State of Decay Stories - Ed's Return

Ed’s Return

Approaching the bridge, Ed began to slow his car. After leaving the warehouse and securing the newfound supplies in his vehicle, Ed had completely forgotten that the bridge leading to the lake at Mt. Tanner was ruined and unusable. Leaving his car and supplies on the road, Ed began searching for the rocky ledges that would lead him down to the riverbed below.

Ed remembered the basic layout of the lake area just past the bridge. The ranger’s station was his goal but there were also a few other points of interest along the way – a handful of tents and a maintenance shed were also nearby the station. The pit stop at the warehouse had left Ed feeling tired but he ignored that feeling. He was already at the lake – no point in turning back now.

As Ed crept closer and closer to the ranger station, he came upon the maintenance shed, finding it absolutely crawling with the undead. Ed was distraught, his newfound confidence suddenly waning. Where had all these monsters come from? It wasn’t that long ago that they were at the lake, Ed thought, how could the area become so utterly infested? He tried hard to think of exactly how many days ago they were last at the lake and became worried when he couldn’t come up with a concrete number.

Shaking his head, Ed brought himself back to awareness of the bleak situation. The shed was very close to the station itself – it would be incredibly difficult to sneak past. But, despite his better judgment, Ed continued toward the station, keeping low to the ground. Just as he was passing the opening in the fence surrounding the shed, one of the beasts, seemingly out of nowhere, grabbed a handful of Ed’s shirt. In the moment, Ed let out a slight gasp of alarm, turned and brought his crowbar down with a thud on the zombie’s skull.

With the most immediate threat down, Ed realized that the remainder of the zombies outside and around the shed were now moving towards him. Ed readied his weapon and stood his ground. He knew trying to search the station with a horde of zombies bearing down on him would be near impossible. As the ghouls marched toward him, Ed waded into their ranks.

The next few minutes are a blur in Ed’s memory. Fragments of zombie skull and congealing blood spattered his clothing as he became an instrument of zombie death. Though they heavily outnumbered him, Ed was determined to win this fight. Strategically moving from one ghoul to the next, Ed thinned their number considerably before moving toward the shed itself. As he did, a handful of zombies stumbled from its dark interior. Ed smirked as he pushed the one in front backwards, knocking the remainder on their backs, making them easy targets for the pointed end of his crowbar.

When he had finally finished, he counted more than 10 dead zombies on the ground outside the shed. Ed felt more tired and winded than he ever had in his life. “If the ranger station is this bad,” Ed thought, “I could be in some real trouble.”

Taking a moment to collect his thoughts, Ed checked himself for wounds. Finding only scratches and bruises, he again began his trek to the ranger station. Working his way around the side of the building, Ed found the station’s parking lot and remembered the back door which led to it. Slowly approaching the building, Ed’s heart sank as he surveyed the interior through large, glass windows. The building was utterly packed with zombies. More than he had ever seen in one place before. Still trying to catch his breath from the melee at the shed, Ed knew he stood no chance of clearing the building. Even catching the attention of the masses that now inhabited the station could mean not making it back to the river, let alone the church. Feeling defeated, Ed turned to head back his vehicle while he was still able.

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Despite actually proving himself to be a useful character, Ed couldn't get into the ranger station when I first went back to the lake. I was very surprised to find that the area now seemed to be overrun with zombies, especially considering this place was the relatively quiet "tutorial" area just a few days prior. Literally every building I came across was an infestation and I was surprised that I managed to clear out the one infestation that I did. 

I'm hoping that since this piece was a little shorter that I'll have the next one up tomorrow.