Chapter 2 – Screaming

"Have you heard from your dad?" I asked anxiously as we sat on the floor of the living room, surrounded by the false sense of security of the furniture pushed against the door.

"No," Edward replied evenly.

"I haven't heard from my dad either," I told him while holding my cellphone tightly in my hands. I didn't even realize how tight I was holding it, or how stiff every muscle in my body had become, until I finally decided to get up off the floor.

"What are you doing?" Edward growled at me.

"Stretching my legs. I have a cramp."

"Get back down!" he demanded.

"Okay, sorry," I mumbled before sitting back down. That was when I noticed the room had become dark, and I wasn't sure if it was because the windows were blocked, or if we had been sitting there long enough for the sun to set. "Can I at least turn on a light?" I asked carefully.

"No. It's better this way," Edward insisted.

"Why? What do you think is happening out there? I mean, I know what I think I saw, but is it what you think you saw too? Or am I just going crazy here?"

"You're not going crazy," he assured me. "Not unless we both are. My dad warned me that something like this could happen."

"Something like what?" I asked, unsure of exactly what he meant.

"The virus… the mutation. He said it happened in the animals they tested, but he was hoping it wouldn't happen to people."

"What animals?" I asked confused.

"The animals… the test rats," he said exasperated, as if I was dumb for questioning it.

"Oh… I didn't know they did that anymore."

"Of course, they do. I get that some animal rights people think it's cruel, but how else can doctors and scientists learn anything? They certainly can't test most of that shit on people."

"Okay, so what happened to the rats?"

Edward shrugged. "My dad wouldn't tell me much. Just that they changed. After being exposed to the mutated form of the virus, they began attacking each other… like, to the death."

"What?" I asked in shock. "Why?"

"I don't know. What I do know is that this virus originated from vampire bats, so…"

"Vampire bats?" I snorted. "Those aren't real. Bats eat fruit."

Edward stared at me, with his brows raised and scrunched together, as if he was waiting for some kind of punchline. "Are you kidding me right now?" he asked after a heavy moment.

"Are you kidding me?" I retorted, feeling like we were in some sort of intellectual standoff, and I had no idea which one of us was actually the stupid one.

However, as Edward was about to prove, I quickly came to the harsh understanding that I was, in fact, the stupid one.

He pulled out his phone and looked up Wikipedia, holding it out so we could both see it.

"Vampire bats, species of the sub family Desmodontinae, are leaf-nosed bats found in the Americas. Their food source is blood, a dietary trait called hematophagy," he read pompously.

"Okay, you're right, I'm sorry," I said, feeling pretty pathetic for not knowing they were real animals.

"The virus is even called Diaemus, which is the scientific name of the white-winged vampire bat," he added.

"Okay, I'm an idiot; got it," I said, embarrassed by my ignorance and frustrated by his attitude.

"Anyway, I read somewhere that it all started when a hiker was bitten while vacationing in Central America. He was tested for rabies, which came back negative, but they had no way of knowing he was infected with this virus because there was no test for it yet. He was treated with antibiotics for the infection in his wound, and then released from the hospital. Since antibiotics do nothing for viruses, he exposed everyone he crossed paths with on his way home to Chicago. He had a layover in Mexico and exposed everyone there as well. Then it spread like wildfire."

"So, it just started out like a flu, right? Did that original guy make a full recovery?" I asked, looking for even a fraction of hope.

Edward grimaced. "No, of course he didn't recover. He is Patient One. It was all over the news when he died. Have you been paying zero attention to all the reports?"

I shrugged. "My dad hates the news. He says it's all fake and he doesn't trust any of it."

"Well, then he did both of you a disservice."

"It's not like you took it super seriously," I countered. "When you came over earlier you didn't seem like you had a care in the world."

"Yeah, because just like my dad always says, I'm eighteen and think I'm invincible… Or, at least I did, before I saw that shit on TV a bit ago. Now I know he was right to be so concerned."

