Chapter 11: Sanctuary

Fear pushed her forward. Fear and a new sense of self-preservation kept her stumbling blindly through the forest away from the sounds of gunshots, and animalistic screams of the undead. The hundreds of cuts that covered her body hadn’t had a chance to clot, re-opening and tearing with every step. The night was cold, the wind unforgiving to her naked skin. Still, she pushed on through the unknown darkness before her. She couldn’t help feeling as if the creatures were in pursuit. During the course of her torture, hundreds had spawned out of the darkness and she could still hear their grotesque child-like laughter and smelt their stink of rotten flesh. She had wanted to die so badly. She had tried to kill herself, and yet here she was, the pain reminding her that she hadn’t crossed over, that she wasn’t safe.

“Out of the woods.” She thought to herself. The saying almost brought on a smile.

Suddenly she crumpled to the ground. Her legs refused to move anymore, the hardwire to her brain severed. She felt the patchy grass beneath her body. It was cold and damp. The sharp rocks and wood hidden within cut through her skin, adding to the pulpy mess of blood and torn skin covering her body. Under normal circumstances she would have cursed in irritation, but in her current state she was too exhausted to not appreciate such the small ‘inconvenience’. The forest became even darker as her consciousness, defeated, gave into sleep.

When she awoke she found herself on a bed. The trace of musk and oil mixed with the fresh cold air flowing through the open window reminded her of how alone she was. Somewhere in her distant memory she recalled how she came to be here, but she quickly tossed the thought away as the door opened and the silhouette of a tall and slender man approached. “How are you feeling, hon?” the stranger asked in a soft comforting tone. She opened her mouth to speak. It was dry and she felt the crusted blood flake off her lips.

She trembled, “Where am I?”

“Lakeshore. I saw you lyin’ out on the road outside an..” he hesitated and quickly turned his head nervously. It was in that instant that she realized that she was completely naked besides the blanket which lay on top of her. She started to cry. The drifting in an out of consciousness had left her confused. Everything seemed so surreal as if she had woken up from a series of nightmares. She felt violated and helpless. She quickly checked her sores and found nothing unusual except for a cut on her upper left-hand cheek. Strange, she could have sworn...

The farmer had called for his wife.

“Take care of the children, I don’t want them to see,” a husky woman’s voice urged. A dog barked in the distance. Rachael pulled the cover up to her chin and quickly, as if by instinct, wiped the tears and dried blood away from her face. Her short hair was a tangled mess and she instinctively brushed it back with her fingers. Her face instantly became damp with sweat. A stout woman, who looked to be in her late forties, entered the room.

“You’ve been out for nearly two days miss. Are you feelin’ okay?”

“Not really. What happened?” Her voice trembling a bit.

“I was hoping you would know.” The woman smiled. Her voice was comforting. “We found you outside in the fields, you were cut up pretty bad. Almost thought you wouldn’t make it. Speaking of which, do you mind if I check out your wounds?"

Rachel lifted the sheet afraid of what she would find underneath and was surprised to see that most of the cuts had healed over so that there were barely any trace of scars.

"Oh, my Lord!" The woman stared in disbelief and Racheal could see the fear in her eyes matching that of her own.