~ Dark 30 ~
(part 1)
"It's a long dense foggy road,
the sun absent from the sky,
it's a long way home,
the gas is low and the breaks are giving out,
the night surrounds me,
with this chorus,
the reminder,
"I'm alone."
"Dark 30"
(part 2)
"I need some kind of comfort,
the still silent trance,
beckons me back to a wicked hollow,
back to dispair,
a night you wish you would have brought a weapon,
(or a flashlight)
something solid and sturdy,
to the edge past midnight,
the time... dark 30."
~Dark 30~
(part 3)
"an eerie black mist rolls in,
from the desert sands,
101,
the hiway oddly abandoned,
a faint symphony of moans,
engulfs my senses,
the mysterious caterwaul,
of the strange,
and unknown."
~Dark 30~
(part 4)
my only choice is to turn back,
weakened with sickness,
I was in no mood to revisit,
the cool dry confines,
of a room with no windows to the outside,
but I guess I did feel bad,
for leaving them behind,
my best friend and a missionaries son."
~Dark 30~
(part 5)
"I pull into town again,
the roads are pitch black,
just 30 minutes before,
the city was home,
the parking lot where I work,
stricken with silence,
not a car in sight,
my adrenaline begins to rush in,
I remember the bible at my side,
suddenly my car is shaken,
my windows,
shattered."
~Dark 30~
(part 6)
"the radio flickers on,
"this just in,
the city of scottsdale,
has been taken seige,
by what can only be confirmed as,
the undead,"
an sometimes you wish you hadn't
let her talk you into getting the dog,
instead of the gun,
I feel coarse rotten flesh,
squeeze my neck."
~Dark 30~
(part 7)
"startled I look back,
nothing is there,
I can feel myself breath,
a brief sigh of momentary relief,
I get out of the car,
walk down the corridor to the entrance,
the alarm monitoring base,
inside is the laughter of my co-workers,
watching over the night,
"I'm sorry,"
still the echo of wailing...
haunts me."
~Dark 30~
(part 8)
"she says I look like I've seen a ghost,
Vision has a way with the obvious,
they thanked me for coming back,
but they hadn't gotten a call,
since I left,
Brayden pushes his glasses up,
then rocks back in his chair,
I log in,
the screen reads,
primary phone fail,
secondary phone fail,
"try calling a tech!"
Vision exclaims,
"we've lost the land phones."
[Dark 30]
(part 9)
"field this is base come in",
"come in base,"
the lines are down,
nothing new, only never this long,
"Drake is that you"
Brayden asks with curiousity,
static comes over the cell,
louder,
louder,
then a scream,
"base... their coming for you!!"
[ Dark 30 ]
(part 10)
"Brayden starts to laugh,
but no one thinks it's funny,
either Drake was messing with us,
or something was out there,
the cameras eye,
searches high and low,
they walk slowly through the night,
without aim or regard,
Vision stares into the monitor,
"there must be hundreds of them."
~Dark 30~
(part 11)
"what are we going to do,"
we'd all thought about it in our heads,
if you have ever worked
the graveyard shift,
in curious circumstances,
you expect the graveyard,
the hollowed eyes,
of the haunt,
banging at the doors,
tearing at the walls."
~Dark 30~
(part 12)
"with no weapons,
our only chance was to get some here,
we could hold up at the IPC Center,
for awhile,
but they would be coming,
some with lightning speed,
first appearing,
then just the absence of shadow,
Vision calls 911,
if the dead show up in squad cars,
maybe they'll incidentally bring
guns."
~Dark 30~
( part 13 )
"we can hear the zombies trying to get in,
the camera's sketchy imagery,
haunts like flaring poltergeists,
the gate outside would have bought us
some more time,
but it was unlocked,
they were already at the outer doors,
there are a few rattling at the front,
I grab a knife from the breakroom,
"when I hear sirens,
I'm going for the guns."
~Dark 30~
( part 14 )
"Vision starts to barricade the back door,
"Jess, you come back alive,
don't leave us here,"
I saw the fear in her eyes,
this is the place where reason
and adrenaline collide,
Brayden climbed the center desk,
he's looking for a way to the roof,
in case help is never coming."
~Dark 30~
( part 15 )
"I can see through the window,
the partrol has arrived,
the shock came over me,
the police were alive,
five cars in all,
they fired at the zombies heads,
bullets piercing the night sky,
but unlike in so many movies,
it only angered them,
and drew the attention,
of hundreds more."
~Dark 30~
( part 16 )
"get back inside,
we've got this under control",
one of the frantic officers commands,
"well their still coming",
they began shooting at their legs,
crippled,
they would fall to the ground and start crawling,
the guns slowed them down,
but didn't stop them,
I made my way to one of the cars,
and took the radio,
"we need help, is there anyone out there?"
the only voice on the other side,
was a scream."
~Dark 30~
( part 17 )
"I make a break for one of the cars,
11 officers are starting to feel they
are not getting out of this alive,
"get back inside,"
but my ears fail to hear,
the back seats are loaded with guns,
they must have taken every piece
in the precinct,
rounds of bullets,
the glimmer of defense,
we wouldn't be going down without a fight."