Edward's phone buzzed, so he immediately answered. "Tanya? Thank god," he said with relief on his face. However, that relief was short-lived. "What? Did you barricade the doors?" he asked in almost a panic, which made my heart begin to race. "What is your dad doing? Okay, tell him to get his gun and just start shooting if they get in. Tanya listen to me. No… Get to a safe place. Don't go outside. Tanya. Tanya!"

His eyes grew large as the phone went silent, and then he looked at me with the most dreadful expression I had ever seen on anyone's face before.

"Edward?" I asked hesitantly.

"They're being attacked. I need to go there to try to help them," he said with a shaky voice.

"Bu…bu... but my dad said," I stuttered.

"They need help!" Edward snapped at me. "Their house is closer to the hospital. We are pretty far away from it here, so you should be okay for a while," he said, already in motion moving furniture away from the door.

"Edward… please don't leave me here alone," I whispered anxiously.

"I have to," he replied, but that was when we heard the screaming. It was the same kind of shrill that we had heard on the TV when the chaos at the hospital initially broke, so Edward immediately froze.

"What is that?" I cried.

"Shhh!" he hushed me strongly. We both tiptoed to the window and looked through the cracks between the boards. "Holy shit," he said, no louder than a breath, and that's when I saw it. A crowd of people running through the street, attacking anyone they came across. Except they weren't regular people – they were something else – their faces were distorted in a way that almost made them look inhuman.

When we watched them break the windows of the house across the street, Edward took action by rebuilding the barrier in front of the door.

"We need to stay as quiet as we can," he said in a low rush. "If they don't know we're here, they might not try so hard to get in."

I nodded in agreement.

We sunk to the ground and could do nothing but wait. Edward had my dad's gun, but as he checked to see if it was loaded, the panic on his face doubled. "Where are the bullets?"

My stomach dropped. "They aren't there?"

"I wouldn't ask if they were," he hissed at me.

"Oh, I bet he still keeps them under his bed upstairs," I figured. "I know he used to do that when I was younger so I couldn't find his gun and hurt myself."

"How sure are you that they're up there?"

"Like, sixty percent," I said apologetically.

"Fine, I'll go check. Stay here…"

But he didn't even get to the stairs before we heard the first bang on our front door. Edward reflexively dropped to the ground again, and he turned to me with his finger in front of his lips.

Then there was another bang.

'Fuck,' he mouthed, and I could feel my entire body tense as a response to his silent concern.

"Edward," I cried quietly.

"Shhh!" he hissed again, so I held my breath as we waited for whatever would come next.

The banging on the door continued and became more aggressive with every strike, and then it was accompanied by the sound of breaking glass.

I jumped. "The windows."

"We need those bullets," he said, barely audible, but it was enough for me to understand.

I nodded in agreement, and then we both went for the stairs.

"Wait," he stopped us, before turning to grab the axe that he had brought in with the wood earlier. He offered me a single nod, and then we rushed up the stairs as quickly and quietly as possible.

My panicked heart felt like it was going to beat out of my chest. Before we could reach my dad's room; we heard a much louder crashing noise that made us freeze.

"Something is inside," I squeaked.

"I didn't board up the windows up here," Edward explained slowly. "I thought the second floor wouldn't matter."

A loud thump in my bedroom shook the entire house. If I wasn't so petrified, I probably would have screamed and ran back the way we came, but my fear was utterly paralyzing.

Edward, on the other hand, seemed to morph his own fear into determination. He gently pushed me behind him and lifted the axe for protection, ready to strike at anything that came our way.

"Edward, don't," I murmured, physically incapable of speaking any louder even if I wanted to.

"We need those bullets," he mumbled as he continued forward slowly. I wasn't about to wait alone in that hallway so I grabbed the back of his shirt and made him tow me with him.

My room was directly across from my dad's, so whatever was in there was close. With the door shut we couldn't be sure what it was, but it certainly wasn't trying to be inconspicuous with all the noise it was making. We used its rumblings to our advantage, and darted into my father's room.

I immediately dove under his bed to find the bullets, and thankfully, they were right where I thought they might be.

"Here, here, here," I said anxiously as I practically threw them at Edward. A few of them fell on the ground, but we were both so scared that he didn't even get mad at me for it.

