I awaken. I'm laying on the mattress again, this time with Anne, both of us naked, one of her arms draped over my chest as she continues to sleep. Almost a week has passed since I first found myself there, at least according to the way she keeps track of time. Moving carefully and quietly so as to not wake her, I drag her arm off of me and climb to my feet. I stretch, my back aching some since the mattress isn't very comfortable, but given the alternatives, I'll just have to deal with it. Picking up my clothes from the floor, I begin to put them on.
Anne: "Can't sleep?"
"Yeah. Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up."
Anne: "It's okay. I don't sleep well here usually anyway."
She rolls onto her side, using one arm to prop her head up as she smiles at me.
"I've been thinking about something."
Anne: "What?"
"Maybe we should try to get out here, go back to Earth. I know you have supplies here, food and water, but how long is that really going to last, especially with both of us using them up now? Six months? Maybe a year if we ration more than we already are?"
I see her smile falter.
Anne: "How do you know we'll find anything there though? It could just be one giant crater now for all we know! And what about the portals? How do you expect to reopen those? I think we should just stay here until our supplies are low and then worry about trying to return..."
"We won't know if we'll find anything unless we try. And I think I'll be able to reopen one of the portals. I studied them some before... But it could take me five minutes or five weeks. I really don't know. If we try when we're almost out of supplies though and it takes me longer than I expect, then what are going to do? We can't just start growing crops here and in case you haven't noticed, there's no water around here except for what's in the bottles. If we try now though and it takes me longer than I expect, we can stay at one of the nearby buildings and live off of the supplies we have now while I work on the portal."
I can tell that for some reason, she's close to tears now. I figure she's just afraid of leaving this building and possibly having to face the demons and zombies outside. She nods in agreement with what I've just said, although it seems forced.
Anne: "Okay, whatever you think is best..."
Without saying another word, I grab my shoes and exit the room. As soon as I'm gone from the room though, I can hear her begin to sob. I think she's a nice person, but she has some severe issues sometimes. I guess being basically alone for three years has messed her up in the head. I can only hope that she gets better as time progresses now that I'm with her.
Putting my shoes on, I begin to pack food, water, ammunition, and anything else I think that we might need into a couple of bags the supplies had originally been stored and carried in. I also pack my machete, the only weapon I had with me when she found me. Everything else was either melted in the lava, lost during battle, or in the case of my chainsaw, broken. I think I remember where the portal gate's located that I came here through, but I hope it isn't more than a couple hours away. Even though I'm almost completely sure that Earth will just be a shell of its former self, I'd still rather be there than here.
When Anne finally exits the back room, she's fully dressed again as well, but she still doesn't look very happy about my plan. I'm beginning to wonder if it isn't just a big mistake to even bother bringing her along. I don't want her slowing me down a lot or doing something stupid that'll end up harming me or especially herself.
"Ready?"
I might be a serial killer (or was anyway), but even I think it'd be really cruel to leave her behind here by herself again. I'll just have to try to be nice to her and keep her spirits up. Picking up her assault rifle, she looks up at me.
Anne: "Yeah, I guess..."
I pick up my gun, also an assault rifle, and we each take one of the supply bags before exiting the building through its door-less entrance.
Outside, the hot wind greets us, but nothing else does. We're both cautious as we move though, knowing that at any second, one of the demons could come out of seemingly nowhere to attack us. Neither of us feel very threatened by the zombies though. They're slow and as long as we keep an eye out for them, they'll never even get close to us.
"Can you take me to area where you originally found me?"
Anne: "I think so..."
She takes the lead, but I stick close to her. If we get attacked, I'm not sure how well she'll be able to actually defend herself.
After what seems to be about a half an hour, we arrive at the bottom of the cliffs. The river of lava is gone now, having cooled and solidified, but everything else about the area looks pretty much the same as I remember it.
"Now we just need to find a way up there. Any ideas?"
Anne: "If I remember correctly, there should be a path somewhere nearby..."
"Let's find it then."
We search for only a few minutes before discovering the path. It's steep, but I'd rather walk up it than try to climb up the cliff. Eventually reaching the top, I get ready to start leading the rest of the way when we see the corpse of a demon on the ground, causing Anne to scream, its body ripped in half at the waist, organs and blood having spilled out. The blood appears to be somewhat fresh too.
Anne: "What happened to it? Did the zombies get to it?"
"Maybe, or it got into a fight with another demon and lost."
