Somehow managing to make it to my room without being seen, I laid her on her stomach on the bed. I was still in denial about what was going on with her back, but I decided it would be best to clean the wounds. Maybe I would be able to get her awake so I could figure out what the hell was going on.
Heading to the bathroom, I questioned my mental status. Right at this very moment, I had an unknown laying in my bed. I knew she wasn’t human, that much was clear. Grabbing the alcohol and swabs out of the sink cabinet, my reflection in the mirror caught my attention. My strawberry blonde curly hair was poofed up everywhere from where I hadn’t gotten the chance to do anything with it this morning. My normally bright chocolate eyes looked dull with the dark circles under them to match. All in all, I was a mess, and the crazy thing was how much I didn’t care.
Taking a deep breath to clear my thoughts, I went back to the woman laying on my bed. Opening up the swabs and dousing one of them with the alcohol, I went to clean the wound. My hand trembled when I ran it over her ravaged back.
When I was done, I just sat there staring. What was she? Who was she? The questions were on repeat in my head. This was all just so confusing, and terrifying.
"Bernie! Get down here now!" My mother yelled, sounding frantic.
Wasting no time, I ran down the stairs not caring that I was leaving the unknown alone upstairs. Finally making it to the living room, I noticed that my whole family was riveted on the TV. When I looked to see what held them frozen, I could see why.
The news people were in the helicopter giving us an aerial view of the cemetery. What kept us all entranced was the fact that there were people digging their way up out of the graves. There were so many of them. It looked like something out of those popular zombie movies. I had to pinch myself to make sure this was really happening. Yup, the world was ending.
"What does this mean?" my whispered question boomed through the room. Everyone was so still even Kay.
"I don't know, but I do know that it's not good. I have to go make a call." My dad replied before hauling ass out of the room. Everyone's face reflected the terror that they felt, It was quite unnerving.
Without another word, I went to the kitchen and grabbed a glass of water. My dad was yelling at someone on the phone, but I didn't have time to worry about that. It was time for some answers, and the only person who could tell me what was going on was currently in my bed.
Walking back in my room, the first thing I noticed was that the girl was no longer in my bed. She was now standing in front of the window staring out at the carnage that had been done.
"We did this.” Her words filling the silence in the room giving me chills.
"What do you mean? Oh, I brought you some water." My voice trembled as I spoke, which made me want to kick myself, but I couldn't help it. I mean, I had just watched people crawling out of their graves. I think I deserved to be terrified. I froze as she turned towards me and I got my first good look at her.
Her black hair made her green eyes and pale skin that much more striking. She had a small button nose and full lips. She was so small, but I could see the curves that the plain white dress threatened to hide.
"Thank you for your kindness. I don't deserve it. We fell from heaven, I didn't know the damage that our decision would cause. I just wanted to feel, I could never feel anything there. This was our punishment. We fell and now you all get to pay for our mistake." Her words left me cold. There was no denying it now. The end was here and it was all the angels' fault.
Chapter Three
We sat there in silence after her admission, while I attempted to make sense of what she had just said in my head. It wasn't working. The angels did this to us? What did this mean? Was the world really over? Could we fix this? All these questions and more raced through my head.
"Is that why dead people are crawling out of their graves? Did you know this would happen? How do we fix this?" The questions spewed out of my mouth before I could stop them. I needed to know what was going on and my brain was having a hard time comprehending everything that she had just said.
"The dead are rising? In our desperation to be like you, we ended the world. We didn't mean for this to happen. I don't know if we can fix this." The tears in her eyes made it really hard for me to doubt anything that she was saying. She looked completely broken and I wasn't sure why but it made my heartache.
"I think we need to go downstairs. My family is down there and they need to know what is going on." This was just too much for me to figure out alone.
"Okay. I am so sorry." She replied before following me out of the room and down to the living room where my family was still sitting around the TV watching the world end.
“Hey, so I may have gone outside and found what fell from the sky,” I said as the angel walked into the room. My parents stared at the woman, waiting for her to break the silence.
“My name is Sariel. We caused this. I just wanted to be like you all. I don’t know if that's why the others did it, but there were a lot of us that fell. Our consequence must be the dead rising, which means that we started the end of the world. I would take it back if I could.” She said looking so broken that once again my heart ached for her. I couldn’t imagine what it must feel like to have caused the apocalypse.
“I don’t even have a reply for that right now. The only thing I am worried about is protecting my family, and we have a shit ton of dead people heading this way to do lord knows what to us. So if you have any input on the best way to do that. Let me know. However, I will be keeping my eyes on you. If it wasn’t for the fact that we may need you, I would be kicking your ass out. If you harm my family though, all bets are off.” My dad replied in his usual matter of fact fashion
"I am clueless as to what to do. The end of humanity wasn’t supposed to happen for another hundred years. I just came here for the human experience, but your daughter took care of me. So I will do whatever it takes to keep you all safe. I would never harm anyone intentionally." She said with so much conviction that it was hard to not believe her.
