Apocalypse Fighter

Richard let out a blood-curdling scream as the creature's sharp claw slowly penetrated his chest cavity and pierced Richard’s heart. Richard didn’t have the strength to look back at his wife and son, the immediate loss of blood left him weak, his vision became increasingly blurry as he tried to focus on his hands and pushing away whatever it was that was grabbing at his shirt. It was a struggle, made even harder by the fact that his hands were slick with blood and the overwhelming fatigue. Richard felt himself slipping unconscious.    God damn it, Richard! Let go of my hands, I don’t think you are sick at all, and now you are trying to assault me? I can and will get you fired.”  The voice seemed disconnected, muffled, and far away. Richard tried even harder to push the hands away; he squirmed feebly and unsuccessfully; he forced his eyes to open. The bright fluorescent light blinded him for a moment before his eyes adjusted, and he saw the blurry outline of a woman in front of him.    “Where am I?” Richard asked breathlessly, his voice a mere whisper.  As his vision became clearer, Richard recognized the woman from the look of disdain on her face. He blinked and shook his head; there was no way that she had survived the mutants that had attacked her. Richard wondered what was happening. Richard had a sudden thought and sat bolt upright, firm but gentle hands pushed him back down on the bed.    “Thank god you have finally woken up, please take it easy the doctor said you need to rest. You are very weak from the heart attack, and it will take you quite some time to recover. The doctor was unsure if you would pull through at all, I’m so relieved.” Another voice spoke quietly.  Richard turned his head to see who was speaking to him; he was confused. What was the woman saying? A heart-attack? No, he had been killed by the mutant creatures. His unfocused eyes found the source of the voice, a stunning woman was smiling down at him and something about her triggered a memory.    “Mary?” Richard murmured. “Is that you?” Richard struggled to believe that his wife was standing there, alive.  Richard took a moment to look around the room; his surroundings were both foreign and familiar. He knew the furniture, the scattered mess of baby's toys, but he could not believe what he was seeing.    “Yes, Richard, it’s me. This has affected you worse than I thought.” Mary sounded sad.  Richard let his eyes wander back to Mary; “What is today’s date?” Richard asked.  Mary thought it was a strange question, “It’s the twenty-third of June sweetie.” Mary smiled gently.    Richard glanced at the digital alarm clock on the bedside table; the bright red numbers read the twenty-third of June. The color of the numbers reminded him of blood; he gave a shiver but continued to stare at the clock.  “Honey, are you alright?” Mary asked with concern. “Don’t you remember, it’s only seven days until your son will be six months old.”    According to the date, there were still seven days until the world would change drastically and permanently. In seven days, Richard would be fighting for survival, trying to find food and shelter for his family, and facing a race of mutants that would inevitably take his life.    “Really?” Richard needed to confirm; there was no logical explanation. “Yes, that is the date.” Mary nodded.  Richard wondered what had happened, how was any of this possible? Maybe he was dreaming, although Richard figured if he was dreaming then why was he seeing not only his wife but his employer's personal assistant who he disliked with a passion?    A small laugh escaped Richard; the only other explanation was so far-fetched that it made him feel crazy for even entertaining the thought. What if he had gone back in time, to the week leading up to doomsday?    The few days that Richard had spent fighting for survival had taught him to remain calm under intense pressure, he took a deep breath, looked at the things he could see. His son was sitting in the crib; he reached out his chubby little hand gesturing to his father. This simple small gesture from Steven showed Richard that he was not dreaming and he must have returned to the time before the apocalypse.    Richard looked back at the clock for further proof that he did not imagine things. It read the same as before the twenty-third of June, exactly seven days before disaster struck. Richard knew what was coming, the world as he knew it would cease to exist. Humans would become a food source for those invading the planet. Richard lifted his hand and stared at his fingers, the same fingers that had pulled a trigger and disemboweled a hideous creature.  Richard turned his hand over, looking at his palm then turned it over again, examining the knuckles. They were the hands of a teacher, accustomed to holding chalk, not the hands of someone who had been in battle. The blood and scars were no longer there, and it made him tremble. For the life of him, Richard could not understand why he, of all people, had been given the opportunity to go and potentially change the course of his and his family’s future.    Richard wasn’t sure how he was going to make the best of this chance; he was weak; it would be almost impossible for him to stand and fight against those monsters in this state. It would be even harder for him now. He needed to prepare himself and his family. Richard thought of something he could do now, although it did not ensure their survival, it would give them a better chance.    Richard gently pushed Mary’s hands off his chest and slowly sat up. He looked at Mary; “Sweetheart, I am going to go out. I have a few errands to run.” Richard said. “Richard, you can’t. The doctor said you need to rest, please Richard lay back down. I’m sure it can wait.” Mary begged.    Richard got up without another word; he was determined to achieve what needed to be done. Mary was in a state when she saw that he was not going to take the doctor's advice. Lately, he had been working hard at his teaching job for a private school, and his nights were often taken up with helping with the baby. Mary knew that Richard was under a lot of stress, and it was no wonder that he had collapsed in the middle of class.    At first, Mary had thought that Richard was tired and over-worked. But when he was taken to the hospital, they discovered that Richard had a heart attack from stress and fatigue. The doctor suggested that Richard take at least three months off work to recover and regain his strength. Mary was worried that Richard might have another attack while he was out, the second time he might not be so lucky.   The other woman in the room had been watching and listening to everything; “I knew he was faking it, his strength when he grabbed me was not that of someone who was weak, and now he is going out to run errands? I think you are trying to chase worker's compensation; I won’t stand for this.” She said in a shrill voice.  “Oh shut up, Karen.” Richard snapped at her.   Karen’s main reason for coming to see Richard was to make sure that he was alright, she was surprised with his strength, and she rubbed the red marks Richard had left around her wrists.  “I came to make sure you were ok; I can see clearly that you are fine. I might have to report you for physical assault, look at the marks on my wrist.” Karen said, holding up her hands as evidence.    “I don’t care, tell whoever you want. Just go away and leave us alone.” Richard said, getting impatient with her.  Karen’s mouth popped open with surprise and the color drained from her face, she was not used to be spoken to in such a manner. Usually, it was her doing the intimidation, but Richard knew a few secrets about Karen that could potentially get her fired.    About twelve months before his heart-attack, Richard had fainted in the classroom. It had been from heat exhaustion because the school had put off getting the air-conditioning fixed. It should have been treated as a work injury but when Richard had gone to speak to the principal, he had caught Karen sitting on the principal’s lap, and both of them were naked from the waist down.    From that moment on, the school denied Richard's health claim and Karen had gone out of her way to make Richard’s time at work as miserable as possible. She did not approve his time off, so he hadn’t gotten paid, which meant he couldn’t afford health care and threatened to get him fired at every opportunity. If Richard did get fired, there was no way that he would be able to support his family, and so Richard had to tiptoe around Karen and the principal regularly.    But now Richard had more important things to worry about; he was no longer scared of speaking his mind or losing his job. “f**k you, Karen, just get the f**k out of my house.” Richard cursed.  “How dare you! I will make sure that you will never work in a private school again.” Karen screamed. “Good, I don’t care anymore. At least I have talent; you only got the job because you f****d your boss. I would rather not have work than work for a slut like you. Get out.” Richard pointed to the door.