Faith in the Apocalypse -

Survivors in the zombie apocalypse

As a deadly disease ravages the world and mother nature rids herself of the scourge of humanity, a small group of survivors manage to hang on with the help of an old hermit. The zombie apocalypse re-imagined, according to me.

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This story started out a long time ago as a Halloween project but as I wrote, it became more engrossing and more enjoyable. Be ready, it has a long buildup.

I enjoy making up stories and sharing them. I also find that good sex scenes give them an interesting and adult element of excitement, making them more interesting and pleasurable to read.

Most people come on this site for a quick rub-out, I've written more than a few that are good for that, but this isn't one of them. In other words, if you're looking for quick gratification, this story isn't for you. For the rest of you, I hope you enjoy the ride.

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Faith in the Apocalypse

Part 1

by st0rmbringer

The small sleepy northeast Texas town of Alba was a hub of excitement as two rivals battled hard on the gridiron. The Alba-Golden Panthers faced the Emory Wildcats.

The streets, houses and businesses in both towns were nearly empty as almost every member of the two communities crowded onto the cold metal stands to watch the game.

Football was the small town's national sport. They were born for it. They were hooked on the Friday night lights experience. It bonded communities and gave people a common goal and weekly excitement.

This night, they crowded the tall metal bleachers, talking excitedly, eagerly watching the light-flooded field.

The crowd hushed. It was third down and inches. The Panthers were on the 27 yard line. They'd driven consistently across the field, play after play. Short gains only. One more push and they'd be within easy reach of the end-zone and four more tries for a touchdown.

"HUT, HUT!"

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Faith McCallister was one of a seven-person pyramid. She and one of her teammates held up one of the girls. They braced against a twin group and together held up the smallest member of the cheerleading squad.

At some point the girl she and her partner held up, along with the twin team next to them, would toss the tiny girl at the top of the pyramid in the air and yet another team would catch her. It was a difficult maneuver, but they'd practiced it hundreds of times and were good at it.

Faith held her position, her arms and legs trembled with the strain, but she was strong and still had plenty of fuel in the tank. She belted out her part in the cheer and watched her friend's face as they worked together seamlessly to hold up the other members of the squad.

She was focused on her part in the maneuver and didn't notice the sudden change in air. In a split second, the atmosphere in the bleachers went from cheerful and excited to confused, panicked and horrified.

And the screams began.

She stood looking up, concentrating hard, when a surging body smashed into her back sending her crashing into her partner, tumbling the other cheerleaders on top of her in a jumble of arms and legs.

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Alba was a highly conservative town, its people prone to believing conspiracy theories and misinformation. Many of them were obstinate and believed what they wanted to believe regardless off facts. Their minds were made up and that was that.

For weeks, newscasts from most networks reported a deadly disease raging through the country, something vastly different from the Corona virus.

Every major news network delved into the story. Conservative networks, however, downplayed the seriousness of the infection. Popular shows and personalities referred to it as "fake news" and declared the CDC's urgent releases on the spread of the deadly disease as false and misleading.

Maybe it was an effort by Mother Nature to rid itself of the human virus hell-bent on destroying her. Maybe she developed an immune system and produced a pathogen to rid her of the pests poisoning the oceans, filling the atmosphere with carbon dioxide, consuming her resources, forcing changes to the weather and killing her children.

Eventually, not wanting to cause a panic, the government imposed a media blackout. News stories about the disease stopped flooding the airwaves, social media and the internet. If anything did pop up, it disappeared within minutes.

The virus spread rapidly. It had a short incubation period and was transmitted through air droplets and fluids. It spread fast enough the government imposed a mandatory 'stay in place' quarantine and declared a state of emergency. Nearly every state deployed its national guard and stopped local and international travel.

The disease, commonly known as the "EP Virus" for Encephalitis Parafrosyni, severely affected a variety of brain functions through the hypothalamus. It drove the infected virtually insane, elevating their temperature, taking away all natural human emotions and needs... except for the urge to eat... and kill.

