Chapter 6

Elliot awoke with a start, startled for a reason that flew her mind as soon as she tried to remember what it was. Rubbing her eyes, she sat up in bed and glanced at her alarm clock, to see that the familiar digital numbers were not dimly glowing in the darkness. With a faint glimmer of hope, she reached over to pull the cord on her lamp, but the light bulb did not react.

Sighing, she got out of bed and looked out the window. The sky was still dark, but there was lightness in the eastern horizon. The house was silent, and the telltale moans that had been so frightening almost twenty four hours ago had dispersed, and were now fewer and less disturbing.
There was another long day ahead.
…

The sounds of destruction coming from outside the door were what Nathon at first thought had roused him from his state of unconsciousness, but when he opened his eyes and held back a yelp, he knew that hadn't been it. The flecked brown eyes glaring down at him through perfectly brushed hair had probably reached into his soul and shaken it up a bit.

"Get up." Sarah dropped the camera on top of him, along with his brown jacket and shoes.

Nathon sat up, hurriedly put on his jacket, and swung his legs over to slip on his shoes. Sarah sneered at him before swinging open the door to his room. He grabbed the camera and followed, resisting the urge to cover his ears when he stepped outside into the insistent crashing noise coming from the beginning of the hallway. Following Sarah, he turned on the camera to find it charged and free of memory. He stopped beside Sarah and stared dumbfounded at the source of the sound.
Elliot was on the staircase leading to the first floor, and was destroying it from the bottom up with a large mallet. Elliot was facing away from them, destroying the steps below. She was a good quarter of the way up the staircase, and what had once been elegant steps below her was now a pile of rubble.
Sarah elbowed Nathon in the ribs and he quickly clicked the record button on the camera, aligning it so that what was left of the staircase could be seen beyond Elliot. Elliot turned around a minute later, finally registering that she was no longer alone.

"Oh." She said, breathing heavily. "You're up." She reached down and took a drink from the bottle of water a few steps above her feet, then set it back down carefully beside a worn leather bound book on the same step. "I was just, uh, getting rid of the staircase." She was still catching her breath. "If any zombies were to somehow make it inside, they wouldn't be able the get up to the second floor this way; I've got a rope ladder to hang from the landing so we can get down there and back."

Nathon saw a flash across Sarah's eyes as Elliot gave this news. "So, um, I've got this covered. The electricity is gone, too by the way. You two could grab some breakfast if you want, or… whatever." Her voice faded at the end, when neither Nathon nor Sarah did anything. "Right." And with that Elliot started on the staircase again.

After a couple of minutes, Sarah looked meaningfully at Nathon, who had been continuing to film, and pointed to where he was standing, which Nathon took to mean to stay there, and then moved her fingers across her lips and pointed to Elliot. She then walked off down the hallway. Nathon wasn't sure whether it was a good or bad thing to be left alone with Elliot, but just stood there, pointing the camera, saying nothing.

After a long while, Elliot turned around again. By now she had made it halfway up the staircase. She saw that Nathon was the only one there, took another drink, and took a seat on the few remaining steps.

"Where'd your friend go?" Elliot asked him after a few moments. Resisting the urge to scream that she was not his friend, was anything but his friend, Nathon shrugged with one shoulder, so as not to disturb the camera.

"Hm. Don't talk much, huh?" Nathon shrugged again. "Well, great." She sighed and picked up her book, flipping to a page filled with cramped, small handwriting. Nathon looked at it with curiosity. Elliot noticed his interest, and she closed the book hurriedly and tucked it in her belt.

"So, what is up with the camera, anyway?" Nathon was debating whether or not he could shrug again without getting hit, but a voice from behind him answered instead.

"It's for documentation. So that it can be proved this has happened. So that people don't forget." Nathon jumped at the sound of Sarah's voice. A strange look passed over Elliot's face after Sarah's words, but it quickly disappeared.

"Well. That's a good idea then." Elliot looked down, turned around, and started swinging at the staircase angrily once again. Sarah moved to stand next to Nathon, clicked the stop button on the camera, and then took it from his arms. She glanced at Elliot, and then turned to walk away. Nathon looked once more at her figure- swinging angrily, her face turned away- before following her down the hallway.