THE DEAD ZONE | COMPLETED

Thirty Two |

Thirty Two |

"Get in," Leon ordered and I nodded, slipping into his car.

I pulled on my seat belt on and stared down at the envelope. Or rather, the letter/task that I had reread about eight times now as the confusion which hit me the very first time I read the contents.

The letter was simple: Mira, please go to our maple patch (it is about a mile north) and harvest the sap – our normal harvester is, unfortunately suffering from a bad cold. There is ten trees with taps in them – not that spread out so you should not have any trouble finding them. Once done, please give the sap to Annie.

~ Alana

My first responds was to think that maybe, Landon was trying to trick me but I doubt he could have gotten is grubby, fat fingers on Alana's stamp seal. Leon was still suspicious however, and insisted he bring his riffle out of the Jeep's trunk.

I didn't know he even had a riffle – actually I didn't know the Jeep had a trunk even.

We whizzed down the road in no time, and quickly spotted the forest up ahead of maple trees and pine. I smirked to myself, at least we could find the maple trees easily. Unless Leon was stupid enough to search a pine for a tap – which I doubted very much.

"We," Leon drawled out, pulling the Jeep beside a pine tree to park, "Are here. Do you want to collect them together or split up?"

I shrugged my shoulders, "Doesn't matter to me – splitting up may be faster."

He nodded, "I agree. Meet back at the Jeep when you're done?"

"Got it."

It was snowing out again however much to my relief finding five of the maple trees were easy. The trees with taps screwed into their bark and silver buckets attached under them definitely stood out. I simply took the first bucket from the first tree then poured the sap from the other trees into that one.

Once that was done, I turned to look up at the sky and frowned. It was snowing more out – and the wind had become harsh too. I shivered in the thick, wool jacket I wore and looked down at my fingers that gripped the handle of the bucket. My fingers were so cold they stung and the flesh on them were cracking.

It was disgusting to say the least.

"Just get back to Leon's Jeep," I ordered myself, my teeth chattering, "It has heat."

However, as I tugged through the snow south – towards the town, something felt odd. I paused, tilting my ears up towards the sky and listened. Other than the whistle of the wind, and the snow fall there were no other noises. No birds, no running Jeep – nothing.

Did I actually get lost in this snowfall?

I groaned, my free hands slapping colour back into my cheeks. How stupid could I be?

However, I didn't have long to curse myself, before my own groan was replied to with a guttered, distorted wail of a groan. I spun around, clutching the bucket in my hands tightly as a figure limped out from behind a pine tree.

Or rather, a zom.

The zom was once a young boy, with one eye missing as well as one arm – the thing seemed slow, and it's skin was blue, with purple lips. It took me a moment to realize it was affected by the cold – I had never noticed this before however, it disturbed me greatly.

Were they evolving, and reacting to their environment?

I laughed softly, pushing the thought free from my mind.