Edward loaded the gun with his hand shaking, and then cocked it, before holding it out in front of him. "Bella, stay here," he insisted, but when I didn't listen, he didn't protest. We both crept towards my bedroom, but when we heard a deafening screaming coming from somewhere outside, there was one more loud thud, and then the noises in front of us abruptly stopped.

"I think it just left," I said feeling the first spark of hope of the evening.

We both stilled and listened, and when all the noises seemed to get quieter in the distance, Edward carefully went for my bedroom door handle.

I was expecting him to open it slowly, so when he flung it open and jumped into the room with the gun drawn, my heart felt like it launched into my throat. Thankfully the room was empty, but the mess the recent visitor made was catastrophic. Everything was out of place and thrown around, and anything breakable was broken. Even my bed sheets were strangely ripped off and torn. Regardless of all of the destruction, the relief I felt for having whatever it was gone, was immeasurable.

The screaming sounds were fading down the street, but we both knew they could be back, so we didn't waste a moment. Without even having to discuss it, we went back downstairs to grab some more wood to board up the windows upstairs.

"I'm not sure if this will hold them, but it's better than nothing," Edward said quietly.

We went from window to window on the top floor of my home, and nailed up as many boards as we had. Thank god Charlie was planning on building a deck so we had the supplies on hand. A privilege I doubted most people had.

When we were finished, we went back downstairs and returned to our previous positions on the living room floor, where we each silently searched our cell phones for any word from our loved ones.

"Anything?" I asked after a few minutes.

Edward glanced up at me, and then shook his head no.

"Me either."

We stayed in those positions for the rest of the night; both of us, too afraid to sleep, but also too terrified to move. During those hours I was so scared that I didn't even have the capacity to think clearly. What the hell did we just experience? What did we see on the TV earlier? What was making those horrific screams outside? Where were our parents? So many questions that I knew wouldn't be answered that night, but I still couldn't help but ask them in my head anyway.

Edward not only kept trying to text his girlfriend, but he also searched the internet for any more information about what was happening. By the time the sun shot beams through the cracks in the boarded-up windows, Edward's frustrations became too much to keep silent.

"This is ridiculous," he mumbled. His whisper was low, but it sounded so loud compared to the silence we had been existing in for the past several hours. "News of the smallest fender-benders make it onto the internet in less than an hour, but there are no damn reports on what the hell is going on?"

"Maybe no one really knows, or…"

"Or what?" he prompted.

I shrugged. "Those things seemed pretty vicious. We saw them break into the house across the street. They broke in here through a second-floor window. I definitely don't think they came looking for valuables. I mean, we know we saw them attacking people on TV, so what if… what if they killed a lot of people?"

"Then it should be on the internet even more," he replied evenly.

"Unless the people who put things on the internet are dead too."

"All of them?" he asked with incredulity. "Come on, Bella. People post on the internet from all over the world. Even if everyone in our town is dead, people from other towns had to have experienced what we did and posted about it. I mean, where the hell is our military?"

"I would think it takes time to orchestrate the military like that."

"Whatever. There should still be some kind of message on the internet. Something to help make sense of all this. At least some tips on how to stay safe."

"If there isn't anything yet, I'm sure there will be soon. If nothing else, our parents will be back to tell us what to do next."

"Bella," Edward started, but he hesitated and seemed to redirect. "We have to try to figure out what we're going to do next without our parents."

My heart sank. I knew what he wasn't saying. I knew he thought they were all dead. It made sense. How could they survive what we saw on TV? But I still wasn't ready to believe it. I couldn't. Everything was still so numb and surreal that I couldn't believe anything just yet. Just yesterday everything was fine. It wasn't great, but life was continuing as normal as possible. How could everything change so drastically over the course of a night?

Edward and I stayed crouched in the living room for most of the morning as well, but everything seemed fairly calm outside so I tentatively decided to sate my rumbling stomach.

"Where are you going?" Edward asked me as I headed into the kitchen.

"I'm hungry," I explained.

