Awakening: Parables From The Apocalypse - Dystopian Fiction Read Online Free Page A

arms get used to supporting you.”
     
    Chaz continued inching the walker forward, shuffling his feet to catch up.  Within a few minutes, he was almost at the door.  His arms were starting to shake, and sweat was forming on his forehead. 
     
    Matt started closing the door and said, “Nice job there, Colonel.  I think that’s maybe enough for now; let’s head back to your bed.  I’ll save the surprise for another day.”
    “The hell it is, boy!  You had that door open, and I damn well intend to take this rig outside.  Open that door.”  Matt stood there and started to speak, but Chaz interrupted.  “You open that door or I’ll send myself and this walker crashing to the floor and break as many bones as I can.  Try explaining that to your bosses.”
    “Colonel, you’re shaking and already straining yourself.  If we go too far you won’t be able to get back.”
    “Boy, this isn’t sweat. I’m barely getting warmed up.  Believe me, you have no idea what I’m capable of.  I’ve been in worse shape than this and managed to evade a hundred freaks with nothing but a butter knife in my pocket.”
    Matt smiled and said, “That’s a lie.”
    “The hell it is.  What you didn’t know is that it was one of those plastic butter knives.  The ones that break when you try to butter a damn roll.  I’ll tell you the whole story another day.  Right now, what I want you to do is open that door before I do something really stupid.”
     
    Matt reluctantly opened the door and waved the colonel through.  Chaz continued shuffling along, and just to prove his point he picked up the pace and moved the walker almost a foot ahead of him each time.
     
    “Easy there, Colonel.”
     
    Chaz continued as quickly as he could, moving down the hall.  There was no slowing his pace.  The hall was long enough and there were plenty of chairs placed along the way where he could have stopped and rested, but Chaz insisted on moving along.  Matt just kept shaking his head and hovering as close as Chaz would allow.   Chaz didn’t stop till he got to the end of the hall, where a janitor was sweeping.  He was visibly out of breath, and both his arms and legs were shaking.  When Matt motioned to the chair, Chaz shook his head and said, “No, I can make it back.  Just get out of my way and let me go.”
    “Actually, Colonel, I think you may just want to have a seat.”  He motioned to the janitor coming towards them.  Chaz looked a little closer.
    “I know him.  He’s different.  He’s aged.  What happened to him?”
    “Have a seat, Colonel.  You should let him tell his story.”  Matt turned to the janitor.  “Alex.  Come over here.  There’s someone you should say hi to.”  Matt moved across the hall to give them some privacy.
     
    Alex set down his broom, and moved quickly to take a seat next to the colonel.  “Well, what do you know?  The old bastard’s actually awake.  I never thought I’d ever see you out of that bed.  What the hell took you so long?  Things really haven’t been the same around here without you.  I mean of course you’ve been here, you just haven’t been very participative.”
    Chaz wiped the sweat off his brow and managed a smile. “It hasn’t really been that long for me, kid.  It only seems like yesterday.  For all I know, it was yesterday, and these bastards,” Chaz motioned to Matt, “have been lying to me the last few days.  I don’t really know what to think these days.  Sometimes I think my mind is playing tricks on me.  Been having strange dreams, and not sleeping very well.  Guess I did enough of that over the last few years.”
    “Yeah, things didn’t turn out so great for me either.  After what happened with Christa, people around here weren’t that happy with me.”
    Chaz shook his head.  “They never liked us much here to start with.  All they were really interested in was Christa.”
    Alex grimaced.  “That’s not entirely true.  I