Saturday, December 7, 2013

Chapter 5: Until Further Notice

Ow. My head is throbbing. At least my ears have stopped ringing. I blink a few times to gather my bearings, looking around my house. I'm alone, finally. Oh ow, my side hurts too. Painfully, I move my right leg to straighten it out and then notice blood has soaked the bottom of my shirt. I lift up my shirt to see I've been grazed by a bullet. Unfortunately, the wound is serious enough that I'm still going to need stitches.


On my way to the bathroom, I grab a bottle of wine out of the refrigerator to sanitize the wound. I open the medicine cabinet, searching for gauze and some ointment I have that has a mild anesthetic in it so I don't have to feel all of the pain I know comes with stitching. One of the bathroom drawers has a sewing kit in it, which I know will have to do for now.


I am lucky because I am a surgeon, so when I saw that I had been shot, I was able to keep my calm. I braced myself, but still winced a little as I poured some wine on my wound. The anesthetic ointment served its purpose and I only felt a dull poking as I finished stitching myself up. I wrapped my side in gauze, took some aspirin to dull my headache and the pain in my side that I knew would come back when the anesthetic wore off. I splashed water on my face before leaving the bathroom to investigate what had happened.


As I turned off the faucet, I noticed a bottle of my wife's perfume on the bathroom counter. Suddenly I was in a panic as to if she was okay. I felt like an asshole for not thinking about her first, but then my logic kicked in and reminded me that had I not stitched myself up when I did, I might have lost more blood. As it was, I saw that I had left a blood pool next to the bookcase.


I ran as fast as my side would let me, up the stairs and into the hallway, where I stepped on something that tickled the bottom of my foot. I looked down and saw that it was my wife's nightgown. It had been ripped apart at the seams, and I felt my anger rising to the surface, trying to push out the thoughts of what I knew must have occurred in order for her nightgown to be in the state that it was.


At work, I had seen women come into the hospital who had been raped, and my heart always broke for them. They always had the most depressed look on their faces. Tears ran down my face as I pictured my wife with that same look on her face. I hated that I wasn't there to save her. I sniffled a little more, and looked around the house. Nothing else had been dropped. I looked at my wedding ring and felt a pang of hope. If she still had her ring on, maybe it would give her a sense of hope too, and help her think of me whenever she looked at it.


KNOCK-KNOCK.

The knock on the door made me jump. I held my gun up in front of me in a defensive stance, ready to face whoever was on the other side of the door. I didn't think looters would knock, but you never know, especially since the world had fallen into a state of despair the past couple of days. I stood by the wall, and opened the door, making sure I wasn't in front of it when it revealed who was on the other side. A soldier stood in the doorway with a gun, pointed downward. He was wearing a gas mask.


"Hello, sir. What can I do for you?"

"Good evening, I am going door to door handing out this notice. I'll be on my way now."

I shut the door and looked at the sheet of paper the soldier had handed to me. As I read the notice, I felt the walls closing in on me and I suddenly couldn't breathe. I sank down onto my couch, hanging my head and rubbing my neck for comfort. In the blink of an eye, my wife had gone missing, and my world had been turned upside down with the words martial law until further notice.


26 comments:

  1. Oh I'm so happy he's alive. And since he has that gun, I hope he goes in search of his wife and makes those animals pay for what they did to his wife. I want him to go all like Mel Gibson in Payback and just go hunt those assholes down. Can't wait for the next chapter!

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    1. Hi! =) Yes, he is alive, and he managed not to get his gun taken away. >:D Good for him. LOL. At the moment, he doesn't know where to start, but he does have a plan to go looking for her.

      Thanks for reading and commenting! =)

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  2. I'm trying my best to type this comment on my tablet right now XD.

    I'm glad he's okay! If I were him, I would freak out if I got shot... Man... I feel so sorry for him. His wife got taken away by those monsters. I hope he'll be able to get her back soon. I feel bad because he doesn't know what dangerous situation his wife is in right now. Hopefully he can find a way to get a gas mask and find her somehow. All I can hope is that he isn't one of those people who move on after an accident or something... I'm one of those people who hold onto things for a long period of time, and I don't like letting memories go.

