teens

The other two were two boys around the age of ten. They could not do anything else but cling on to the older girl.

They didn’t deserve to see this, they are just children he thought

“Ev every ev?” he struggled to speak “everyone is dead?”

"Oh God Sofia" Shepherd said under his breathe

He fought really hard for tears not to come out. One of the boys heard him and piinted downhill, Shepherd stood up and ran in that direction.

Twisting and turning on the ground Sofia relived the nightmare of last night’s incident. She frowned and groaned like someone in a lot of pain. Even though the sun was out and some warm rays were hitting her, she was shivering like someone with a serious cold. The longer she stayed asleep the worser things got, tears would just flow out of her eyes as she lay there. The nightmare got worse until she finally jolted back to reality

“Aaaaaahhhhhhh” she screamed only to wake up to Shepherd looking at her

“Its okay, we are here” he said trying to calm her

She was breathing heavily with tears still coming out. As she realized it was now morning and Shepherd was here she slowly calmed down. Hugging him tightly she wept

“They are all dead” she mourned

“I know” he replied and silently cried

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