Even the slight separation of me going to the kitchen seemed like almost too much at the moment, so I paused and asked Edward to come with me. He grudgingly agreed, but it soon became clear that he didn't plan on eating.

"Why not?" I asked after he refused the salami I offered him.

"I don't feel like it."

"It's almost noon already," I pointed out. "We haven't eaten since yesterday."

"I'm not hungry," he maintained.

"How could you not be? I don't think I've ever even seen you without some kind of snack in your hands."

"Can you just get your food so we can go back into the living room?" he asked through gritted teeth.

"I feel weird about you not eating," I said honestly.

"You feel weird about me not eating?" he repeated as if he was dumbfounded. "Everyone in town could be dead for all we know, and you feel weird about me not eating? Jesus, Bella, I don't even know how you could want to eat at a time like this. All of our family and friends are probably dead. Life will never be the same again, but it doesn't matter. Let's go stuff our faces; for fuck's sake!"

"You don't have to be mean," I said, feeling like he just slapped me in the face.

Suddenly losing my appetite, I walked back into the living room and sat back down in my previous location on the floor.

Was I really a bad person for even considering eating at a time like that? Somewhere in the back of my mind I knew he was right and life would never be same again, but if I truly allowed myself to consider everything we probably lost within the past twenty-four hours, I would be reduced to nothing but a crumpled ball in the corner of the room. The truth was, I couldn't think about any of it, otherwise I'd never function again, and I wasn't quite ready to give up just yet. I had to continue to believe somehow, someway, our family was safe out there and we would see them again.

"Hey… I'm sorry," Edward said gently as he came to sit next to me in the living room. "I didn't mean any of that. I'm just… I keep thinking I'm stuck in some horrible nightmare, but I can't figure out how to wake up. I haven't heard from Tanya… or my dad, and… I don't know," he sighed. "I guess I'm feeling a little hopeless right now. But that is no excuse for the way I treated you."

"It's okay," I told him.

"No, it's really not, and I'm going to try harder not to be a jackass."

"We both know you're not a jackass," I said with a smirk. "You can be irritating as all hell, but I've never considered you a jackass… except for that whole pretending to be drunk stunt you pulled at your dad's wedding. That was kind of a jackass thing to do, but mostly you're just annoying."

"What makes you think I was only pretending to be drunk?" he deadpanned.

"Um…"

"Anyway, I brought a peace offering," he said, handing me the bag of salami and some crackers.

"Thank you," I said, taking the food but putting it off to the side.

"Don't be stubborn. You were right to want to eat. I don't know how long we are going to be stuck in here, so it's best to keep up our strength and try not to waste the limited amount of food you guys have in there. When was the last time Charlie went shopping anyway? You guys only seem to have snack foods."

"Yeah well, my dad was expecting everyone to come over for the game. He certainly wasn't planning for…whatever is happening."

I got up and walked over to peek out of the cracks in the boarded-up window. "No one is out there right now. Maybe we should go check to see if the neighbors are ok. There was a lot of screaming last night."

"If we go anywhere, it's to Tanya's house."

"But what if they're hurt over there?" I asked while staring at the house across the street. My dad and I had lived across from them for years, and although we were never close, I couldn't help but feel for the elderly couple.

"Judging by what happened last night, and what we saw on TV before that, I'd say a lot of people are hurt right now," Edward said harshly.

"So, we're just supposed to ignore them and not try to help?" I questioned.

"That's exactly what we are going to do. What we have to do… at least for now. I think we just need to lie low for a bit and see what happens. Let's keep trying to contact our parents and friends on our cell phones and hope someone responds. When we know we aren't not the only people left alive, we will go out and see if there is anyone we can help."

I did feel bad about it, but I ultimately decided it was probably better to wait. If we went out there and were attacked, we couldn't help anyone.

It remained quiet for the rest of the day, but as night approached again, a strange eeriness settled over us. Was it the childhood belief that monsters lurked in the darkness, or did we have a legitimate reason to be more fearful when the sun went down?

As we were about to discover, those youthful fears were terrifyingly accurate. The moment the last bit of color in the sky disappeared, we heard the screaming in the distance…