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    1. Hey! Haha, yeah, he's just fine. XD I didn't want him to die.. =( LOL.
      He is a surgeon, so he sees this kind of shit all the time, from people coming into the hospital, and yeah, it's different when it happens to you, but he knew how to fix himself, so he didn't freak out too much. XD
      He's worried, very much so, because he only knows that she's been kidnapped by someone who was very violent. The timing of the martial law notice and her being kidnapped is making him really sad. He's even more worried since everything's in such a state of chaos that he doesn't know where to begin.
      He and his wife have a good marriage, so he won't be giving up on her that easily. =)

      Thanks for reading and commenting! =) I'm glad your tablet cooperated with you.

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  3. Yayyeee the dude's alive :D And a surgeon, too? *faints* It's awesome that he is and was able to then tend to his own wound. Ahh man.. I really hope he finds his wife soon.. >_< I'm so worried for all of these people. The soldiers stop by the houses to take their cellphones and weapons, yet they could care less still about what's going on out in the world. They aren't really ones to come off as wanting to help, anyways.. >:[

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    1. *cheers* He's alive!!! LOLL. Yeah, he's a surgeon, and lucky his wound wasn't in some awkward place like the middle of his back where he couldn't reach it. ROFL.

      Ok, being serious now. XD Right now he doesn't know where to even begin to find his wife, but he is going to do what he can, and he isn't going to give up on her. D'awww true love. Haha.

      Yeah, it's funny isn't it? The soldiers pretending to be all "we're here for your safety" *rolls eyes* They're really not, they're trying to placate people while taking things away from them, and most believe them, but a select few do not... the surgeon is one of them. XD

      Thanks for reading and commenting! =)

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  4. Yay, that was so lucky of him to be a surgeon! But, oh :-O, tending to his own wounds?! *faints* Now, that's something I could never have done! :-O *faints again* I was so sad for him in this update, not knowing what might have happened to his wife... :'-(. And it was very sweet of him to think her wedding ring would give her some comfort <3.

    Tending to his wounds... *faints one last time*

    PS: Don't make him so hot! Or at least put a shirt back on him! I was way too distracted by his looks LOL.

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    1. LMAO, it pleases me greatly that you enjoy the surgeon so much. =) I love to make my Sims attractive, for me, and for my readers.

      He was so lucky that his wound wasn't in a place he himself could not reach. O_O Hahaha. He is a very nice guy and he didn't deserve this sort of shit to happen to him, right now he is so worried and he feels angry that he doesn't know where to start. Then throw the martial law notice at him and he's even more depressed. :=/ *sigh*

      Heehee, I loved that he was shirtless for pretty much the whole chapter, and happy you liked it too. =)

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  5. I don't know if I should be mad at him or not for not thinking until he stitched himself up about his wife. I do feel sorry for him, but I feel worse for his wife. I hope he does anything he has to in order to get her back.

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    1. :D It's okay to be mad at him if you want, he was mad at himself once realization set in. He considered himself a priority since he thought his wife was still upstairs, hiding. He also didn't want to bleed to death because then no one would have been able to find her. Of course he will, he loves her and the evidence left in his house lets him know she is not in a good place.

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  6. Angry husband with a gun. . .Go get 'em dude! I feel so bad for both of them. I hope she does look at her ring and it gives her hope.

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    1. LOL, yeah he hid his gun from the military dude, and this particular military guy wasn't assigned to take guns anyway, so at least he got to keep his. A plus for him. This is especially sad for this couple because they really love each other a lot and don't want the other to be in pain.

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  7. I love how the soldiers didn't rush into his house and take his stuff. WTF?! He gets a notice because he's rich? Figures. As for waking up in a pool of his own blood, I'm surprised he remembered her as soon as he did. I would have sat down to drink the rest of that bottle wine before I remembered I was married.

    Anyway, I am glad he's alive. Now...what happens next?!

