Above cover by Nyhterides

5.

The briefest of distractions can be often the most devastating. The actions of these ever so brief moments can bring a lifetime of pain and they can be so devastating that entire worlds can fall to them. There can be no turning back, no erasing of the past, and wishing such moments had never happened will do nothing to change anything.

Steve and Karen Orwell are forever haunted and trapped by a brief moment of distraction. Blame can be placed for all eternity though of course that will never do anything to create change. It has been nine years since their moment of distraction happened and now distance separates their broken lives, distance separates their broken world.

It doesn't matter how much time passes, both Steve and Karen have their moments of when they return to that instance of distraction. Steve now usually sits alone in an unkept one roomed apartment, he often has glimpses of his son and sometimes those glimpses are quite distorted.. Karen is living, if the word living could be used, with her mother and often sits in a darkened living room as her mother keeps busy in the kitchen.

If things can worsen, then they have and soon will be. The dead have begun to return from an inactive state and have yet to directly impact the lives of two who used to be one. And when it does, it will only add to their own grief with the consideration that their son may be among them.

As he sits to one side of his single bed, Steve's mind can't help but wander back to that day once again and in this moment, he begins to weep. What a day it was for a father to spend some quality time with his only child. A bright and warm summer morning it was on that day so long ago, it was to get very dark, and do so quite quickly too. Mom couldn't help but feel a strong sense of pride as the two main men in her life head outside.

'Bye mommy' little Leon spoke, eager to get going on his tricycle.

'I love you' she says to her little man.

'Love you too mommy.'

'Have fun you, guys.'

Little could Karen know that she would not get to speak to her son again on this day, little did she know that she might not ever get to speak with him again, hope of ever doing so, passes with every passing day.

The town park is not and was not all so far away from the family home, a family home that indeed is no longer that, for neither Steve nor Karen live in that home at such a time when a twelve-year-old Leon finds himself alone and frightened in a darkened wooded area.

On that warm bright summer morning so long ago, Leon felt good going up and ahead of his dad, the tricycle being something he could almost show off upon in a 'hey dad, look at me' kind of way. With the nine years that have come to pass, Leon wouldn't now know his own father even if his father were to stand right before him. Upon Leon's run through a forest, neither dad nor mum could know that Leon still lives.

A brief distraction is all it took, a split second or two, and that can change absolutely everything. A motor accident just outside that park takes Steve's attention briefly from a three-year-old on a tricycle. It doesn't appear to be too damaging a street accident. The real damage kicked in when Steve attempts to return his attention to his son. Leon was not on his tricycle; Leon was nowhere to be seen. The tricycle has been turned on its side and panic quickly set in.

'Leon' spoke Steve quietly, not being able to see his son.

'Leon' he says a little louder. It doesn't matter how loudly he speaks; Leon is gone. 'Leon' Steve shouts out at the top of his voice, no response from Leon came back.

His eyes search first, then his body. He both does and does not want to leave this area. Is Leon still near? If he is then Steve doesn't want to go too far away but with not being able to see his son, Steve must do something. He searches and searches ... and does so like a madman.

Police came, questions were asked and leads, what few there were, were followed up upon and no Leon was ever discovered, not alive, not dead and as time went on, not somewhere in between alive and dead.

Life goes on. In a situation like this, many cope their own way, many don't cope at all. Steve and Karen parted ways long before the dead began to return to life, long before the dead began to walk. How did such a thing happen? How can the dead live? They both have heard the theories, none of which really matter when they are coming after you.

Now Leon, captured and locked away, mistreated, and degraded, found escape ... and having run as much as he has, can only go so far by himself. There is only so much a twelve-year-old can do when he is out and all alone in a world he knows nothing about. Yeah, that opportunity came, and an escape was made though no plan had been formulated, that is if he were even able to formulate anything at all. He needs a moment, maybe a lot more than that, to rest. He drops to the ground, collapsing in a heap more than setting down to rest.

The ghosts, the demons, the monstrous living dead are coming. He sees them, one at first, moving slowly towards him. What is this? Something worse that what he has known for years? Despite a who or what, Leon has got nothing; he is done, he is spent and cannot even release a cry for help, never mind muster enough energy to get up to move away. Then there are two, three, four, more, all coming and coming to feast ... on him.

His heart beats a little faster; his breath quickens becoming shorter and shorter. He attempts to lift himself once, though indeed there is nothing left, and Leon falls onto his back and passes out. For now, his escape from one darkness has only led to a fall right into another kind of darkness. Eyes are watching and they see a danger; perhaps, however, Leon's predicament is not totally hopeless ...