"Shaylin, are you okay?" Timmy frantically asked, pulling me to my feet. I nodded my head nervously and quickly brushed the wrinkles out of my shirt. "What the hell is going on here?" The two of tall men lowered their guns and scanned the area around them while the others searched the surrounding area. "Hello?"
Ignoring him, one of them pointed at me. "Shaylin Mendel?"
I gave him a nod and shuffled forward a step.
"We've been sent to get you and your friends out of the city." Said the leader of the team. "Go." He motioned towards the parked car and several men approached us.
"Wait," Timmy shouted, backing us up, "what's going on?"
The guy glanced behind him at the scampering crowd of people in the street and back at us. "Does Hell on Earth suffice?"
The back window in the kitchen let out a crack and the window in the washroom completely blew out sending shards across the floor all the way into the living room. I jumped back as loud thuds followed. The cop shouted orders at his men and they sprang into action. With their bare hands they hurried into the kitchen and forced the door shut. The door cracked and one man ran over to help.
When we hadn't moved the man took Timmy's hand and pulled him towards the truck. "We don't have time for this! You," He pointed towards me. "Go get any personal belongings you'll need. We won't be coming back."
Miley wrinkled her nose as a giant bag was suddenly tossed into her noodle arms. "Is there a building in here?" She cried. Timmy chuckled, which cause Miley to glare at him.
"Well, considering you have enough shit to make one-" Miley hurled a punch at him and ended up getting him in the gut, which barely phased him.
I ran between them, " Please... D - don't fight." I pleaded putting my hands on their up and ready fists. "We don't have time."
Then making me jump a noise came from the TV and a news reporter appeared in front of City Hall.
"A terrible crisis has been reported all over the city," She yelled over the screams of terror, "All force issues are to report to the Raccoon City Police Station immediately for evacuation. For people on the north side of the city the gates are opened for evacuation where there is no danger. Attacks are happening everywhere, Chief Irons suspects these are related to the murders that have been taking place over the past months. We -" the reporter's voice died out and the screen went fuzzy.
"We got to go. NOW!" The cop yelled impatiently. When the door broke open he grabbed me and threw my body over his large shoulders. "Forget the stuff, there is no time!"
He hauled me into the car's bed and took out a gun. I froze at the sight of it, knowing it was a weapon designed for killing. Once I turned around I looked back as a bunch of people filled my house. Blood seemed to go everywhere ranging from the ceiling to the floorboards and warning hisses told me to stay back. There were screams coming from inside the kitchen and one of the men holding the door began banging on the window. When the window shattered he pulled himself through the window letting the shards from the edges cut his stomach open.
The officer next to me gasped and aimed at the crying man. He looked over at us and crawled in our direction leaving a trail of blood behind. I saw Timmy to my right and Miley at my left, both watching the horror. When he didn't shoot I jumped out as Timmy called my name. The man gazed into my eyes with painful tears, then looked over at his captain.
"Shoot me..." His hoarse voice pleaded. "Just shoot me dammit!"
The world got blurry as my eyesight failed, a ring going through my ears like a whistle. Blinking my eyes they blurred up and my breathing went slow. Miley caught me as I fell back and tried to find a way to cool me down. My eyes widened as blood began to run down every visible part of his face, hair, and neck; leaving me in Miley's arms trembling. Warm liquid ran down my face and more blood poured from his head onto the cold cement.
Miley covered my eyes and pulled me back while Timmy looked at it with an expression of total disbelief. I waited for the sound of him fainting while Miley kept my eyes closed. The man who shot him shoved his gun back into its holster and jumped into the passenger seat, commanding the guy to drive. The speed of the car gave a good breeze in the bed of the truck, it pulled me back into reality. Passing all the sluggish citizens, they stared at us with vacant expressions that sent chills down my spine.
"Shaylin, are you alright?" Miley asked, I tried to regain my voice from the shock. Taking a deep breath I then let the tension out with a sigh. Well, that wasn't pretty, and was worse than I ever could have imagined. A shiver went down my spine as I thought of all the blood I had seen. "Yeah... don't worry. I'm fine."
She turned my face towards her and gasped, "There's blood! Did his bullet get you too? Do you need anything? Where are you hurt?"
"Miley, CALM DOWN!" I shouted a little bit louder than intended, which startled her speechless. "It's not my blood..." A smile of relief came across her face and she held up her sleeve to my face, wiping the blood off. Even though there was still stains on my skin, her sleeve was more noticeable than my face after she was finished.
"So.." The cop in the passenger seat turned towards me, and I cleared my throat. "What happened to your friend back there?" I asked while hugging my knees closer. The cop sighed and just shook his head. "It's a shame you kids had to see that, no one your age should experience something like that." He said, then he put his hand on my shoulder trying to comfort me.
