"Where is everyone?!" I exclaimed, my eyes frozen on the lifeless cityscape outside the window. My yells echoed in the eerie silence. "There's...nothing out there! Nothing at all! It's like everyone just...disappeared! What happened?!"

Egon stared wordlessly, obviously trying to comprehend the situation like me. Then he reached into his pocket and pulled out an Apple iPhone.

I looked at the device in surprise. "When did you get a cell phone?"

"Not long ago," Egon replied distractedly, typing in his passcode and accessing the main app screen. He touched an icon and the screen shifted to various bars superimposed on black. The bars periodically changed length and changed color, from red to green to blue.

"Is that...a PKE meter?" I said in amazement.

Egon looked straight at me with a completely serious look and said, "Yes. There's an app for that." I'm not kidding! He actually said that! He wasn't making a joke or anything, he was being completely serious! I would've laughed if the situation hadn't been so grave.

"What's the reading?" I said as Egon studied the on-screen measurements.

"Hmm...odd," he muttered.

"What? What?!" My voice echoed slightly again in the creepy silence. Man, it was quiet around here...

"According to these valences, the surrounding area is almost completely devoid of life," he said, his brown eyes not leaving the screen for an instance. "However, there appears to be an unusually large quantity of paranormal activity."

"Like how much?" I said, giving the barren street outside another wary glance.

Egon finally put the phone back in his pocket. "Well, let's say that a Twinkie represents the normal amount of psychokin-"

"Hold on," I said, holding up a hand. "I think I've heard this speech before. Bottom line, there's a lot of ghosts about."

"Yes."

"But...but..." My mind was working furiously, trying to fathom what was going on. I didn't care about ghosts at the second. I cared about the fact that every form of intelligent life in New York had disappeared. "You're saying that everyone is...gone?"

Egon nodded slowly. "Yes."

On this terrifying syllable, an image filled my mind and left no room for any other thought: A girl with dark hair and bright green eyes hidden behind thick, rectangular glasses. Her skin was pale and her nose was round and button shaped, like my own. She was sitting in a large armchair cross-legged, reading a large tome. She looked happy and content...

"Alice," I breathed. And then I took off for the stairs.

"Jennifer! No!" I heard Egon call behind me, but I paid him no mind. All I could think was I have to find her.

Out of the living room. Down the stairs. Through the front hall. Burst through the wooden green garage doors. Raced onto the deserted pavement.

"AAAAAAAAALIIIIIIIIIICE!" I screeched into the silence. The sound reverberated against the surrounding buildings and bounced my own cries back at me. "AAAAAAAAALIIIIIIIIIICE!"

My heart was pounding furiously and fear pumped through my veins. My daughter, my dear daughter...Alice Denise Wilcox...the most important thing in the world to me, even more important than my husband, than life itself...she couldn't be gone.

"Alice!" My voice was weaker now, as I felt a growing lump in my throat. The corners of my eyes were burning. "Alice!"

Hands clutched my shoulders. "Jennifer, it's no use! She's g-"

I stared into those chocolate-colored eyes with a blaze in my own. "Don't you dare say she's gone, Egon Spengler! Don't you dare!" My voice was cracking and my vision was blurring. Damn, I hate crying. "Your stupid app must be wrong! A person can't just disappear!" I buried my face in my hands.

Egon was frantically shushing me, but I didn't care if anyone heard my pathetic sobs. Not that there was anyone around to hear them. According to him and his stupid PKE app, everyone was gone. She was gone. My daughter.

"Jennifer, you have to be quiet, you might-" Egon's pleas faltered in a chilling silence.

I sniffled and looked up at him. "I might what?"

"Don't...move," he whispered.

I followed his gaze...and and met a ghastly sight.

We were surrounded.

Out of the shadows, the people crawled and limped toward us, their gazes unfocused and lifeless. It was as if their heads were in a fog. They made terrible groaning noise, and a few even drooled at the mouth.

"Egon," I squeaked, my voice about three octaves too high. "What is this?...It's like they're...not human."

"I don't think they are."

Closer and closer they loomed. There were eight or ten of them, corralling us. They smelled something awful, like rotting meat.

Like death.

Suddenly there was a loud shooo!, and one of them fell down. An arrow was sticking out of his shoulder.

Shooo! Shooo! Shooo! More arrows flew through the air and into the people. Then there was a shout of "Run! This way!"

Egon and I didn't have to be told twice. We dashed toward the voice as more of the...whatever they were were shot down.

Our rescuer was crouched behind a nearby building, armed with a longbow and a quiver of arrows. "Get in the manhole. Now!" she commanded, gesturing to the open tunnel in the street.

So the two climbed down in the depths of the street and stayed in the dark for a long time, while a battle went on above.

I didn't know what was happening. But I knew that whatever it was, was the beginning of the end.


Does this need editing or what?