Chapter 9

6:18 a.m.; New York; Sean's Apartment

"Oh God, this isn't happening Sean. Please tell me this isn't happening." Maria pleaded; the cypress oil she sniffed was about as helpful as a wet rag against the onslaught outside. Too much panic flooding her system and not enough oil in the world to calm her.

Sean stayed crouched behind the couch with her. "Wish I could." Blasting, shouting, and the sound of splintering wood could be heard from out in the hall of his apartment building.

It had started as a normal enough morning. She had awoken at six in the morning to begin her exercises. Keeping her body in good condition took a lot of work, work that paid off in every glance a guy sent her way.

As she got into the groove of the music Sean came out shouting at her to turn the loud music off and sleep in like every other normal person on the planet. To which she replied that not everyone slept into the afternoon hours.

Sean grumbled and shuffled over to the stereo turning it off when a loud gunshot could be heard from outside. Normally in a loud city like New York City the gunshot would have blended into the background but not that morning.

That morning it was loud, followed by screams and right below Sean's apartment window. The cousins hurried over to the window and opened it. The sides stuck making it difficult to open but after a few expletives and a strong heave from Maria it lifted fully.

Sean pushed her out of the way and peeked outside. From the side Maria could see his face go slack, his eyes glaze over in horror and shock, which only made her curious as hell to see what sight caused that reaction. She pushed him aside not taking notice of how quickly he gave up his spot at the window.

Down below she saw why he looked the way he looked. Chaos had rained down on the busy streets of NYC. People ran screaming and shooting, since they lived on the third floor Maria could clearly see what looked to be a man using his teeth ripping at a woman's blouse.

"Oh my God." She turned away from the window and vomited on the plant near her. The man ripping the blouse had sunk his teeth in and tore away the poor woman's breast. Blood poured out everywhere; it streamed down her body and onto the street where it pooled beneath her feet.

"Get away from the window." Sean pulled her to the center of the room and closed the window; it was amazing how a slim piece of glass could provide some sense of safety.

Saliva and bile dripped from Maria's mouth and she cried for the woman down below. No one deserved to go like that. It should be peaceful and in their sleep not while some mad man was tearing the flesh from their bone.

Sean handed her one of his dirty T-shirts so she could wipe off her mouth. "You okay?"

"No I'm not. I just saw someone get eaten there is no 'okay' after that." She didn't care that the T-shirt Sean let her use smelled like sweat, she'd take that stench over her own vomit. Maria dug in her pocket for the cypress oil she kept handy at all times. "Sorry about your plant."

"It's cool. I'd been slowly killing it anyway." He teased.

Leaving Maria's side Sean went to the kitchen. With the city in a state of panic he needed a weapon. Opening the silverware drawer he searches amongst the forks, spoons, butter knives and measuring cups those of which he had no use for since he never cooked. Finally he found what he was looking for, a large serrated knife.

"Maria here." He went back to the center of the room and handed her the knife. "I'll be right back, I'm going to go in my room for a second." Sean spoke quickly and left Maria before he knew for sure that she would be all right by herself.

"Oh God, oh God." Maria sniffed hard. She clenched the knife handle till her nails dug into her palm. Sean came back a moment later with another knife, a little smaller than the one she had.

"Breathe Maria. You need to breathe and calm down." He wasn't gentle in his command. He needed to think and Maria's hysterics weren't conducive to thinking clearly.

"Don't tell me to calm down. I'm perfectly within my rights to be a babbling loony." She sniffed again.

Sean rolled his eyes up to the ceiling. "Will you stop sniffing that?"

"If you want me to be calm I need to sniff." Shouts came from down the hall. A shotgun blast sounded somewhere in the building below their apartment.

"Oh God, this isn't happening Sean. Please tell me this isn't happening." Maria pleaded.

"Wish I could." Blasting, shouting, and the sound of splintering wood could be heard from out in the hall of his apartment building.

The cousins jumped when a loud pounding on their door startled them. "Open up!"

Maria began to stand automatically but Sean pulled her back down behind the couch and shook his head negatively. Opening the door would invite trouble that they didn't need.

Instead of another demand to open the door like he figured would happen an axe head came chopping through the door. The man outside was going to chop down their door to get in. This was not good.

TBC