She stares at the mutilated corpse with a strange look in her eyes. Not wanting stay out in open like this any longer than I have to, I take one of her hands and walk her away from it. Most of the demons might be at Earth now, but as the corpse has proven, this can still be a pretty dangerous place. I begin to wonder how she's going to react when we cross the battlefield beyond the caves that was littered with their corpses after I got past it when I first came here. Thinking of that battlefield also makes me wonder if any of the members of my team that were killed are now reanimated or if they got lucky and somehow had their brains destroyed when they died.
When we reach the entrance to the caves, I stop and take out a flashlight from my supply bag, turning it on.
Anne: "I don't think we should go in there..."
She's really starting to get on my nerves.
"Why not? We have this flashlight and it shouldn't take more than a couple minutes to get through."
Anne: "Something could be in there..."
I can feel my old feelings of hate for everyone else no matter who they are beginning to surface.
"We have guns. Co-"
I hear something moving in the darkness of the cave opening.
Anne: "What?"
"Be quiet for a moment."
I shine the beam of the flashlight over to where I hear the noise and see a lone zombie making its way towards us, its arms outstretched in front of it. It's rotted so much, it's impossible to tell whether it was originally male or female. Leveling my gun, I fire a single shot, striking the zombie in the forehead, causing its head to explode, blood and brains splashing onto the ground as the rest of its body falls down for good.
"See? We can handle anymore of them ea-"
I hear more noise. A lot more, coming from the depths of the cave. And then, another zombie steps out, followed by two more, the gunshot having gotten their attention. I get ready to shoot them as well, but within just a few seconds, fifteen or twenty of them have already exited the cave and they don't seem to be coming to an end anytime soon. Their stench burns my nostrils.
"Shit, there's too many of them! Follow me!"
I turn around and begin running, not sure where to, but wanting to put some distance between us and them. I look back once and see that there's at least fifty of them now.
Anne: "What are we going to do?!"
"Just keep fucking running!"
With our bags of supplies, we can't run very fast, but it's still faster than the speed of the zombies. After a couple minutes of running, I change directions and start moving parallel with the cliff line so we don't end up back there and I hope to find a way around the caves. We don't get far though when I see the outline of a roundish, stone structure in the distance: another portal gate. I point at it as we run.
"See that?"
Anne: "Yeah..."
"That's where we're going."
Reaching it a lot sooner than I expected us to, I look back again and see that the zombies are still following us. I estimate that we have about ten minutes at the most before they catch up to us. I don't tell her that though. The last thing I need right now is for her to start panicking.
Anne: "So how do we open it?"
I step over to a round piece of stone on the ground next to the gate. It's about three feet in diameter and almost reaches my waist. Thirty dials marked by different symbols are on top with the same symbols on the outer edge like on a clock. Four cranks are attached to the sides of the structure that can be used to turn the dials.
"Those dials, I think they need to be lined up with the symbols on the outside."
Anne: "And what if we can't figure it out before the zombies get here?!"
Not with the whiney, depressing attitude again...
"Then we'll figure out something else. Just stand back and let me work on this."
I begin turning the nearest crank, causing only some of the dials to rotate. After I have a couple of them lined up with their corresponding symbols, I move on to the next crank. Behind me, she's pacing, constantly looking back at the zombies.
Anne: "Hurry up! They're getting closer!"
"Stop looking at them then."
She doesn't, but I don't care really. Figuring out how to open this portal is more important to me right now, because if I have to be stuck here with her much longer, I might just go jump into some lava again and this time I'll make sure I go all the way in. We should still have a few minutes anyway.
When there's only a couple more dials left to line up, she screams. I look and see that the zombies are only about a fifty feet away now and there's at least a hundred of them in the crowd.
"Fuck."
I begin working on the dials faster, trying to get them all lined up properly. Right when the zombies are beginning to close in around us, I get it. A bright, bluish glow quickly fills the structure from the middle, opening the portal, but I don't know for how long.
"Yes! Let's get out of here!"
I approach the portal, not knowing where on Earth exactly it'll take me to and at the moment, it doesn't really matter to me. I start to go forward when I hear her scream again. I turn my head to look and find that several of the zombies have grabbed her, one chewing on a piece of flesh from her arm, her gun on the ground at her feet.
Anne: "Help me, Red! Help!"
She holds her other arm out for me to grab and I start to reach for it but stop myself. This is the perfect opportunity to get rid of her. Besides, she's been bitten. She might turn into one of them now from it and even if she doesn't, she'll probably die from a blood infection or something anyway without proper medical attention and she'll still become one. So instead, I wave goodbye to her, right as another zombie bites into her neck, tearing more meat away. Shoving several zombies back away from me that are getting too close for comfort, I then quickly jump into the portal, leaving Anne and her cries of pain behind.