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    1. LOL. There were different groups of soldiers that got sent out and they all had notices they were supposed to give people, but I didn't say all of that because I wanted the story to be mysterious and not all bureaucratic. The soldiers that got sent to the cop's house were assigned to search and seize because he was a cop and they were supposed to shut down the police force. There was a notice they gave the cop, it was all that stuff in bullet points, like the cell phone thing, the curfew, the fact that they can't go anywhere because it's "not safe," and a bunch of other stuff. This soldier was assigned to give all the citizens notices door to door, that's why he didn't come in at all or care about the fact that he might have a gun. It's chaotic, things are "kind of orderly" but in reality, they're not in the slightest.

      Haha, yeah he didn't think about it until he saw the perfume bottle. I'm glad he's alive too. :)

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  8. Well, there is SOME HOPE in this story!! Yay! Glad he's alive!! :) Now, go get her man. (I know he has no idea where she's at, but still that hope....)

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    1. Haha yes. I see you've caught up now, but I will say this here, this chapter and the few after it were where I was still introducing my four main characters and what happened to them a few nights after the apocalypse happened. These chapters were still in the midst of the chaos, so they were at the height of the "hopelessness" part of the story. That being said, this story is going to be about people trying to restore hope in their lives despite their circumstances, but things have to be bad at first in order for them to become good again.

      Yeah he's alive! :) He's going to start his search eventually, once he figures out how to begin. XD His character was designed to be a little bit of light amidst the darkness.

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  9. That is crazy, at least he is okay, he must be going out of his mind wondering what happened to his wife. I really hope he is able to find her.

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    1. *nods* Everyone is having a crazy night, first that cop, then now, this guy and his wife. He's definitely worried, and even more so just because of the state of the union right now. o.O

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  10. Oh good - if he's alive and angry then I'm sure he'll do everything in his power to get to his wife We have out heroes and our victims, a couple of villains - I wonder where this will go....

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    1. Yes, he's very much alive and very upset. He had a great marriage, and he loves his wife a lot, so he's not going to give up, even though it may be difficult and irritating.
      You've got one more character you're going to be introduced to in the next two chapters, and then you'll have met all the main characters. The story starts unfolding and weaving together after that. These first couple chapters all happened on the same night, and the purpose of them was to introduce the main characters, what they went through, and how the world is starting to change shortly after the apocalypse happened.

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  11. Thank goodness that he's alive, and lucky for him that he's a doctor. I can't imagine the emotional pain that he's in right now, knowing that his wife is missing and the knowledge that she's obviously ben raped. I have the sense that he's not going to give up searching for her no matter what it takes.

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    1. Yes, he's one of the main characters, so he had to survive. Haha, yeah he was very lucky that he's a doctor. Ugh, the unknown, the uncertainty, is just such a terrible feeling for him, especially with the condition of the world right now. You're right, he won't give up on her. They had a good marriage, and they love each other a lot, so he's not going to just let her stay missing.

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  12. I hope those douche bags don't make her take her wedding ring off. It's good he could stitch himself up...he's pretty useful in a situation like this....I have a feeling he will be helping other later down the line. I'm surprised the military soldier didn't take his gun

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    1. Haha, nah, they won't make her take her ring off. They don't really care about her, as long as she does the sex acts, they could care less about her jewelry choices.
      Yeah, being a surgeon is a pretty good thing to be in an apocalypse. He's lucky his wound was accessible and that he was able to reach it. XD
      Haha, yes, this soldier had a different task, the soldier (who was wearing that gas mask I explained in chapter 3's reply :D) was just supposed to go door to door giving people the notice about martial law with all the rules they're supposed to follow now. The soldiers are pretty drone like, they just follow orders. The other soldiers were going to houses of police officers to get their guns because they knew police officers had guns. This guy is a doctor so he didn't have that problem.

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  13. Gah! I love how you have multiple storylines weaving together! I am curious how well-trained that doctor is with using his gun, though! :)

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    1. Thank you! :) The first couple chapters, I think up until Chapter 8, are me introducing these characters, and later on, the story lines will really weave together even more. The doctor's dad taught him how to hunt when he was young, and they would go on a hunting trip together every year. As an adult, he doesn't hunt much, but he likes to go to the shooting range to keep his skills sharp.

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