Red Tears

It seemed to go on forever; the trees, all dead, long dead. Dead for as long as the cold had been. They rocked back and forth as the snow came down, creaking occasionally. It was the only sound in the world beside the whipping wind and the crunch of Terra’s steps as she trudged through the frozen earth. She had been walking for two hours.

Robert told her the trek would be a mere thirty minutes. That liar. She doubted he had ever been beyond the city walls.

“Through the woods, to the river. Follow the river east, to the bridge. Then you’re there.” She quoted to herself.

Perhaps this was her sister’s fate as well. Amy searched for the mythical northern town until her legs gave out and the cold took her, leaving a half-frozen corpse to be discovered by her sister.

“No!” The words ripped from her throat, the sound echoing through the dead forest. “It’s real. Surely it’s real. Amy’s smart. She found it.”

Maybe she could believe that; could make herself believe that. But she wasn’t so sure she would have the same success.

Anger crept in. Abandoned; that was the word. That’s how she felt. Why did Amy leave her for so long? A week, she’d said. A week, not three months. A quick venture to locate the town she was so adamant existed.

Terra had doubted the rumors, tried to convince Amy to stay. But in truth, she wanted it to be real just as much as Amy did. The city was decaying more and more by the day.

As Terra pressed on, the wall of trees began to thin. Finding herself at the tree line, she stepped out of the woods to see a valley open up beneath her. At the bottom, half buried in the snow, she saw what she at first believed to be boulders. A moment latter, she realized her mistake; they were actually vehicles. But something was wrong with them.

Terra descended to the valley floor to find herself surrounded by machines that appeared very different from the ones used by the guardians of the city. They were much smaller, lacking any kind of armor. Beneath the grime and frost, she could still make out traces of color: faded blues, reds, greens and such that had once been bright and vibrant. The colors made little sense to her.

One vehicle drew her attention more than the others. It had once been blue, but the color had since faded to grey. All that remained of the windows were a few jagged glass teeth. Bullet holes riddled the doors. Her eyes were caught by a pair of black cubes dangling from the rear-view mirror. They had varying numbers of white dots on any given side. Terra pondered what the possible use of such a thing could have been before finally concluding it was some form of old-world superstition.

Terra’s attention was so fixated on the strange objects that she failed to notice the corpse slumped over in the cab. When her eyes met it’s blank stare, she stumbled backward. Her breath hung in the air, rapid and visible. Its eyes burned red.

The body, though decaying, was still fairly well preserved in the perpetually freezing environment. Terra could tell he had been a male, and his clothing was mostly intact. His skin had gone to a bluish-grey color, stretched tight over bone.

The man’s face was wrong: His mouth hung open in a silent scream, but must notably his irises were red with identically colored streaks running below each eye before tapering off around the bridge of his nose. Blood, Terra thought. It was as if the man had wept tears of blood. Terra reached out and touched the man’s face with her left hand. The red did not wipe away; it was part of his skin. She had never seen such an affliction.

She began to retract her hand. That was when it bit her.

Its teeth sank into her hand, dead eyes staring blankly at her. Terra screamed. She fumbled for her pistol with her off-hand and fired a single shot into the demon’s chest. The shot cracked across the valley like thunder. It released her hand and she bolted through the field of vehicles now scared to death of every one of them.

They were all filled with devils. She was sure of it now.

Terra found herself hiding behind a dead pine tree, her heart pounding, her ears ringing. Tears blurred the world into smears of grey. Looking down at her hand, she found it to be saturated with blood. She pulled a bandana out of the back pocket of her jeans and used it to wrap the wound. She pulled the knot tight with her teeth. The fabric darken immediately. She then buried her hand in the snow, hoping the cold would numb the pain. After the sting, it did.

Terra broke. She began sobbing, crawled up against the tree like a child, blood seeping through the bandana.

What had she gotten herself into?

There was no northern town. Her sister’s body was out there somewhere, if she even made it as far, having died in search of a myth. Now her fate would be the same.

