The Dead Fields

Before going to the Dead Fields, I was never really afraid of anything. I didn’t have a fear of heights, or the dark, at least not one that was crippling. I was sort of a thrill seeker, always eager to jump headfirst into the unknown, regardless of how much trouble it got me into. But after the Dead Fields, well, I learned that there’s only so much trouble you can get into before it all catches up to you. When I was thirteen years old, my friends and I decided that one Halloween night we would go to an area on the outskirts of our town that we called the Dead Fields. According to local legend, the Dead Fields were a strip of land deep in the woods where they say the bodies of over a hundred people are buried. No one is really sure who they are, and it changes depending on who you ask. Some say it’s the bodies of fallen civil war soldiers or even slaves, while others say it’s the members of the old town who died to some supernatural curse.

But that’s not what makes the legend scary. According to legend, every full moon, the corpses rise out of the ground and wander the woods, looking for new victims to take down with them. Now, for most people it was just a legend. We’d never actually seen the undead, and with the exception of people like our town drunk, nobody else had either. But according to my father, who was a police officer, there was a missing person out there a year ago that was never found, but he never saw any zombies. At least that’s what he told me. From everything I know now, I don’t think that was completely true.

But anyways, back to my story. Most of us were onboard with going to the Dead Fields, with the exception of my older sister’s boyfriend, Nick, who was apprehensive about taking us out there at night. We teased him about it, calling him a chicken and a wuss, and he insisted to my sister that it was because he didn’t want to be responsible for getting us all in trouble, or for something bad to happen to her, but we knew it was more than that. Nick was scared of the Dead Fields, maybe even believed the legend. After about twenty minutes of convincing, he threw his hands up in defeat and agreed to take us. We trick or treated for a bit, then shortly after midnight, Nick said he’d take us out there. He told Theo, Javier, Evan, and I to get in the car and wait for us, while he and my sister stood out in the garage and talked. While we enjoyed the candy we collected, we eavesdropped on the two, hoping to make fun of them if they did something mushy or whatever. But Nick was dead serious when he spoke, and he looked almost terrified when talking to her. We couldn’t hear everything but I could read his lips and at one point it sounded like he was saying “Lily, you weren’t there. I saw it. I’m telling you it is real.” We looked at each other in the car then watched as Nick grabbed some things, put it in a bag then walked over to us. He opened the driver’s side door and put the bag in the passenger seat where Lily would hold onto it.

Nick took a breath before starting the car. Right before they drove off he turned to us in the back seat. “All right, before we go out there we have a few rules. One, no screwing around out there okay? It gets very dark, even with flashlights and I don’t want anyone getting hurt. Two, stick together. If Lily and I tell you to do something, you do it. When we stop, you stop. We go left, you go left. Three, if you hear, or see anything out of the ordinary, we are leaving. Understood?” We all nodded, and Nick relaxed a little. “Okay. Well let’s go.”

The drive over was about half an hour. We passed the time by messing with each other, and showing each other stupid videos on our phones, while Nick and Lily talked in the front seat. I did feel a little bad for asking him to do this, seeing as how he wasn’t his usual self. Nick had always been super cool with us. He liked video games and sports, and we would talk about our favorite games, favorite teams and players, and we would go watch his basketball games, and he’d watch our baseball games. Nick also treated Lily really well, and never once did he seem stressed or in a bad mood when he was around her. But that night he was different. He tried to keep up a good front, but something about going to the Dead Fields was really bothering him. So finally, we asked.