Within hours of exposure, the infected suffered severe seizures, their temperatures skyrocketed, a bloody froth foamed from their mouths, and they rose twitching and moaning a high-pitched whine, their bloodshot eyes shining with madness and hunger, their souls, their spirits, their personalities gone forever. The spark that made them human was consumed by the disease.

The infected ran unchecked in every major city and crowded urban center.

They attacked anything that moved without warning or provocation. They ignored any danger to themselves or others. The disease was so contagious and quick to take effect that most people didn't know what was happening and didn't have a chance to avoid the raging attacks before the infected were on them, savagely tearing at them with teeth and nails, consuming their bloody still-quivering flesh.

They ran with tireless energy, no matter their physical condition before their infection.

The burning heat of their diseased bodies preceded them as their infected hypothalamus failed to regulate their temperature.

The old, the very young and the unhealthy usually died of a heart attack or some other medical condition, their bodies unable to handle the severe stress, madness and raging hunger.

To the horror and dismay of those who managed to avoid the disease, those who were killed or died while infected didn't just die, their bodies were somehow reanimated.

Half-devoured cadavers rose again several hours after their death as the monstrous disease somehow animated the bodies. But they were shambling corpses, bent on devouring the living while the flesh they consumed fueled their need for more and more.

For some strange reason, neither the infected nor the undead attacked each other. It was unknown whether this was one of the disease's many defense mechanisms or just an element of chance.

Infection spread exponentially throughout the world, spreading outwards from crowded urban regions to the suburbs and beyond.

But the people in the sleepy towns of Alba and Emory had ignored the news or listened to right-wing politicians and talking heads on their favorite right-wing news channel tell them there was no raging virus, that the people attacking others were crisis actors hired by the deep state.

They dismissed all rumors of the disease just as most of them dismissed the Coronavirus pandemic only a few years before. They chose to believe what was convenient, not necessarily what was true.

Little did they know that about 75 miles to their west, Dallas was completely overrun. Hordes of the infected overwhelmed Army National Guard and active-duty units deployed to eradicate and contain them. A writhing mass of the raging living and shambling undead tore into the soldiers, infecting them and adding their numbers to the hungering multitude.

They swept eastwards across the countryside infecting whole towns as they spread out, whining and sprinting or moaning and shambling.

Meanwhile, the teams played on and the people on the bleachers roared in excitement as the ball was snapped.

Then there was terror and chaos as a whining horde of red-eyed demons and moaning shambling corpses poured onto the field and into the bleachers.

And the screaming began.

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Faith blacked out. When she came to, she was confused, her head pounded and her body was nearly immobile.

The muffled sounds of screaming pierced her consciousness.

She lay on her belly. The pressure from the pile of squirming bodies on top of her pressed her into the plush and sweet-smelling fresh-cut grass.

A foot smashed into her back repeatedly as she struggled to squirm out from under the tangle of struggling limbs and interlocked bodies piled on top of her.

Her head ached and she suspected she'd passed out for a few seconds from a knock on the head. Very little time seemed to have passed since the pyramid tumbled down.

Faith was confused. The jumble of squirming bodies on top of her kept her from seeing the reason for the screams. She didn't understand what was going on. Who slammed into her in the middle of a cheer? Why were people screaming? What the hell was going on?

The weight smothering her suddenly eased and she was able to breathe better but she was still pinned to the ground. The blows from the foot steadily kicking her back got weaker and weaker.

Panic and helplessness built inside her as the crushing weight shifted and churned. She felt a hot thick liquid drench her back and the coppery scent of fresh blood filled her nostrils.

Her claustrophobic panic intensified and she struggled aimlessly, trying to shove away the people pinning her to the ground, but all she managed to do was squirm in place. Terror of suffocating to death filled her mind with dread and intensified her panic.

She felt dizzy and her vision became blurry. Not that she could see much.

Realizing she was hyperventilating, she stopped squirming, sat rock still and tried to breathe normally. Eventually, she calmed down and became more methodical in her escape attempts.

