Yet another damn nightmare! This one wasn't about zombies, though. It was about a fire. The forests of the Sierra Nevada were ablaze. The changing colors of the leaves were brought to life by serpentine tongues of flame. They ate the color and turned it black, driven skyward by the fire's menacing roar. It left behind nothing but black, charred branches and stumps, remnants of a once dense forest.
Is this how it's going to be? Something bad will happen, or someone will tell me something awful, and it will manifest itself into another nightmare of mine? I NEVER had this problem in my life. Before the apocalypse, I never had bad dreams. My mind was always of the sort to deal with situations, even when they were at their worst, so I never had the stress to suffer nightmares. Well, I had them when I was a kid, but what kid hasn't had a nightmare? Maybe this is result from my head injury...
Kat suggested I talk to Augustina. Before I arrived to Lock Haven, Kat got to know her a bit and learned that Augustina is a dream interpreter. Well, not a professional one, just a hobby she used to do. I took Kat's advice and asked Augustina if she had a moment to talk. I told her about the nightmares that I've been having, and the events before each one of the dreams. The first two, she said where clearly obvious. The nightmare about Kat turning into Johanna was about the guilt of having been with Kat. The one about Cheyenne rising from the grave was produced by the regret of me not saving Cheyenne. She said the third dream, the one about the forest fire, was more of a premonition. I forgot my manners for a second and claimed bullshit, but immediately apologized.
I told her I didn't believe in premonitions. They weren't real, just dreams and coincidence, but she replied that it didn't matter what I believed or didn't believe. It didn't change the fact that these things are real. So I humored her and said why am I having this premonition? "Premonitions do not choose. They only reveal." That was her answer verbatim. It didn't make any sense to me. It was such a stupid answer, but I held my tongue. I simply thanked her and left.
We had the first snow of the season this morning. It wasn't much, just a dusting and even though it was a bit early, it was far from the record of the earliest snowfall. It was a sign that winter was ready to roll in. After I left Augustina, I headed to our room where Kat was watching a rabbit through the window hopping in the snow. She screamed suddenly, nearly falling out of her bed, but I rushed to her and caught her asking what she saw. Before she could answer, I checked the window myself and saw a bobcat. It caught itself the rabbit. That's what startled Kat. I thought it was something worse. She had her head buried in my chest, but I continued to watch. The bobcat began chewing on the poor hare, but its ears perked up so it grabbed its kill and ran off. I looked through the window from right to left as far as I could, but I saw nothing.
I didn't like the fact that there was snow on the ground, even if it was just a little. It would make today's job of working on the barrier more miserable. It ultimately didn't matter, though. We had a meeting to talk about yesterday's attack and the safety of making the barrier. It was clear that worries stemmed from what happened to Carmello. If a trained military man like Carmello was able to get bit, how soon would the rest of us fall victim? Speaking of Carmello, he's doing fine. Apparently, if you can catch it in time, you can cut off the infected appendage before the virus spreads to save yourself. Survival tip for the day.
Even though it was my idea, I said that we should abandon the attempt, because these things were getting stronger and they would only leap over the cars anyway. Dustin retorted that if we didn't at least try, we would be sitting ducks. The debate was heated until Timothy stood up and blurted out, "WE ARE GOING TO DIE EITHER WAY!"
Everyone was in a stunned silence. Timothy coughed and continued. He reiterated what I said, saying that the zombies were indeed changing. He had no idea why, or what they're changing into, but his point was horrifyingly clear. They were going to win. All it would take is the right number of them, and they would either catch us trying to fortify the barrier, or overwhelm the hospital. They weren't just faster and stronger; they were smarter too. I jutted in and said I was pretty sure they could communicate to one another, more than just groaning that food was found. Timothy then said that there was a definite possibility they could strategize. They were exhibiting sophisticated hunting behaviors, more than the other freshies he's seen.
It was Dustin's turn to stand up and speak out. He asked us what do we suggest we do and I looked him straight in the face and said, "We leave." The room was filled with murmurs and whispers and the cry of Sandra, who let her colored pencils fall to the floor in a clatter. It seemed the room wanted to put it to a vote. 10 raised hands for staying, two for leaving. Mine, and Kat's. Dustin pleaded for us to stay, to help us fortify the hospital. It would be our best shot of surviving. And how was Kat supposed to travel with me on a broken leg? He said I was a bloody fool for thinking of leaving. I didn't bother arguing. He said not to go just yet, to stick around and give it more thought, and I told him I would, although my mind's pretty much made up. The "premonition" is at the front of my mind. I don't know why, but I'm starting to believe it.
I decided to go for a walk, just around the hospital, not far out. I needed some fresh air. I walked alongside the wing that housed our room and I noticed the blood on the snow from where the bobcat made his kill. I also saw the critter's tracks where he took off after he caught wind of something he didn't like. That's when I noticed them; tracks of a different nature, human-sized footprints. A LOT of them. They came from down the street, to the east. There must have been at least eight to nine sets of footprints that I could make out. Who knows how many in total. There was some distance between each one, meaning whoever made them was running. I suddenly got the shivers, not because it was getting colder, but because I suddenly became terrified. I looked around me, not seeing anything, and walked as quickly as I could back to the hospital. I gathered up everyone and said we needed to fortify NOW!
We covered up all the windows we could with beds and cabinets and lockers and tables. We lost all the sunlight from having the windows up, but we did have emergency lighting powered by the gas generator in the basement. We gathered up any weapons we could and locked ourselves in the cabinet. Hours passed as we listened, waiting. Nothing. No slams from the doors on the outside. No rattling of the windows. No snarling or growling or howling or moaning. Dead silence. Nothing but snowflakes falling as another dusting came in. I caught a couple of dirty looks from Dustin and Judith for putting everyone in quite a scare. I didn't feel bad, though. So it didn't happen tonight. I know they're out there waiting for the perfect moment. They'll strike.
We all went back to our rooms, but kept the windows covered. Carmello actually gave us a gift earlier today, a high-tech lantern called a Solar Flare. He said they were developed by the military, but never made it to the public. It was an ingenious lantern. First, you would charge it by leaving it out the in the sun but then when you used it, special panels unfold like flower blossoms on the bottom and top of the lantern to collect any stray beams of light to reuse that energy. It was actually pretty bright for being powered by solar energy, Carmello said they could run all night long and I found that fact to be amazing.
I had a long talk with Kat before she went to bed. I asked if she was sure she wanted to leave with me, and she said that was one of the stupidest questions she was ever asked. She said she loved me and that she wanted to go wherever I wanted to go. That was all I needed to here, but I have one major problem. How am I supposed to travel with her in her condition? I need to get a car. So far, all there is is a truck across the river that they've been using to gather supplies with. I can't take that. It would be too selfish. I know! This is a hospital! And what do hospitals have? AMBULANCES! I'll have to ask about them tomorrow.
We held each other as Kat slept, her head on my shoulder. I envied her. She always manages to sleep so peacefully, while I can't. I should be sleeping now, but I swear I keep hearing scratching at the window. It has to be my imagination. I convinced myself it wasn't them, because if it were, they'd have gotten in by now. I need to get back on the road right away. I think I've stayed here long enough.
Until tomorrow.
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