“Hey Nick, what did you see in the Dead Fields?” Theo asked. Lily looked at us like we were stupid and I saw Nick tense up. After a minute pause, Nick shook his head. “It was nothing. I just went out there with some friends before and it freaked me out. That place just really gives me the creeps.” We didn’t push it any further as we got closer to the Dead Fields. Finally, we reached a large fence with a huge padlock on the front. A large wooden sign hung on the front with the words DO NOT ENTER scrawled on it. We got out of the car, and Nick reached into the bag, pulling out flashlights for us. But for himself, he pulled out a gun and stuck it in his pocket. Javier whistled. “Damn,” he whispered. Nick looked at us and shrugged. “Just in case.” I looked at Lily who gave me a look that said “Just go with it.” We hopped the fence and cleared the other side. I turned on my flashlight, which barely illuminated the trail before us. Despite my excitement to explore a place that we’d only heard stories about, I also felt a lingering fear in the back of my mind. Even as a young stupid teenager, that place just felt wrong to me. Like we shouldn’t be there. But, because we’re stupid, we pressed on. Nick and Lily took the lead, and I hung in the middle with Evan and Javier. Theo stayed in the back, something that he really was not happy about. “Let’s do rock paper scissors again,” he pleaded, “Come on guys I don’t want to be in the back.” “Sorry dude,” I said with a shrug, “You said best out of five, I won.” Theo sighed and stuck closely to us, almost clinging to us as we moved.

Besides the fact that it was dark, the place really didn’t look like anything special. There were trees on both sides of the rocky and rough path, with what looked like a ditch on the right side, and patches of empty field on the left. Nothing special. But yet the atmosphere as we started exploring, just got increasingly more creepy. Like at any point, those zombies would rise up and attack.

But an hour passed, and nothing happened. We just walked along the trail until it led straight into the woods, and it was a little rougher to get through. “This is it?” asked Javier after a while, “This is not that scary.” Nick gave a short, bitter laugh, “That’s what we said too. Trust me, it’s better this way.” We looked at each other again, but kept walking, shining our flashlights all around. Suddenly, as we climbed over a small hill, Nick stopped us. “What is it?” Lily asked. Nick pointed a finger upwards. “Listen.” We all cocked our ears and listened, expecting to hear rustling, or some creepy groaning.

But instead, we heard nothing. “I don’t hear anything,” I said. “Exactly,” Nick whispered shakily, “It’s dead quiet.” “Heh. ‘Dead’. Get it?” Theo joked nervously. “Nick looked around then looked at the sky. I followed his gaze, and saw that the full moon was starting to peek through the clouds. “We gotta head back,” said Nick, “Now.” We went to turn back, but as I did, my foot slipped on a patch of dirt, and I found myself tumbling down the hill. “Oh crap!” I called as I tumbled face first. “Mike!” cried Lily as I rolled down the hill, hitting some kind of tree crunk , then tumbling further into a small creek bed. “Ow,” I groaned, laying on my back on some rocks. That sucked. I slowly sat up in the water. “Mike, you okay?” asked Evan from above. “Yeah you good?” added Mike. “Yep,” I groaned again, “Just fine.” I heard Nick run down the hill towards me. “Stay there! I’ll come to you.” I sat down on a small rock and waited for Nick to make his way down. As he did, I heard some rustling in front of me. I looked around for my flashlight and saw it was further up the creek. “Dang it,” I muttered, torn between going to get it and waiting for Nick to finish coming down the hill.

“Hey Nick!” I called, “How much longer?” “Hang on!” Nick called back, “This hill’s kind of steep.” I shifted nervously as I looked forward again, the rustling growing louder. Then I heard it. A low, guttural groaning. Oh no. The groaning got louder, and now the noises sounded like they were coming from multiple directions. I couldn’t stay there, I needed to move. I scrambled to my feet and ran towards my light. I picked it up, and instantly regretted it as my light shone on the monstrosity shuffling towards me.

It looked like a rotting corpse, with most of its face missing or hanging off his skull. His clothes were tattered and old, and barely hanging off its body. Its eyes were alive, yet dead, glaring into me as it shuffled closer and closer. I stood in horror, unable to move, trembling with fear. It was true. The zombies were real. I looked to my right, and there was another, this one a woman. I looked to my left, and there was another. I took a step back as I saw more of them begin to show themselves. I screamed as I was grabbed from behind. “We gotta go!” Nick yelled, spinning me back in the direction of the hill. “Go!” I began running as I heard Nick fire a single shot. My legs burned as I climbed my way back up the hill, but Nick stuck close to me, giving me a boost whenever I needed it. Finally, I reached the top with Lily and Theo pulling me up. “Oh shit man!” cried Javier, “They’re real!”