~Dark 30~
( part 18 )
"shots fire all around me,
the undead keep coming,
several take down one of the police,
and tear him apart,
I feel the trickle of death in my chest,
but my thoughts are back inside,
are Vision and Brayden okay?,
I grab as many guns as I can and run for the door,
one by one,
our protectors are devoured and their flesh shreaded,
as I try to pull an officer inside
he tries to push me away,
and cocks his gun one last time,
"go!"
~Dark 30~
( part 19 )
"he's going to come back for us!"
Vision comforts Brayden,
(who is praying in the corner)
he looks up at the hole he made in the ceiling,
"It should give us a lot of time,
the walls up there are thick,
and there should be many places in the darkness,
to hide",
when they break into the IPC,
Vision knows they need to leave me behind,
and I am having problems of my own."
~Dark 30~
( part 20 )
"sweating with the flu,
I manage to pull the office inside,
I lock the door drenched in his blood,
he pulls me close,
slowly dying by his own hand,
"tell my family...."
silence fills the room,
until the sounds of moaning fill the halls,
they are coming in through the windows,
I take the guns and race down the corridor
to the IPC room,
Brayden looks me in the eye,
"What's wrong Jess?"
~Dark 30~
(part 21)
"I don't reply
and that can only mean one thing,
the zombies are at the employee entrance,
to the IPC room,
it's weakness is the window,
held back by only a thin metal wiring,
and two panes of glass,
one shattered they climb over one another,
like a predator in sight of blood,
just then they swarm through the back door
of the server room that leads to us,
5, 10, 15, 20 .....
~ Dark 30 ~
( part 22 )
"quickly we lift ourself into the space,
between the fragile ceiling and the roof,
each of us has two guns,
each of us has plenty of bullets,
the breathe not as quick as the heart,
our eyes strained,
looking down into the hole,
carefully stepping on only the support beams,
one slip,
one missed step,
one bad fall,
and the carriers of death,
could murder us all..."
~ Dark 30 ~
( part 23 )
"their stench rises up into the air,
like venom it fills our lungs,
we couch almost in unison,
Brayden aims his gun down into the hole,
something pulls it away,
something pulls it away,
silence,
our minds count seconds
like clocks that don't move,
boom, boom, boom,
bullets penetrate the ceiling beneath us,
"run".
~ Dark 30 ~
( part 24)
"we dash for the corners,
it's hiding places,
Vision is a tic slow,
her leg shaking violently,
a clean break through,
the bullet lodged in a piece of wood above us,
I wrap her wound with my work shirt,
the blood leaks down through the cracks,
below they get a taste
and they only want more,
"it's over"
Vision starts to cry.."
~Dark 30~
( part 25 )
"there was this movie from the 70's
where these people were attacked by zombies."
"this isn't story time Brayden,"
he calmly grabs my hand,
"listen"
Vision wipes away her tears,
"I don't know how long it took them to
figure it out,
or how many of them winded up getting
killed,
but the most effective way to destroy them,
is to shot them in the head"
we hear a loud snapping sound."
~Dark 30~
( part 26 )
"the ceiling gives way and Brayden falls,
6 feet to the table below,
"Jess" he yells,
one swings the gun like an axe,
misses by inches,
Vision fires straight to the head,
4 then 5,
the pain in her leg is killing her,
Brayden breaks loose,
"help me."
~Dark 30~
( part 27 )
"Vision coils in the darkness,
her leg bleeding even worse than before,
I start to question,
my mind ringing with the images,
of the dead and the undead,
below I can hear Brayden yelling,
my reach,
my reach is somehow longer than
it had ever been before,
I touch his hand,
then he falls again."
~Dark 30~
( part 28 )
"they start to take bites of his flesh,
but his strength shakes them away,
Vision screams,
"Jess, their up here!"
my reach can not save them,
who would save me,
once more the sight of death,
familiar is the smell,
the sight,
the touch,
once again they overpower Brayden."
~Dark 30~
( part 29 )
"Vision can't escape their grasp,
they start to tear at her at her flesh,
I grab one of the guns,
I start to pull the trigger,
a zombie sinking his teeth into my neck,
"I'm sorry, please forgive me,
I couln't get us out of this,
Vision stares at the end,
Brayden is overcome but still breathing,
blood fills the room..."
~Dark 30~
( part 30 )
"I shout,
"I'm sorry!"
the zombies below crash into dust,
the bones remain and start to fall to the ground,
the undead fade into oblivian,
piles of ash, silence,
I help Vision down through the hole in the ceiling,
"are you okay"
Brayden replies, "I think I will be,"
the demons the zombies of the past,
the heartaches,
the sorrow and anger,
every little piece of hatred buried in my head,
the sins,
had come back to haunt everyone,
manifested in an army of hollow beings,
we hear a groan coming from outside the room,
Vision grabs my arm,
"Jess, if you have any more stuff you need
to work through,
can you start now,
it appears I'm sorry is just the beginning."
one mans struggle to face his own sin,
reaching for assistance from God,
the reluctance,
a place of nightmares,
the time....
dark 30."
JH /912/2007-9/30/2007
[linear notes] I think very few of us take time to examine our own thoughts and ideas. The things we wish on other people and how that would manifest itself. Do we keep short accounts and try to right our own wrongs... do we confess, do we say we are sorry? "Dark 30" is a trip into the unknown originally based on an irrational real life fear for the night crew I work with 3 nights a week... but also something that turned into something much more. I hope you enjoyed the read.. comments are definitely encouraged.