"Fine, but I am watching you. Nonetheless, We need to get to the farm. At least there it is secluded and we can fortify it. Everyone go pack a bag of things you need. Bernie when you get done help Kay get hers ready then meet up down here." My grandparents lived on the farm for years until they passed away at the beginning of the year. The deed went to my dad, but we hadn't been up there once since they died.
Nodding my head, I went back upstairs to my room. I noticed Sariel was following me when I stopped because she bumped into my back and almost knocked me down.
"What are you doing?" I asked, confused as to why she was following me around.
"You took care of me, and now I have to do the same." She replied back to me, leaving me even more confused. All I had really done was clean her back, but apparently, that left her feeling indebted to me or something. It was very strange and I really didn't know how I felt about it. It must be some kind of angel thing, so I left it alone. Grabbing my backpack, I packed an extra couple of outfits, my drawing pad and pencils, and some other odds and ends.
I noticed that the alcohol and swabs were still sitting on my night table. Grabbing them and putting them in my pack, I went and grabbed the rest of the first aid stuff from the bathroom as well as some deodorant and dry shampoo. There was no telling what was going to happen on our way and I wanted to be as prepared as I could.
Heading into Kay’s room, I giggled as I noticed that she was in the process of shoving multiple stuffed animals into her backpack. Surrounding her was also coloring books and other kids’ things that she wouldn’t be taking with her.
“Hey, hun, we have to take things that we need and you don’t need all of that. How about we take one stuffed animal and one coloring book? That way you have some stuff to play with.” I said trying to reason with her without making her feel stupid for packing all the things that she wanted.
“Okay, Bernie.” She replied taking all of the stuff out of the
pack except for a stuffed bear and a princess coloring book.
I walked over to her dresser and set out a couple of extra outfits for her to pack. Trying to think of anything else we might need, I grabbed some small towels, rags and a bar of soap. If this was something that happened for a while there was no telling when the next time we would be able to get any of these things.
Sariel stayed on my heels the entire time as I went back downstairs to see that my dad was packing the back of the van with all the food in the house. A gun on his hip caught my eye as he picked up another box that looked like it was full of other things.
“Girls, come put some food and water in your backpacks as well. Just in case, you never know what is going to happen. I have a pack for Sariel as well. Will you get her some stuff in it too? That way if something separates us or she wants to go on her own she has the things that she needs. She can wear your mother's clothes.” He said before going back to packing the van.
“Come with me. Let’s get you into some regular clothes.” I said heading into the house no doubt in my mind that she was behind me.
On Mom’s bed were two pairs of sweatpants with matching shirts and sweatshirts with a pair of tennis shoes. I assumed that Dad had told her to lay some clothes out for Sariel.
“You need to change into these. I know you were an angel, but we don’t know if you can get sick or if the weather affects you. This way if it does you will be warm.” Everything I said was true. We really didn’t know what was going on with her and I had a feeling that she didn’t know either so I would rather us be prepared.
Grabbing the clothes that Sariel didn’t choose, I put them in the backpack before hearing a blood-curdling scream. Dropping the pack I ran outside, Kay was standing by the van screaming and pointing. I couldn’t see what she was screaming at until I ran over to her and had to bite my tongue to keep from screaming myself. There were people limping off in the distance, but what was so disturbing was the fact that the people who lived in the last house on the left were currently being ripped apart. Blood splattered out everywhere as we stood there in stunned silence watching them be torn limb from limb and I would say that the things ripping into them were eating parts.
“Dad, Mom! We have to go now!” I yelled picking up Kayra and putting her in the van before sprinting in the house.
Sariel was out of the room and on my heels again before I made it to the kitchen. Watching my parents grab the last boxes of the food, they ran out of the house with me and Sariel behind them. Climbing into the van, I watched the creatures through the back glass as we drove off. For some reason, I couldn’t bring myself to call them zombies. Some were so desiccated that they were literally just skin and bones.
I did know without a doubt that I would never forget this moment.
Chapter Four
Surprisingly, we made it to the farm without seeing any more of the zombies. However, we saw plenty of other atrocities. There were people looting stores, fighting, and fornicating everywhere. It was like hell on earth.
We had to go off-roading on parts because people had abandoned their vehicles in the road and there had been more than a few wrecks. If I had any faith in the human race before this had happened, I didn’t have much now.
“Bernie, Sariel, I need you both to help me get everything in order. I think we should get some wood together and nail it over the windows and check out the fence. That way we can find any weak points. Those things are coming and we need to be ready.” Dad said startling me from my thoughts. Sariel was already up and standing beside him ready to go.
“Alrighty. Let’s get this done,” I replied sharply. I didn’t mean for it to come out with as much attitude as it did. I was just scared and wasn’t sure if I could take seeing those things again when every time I close my eyes I see that couple being torn to shreds.