The old-worlders; that’s who she blamed. The old-worlders, feeding Amy stories about what was. As if the world that was still existed somewhere. That is, if it ever really existed in the first place. Whatever had been was no more. Nothing was left beyond the city’s walls. Nothing but infernum.

Terra knew she could never go back to the city, even if she was able to retrace her steps. The wound on her hand would surely scar, and everyone would know she had been over the walls. They would execute her for treason. She would be hanging from the gallows in front of City Hall with the robbers and slanderers.

Terra took a few deep breaths.

The panic began to subside, at least to a point, as she came to terms with her reality. She leaned against the rough bark behind her, tired. The ringing in her ears was finally starting to fade. She noticed a sound; the sound of running water. She got up and began to move toward it. It wasn’t long before she came across a river: The river Robert had told her about.

Terra saw a rather tired-looking girl in the clear water, staring back with bloodshot blue eyes. Her pale, freckled skin was contrasted by her wavy, coffee-brown hair. The bags under her eyes aged her well beyond 19.

Through her reflection, she saw something silver move in the water. It was a fish. No, more then one; at least a dozen. They all darted away, seemly frightened by her presence. Terra had never seen a live fish before.

She unwrapped the bloody mess that was her hand and submerged it in the river. Blood went swirling down stream. The wound left behind was ugly and jagged, but the bleeding had slowed considerably. She threw the bandana away and rewrapped her hand with a stray piece of cloth from her backpack.

A sense of hope returned to her. Robert had been telling the truth. Amy could be alive after all. Now she would just have to follow the river until she found the bridge. Looking back at the girl in the water, she now had a small smile.

Terra began her new trek along the river. She found the rippling currents beside her soothing; a welcomed break from the deafening silence that had characterized her journey thus far. Before long, the silhouette of something appeared in the distance. Something man-made. As she got closer, it became clear.

“Praise Deus.” She whispered.

Standing before the bridge, she took notice of how large and robust it was. It seemed to her like it was built to support something much larger than people, though she was unsure of what that could’ve been. In front of the bridge was an crooked sign with faded letters

“Hollow Pines.” She read to herself.

Making her way across the bridge, two large brick buildings became visible through the haze of the snow. Across the threshold, the town was silent. She could see the outlines of smaller structures beyond the two imposing giants before her.

“It’s real.” She whispered.

The town gave Terra a sense of familiarity, resembling the city even if vaguely. The lack of people gave off an ominous atmosphere as she walked down the quiet streets. There were no signs of life in the empty buildings. She felt as though her presence was an unwelcome disturbance of the peace. It was far from what the rumors had described.

As Terra carried on, she noticed something in the snow up ahead. Upon closer inspection, she found a series of footprints. The falling snow had already begun to blend them away. They were large, far larger than those of any man. Terra froze. Her hand went to her pistol. She felt as though she was being watched from every shadowy window around her.

She saw it.

It was standing a little ways off, facing her. She could tell by the eyes; they were glowing red and staring straight through her soul. It’s body was cartoonishly tall and thin, far beyond anorexic, and contorted in ways impossible for a living human. It stood there unmoving.

Terra stood there trembling, whispering prayers for it to go away. It didn’t.

Instead, the demon began a slow and awkward walk toward her. She turned to run but found two more of the awful creatures were behind her. Frozen in fear, Terra watched the monsters advance on her. They’re skin was gray and extremely vascular. They towered over her in size. Terra knew her pistol wouldn’t save her this time.

“Terra!” A voice screamed. Terra recognized it as Amy’s

Terra turned to see her sister waving her over from a nearby window. She dove through the window, landing headfirst.

“Ow!” she said.

“Dammit, T, are you okay?” Amy asked.

“Yeah.” Terra said, picking herself off the ground before turning her attention back to the demons outside. “We gotta get out of here!”

“No,” Amy said. “They stay in the streets. Don’t ask me why, but they do.”