"Those people were sick," he began. "And when he got bit, he became sick. Several weeks ago, we got word that zombies had came to the city." He let out a laugh. "But really, who would believe that? We had no idea this was linked to the murder cases S.T.A.R.S was investigating. They tried to warn us, and we just laughed at them. Now, everyone we knew in the city are gone." Seeing the pain worsen in my eyes he sighed and added, "I'm sorry, if you want to blame anybody, blame us."
I shook my head. "It's not your fault for not believing in something proved to be impossible..."
Miley patted me on the shoulder, while tears ran down my cheeks. Everyone we knew at school are dead if not outside of the gates. If this were not life threatening, I'd be happy since it got me out of my English test tomorrow. But knowing that everyone from school is dead... Wait, my English teacher is gone? The thought actually brought me sadness, and I let out a frustrated sigh. Man, I can't even be happy for that...it's just to terrible...
Timmy just sat there silently, but calm. It always took a lot to make him cry. When I met him, I thought of him as just a kid in my class, the one named Timmy, the football star. He was just another popular kid, so I had no intention of talking to him...Until a couple of days into eighth grade. Some high school kids started bullying me, but Timmy saw it and got them to leave me alone. I suppose it was just a coincidence when he show up just as they were about to get me. The plan on my end was to do away with them quickly and leave before anyone noticed. But then he showed up and helped me out. We've been friends every since.
When I opened my eyes to the present, we were already at the gate. To get from one side of town to the other we had to have been going pretty fast. Glancing around I looked up at the sky to see stars. I must have fallen asleep. It was already dark and cold. My sweater was on the rack back at the house, not that there's a house to go back to. People were everywhere, pushing and shoving trying to get out. They probably all had the same thought as us. You see, teachers prepared us for houses, jobs, and things like...being cheated out of money by taxes for example. Not a ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE!
The cop left to go find his supervisor, promising to be back soon. When he disappeared into the crowd we all looked at each other with worry. We are in a crowd of mad people all alone. I thought which made me even more nervous. A man beside me shoved me aside and made his way up front. I landed on the concrete roadway that was coincidently scattered with rocks. One jabbed into my knee sending a painful stab through my leg. Ow! I bit my lip and got myself back up.
Shaylin, now is not the time to be a pansy...
Miley and Timmy didn't see it with the crowd so thick around us and the car. She stood there with her jaw dropped, "If my grandma saw this she would roll over in her grave." Timmy nodded in agreement, "Yeah, literally." Her face turned red and was about to say something but I quickly interjected. "He was just trying to lighten the mood, Miley." She rolled her eyes at us, "And talking about my dead grandmother is LIGHTENING the mood?" Timmy chuckled.
I looked up at the window under the platform where people were running around carrying papers and files. They all seemed really stressed. One man with blond hair and shades looked over at me and rushed out of the room. Must of been an officer or something, he was dressed for combat. A woman hustled in with a large stack of papers. She glanced down scanned the rioting crowd.
"Hey guys, look it's my mom!" I said getting their attention, which worked cause they immediately stopped and looked up with me. She was talking to a bunch of men in lab coats, who also looked stressed but more than anyone else. When they left Mom began to pace. Her branch was probably under a great deal of pressure since they create vaccines. The government is probably jumping down their throats for a cure as we speak.
Her eyes roamed the crowd again and stopped when they found us. I held my hand up and waved at her, trying to get her full attention. She kept staring like she was thinking about something, then she hung her head. Was that a look of irritation? I jumped at the sound of a scream coming from the front of the gate. The crowd seemed to go wild as a gun shot sounded off. I was grabbed by Miley and didn't take my eyes off Mom while she hauled after Timmy, who took off to see what was going on.
"Timmy!" I yelled making my way towards the front. Gosh, why does he always haft to do this to us? Leaving us behind like that, how reckless. I began to slide past people, repeating excuse me over and over again. When I got up there Miley stopped which caused me to collide into her.
"Miley, where is Timmy?" I asked grabbing her shoulder so I wouldn't loose my balance. She had apparently been using me to keep from being pushed over and when I moved she fell back bringing me down with her. "Miley!" I said rubbing my head. She slowly got up then helped me up, her voice muffled from the shouts, "Sorry."
After a while of brushing ourselves off I realized she never answered my question. "Miley, where is Timmy?"
When she didn't reply I looked over her shoulder to see what had blocked out view and saw Timmy's sister crying on the floor in a pool of blood. It seemed to spread out farther and soaked a rounds her knees. Next to her was a middle aged man with blond hair. He was laying there with his eyes wide open in shock. Blood ran out from under him, mouth also smeared with blood. The cop behind us tried to calm her down, who was already breathing fast.
"Mam, my buddy tried to keep him back. But he began attacking us and put everyone at risk of infection!" The cop explained, then her took the girls hand. "You must understand-"
"NO, NOT MY DAD!" She said, yelling over the crowd. "He is still moving a bit-" "He is still infected!" The cop argued, then he began to take her away while she screamed for him to let go.