The coppery scent of blood, the cloying sweet reek of rotting meat, and the stink of sweat and fear flooded her flaring nostrils as she squirmed and struggled towards freedom.

Faith braced her elbows beneath her and using all the strength in her young athletic body, slowly dragged herself from under the pile of struggling bodies an inch at a time. She waited until the pile shifted and the weight on her back eased before squirming further and further from the pile.

The screams beyond got louder as she struggled until her head poked out from under the writhing pile of struggling forms.

She looked around to see chaos and mayhem.

She watched strangers with bright red eyes and savage expressions on their faces tackle her classmates and fans running from the stands. She saw bright splashes of red and heard a cacophony of high-pitched whines from the gaping mouths of the red-eyed fiends, moans coming from shambling slow-moving people in rags, and the piercing screams of the people running from them.

It was a confusing mass of people, piercing terrified screams and savage rending teeth and ragged nails.

Now in a complete panic, she struggled and yanked until only her feet were under the heavy pile of struggling bodies. Many of the people in the struggling pile were not wearing cheerleading uniforms. She saw the strangers ripping into her friends with their teeth, raking them with their nails, rending chunks of quivering flesh from their bodies.

She finally managed to snatch her feet from under the pile of squirming screaming, moaning people.

She gagged and walked backwards on her hands and feet, watching in horrified fascination as her friends were ripped to shreds before her horrified eyes.

She bumped into someone, started, and glanced around, realizing what was happening in the pyramid pile was happening all around her.

She quickly got to her feet, ducked away from the person she'd bumped into and raced towards the edge of the football field where a short fence divided the athletic grounds from a 50-yard-long meadow leading to a stand of shadowy trees.

She ran, somehow finding a gap between the struggling forms and threaded her way to the fence at the edge of the orange foam running track surrounding the football field.

Terror gripped her, a terror so intense it made her want to roll into a fetal position and cover her head with her arms, to block out the horrors happening around her, to block out the screams and the bright red blood, to block out the demonic faces devouring human flesh with expressions of joyful ecstasy on their blood-drenched mad faces.

Faith had no idea she was screaming in terror, a high piercing shriek that was drowned by the screaming running, killing and dying people around her.

Her screaming mouth open wide, she looked around in a panic and noticed others running from the whining monsters in human form, including her best friend, Lynn who suddenly tripped and tumbled to the ground as she raced towards her.

Faith shut her mouth and sprinted to her friend and helped her to her feet.

Holding hands, the two of them ran pell-mell for the fence. The red-eyed monsters were everywhere, running, moaning, biting and rending with jagged nails. Blood and gore dripped from their chewing whining mouths.

By some freak chance, the monsters didn't attack them as they ran to the fence. They were too busy devouring other struggling, screaming victims and failed to notice the two girls.

Faith dragged and pulled at her friend, trying to urge her to greater speed.

She could've easily left her behind, besides being a cheerleader, she was in the track and field team. She'd been running for years. She was a sprinter and a long-distance runner.

Faith glanced back and saw a teenage boy get tackled by an old man dressed in torn and bloody rags. The old man's body was a feverish red, his wide soulless eyes were bloodshot and mindless with hunger, and his mouth was open and whining.

Faith and Lynn screamed when the old man sank his teeth savagely into the boy's neck, tearing and rending with broken jagged teeth. The old man shook his head like a dog playing tug of war and bright red blood jetted from the boy's neck to spray the grass crimson around him. The old man continued to tear and rend, whining and mindless in his hunger while the boy squirmed and squealed like a gutted pig beneath him, trying to buck the old man off.

The two girls turned away from the horrific scene and ran screaming in terror. Shrieks and wails filled their ears as red-eyed devils bounded behind them, leaping on other panicked running people.

Faith felt a sudden flush of heat and then she was spun around as Lynn's hand was torn from her grasp. She watched in horror as a tall athletic young man in a torn and bloody gray business suit ripped through her friend's vest and into her flesh with claw-like hands, sending sprays of blood in all directions.

Lynn held her hand out to Faith and screamed in agony and terror.

