A young woman’s voice echoes through the darkness of my mind, slowly taking shape from mumbling sounds to tangible speech. “Morning there sunshine.”

It is like the softest of silks, her touch more pleasurable than the touch of the fluffiest clouds plucked from heaven by the angels themselves. Anything would be better than the nightmare I just had, and the beautiful voice accompanying that tender touch is a big bonus. To whom does this voice belong to?

The haze fogging my mind clears up and I rise from the cold floor. Unfamiliar surroundings greet me, ruins of some old building encompassing me. Rubbing my temples to ease the migraine that is already beginning to subside, I try to comprehend exactly what it is that has happened. I do not think I left my house, or did I? Upon closer inspection, it appears that I am in a somewhat large chapel, I for sure do not remember going to church. However, the building's abandonment is crystal clear; the ceiling is caving in and the walls are crumbling, and the undoubtedly once beautiful tinted window panes that once adorned the structure are gone, shattered into much smaller pieces. The only beauty that seems to be out of place in this destructive scenery looms over me, or should I say she is over me.

Her face is just as marvelous as her voice, perfectly symmetrical with glossy moss green eyes that is weighed down by something unbeknownst to me, all topped off by a smooth long golden-brown ponytail tied behind her neck. My treacherous tongue betrays me and I find myself struggling to say something, anything to this bombshell beauty and in my best moment to leave a lasting impression, the only thing that comes out of my mouth is “Uh…’’. And as if that were not enough, that traitorous bastard I call my tongue lolls out, dripping saliva. Quickly regaining my composure, I struggle to overcome the daze I have found myself in. My actions thus so far is completely unacceptable, I need to make the best of it and salvage the situation.

I shake my head and snap back to reality. “Sorry miss, I don’t know what came over me there. I believe I hit my head or something, I am not usually this unmannered.” I chuckle to lighten the mood. As I learned long ago, a good laugh can help undo most any previous mistake, leaving a fresher impression.

Her reaction however catches me off guard, my signature good-natured humour seems to have no effect on the lady. The stoic face remains expressionless, I honestly would have thought that a woman with such refined beauty would have smiled at least a bit, just to add a little more charm to her already otherworldly appearances. What is wrong with her?

Before I get the chance to say anything though, she speaks in that delicate voice. “I see you are fine. Now if you can walk, leave before any Ghouls show up.’’ She stands and exits the chapel at a rather fast pace.

I sit there dumbfound for a brief moment, trying to understand what she said. Ghouls around here? I stumble forward to catch up with her and get her attention. “Excuse me, did I hear you right? I thought you said something about Ghouls coming.’’ Eyeing warily around my surroundings, I make sure that no one or no thing jumps me by surprise.

She looks back at me straight in the face. “Yes, you heard me right. They were howling not too long ago, so you better get your ass out of this area before nightfall.’’

I take a moment to let that sink in, blinking blankly a few times trying to compute it all. She tilts her head at me curiously, looking just as confused. I then break into a bawling laughter. “Alright, alright! Very funny guys.’’ Calling outside the entrance, I holler to whoever must be hiding. “Come on guys, you can come on out!’’ I must have had too much fun at a party last night. My friends must have picked me up while I was out of my senses, this is all just one big crazy joke. A good one at that, I must admit.

The woman’s panic surprises me, she runs up, clasps her hands on my mouth and hisses, “Are you crazy?!’’

I mumble through her hands, speaking incoherently until she aptly removes them.

“What do you mean? Isn’t this some joke?” I ask uncomprehendingly. Her reaction is sincere fear, that much I can see. What I still cannot figure out is what the hell is going on!

She seems utterly shock, “My god, please tell me you don’t have amnesia. Do you even know where we are?”

Before I can answer, a powerful earsplitting shrill pierces the once silent halls of the ruins. I try to block out the sound, but covering my ears did almost nothing to help blot out the sound. Suddenly the shrill cry stops, leaving me in a slight daze from the shock.

