Free The Azrael: The Reckoning by Jesse Gagnon Page B

Bears and how many times he came to see them play.  He wondered how many players, if any, were still alive today.  He noticed the locker room and decided to sneak around security and check it out.  He wasn’t expecting to see a pen of pigs and chickens in there.  It made sense since there would never be a professional football game played there ever again.  The world was different now.  Playing games would get you killed.  After investigating the farm locker room for a few minutes he was disinterested and began to head out to the field once more.
    Suddenly, gun shots popped off behind the walls of the stadium.  He heard lots of yelling and widespread panic as the patrons partaking in The Taste pushed towards the entrance of the stadium.  Ethan ran out onto the field and witnessed people biting each other.  He knew what was happening and retreated back into the locker room.  He slipped in pig shit and landed face first in it, got up without pause and hid in a locker in a dark corner.  He didn’t care about the pig shit, he needed to hide.  He waited for the Azrael to come for him.  After a few hours, he heard nothing but the pigs grunting and chickens clucking.
    Ethan fell asleep in the corner of the pen and cuddled with a mother pig that was lying on its side feeding piglets.  They didn’t mind his company, accepting him as one of their own smelling like pig feces.
    He slept for twelve hours and was awoken by a raspy shriek in the stadium.  It was remarkably close to the locker room.  He heard several footsteps approaching his location.  He knew he’d been found.  The aroma of Azrael gradually entered the stagnant air.  He curled into the fetal position and held onto the mamma pig.  The pigs began to squeal and stir as the Azrael approached.  A loud explosion on the outside of the stadium caught their attention.  Their heads sat up and they sprinted out of the locker room and away.
    He didn’t know if they would come back or what that explosion meant.  He was too afraid to move and eventually fell asleep again.
    Ethan awoke and was nudged by the pigs to get up.  “Shhh, still not sure if it’s safe.”  Ethan whispered and carefully stood up so he wouldn’t slip in the poop again that littered the ground and polluted the air.  Pig crap was dried up on his face.  He faintly smelled anything else.  He exited the locker room and walked out onto the field.  Tents were knocked over, food jars and boxes were scattered about.  Birds were feeding on scraps that cluttered the green field.  They took flight as Ethan neared them.  Blood stained everywhere and in everything.  As he approached the entrance, the smell of corpses hit his nose.  He noticed a candy bar vendor nearby that had its products tipped over spilling out under the table it had been on.  He looted as many as he could stuff in his pockets.  He located a backpack nearby, emptied its contents and stuffed as much candy inside as possible.  He also found a case of water bottles and tossed six in his bag.  He flung it around to his back and slipped his arms through.  The weight of it put a slight strain on his shoulders.
    He unwrapped a candy bar and ate it without pause.  It tasted weird but his senses were kind of off due to the cesspool of aromas in the air. He walked towards the entrance.  Trampled corpses provided the foulest odor that lingered in the area.  Flies circled the carcasses motivated from the odor that loitered.  Their faces were buried into the ground and their skulls were crushed revealing an assortment of bone, blood and brain that spread for several feet around the head.  Their bodies were distorted from multiple breaks and severe compression from a massive mob that inadvertently flattened them while fleeing the stadium.  Ethan turned away while holding his breath and focused his attention on getting out of the stadium alive.
    More trampled corpses were strewn about outside and accompanied stains of