"Don't leave me, Faith! Help me!" she screeched through the bubbling red froth that formed at corners of her mouth and weakly tried to push away the man clawing and ripping into her belly, yanking out her steaming intestines.

Faith took a step towards her but when she saw the man's face suddenly whip up to stare at her with savage intensity, ice ran through her veins, and she turned and ran in panic. She'd never forget the crazed bloodshot eyes staring mindlessly into hers, the blood-smeared face, and the chewing mouth with a piece of her friend's bloody flesh dangling from his lips.

She sensed the man sprinting after her, leaving Lynn lying bloody on the ground, her stomach drenched in blood and her mouth opened wide, wailing in agony at the realization that she would soon die.

Faith ran. She never looked back, but her friend's screams followed her every step of the way. She'd never forget those screams. They'd echo in her dreams the rest of her life along with memories of her cowardice and shame.

Arms and legs pumping, Faith hurdled over the short chain-link fence and sprinted through the field's tall grass for a small break in the woods. It was a faint overgrown trail, but maybe she could use it to lose the bloodthirsty monster bounding after her in long leaping strides.

The tall grass whipped and stung her bare legs as she ran. She heard more than a dozen panting whines behind her as other monsters joined the crazed man in the torn gray suit. It sounded as if they were right at her heels.

Their bellies filled with blood and human flesh, their bodies were fueled and energized for the chase. Other shadowy forms followed behind, slower but just as singularly focused on catching her and devouring her.

She plunged into the woods at a full sprint, following the faint trail while the ravening infected raced after her, nothing in their minds but the overwhelming instinct to kill and devour her.

She was lucky there was a full moon. Its faint blue light filtered between the tree branches and illuminated the faint track before her. It was dark beneath the leafy canopy. She had to concentrate hard to stay on the path, but the splashes of blue light bathed the trail before her enough for her to follow it.

The monsters stumbled behind, caroming into trees and crashing mindlessly through the brush. They fell behind, but stayed close enough so that their hungry whines fed her fear.

She ran on, coming to forks in the trail where she had to decide which way to go. The forks came more and more often as she ran. At one point where the threes thinned out to her left, she spied the moon's reflection on a body of water.

She was glad for the cross-fit shoes she wore, they protected her feet and gave her good traction, but she wished she were wearing spandex beneath her uniform. The spanks she wore under her cheerleading skirt rode up and chaffed the skin of her inner thighs. Her cheerleading uniform wasn't made for long distance running.

She ran on. Her breath wheezed in her burning throat, her calves started to cramp, her thighs ached, and her lungs burned but she ran on. Her mouth was dry as the desert and her uniform was soaked with sweat.

She slowed down to a walk to give her body a little time to recover, but after a few minutes she heard the monsters renew their efforts to reach her. Their panting whines got louder and rose several octaves. She knew they were behind her, and they were single-minded in their determination to catch her.

She had to keep going. She stepped out, lengthened her stride and ran on, calming her fear and finally settling into her normal long distance running rythm.

Faith had to make several more choices as forks in the trail appeared before her. She had no idea how long she'd been running or how far she'd gone, but she could still hear the monsters behind her. She had to continue.

Then the trail suddenly ended.

Panting, she came to a stop before a pair of tall wide wooden gates. An eight-foot-tall fence with coils of concertina razor wire at its top stretched out to the doors' left and the right.

Faith heard the unsteady thump of running footsteps and the snap of twigs behind her and pounded on one of the thick doors with her fists. Tears streamed down her panicked face.

"Let me in! Please let me in," she screamed. "They're coming!"

She heard a deep gravelly voice from above and looked up to see a shaggy head silhouetted against the large blue moon beyond. It sounded like an old man, probably standing on a platform on the other side of the fence.

"Who's coming?" the man asked. "Is it the government?"

Faith turned and braced her back against one of the rough wooden doors. She looked down the path she'd followed and saw the man in the suit stumbling through the shadows. At least 20 other shambling forms were scattered behind him. Their eyes seemed to glow red in the darkness.