Community:Fanfiction/Jodie

Jodie is a piece of fanfiction, as part of our Survivor Stories community section, written by Deviant Teal

Background
You find this story as a collection of loose papers over a messy desk. The tale's owner lies at your feet, their body unmoving. The papers are coarse against your finger tips, the ink used to write the story on paper has bled, but it is still decipherable.

A Story in: Post-War Georgia
These things are true. The world is dark, and she is still alive.

"Just don't let go!"

"I am trying, okay!"

"God damn it, come on Jodie, pull!" "I-I can-"

That's when their fingers, slick with grim and water, unwove from their braid, and Jodie's stomach flew out of her body as the weightless sensation of falling overwhelmed her. The right side of her body skidded across the cement wall she had been hanging from before her back suddenly smacked hard against the surface of a pool of water. She opened her mouth in a gasp from the pain, a poor decision on her part as the air evaporated from her lungs and she began to sink.

She clawed her way up, her fingers desperately trying to breach the surface for a scoop of air. Just when her eyes began to sting from the putrid water, she broke the surface and gulped up the air. Her vision was hazy, but she could make out a nearby platform, somewhere she could recover. Aching, her back feeling like mush, she managed to sidestroke her way to the platform and heave herself atop the surface.

For a while, she did nothing but watch as her chest heaved up and down, her fingers shaking. Her spine was buzzing, but she didn't feel any intense pain. She blinked the water out of her eyes and looked up. Above her was a ceiling of glass, a plane of windows that stretched from one side of the room to the other. She could see the millions of raindrops pounding away tirelessly at the pre-war structure.

A structure that once stood so tall, that Jodie had heard it could touch the clouds. Then the bombs dropped and the building was snapped in two, the upper levels falling sideways top the lower half. How were they supposed to know it was going to rain- no- monsoon while they were scavenging here? She exhaled and closed her eyes.

These things are true.The world is dark, and she is still alive.

Jodie went to sit up, realizing that nothing would get done if she sat around. She confirmed two things. One, the water was rising; when she pressed her hands against the surface she was met with a small- plish- as her hand hit the water. Two, her shoulder was bleeding, looking at it she could see several small chunks of skin missing her exposed pink flesh, that stung against the wet air. She looked up from where she fell.

"Hey!"

Her call echoed in the room, but the only noise that replied was the indifferent rain still thundering down. In the back of her head, she knew they had left as soon as she disappeared underneath the murky green water. They didn't need to compensate her or divide the spoils they might find, the place was filled with exciting tech left behind by the skeletons that decorated the place.

With no help coming and the water level rising she needed a way out. She scanned her surroundings, her eyes blanketing the old office that was now partially submerged. That's when she spotted the door. It was on the wall, hanging about four feet above the ground, its rusted curved handle dropping downwards.

Jodie stood and began sloshing through the moss-colored water towards the door. She looked up and exhaled before bending her knees and pushing off the ground as hard as she could. Her back screamed as straightened out, throwing her off.

Sploosh! Her boots smacked back into the water and the sound reverberated in the room. Then, she heard something, something hitting the floor with a loud- thud- she scanned her environment and looked up from the wall she had tumbled from. Another sound came from above, like something being knocked over, it broke the static noise of the rain. It was the reason why this place was left alone by the locals. It was them.

Her heart now kicked into overdrive, and she jumped again. Her back painfully reminded her that it was a hot stick of iron, but her hand gripped the handle and in one fell swoop she pulled it. The door swung open nearly smashing her in the head as it fell downwards in her direction. Instead, it crashed against the wall, rattling noisily. Jodie didn't hesitate, she jumped again and leaped through the portal that was too dark to see through.

She was falling again. The wind was whistling in her ears as she watched door after door fly by on either side of her. She was tumbling down a long hallway. In the distance, she could hear a call, a strange noise, made by them.

Shlick! That was the sound that the broken piece of piping made as it punctured through Jodie's thigh. She let out a gasping cry and clutched her leg, a sob building in her throat that she struggled to keep down while also trying to keep her breathing even. Through her teary vision, she looked down.

It was as bad as the noise sounded, the only good thing was that she had fallen on her side so the small pipe had skewered her thigh from one side of the hamstrings to the other. That didn't stop her from almost blacking out as she watched blood spill down her leg into her boot. She knew that technically her best bet was to lie there and leave the pipe where it was and avoid bleeding out. But there was no help coming to treat her injuries. The only thing that was coming for her was them.

These things are true. The world is dark, and she is still alive.

She twisted her body and another wave of pain almost washed away her fragile consciousness. Unable to keep away the emotions anymore, she started to cry, even so, she pushed through it, tearing off a piece of clothing that was already strips of cloth on her sleeves and tried her best to wrap the wound.

A low-pitched bone-chilling sound dripped into the air, it was like someone had taken a metal bowl and dragged a wooden mallet around the rim. They were coming.

Jodie tries to force herself to stand, but her leg retorts with a spike of fire, and her chin smacks the cement floor. She tries again, dazed, using a knocked-over chair that lies sideways nearby as leverage.

The sound continued to wash over her, it began to pulse, becoming higher in pitch. It drowns her in its unwavering tone, she stumbles to her feet. She looks forward and sees a broken window just thirty feet away. She could see the rain pouring down outside and the mist blanketing the ruins of Mirewich.

But the pulse is growing stronger and her stamina is fading. Then the hair on the back of her neck stands, and the overwhelming feeling that she was being watched drowns her senses. She steals. Just. One. Look.

They were enveloped in the shadows of the room. They were large, eight- maybe nine or ten feet, easy. Any more detail was lost to the darkness. The pitch grew louder.

She broke out into a run, the fastest she could while feeling the strings in her leg snapping with every push she could muster. She was stumbling badly, into old furniture, over her own feet. The pitch grew to an unbearable tone in her ear.

She could smell the rain now it was right there she could stretch out her hand and let the raindrops dribble on her skin. Suddenly the tone stopped. The sound was gone, replaced by the thundering rain.

Her vision could make out the ruins of Mirewich. The same vision was going black as she looked down where they had punctured through her gut.

These things are true. The world is dark.