Yardley. It’s a small town in Pennsylvania bordering the Delaware River, separating the state from New Jersey. Right around the area George Washington crossed the Delaware that famous Christmas during the Revolutionary War for freedom. We rode our bikes up the Delaware and came to a nice house on an embankment and decided to take shelter there. The river provided a natural barrier so we didn’t have to watch the back of the house for threats. There were nine of us back then, a fellowship of survival. Me, my mother, Tim, Eric, Jen, Steve, Celia, Addison, and Heather. My mother and I met up with Tim and Eric on the road over a year ago and decided to band together for new conversation’s sake. We didn’t need each other; Tim and Eric were friends from the army when they were younger and my mother and I were seasoned veterans of our environment, seeing my dad and sister both killed by the Blighted. We allied with Jen, Steve, Celia, Addison, and Heather a few weeks before coming to Yardley. If history did repeat itself, we were hoping to share in some of Washington’s fortune.
We spent a few weeks there, enjoying the fishing opportunities presented to us and the abundance of deer for venison. You could even say we were happy. I could have lived there forever. It was probably a beautiful little town beautiful before the blight. One day, on watch, Addison reported some movement in the woods in front of the house just like what I saw today. We kept watch and it ended up being a lone person dragging a wild turkey fresh from a hunt behind him. We welcomed him into the house, and he introduced himself as Raines.
Raines was a great addition to the house, an able hunter and an avid fisherman. He brought news from Virginia, as that’s where he was originally from before a pack of vampires assaulted his family. He was alone and had wandered our way since. He had been desperate to see someone, anyone, and found a full house.
One night, as we were dining on catfish and canned corn, he decided to skip dinner and go to sleep. "It’s my turn to keep watch tonight, so I want to get some quick sleep on a bed to refresh myself," he said. And we let him go, thinking nothing of it. It wasn’t until we heard the screams that we thought something of it. The screams belonged to my mother.
I woke up in a run to her room, finding Raines standing over my mother, his mouth covered in blood and tendons dangling, mid-chew. Her leg was torn to shreds and she was no longer moving. Six loud bangs later and Tim was standing over Raines with a freshly-unloaded pistol.
We spent a few weeks there, enjoying the fishing opportunities presented to us and the abundance of deer for venison. You could even say we were happy. I could have lived there forever. It was probably a beautiful little town beautiful before the blight. One day, on watch, Addison reported some movement in the woods in front of the house just like what I saw today. We kept watch and it ended up being a lone person dragging a wild turkey fresh from a hunt behind him. We welcomed him into the house, and he introduced himself as Raines.
Raines was a great addition to the house, an able hunter and an avid fisherman. He brought news from Virginia, as that’s where he was originally from before a pack of vampires assaulted his family. He was alone and had wandered our way since. He had been desperate to see someone, anyone, and found a full house.
One night, as we were dining on catfish and canned corn, he decided to skip dinner and go to sleep. "It’s my turn to keep watch tonight, so I want to get some quick sleep on a bed to refresh myself," he said. And we let him go, thinking nothing of it. It wasn’t until we heard the screams that we thought something of it. The screams belonged to my mother.
I woke up in a run to her room, finding Raines standing over my mother, his mouth covered in blood and tendons dangling, mid-chew. Her leg was torn to shreds and she was no longer moving. Six loud bangs later and Tim was standing over Raines with a freshly-unloaded pistol.
