The madness. That’s what scares me the most. I don’t want it to catch up with me, and even though I don’t know much about these men that are here with me, I feel certain they don’t want it either. So I sit here, as alone as I can make myself, waiting. But what am I waiting for? The next run, out to fetch a few basic things from the quagmire that surrounds us? A man can only wait so long in this desolate place before the madness catches up with him. There’s nothing left here anymore. Well, I guess there is. It’s the madness – that’s all that’s left.
I miss my wife and children the most. I feel selfish for wishing that they were here with me, and yet I feel solace in knowing that they don’t have to tremble in fear everyday like I do. I still get sick when I think of how they left this place though. No one should be put through the agonizing pain that they had to experience in their last few hours. No one should have to go through that, not even the madmen, regardless of how evil they have became.
It all seems to have happened so quickly, yet to them, it probably seemed like it took forever. It started with the fever, it always started with the fever. Then the aching, pounding headache and pressure that caused the eyes to bulge. As the eyes swelled to nearly double their size, bursting was inevitable. Immediately, the blood (Oh GOD! The BLOOD! So Much BLOOD!) began to pour, streaming down their face like rushing waters in a flash flood. It pushed its way through the milky white darkness in the space their beautiful green and blue eyes once occupied. The blood poured from their ears and nostrils (The Screaming! The Screaming is too much! My God where is all this blood coming from?!) at such an alarming rate I struggled to keep my composure while trying to keep them calm and assure them that I was right there with them.
And just like that, they were gone.
Damn. How many days has it been? It feels like at least 3 months have passed.
Silence.
I burnt that house down the next day. I couldn’t just leave them there, all alone….like I am now.