"Dad, Dad, DADDY!" She screamed, trying to shake him off. I lowered my head, my eyes tearing up. Timmy seemed to appear from the shadows and walked over to the center of all the fuss. Placing his hand on her shoulder she jumped, startled by his presence. When she saw him, her eyes got big and she pulled him into a hug ignoring the cop. "Timmy! I thought I had lost you too!"
Timmy held her tightly as she wiped the tears from her green eyes. Her long blond hair entangled between his fingers. He began to stroke her and calm her down. She's a senior, short for one but non of the less. She looked down at their father, and tears began to flow again. "Timmy," She sighed, "What do we do?"
Timmy held her tighter and ran his fingers through her hair once more. If I didn't know any better I would say he was her older brother. "We wait, and see where this takes us."
The crowd started yelling louder as the sound of sliding metal began to roar. We looked over and watched the thick gate doors close, which angered the citizens more. Another gunshot zoomed out from the platform above us, then a man began to speak. With all the shouting from the crowd I could barely hear him, just a simple, "Return to your homes" was all that I heard.
The crowd began to riot and scream things at him like, "You can't do this!" and "You son of a bitch!". But it made no difference to him, he just calmly whispered to the man beside him. I looked up at my mom who now was shaking her head in disgust. I yelled for her.
"Mom! Help us get out of here!"
The man behind her looked at me and then back at her. In understanding he patted her shoulder. With a smile and a nod she looked at me and pointed away from the exit. Then she turned around and walked away, leaving us in the crowd. A crack rang in my ears. I wasn't sure if it was the sound of the guns around us or my life shattering. I called out to her again and she looked back at me with pure hatred.
My heart finally stopped.
"NO!" My eyes overflowed with tears as I fell to my knees. Miley ran towards me with Timmy's sister coming behind.
"Shaylin, what happened?" Timmy asked taking my hands, but I couldn't move. I had just collapsed onto my knees there in front of them, staring where Mom once stood. "Shaylin?"
"S-She," I stammered, my eyes not leaving her as she slowly disappeared into the darkness of the room. "She left us, SHE ABANDONED ME!" His hands cupped my face and he forced me to look at him. "Who Shay?"
I took a deep breath, hearing my nickname dad had given me as a child. "Mom... Not you too. You promised...right after Dad left...YOU PROMISED!" I covered my face and tears began to run down my face. Timmy roared with raged.
"THAT BITCH! She has left you alone all this time and when you finally ask for help-" His voice trailed off and he clenched his fists. My eyes grew wide after hearing him say that for the first time. The army men pointed their guns at the crowd and began to countdown.
I wiped the tears from my eyes and shook myself back into reality. They are really going to shoot us! Planting my feet on the ground I stood up and clenched my fists. Everything inside me hardened as I felt my feeling disintegrate. This is the last time...no more lies.
"We haft to go!" Miley practically shouted in my ear, giving me a head ache. Timmy took his sisters hand while the cops behind us started to yell for everyone to run. I pulled Miley along while Timmy followed, trying to get his sister to come with us.
"Haley, come on!" He pleaded, tugging at her arm. She shook her head in refusal. "Not without dad!" She argued, "Maybe he was sick now, but we could help him control himself! Find a cure!" Before Timmy could object she broke loose and ran back too the body. The guns began to fire as we ran back a couple feet to get out of range. Everyone scattered and ran away leaving the area in a flash.
"Hayley don't!" I screamed and after trying to go after her Miley held me back.
The place was empty, and only a few were shot. The people were crying and some crawling away to safety. They soon began twitching as the virus began to take over. One person was still alive for a couple of seconds, their breaths running short. Eventually, they too died along with everyone else. There was a little boy with ginger hair about the age of five next to his brown hair, blue eyed mother; a man in his suit and briefcase; and a girl, with her fathers blond hair and dad's height. She had Timmy's eyes...
"HALEY!" Timmy cried motioning towards her, but I took his hand.
"Timmy!" When he didn't look I turned his head so he was looking into my eyes. "We can't stay here. They could fire again, and then you would be dead too!" He glanced back and I shook him, which got his eyes on me again, I looked into his eyes. "Please," I whispered, "We can't lose you too."
Taking one more glance at his sister, his hair hung loose in his face covering his eyes. A tear rolled down his face, the first tear ever seen from his eyes.
After a couple of seconds of letting it sink in he nodded, suddenly taking my hand, and we ran towards a path. Honestly, I don't care where this leads as long as it gets us far away from here. I glanced back as I saw his sister, still looking our way with her eyes open and full of tears. A peaceful smile spread across her face and she looked up at me. Gazing into my eye she mouthed the two words, Thank You.
Wasting her last breath.
*Authors note: Hope you guys like it! Enjoy!