While I stand around in a stun, the woman grabs me by the arm and drags me along as she makes her way outside, leaving me little choice but to follow. Some answers first would honestly be much more appreciated, all of this is just simply too sudden for me. Where am I? Who is she? What was that screech just now all about? Actually, something about this scene seems familiar. I know definitely that I have never been here before, but odd as it sounds I still remember this place. I have seen this church and this woman before, I just cannot seem to pinpoint where. All of the deja vu vibes that are kicking around my senses is seriously throwing me off, I both know I have been here before but also that I have not. Suddenly it becomes clear to me, my eyes widen in recollection when I see what she is leading me to. The outside is nothing more than a ghost town in decay, I can see run down lights from the old destroyed stores - ranging from the grocery store, pawn shop, gas station and others down either sides of the road. The entire vicinity is in total disarray from the buildings caved-in walls and roofs. From the nearly completely faded paint of the buildings, I can also tell it has been like this for a very long time.

Out here is an even more recognizable object, her motorbike. A stylish black long sleek bike with room for two people. “No way! You have a vintage Kawasaki Vulcan 900?!’’ I exclaim excitedly, I always wanted to get my hands on this long gone antique. However this discovery, while exciting, proves something else.

The only reply I receive in the meantime is another loud screech, this time in a short burst and much closer. I still cannot see the source of the noise, and I have an odd feeling that I am better off not knowing. I dart my eyes all around in alarm.

The woman however leads the way back onto the bike, I almost take the front seat until she slaps me off of it. “No one touches Vicky, save questions for later and keep your spit to yourself.’’

I grudgingly sit on the back. “Fine, but don’t expect me to hold you by the waist.” I promise myself to hold on to my dignity no matter what, and taking the back seat to a woman as she saves my ass is certainly the opposite to dignity.

She shrugs. “Whatever.”

Instantly revving the bike, she goes from zero to sixty in almost five seconds, nearly sending me flying off the bike. I swear she did that on purpose, and I would have been thrown off if I did I not grab her by the waist. As we speed away I hear that howl again and this time it cannot be further than ten meters away. I sneak a peek behind us, and that sight turns my blood cold. The Ghouls, the monsters, abominations of nature are right there, just a jump away. Bare snow-white skinned creatures with the build of a former man run towards us at unbelievable speeds - a decaying creature should honest to god be weaker, not stronger. The skin and bone creatures, their eyes pure black and their saliva - perhaps blood – dripping from their mouths, follow closely behind. There isn’t just one, two, or even a dozen. There have to be more than a hundred of these things chasing us and they are closing in from all sides, leaving only a narrow gap of escape as we reach spray dirt in our wake.

They run on two legs and occasionally on all fours, and I find myself in wonder of the abominations incredible display of such endurance and strength. We must be going at least ninety miles an hour and since they are slowly getting closer, they must be going slightly faster than that at the least.

I hold on tightly as she takes a sharp turn onto a new road from which I can now see our destination, an open desert straight ahead at the end of the road. Some of the Ghouls tumble sideways as they make a similar turn, and I see shadows dancing across us overhead. I take a look up at the building only to find a few Ghouls chasing us from the rooftops. I poke at the woman and start warning her.

“Umm, we have a problem…’’ I have no idea how to explain this, but I think Ghouls are chasing us from the rooftops?

She growls back. “Yeah, I know. We are being chased by half of the Ghouls in town.”

She almost is right, I feel the need to correct her instead. “No, not that. There’s…” Before I can finish my sentence, the abominations leap at us from above, essentially attempting kamikaze tactics to get us off the road. When the first one lands inches to our side, she looks up to see where they came from in the first place. After noting what they were doing she serpentines on the road, evading most of them while risking either of us slipping off the bike. One of them crashes against me backside and falls back onto the road, and after getting a whiff I start to gag as she does a sudden zigzag - between the Ghouls disgusting odor and the snaky maneuvers my stomach churns. After a couple dozen fall from the roof she revs the bike again, getting another quick boost to make up the distance we lost. A few moments go by, and we finally make it outside the city. Strangely enough, as soon as we do, the Ghouls stop in their tracks at the edge of the city, letting us escape.

“Woohoo!” I shout in excitement, never before have I felt such an adrenaline rush. It feels exhilarating!

“Shut up before you get us both killed!” The woman barks back, she is such a party pooper. However I do listen to her, knowing I am obviously not completely aware of what kind of situation got myself in. Actually, I think I am starting to piece everything together, and it all has to do with that Madhatter!