“Are you sure?” Terra asked with her wide eyes fixed on the window. The creatures began to wander off.

“Yeah, trust me.”

Relieved, Terra turned to see Amy for the first time in 3 months. Her hair was in a bun, and she was wearing a grey coat and a ballcap. Her pale skin and blue eyes betrayed their kinship. Her handgun was visible from a leg holster.

Terra attempted to embrace her sister in a hug, but Amy pushed her away. “Why did you come here?!” she demanded.

“What?” Terra said, hurt. “You never came back. You said a week.”

“So what? I told you to stay, dammit! If I didn’t come back, that obviously means something bad happened, don’t you think?”

Terra didn’t have an answer.

“If I could leave this place, don’t you think I would’ve come back for you? Now we’re both trapped!”

“Trapped?” Terra asked, teary-eyed. “Are we going to die?”

“No.” Amy turned away with a sigh. “I didn’t say that.”

“Then what did you say?”

“I said we’re stuck. For now. I haven’t found a way around the figures yet. That’s what we call those things out there. But… it’ll be okay.”

“We?” Terra asked. “Who’s we?”

Amy turned back to face Terra with a gloomy expression. “Dead. All except for me. When I got here, there were a few others. They didn’t come from the city either; there are other places, T. Other places with people like us. I wish I could’ve seen them.”

“Maybe you will one day,” Terra said, trying to cheer her up.

“Yeah…” Amy said.

“So, what happened to them? How’d they, y’know… die?”

“The figures got to them. We all realized pretty quickly that they’d leave us be if we was inside, but all those personalities could only get along for a time. We barely knew each other; there was a lot of distrust, a lot of fear. We had this one couple, Shelly and Steven. Shelly wanted out of this place so bad that one night she packed her things and tried to make it to the bridge. That morning we found her half-eaten body in the middle of the street. She barely made it passed the front door. Steven ran out after her; like that would do any damn good…” Amy paused, noticing the expression of horror on Terra’s face. “Yeah, I guess I’ll spare the rest of the details.”

“They’ll eat us?” Terra asked.

Amy placed her hand on Terra’s shoulder. “Only if we go out into the streets. I promise nothing bad will happen to us in here. The others died because they were stupid. We have plenty of supplies for two people. It’ll last us plenty long enough to find a way out of here.”

Terra stared into her sister’s eyes, searching for sincerity. “Okay,” She finally said. “I trust you.”

“Good,” Amy smiled. “Anyway, I guess since you’re here, I can show you all the cool stuff we discovered.”

Terra’s eyes lit up. “Like what?”

“You’ll see.” Amy said with a smirk.

Amy led Terra to the rooftop. From there, they crossed from one building to another by use of a bridge constructed of wooden planks and metal piping. At first, Terra was reluctant to cross, shrieking when the boards creaked below her feet. She walked across quickly, afraid the wind would blow her off balance.

Amy laughed. “Better get used to that; it’s the only way to get around town.”

“Did you build these?” Terra asked now on the other side.

“No. They were here long before anyone I ever met had been.”

Terra followed Amy to the stairwell where they descended the rusty steps to the first floor. With some effort, Amy pushed the stairwell door open, revealing a human figure before them. Terra threw herself against the wall in fear.

“He ain’t real.” Amy said with a knowing smile.

Upon closer inspection, Terra recognized the figure as a mannequin, similar to the ones used by the guardians for target practice. This particular one was wearing a straw hat, overalls, and a shirt that left his arms exposed.

“Oh,” Terra said, embarrassed. “What is he wearing? So much exposed skin.”

“He was a farmer. Like a really old one. It was warmer in those days, remember? People didn’t need coats and such. From what I’ve seen, the ladies liked to wear even less.”

“Weird,” Terra said. “They sound like heathens.”

“I think that’s exactly what they were,” Amy said. “I mean, they let everything get this bad, right?”