Nick climbed up the hill. “Go! Go!” he screamed, the groaning and moaning of the zombies only getting louder. We began running as fast as we could, losing all our bearings. The zombies were closing in from all sides as we practically tripped over each other to escape. “Stay together!” yelled Nick, “Stay in front of Lily and I, don’t fall behind!” I could barely see the zombies, with my flashlight moving all over the place, but I knew they were on us. The stories said there were hundreds of bodies buried. Well, from what I could tell, the stories were not wrong. “SHIT!” Theo screamed. We turned around to see he had tripped and fallen, having gotten himself tangled in some of the branches.

The zombies had started to crowd closer to him, extending their hands. “Get me out of here!” he cried as we ran towards him. Nick and I rushed back to him and we tried to pull him free from the branches. The zombies’ groans got so loud that it sounded like they were screaming in my ear. Then I felt their hands begin grabbing at me. “Oh crap! Oh crap oh crap oh crap!” I cried, struggling to shake their dead cold hands off of me. Their loud groans and snarls were now deafening. I shook some of the hands loose but more began grabbing. Was this it? Was this how I die? Getting eaten by a bunch of zombies? Their dead, empty eyes gazed down at me, their mouths open in a hollow groan. Suddenly, I felt a tug, pulling me through the branches and through the group. It was Nick. He had freed Theo and I, shot several of them, and had pulled us free. “Let’s move!” he screamed. The zombies came after us again, and this time they seemed to move a little bit faster. We were now back on the trail we recognized. We reached the fence, Nick sent us over first. I went first, then Theo, then Evan, then Javier. Lily climbed over next. But there was a problem. You see, when you’re panicking and consumed with fear, simple things can suddenly seem very difficult. I learned that tonight. When trying to climb the fence, which I could do effortlessly before, it suddenly became very difficult. I struggled, slipped, lost my grip and fell on my back when I climbed over, knocking the wind out of me. It didn’t help when Theo climbed over, also fell, and landed on top of me, taking the wind even further out of me. I’m pretty sure I almost threw up at that moment. Evan climbed over and actually slipped and fell back down, forcing Javier and Nick to hoist him over. Javier climbed over, fell over the edge, got his ankle caught in the fence on the way down, snapping it. Javier screamed and cried on the pile of bodies that was me, Evan, and Theo. Lily climbed over quickly, but Nick didn’t follow. Nick used up the last of his bullets holding them off, and now had no more bullets. He threw the gun at them and began to climb over, but in that time that our dumbasses took to climb over, they had overwhelmed Nick. He desperately tried to climb over, but they quickly grabbed him and began pulling him down.

“NICKY!” Lily screamed, grabbing the fence. “GO! GET OUT OF HERE!” Nick screamed through the pain of getting bitten. We scrambled to our feet and bolted before Lily did. We scrambled into the car, and Lily followed after, driving us off in hysterical tears and swearing. As for us kids, we were too much in shock. All we could hear was Lily’s wailing.

The rest of the night was a blur. We told our parents, they grounded us, and both chastised and comforted Lily. The cops said they would look into it, but everyone knew what happened. The Dead Fields got us. Just like they got every pour soul who ventured in.

Time passed, and we became known as the kids who almost got killed in the Dead Fields. Lily wouldn’t talk to me for a long time. She blamed me for Nick’s death, for wanting to go there. She became really depressed, and when she went off to college, she wouldn’t speak to any of us, only texting our parents. Theo, Evan, Javier, and I stayed close friends until we graduated, and we went off to college. I went to the same school with Theo and we even shared a dorm. But that night never left our minds. I struggle to this day with guilt over Nick. That guy was freaking awesome. To my sister, and to us. He made sure we all got out first, and made our safety his number one priority to the very end. The day before I wrote this out, I heard that Evan had gone back home for a visit. He said that apparently the fields had been set on fire. No one came forward, but many suspect that the police did it, in order to finally put an end to the Dead Fields once and for all. I hope to God that it worked. For Nick.

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