2006 - Somewhere Near The Beginning Of The "End"

This is the back story for the character, Mark McDell, from the other story: The End and After. This is set about 6 years before the catastrophic events that are referenced in The End and After. I wanted to try and give the character his own life, his own history, so that I could better understand him. I also wanted to do some foreshadowing, which is exactly what the dream sequence is. Basically, the beginning of this story will also be the end of The End and After. It's still a work in progress, but I wanted to get it up here and see if I could get any feedback. Enjoy.

The forest was thick, but the sound of a train was close. I just couldn't see where it was coming from. It felt like something was chasing me, so I had to move quickly. I ran into the the thickest part of the brush until I could hardly move. I spotted an opening to my right, something thrashing the thickets of branches and undergrowth right behind me. I popped out of the opening and turned right, thinking I could double back on whatever it was that had been chasing me. I was met by something that resembled a man but stood 8 feet tall. I knew it was too late as my forward momentum ran right into the sideways swing of his axe-butt into my temple. The ringing in my ears was incredible and everything just went white.

The ringing continued, incessantly, as I opened my eyes and found myself in bed. I hit the "snooze" button on the alarm clock and the rining stopped instantly. I was having these dreams more and more often. They were always different, but something seemed the same, and they felt so real. I laid there for a few minutes and let myself really wake up before getting up and ready for work.

I had settled down in New Jersey after doing some traveling. Not really traveling, I guess. It was more like running. I had left my home in California, a great job, a great woman, everything. Patty wanted to get married and everything was going well. Maybe that's exactly what went wrong. So, without a word or a second thought, I jumped in my car and spent the next year or so traversing the country. I finally found myself living in Ocean Gate. Found a job doing security at a nuclear power plant and lived a quiet life alone in a lonely beach town. It was a welcomed change to the life I was living in San Diego. I didn't really need to work, I was a trust fund kid and had made a killing in real estate development. Me, Patty, our kids if we ever had any and our grandkids would probably all be able to live off the money I had made.

But here I was, living in New Jersey, alone, working a real "man's" job...