Nobody commented about it though so they must all be thinking about the same thing that I was. It had been a hard day and everyone was high strung. It was Christmas for fuck’s sake, the worst thing that was supposed to happen today was you not get the gift you wanted.
Shaking my head to clear my thoughts, I followed them out of the door and to the barn. It was a wonder the place hadn’t been run down in the amount of time it had been since anyone had been here. There was a fine layer of dust over everything, but there was still hay in the back stalls and 2x4’s stacked neatly over in the corner. Dad grabbed two hammers off of the tool wall and turned towards us.
“I am going to go check out the fence. Both of you get the wood in the house and start nailing down the windows on the 1st floor. Make sure you use more than just two nails. We want it to be hard to get through. Keep the hammers with you even when you are done. You never know when you are going to need to protect yourself.” He said before opening up the drawer with the nails and heading out to check the fence.
“So I think the best way for us to do this is to put the nails in this pouch and tie it to my jeans and put the hammers in our pockets. That way our hands are free to carry the wood to the house. Sound good?” I asked. I really think she was still in shock because she hadn’t spoken much since I had found her.
“Yes, that sounds good to me. I will do whatever's needed to fix this or help out.” She replied still looking broken. The words had come out mechanical and sort of like you would imagine a robot would talk like. So I just let it go. We really didn’t have time to fix her right now. I would have to shelve it for later as much as I hated to.
Putting the nails in the bag, I tied it around my belt loop and slipped my hammer in my pocket as Sariel stood by the wood staring aimlessly out the door. I really didn’t want to feel pity for her or have any feelings toward her at all, but I couldn't help myself. She just looked so….. lost.
“Hey, you ready? Once we get this done, we are going to have to have a talk. You can’t blame yourself for this. You didn’t know it would happen.” She nodded as I finished speaking and bent down to grab the other end of the small pile of wood.
It took us about an hour and two trips back to the barn to get everything boarded up. The strange thing was that Dad hadn’t ever come back from checking the fence and I was starting to worry. The fence wasn’t really big so it shouldn’t have taken anywhere near this long to check.
“Did Dad come in at all while we were working?” I asked Mom, who was in the kitchen cooking while Kay colored at the table.
“No, I haven’t seen him since you all left earlier. Oh my gosh! I need to go look for him it’s been way too long.” My mom's voice got more panicked as she realized just how long he had been gone.
“No, You stay in here with Kay and finish dinner. Sariel and I will go look for him.” I left the room as I spoke the last words, not giving her a chance to argue. Looking back, I was glad to see that Sariel was still behind me following me out of the house.
“Stay close and get out your hammer. Will you be able to help protect everyone if needed?” I asked because I needed to know that if she was at my back nothing would sneak up on me.
“I won’t be happy about it, but like I said I will protect you,” she said raising her hammer in a way so that she would be ready if something jumped out at us.
We made it to the front gate, which was thankfully still shut and locked. We headed left and figured we would circle our way around the fence first then look elsewhere if we hadn’t found him by then. Everything looked in order until we made it halfway around the fence and I noticed there were blood spots on the ground.
I motioned to Sariel to be quiet and followed the trail as quietly as I could. The small spots getting bigger the further I went until we saw Dad standing with his back to us staring at the house.
“What happened out here? Are you okay?” I asked as I saw a corpse with its head beaten in at my Dad’s feet. He didn’t respond just stood there in silence like a statue. I made my way around him to where I could see his front and screamed.
His neck looked as if it had been chewed on to the point tha
t I could see the bone. Blood poured down his front, but the worst part of it was his eyes. His beautiful blue eyes were now completely black. Our eyes locked as he made a strange guttural noise that was between a moan and a growl. Sariel finally made her way to my side just as he started to run at us.
I couldn’t move though, I was frozen. Was I dreaming? I asked myself. Knowing I should run or do something, I still just stood. Sariel, on the other hand, had her hammer at the ready and as soon as Dad was close enough she brought it down on his head with a crack.
He went down like a sack of potatoes and I cried out running to him. I felt for a pulse and came back with nothing. My dad was gone. I wasn’t stupid enough to believe that it had been Sariel who had killed him. I had seen enough zombie movies to know what happens when you get bit.
Tears fell down my face as I realized that this was real and that life was about to get really really hard.
To Be Continued...
Alexis Taylor
Alexis is a mother of three, who can usually be found bossing around and annoying her soul mate. She has always wanted to write and got lucky when her best friend forced her to give in and write with her, and it is now something that she loves to do. She loves all things horror and is a huge mystery buff. She can be found trolling Instagram for hot guys for inspiration, arguing with her young demons, obsessing over Averi Hope & Victoria Schaefer’s covers or falling into random things because she is ridiculously clumsy.
If you want to keep up with Alexis, Join her group Alexis and Nikki’s Hellions group on facebook. You can chat directly with her, and get first looks at her new books/series.
Tales of the Apocalypse: A Dystopian Anthology Page 6