“Yeah.” Terra said, looking around the room full of displays depicting different scenes with more strangely dressed mannequins. They creeped her out. Almost ever scene she laid her eyes on was of something completely foreign to her. Some were vibrant with colors that made no sense, while others were entirely black and white. Many featured strange contraptions she had no understanding of. “So, what is this place?”

“It’s called a museum. From what I got, it’s like a bunch of displays of what would’ve been the old-world to old-worlders.”

“So this is what the super old heads looked like?”

“Exactly.”

“Did these people like, live along with dinosaurs or something?”

“I never thought about that, but I guess they would’ve had to.” Amy said as she knelt down and began rummaging through a cardboard box on the floor. “Here it is! You’ve never seen a sunset, have you, T?”

“I didn’t think those were real.” Terra asked.

“Here’s the proof.” Amy handed Terra a photo. It was of the two buildings she was meet with when entering the town. But they were in far better shape. No snow covered the ground; the roadway was visible as was the sidewalk. The sky looked as though it was catching fire. A giant, orange ball sat on the horizon, radiating amber rays. The orange blending into the pink above and the pink into the blue.

“It’s beautiful,” Terra said. “That’s what the world looked like before?”

“Sure is.” Amy replied. “Before the bombs… before the cold.”

“Can I keep this?”

“Sure. I doubt anyone’s gonna come looking for it, y’know?” Amy said. “C’mon, I’ll show you where I’ve been sleeping.”

Terra stuffed the photo in her backpack and followed Amy back up the stairwell. This time they got off on the second floor. The space was mostly empty with the exception of a pile of crates on one end of the room and a couple of mattresses on the other. Snow piled around the windows. Terra took note of what looked like a storage room in one corner.

“Two?” Terra asked, referring to the mattresses.

“One for you, one for me.”

“I know you weren’t expecting me.”

“Don’t worry about it, T. It’s yours now.”

“Okay…” Terra relented, feeling a ping of guilt for pushing the matter.

“See those boxes over there?” Amy said, pointing to the crates stacked in the corner, her back turned to Terra. “There’s some food there if you’re hungry. The bulk of the supplies is in another-“

Amy was cut off by a snowball impacting the back of her head. She turned around with a scowl to see Terra standing by the window with another snowball in her hand, grinning from ear to ear. Her scowl turned into a smirk.

“You’ve started a battle you can’t win.”

“Bet.” Terra said as she threw another one.

Amy was able to duck out of the way of it, taking cover behind the crates where she began forming ammo of her own. Emerging from her cover to return fire, she was immediately hit three more times. Finally, Terra ran out of ammunition. As she ran back to her pile of snow, Amy began bombarding her. Terra abandoned her means of ammo and took cover behind one of the support beams.

“Got you trapped now!” Amy declared.

“That’s just what I want you to think!” Terra lied.

Amy continued her assault. Terra took notice of the storage room once again. Figuring there may be something she could use as a shield, she bolted for the door.

“T, no!” Amy yelled. It was too late.

Terra opened the door to be met with a corpse resting against the wall; he had been shot in the head. The dead man’s face had the same red eyes and markings as the monster that had bitten her.

“Get away from there!” Amy shoved Terra away and slammed the door shut.

“What happened to him?!” Terra demanded.

“Look, he got a disease and… it doesn’t matter. We’re gonna be okay; it doesn’t spread like that.”

“Like what?” Terra persisted. “How the hell does it spread? Tell me what happened here.”

“Fine,” Amy relented. A tear streamed down her cheek. “His name was Mike. He was the one who showed me around and everything. He was the nicest guy; he really was…”

Terra could sense her sister’s pain.

“One day he went out exploring a building east of here that hadn’t been charted yet. He came back with a gash on his arm. He told me he was attacked by the dead. Like, dead bodies came to life and tried to kill him. I know how that sounds; I thought it was insane too.”

Terra’s heart sank. She knew where this story was going.

