Chapter Nine: The Old Lady
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For the first time ever, Clary actually saw Jace flinch. He stared at the point of the gun and back down at the lady. Clary was about to spring onto her when Magnus held her down.
"Are any of you bitten?" She demanded, cocking the gun. The lady eyed all of them closely.
"No, miss. None of us are bitten, now will you do me a kind favor and put that thing down." Jace said calmly. The lady slowly brought the gun down, not taking her eyes off of him. Clary's heart seemed to beat lighter after that.
"What are you doing here then? What do you want?" The woman demanded. She put her frail hands onto her gun.
"Nothing, we-"
"Do you happen to know what's been going on around here?" Alec cut off Jace.
The lady raised an eyebrow. "You mean you haven't heard?" Everyone except for Jace pretended not to know by shaking their heads. They all stood up.
"Ever since this morning, people have been going around eating people. They just grab them and bite their heads off like cannibals. The people don't die at first. They go through this disease that kills them, then they turn into the same kind of man-eating monster."
"How long does this take?" Magnus asked curiously.
"I'm not sure. I've seen my friend turn into one in less than an hour. However, some girl on T.V. lasted about 5 hours." Clary cringed. She wondered what it would be like if one of her friends turned into a zombie.
"Did everyone on these streets get bitten? A lot of the roads are deserted." Isabelle asked the woman.
The lady shook her white-haired head. "I don't think all of them were infected. Some are probably hiding in their houses like I am." She lowered her eyelids. "In fact, I wonder how you came here without running into one."
"I think we did, but we didn't know it was a dead person." Jace lied. "How do we kill these things anyway?" Clary knew Jace wanted revenge for his shame when he couldn't kill that zombie.
"I've done it a few times already. If you try to kill one somewhere on its body, it won't die. However," She stood her gun up and patted it, "if you strike it through the head, it will die."
"So the only way to kill one is to destroy the brain?" Clary was dumb-founded. All of this time, the way to kill one of these monsters was to stab its brain.
"Exactly." She put a lot of emphasis on the word and her false teeth showed.
"Do you know any cure for this disease? Maybe even something to slow it down-" Magnus tried to get an answer.
"Nothing. I haven't heard of any medicine for this disease." Clary wasn't sure, but she thought she saw a tear run down her wrinkle cheek.
She was backing up into her doorway. "Now if you will excuse me, I need to take care of something." She limped into her house with her brown animal slippers and closed the door gently.
Clary combed her red curls back. She was sweating from all the drama. She couldn't tell if was all real. It seemed impossible to be resurrected after death. Clary glanced at the others and saw Isabelle curled into Simon's arms and Magnus whispering into Alec's ear. She watched Jace as he made his way down the steps.
Then another gunshot rang through the silence. Clary snapped into attention. After a second of hesitation, they all ran to the woman's front door. Jace turned the knob and to his surprise, it was unlocked. They made their way into the house.
Clary and the others heard sobs coming from the right side of the small living room.
And there was the woman crying over an elderly man, who lay faced up on the couch. There was a hole in the man's forehead and blood spilled over his face. The woman was sobbing uncontrollably as she touched his face. Clary felt so ashamed that she walked into this poor lady's house while she was going through this.
The woman looked up at the group. "Please…please just leave." She whispered as she silently sobbed.
They all didn't know what to do. They just barged in on this woman and she's going through probably one of the most devastating moments in her life. In shame, Clary and the others filed out of the house.
Jace was the last one to leave. Before he closed the door he said to her, "I'm sorry." Then he shut the door.
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When he got out everyone else was already down the steps. Clary was sitting on the grass with her head in her hands. Magnus and Alec were talking about something quietly by the car. Simon had both hands on Isabelle's shoulders, telling her something. Jace walked down the steps slowly and made his way to Clary.
Clary heard the birds chirping in the background. It was strange that the world could still remain beautiful after what is happening right now. The sun was beating down on her back, making her sweat. She felt a shadow block the sunlight. Clary picked her head up. She saw Jace looking down at her. He knelt beside her and put his arms around her. Clary did the same and buried her face into Jace's shoulders. Clary closed her eyes and listened to the sounds of Isabelle's sobs.
:( Emotional. This closing doesn't deserve a smile. I decided to put something like this into the story so you would feel captivated, that this disease can happen to anyone. And as for the elderly lady, I feel sorry for her. Review guys, tell me if it's alright. I'll try to update as soon as I can. Thanks :(
~Beanie Wayland
P.S. GO GIANTS AT THE SUPER BOWL! (Still no smile)
