BlueK Dynasty: The 1st Seven Days
Page 36
Inis barged through his apartment’s front door, scaring Fae half to death. He had been crying the whole time he’d run home. His eyes were bloodshot and his legs burned; he had to have run at least seven miles to get back to south Alexandria. All around him people had been coming out of their homes to see what all the commotion was about. Inis had run past them. He’d dodged the hungry-looking men with their sharp teeth and horrid skin. He’d run in the street, out of the street, in the bike lane; he’d hopped over parked cars and jumped meters but avoided the sidewalks where people were being attacked. He remembered what had happened to his brother in the club—he’d been attacked and dragged off to God knew where. Inis had had to be smarter than the people outside. He’d wanted to be with his mom, protecting her as he hadn’t protected Allie.
Now he dropped on the couch, breathless and sweaty. His tears had dried on his face like old riverbeds. He was distraught and didn’t know how to break the news to his already sensitive mother.
Fae walked over to the door and quickly shut it. She turned to her son and knew something terrible had happened. “Where is Allie?”
Inis ignored her as if he were deaf.
“Where have you just come from?”
That Inis could answer. “From the Flora Plume Club over in east Alexandria.”
Fae wasn’t even surprised. What was wrong with all her kids? Somehow they were getting away from her, and she didn’t know how to get them back. She lit a cigarette and inhaled deeply. “When is Allie coming home then?”
Inis couldn’t bear the sound of his brother’s name. He had let someone take him right from his hands. He had lost Kurma in the crowd too. He was useless; he felt empty and hollow. He couldn’t control the dry sobs that came from him. “He’s gone, Mami. I don’t know if I’m ever going to see him again.”
Fae stubbed out her cigarette and lit another one. She came closer to her son and looked into his face. “Tell me what happened, and you’d better get your story straight or so help me…” Her mouth trembled, and sweat began to coat her upper lip.
“You haven’t been watching the news?” Inis cried. “It’s all outside. Just open these blinds and get your damn head out of the sand!”
Fae slapped Inis full in the mouth and raised her hand again, prepared to backslap him but couldn’t. She was so tired—of her life, of losing her kids, of being all alone and holding everything together.
Inis brushed his mother aside and turned the TV on. He flipped through a few channels until he reached the news. He returned to the couch and made his mother sit and watch. She felt light in his hands, her body so fragile and weak from her misery. Inis turned the volume up and waited for the report.
Fae’s eyes glossed over as she stared at the yellow and blue screen. An emergency announcement was on, but the newsroom appeared empty except for an Asian female announcer. If it weren’t for the burgundy scarf around her neck that warmed her facial features, she would have had a very serious face. The camera zoomed in from the left and panned across, showing the dimly lit newsroom.
When the announcer finally spoke, her voice came out clear and distinct. “This is Connie Yu from the Seven News Studio, and I have an emergency news report for the citizens of Alexandria. It has been reported that a dangerous outbreak of maiming and deadly assaults has occurred in the east, downtown, and particularly on the south side of Alexandria.”
Connie paused dramatically and pulled Fae in even more.
“We go now to Gill, who is on the scene and who will be able to give us a firsthand account of exactly what is going on in our beloved city. Gill?”
“Connie, are you there in the Seven News Studio?” asked Gill.
“Connie here,” she said. “Gill, how are things out there? Can you explain to our worried viewers what the situation is exactly?”
“I can barely hear you, Connie. The noise level out here is extreme. I can barely hear myself talk as my background continues to spiral out of control. Watch out, Terry!” Gill turned back to the camera. “To the citizens of Alexandria: stay inside. I repeat, stay inside. There are men and women who are roaming the city’s streets, and they can hurt you!”
“ Gill, there’s been an extraordinary increase in 911 calls, so much that the phone lines are now being held up and service has yet to be restored ,” said Connie. “What can you see outside that we here in the studio can’t?”
“There are riots, and acts of violence against whomever. No one is safe outside at this time.” Gill was beginning to lose his breath. “I personally saw two men attacked and a woman and her child knocked over as a gang raided a store. Connie, all the police are out in the city tonight trying to keep the peace, and for those who don’t want peace then there’s the RAID team.”
“So you think that by tomorrow this whole thing will blow over?” Connie asked.
The newsroom lights flickered, and Connie frowned. “Gill, are you there?”
Fae watched as Connie placed her finger to her earpiece. She signaled her producers and gave a shout that made Fae jump on the couch. Connie looked petrified.
Inis moved forward on the couch as he saw the anchorwoman’s facial expression. His heart stopped and his blood froze. He watched Connie jump out of her seat and hightail it from the camera’s view.
Fae screamed in Inis’s ear, “What’s happening?”
Inis tried to hold his mother down. There was a ruckus going on in the Seven News Studio. The cameras hadn’t stopped rolling, and their microphones were picking up noises. Inis heard screaming and running and men shouting. There were cries of pain and terror as men big as beasts ran across the camera’s field of view. Fae’s eyes bugged out, and she grabbed on to her son.
Inis watched as the producers in the studio were bitten into as his brother had been, and he thought he would be sick. His body tensed up as everything registered in his mind. Men and women alike were being attacked and eaten on national television, and the single camera caught everything.
The studio went completely dark. Electrical wires sparked repeatedly, which only intensified Inis’s dread. Fae’s cigarette had almost burned out; the ash was long as her nails. But she couldn’t take her eyes away from the screen. She didn’t know what was going to pop out of the dark at her.
There was movement in front of the camera, and a voice called out from the dark. “Get the lights. I want the people to see this.”
A light came on in the distance, and a warped figure appeared where Connie had been sitting. He was bloody and dressed in black. Inis could tell he was big; he took up half of the screen. His eyes were black like onyx and glassy. He was completely bald, and his ears were pinned back, giving him an intense facelift. His nose seemed too straight, as if someone had pinched it off, and his mouth was a deep color, his lip big and full. It was his teeth that stood out the most, though. There were rows of them, all gleaming white and pointed, and resembling piranha teeth.
“Oh my God,” Fae and Inis said in unison. “Santino!” they screamed.
35.
Kill to Eat