“Other than his crazy story, he seemed fine. But later that evening, I was coming back after getting some supplies when I heard screaming. Mike had killed the two others who were with us at the time. Ripped them apart. I found him hunched over one of their bodies… eating it.”

Both sisters where sobbing at this point.

“I s-shot him. I didn’t know what else to do, T.”

“H-how ago was all this?” Terra asked

“A few weeks ago.” Amy answered. “Look, it only seems to be transferred through cuts and wounds. You and I will be okay.”

Without saying a word, Terra presented her hand and removed the makeshift dressing to reveal the bite. Amy’s eyes widen.

“When did this happen?” She asked.

“Today,” Terra explained. “Right before I got trapped in this stupid town! It was one of those damned things!” She pointed to the body in the storage room. Her wrathful expression turned to one of sorrow. “I’m… I’m gonna be one of those things…”

Amy sat down in disbelief. “No, no, no, no, no…”

Terra sat down next to her. “What are we gonna do?”

“I-I guess we wait.”

“For what?” Terra asked, knowing the answer.

“The end, T! What else can we do?”

“I dunno. You’re supposed to know how to make everything better.”

“Well, I don’t. Not this time. You can see good n’ well where I’ve gotten us by trying to make things better.”

“You tried. That’s all you could’ve done.” Terra said softly. “Amy?”

“Yeah?”

“Don’t let me turn into one of those things.” Terra said. “I don’t wanna find out what it’s like to turn… or what it’s like after. And I don’t want to hurt you.”

“What are you asking?”

Terra sniffled. “Kill me.”

“No!” Amy protested. “You know I can’t.”

“I’m gonna die anyway. Just get it over with. Maybe you can find a way out of here.”

“I don’t want to be here without you.”

“Amy, please!” Terra begged. “I’m scared…”

Amy closed her eyes, took a deep breath. “Alright.”

Amy stood up and unholstered her pistol. With her hands trembling, she placed the barrel against Terra’s forehead.

“I-I’m sorry.” Amy said.

“It’s not your fault.” Terra said calmly.

“I l-love you.” Amy was sobbing.

“I love you too, sis.” Terra closed her eyes in anticipation. The moment seemed to drag on forever.

It dragged on too long.

Finally, Amy let out a long-winded scream and lowered the weapon. She was hyperventilating.

“I can’t…”

Before Terra could respond, Amy placed the gun against her head and fired. Blood splattered across the wall as well as Terra’s face. Amy’s body hit the floor with a thud that echoed through the empty room. She convulsed on the floor for several minutes, eventually coming to lay completely still in a puddle of her own blood.

Terra remained sitting. She was trembling, keeping her eyes fixed on the wall ahead of her, not wanting to look at what lay before her. All was quiet aside from the faint ringing that remained in her ear and the sound of blood dripping from her chin. A sound that was becoming louder with every passing minute.

Hours passed. Terra remained unmoved; in shock.

“I need you…” She whispered to herself, almost absently.

The longer she stared at the brick wall, the more it developed a reddish hue. Looking around, she realized everything was getting more and more crimson. Terra knew what this meant: it was happening. She reached for her own gun. She turned it on herself but was ultimately too scared to follow through.

Suddenly she could smell something. Something sweet. The scent was making her hungry. When she realized what it was, Terra almost threw up. It was Amy’s corpse.

She ran down the stairwell; she needed to get away. Her world was entirely shades of red at this point. She stumbled through the museum; the mannequins she that once creeped her out now came across more as some short of prey. Terra was disgusted by her growing animalistic instincts.

She kept running, as if she could run from what was happening to her. She ended up running straight through the front door. Now outside, she found three figures towering over her, staring down with down with their glowing red eyes. Like they had been waiting.

Terra turned around and slammed the door shut. She crawled up into a ball in the corner of the room. One of the creatures bent down and began peering through through the window; staring right at her. She wanted nothing more than to kill it. To kill them all.

Abandoned; that was the word. That’s how she felt. Abandoned and alone.

Credit: Metalheadcow

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