The End

Chapter 1

PRESENT DAY:

I grabbed my brothers hands and heaved him up onto the narrow balcony of our abandoned apartment. Light spilled out every side, creating a barrier against the Shadow creatures. He scrambled up onto the ledge and inside as one of Them snatched at his feet, just missing by a fraction of an inch. I looked back over my shoulder at the creature, but not at it's eyes. That's how it tempts you. Sending you into a hallucinatory state that lures you to them like moth to flame. It had already happened to my brother, who had been convinced that the thing was his girlfriend, Annie, who he watched get killed by them as we were first escaping to our house. I know that memory still haunts him....I can see it in his eyes. I can hear it in his voice when he cries out her name in his sleep. I'm sure this is something he will never fully recover from. Even with time, he might never begin to heal. I think the incident with the Creature only confirmed how much he needed and missed her. So I looked everywhere except it's eyes. It's jaws snapping ferociously at my face which was at least 4 feet out of it's reach but it didn't care. Bloodlust filled it's every action. It had no soul, no fear of death, no concern or conflicting emotions about killing people. They were nothing except Shadows. If you get scratched, it's what Aaron and I call the "zombie effect". You turn into them within an hour. If you get bitten, a sensation of drunken confusion sweeps you and makes you easier to kill. In this state of disorientation, you are pretty much dead. They kill you before you have time to refocus. I've only seen it twice..... with mom and dad. I shielded Aaron's eyes but he heard the piercing screams as their limbs detached from their bodies. Their cries were met with what I can only describe as a vocal demonstration of the pain that filled me to the brim. I closed my eyes as I stood on the ledge, bidding away these horrible memories, and walked inside. Aaron was already passed out on the couch in the flickering light of the candles that surrounded the room. His face was contorted into that of pain and suffering.

"Annie......Annie watch out!" he cried out and cringed as though he was reliving the moment.

I sighed sadly, wishing I could take his pain away. I walked over to the sofa and sat down next to him, brushing his hair out of his eyes and kissing his forehead like mom used to. I sat there repetitively brushing his hair and tucking it behind his ear with my fingertips and eventually his body and face relaxed and his breathing shallowed into a steady rhythmic pace. I removed my hand and wiped a stray tear on his face before moving over to the fireplace to warm up, tossing a blanket onto him before I left. I huddled into a ball, tucking my knees to my chest and held my hands up to the flame. I allowed myself to drift back to the day before the day the lights went off and never came back on..

*Memory*

I glared at my best friend Maddie as she threw a piece of paper at me, bouncing onto the small mountain of worksheets next to me.

"What the hell do you want?" I hissed, extremely irritated.

She laughed and motioned to the clock. I followed her finger up to the wall. 3:55. School was almost over. Thank God. I returned my glare at her as the billionth piece of paper flew at my face.

"Talk after class!" she hissed and I nodded stiffly.

The ringing bell signified the end of class and a wave of heads swooped down as they gathered stuff from under their desks. I calmly reached down and grabbed my Green Day binder, written all over from years past. Insiders, doodles, and meaningless patterns decorate the front and back of it in a mess of unorganized places. Life was good for me. Great friends, straight A student, good life at home for the most part. I wasn't captain of the cheer squad or anything, but I had what mattered. I wasn't rich but I wasn't poor. I had Hearing Aids but I didn't let it impact me or my grades. In fact, my best class was chorus. With which I was going to New York with in a few weeks with 9 other girls including Maddie, who I had completely forgot about until she was standing right in front of me tapping my shoulder.

"Hellooooooo? Earth to Danny!" she grinned as I blinked back to the classroom around me.

"Sorry, guess I zoned out a bit." I smiled sheepishly.

"A bit?" she teased and I rolled my eyes at her sarcastic tone.

"Oh shut up Maddie." I grinned and playfully shoved her out of the way as I stood.

She linked her arm through mine and we walked into the hallway. When we got to my locker, she leaned against the one next to it while I twisted in the combination.

"So what did you want to tell me?" I smiled forcefully. I already knew what it was about. Prom was in less than a week and I still didn't have a date.

"Soooooo you got a man yet?" she asked casually.

I rolled my eyes as I answered, "I told you, I'm not bringing a date to that stupid dance."

She gasped in mock horror.

"It's not JUST a dance!!! It's the LAST dance! The one we'll tell our kids about in 30 years! The one everyone wants to say is absolutely perfect!"

I stuffed everything in my backpack and tuned out her rant as it continued down the hallway towards the front of the school. I pushed through the doors and walked to my beat up old truck in my usual parking spot. Maddie said goodbye and gave me a sparkling smile before walking to her car. My brother was leaning on the hood holding Annie's waist and his head bent down to hers, touching foreheads and whispering. They had been dating since 6th grade and were stronger than ever. He saw me coming and placed a quick kiss on her lips before sliding off the hood and giving her a hug.

"I love you too." I heard her voice clearly as I came into range.

His eyes never left her as he said goodbye as we drove off. He leaned back and sighed contentedly. Before Annie came along, he was known for being trouble and no good. After he met her, it was like a whole new person. She was sweet and caring towards everyone and it didn't take long after they started dating to turn him into a model student.

"Hey Danny?" he smiled.

I glanced over at him to allow him to continue before returning my attention to the road.

"I've been thinking.." I interrupted with a theatrical gasp and grinned. He shoved me playfully and laughed as he continued.

"I really love Annie and if this relationship lasts through high school.....I think I wanna marry her." his smile shown like the sun as he registered the pride and acceptance in my eyes.

"Aaron that's amazing!" I grinned and his face turned a light red at my words.

*End of memory*

I wiped away the tears as I realized that I was crying. Annie was an angel who did not deserve to die. She and my brother had their whole lives ahead of them. From what he told me when he cried about her, they WERE talking about getting married after they finished school. He even gave her a promise ring with a single sapphire molded into a silver band.

My eyes shot over to a corner where one of the candles had burned out. I grabbed one of the last ones out of my backpack and lit it as quickly as possible. I knew we were running out fast and we had collected as much as we could whenever we went out but we had cleared out all the nearby shops and were getting desperate. I grabbed an energy bar from my backpack, though the memories left me too upset to eat, and choked it down. I had to stay strong throughout this horrid epidemic if I was going to keep my brother and I alive. We had one shot. I hear there's a camp in Arizona that's accepting survivors but it's a long way from here. However, better to escape or die trying to get there than staying here as basically sitting ducks waiting to be hunted down. I decided right then to go for it. Tonight had been our last raid and I knew we had enough food for at least a week or two and enough water for twice that. We had flashlights with a seemingly endless supply of batteries and lanterns which we also used with battery. I know how to handle a gun and so does Aaron if we ever come across one. Although, I won't wake him up now. I'll tell him my plan in the morning and hopefully, we'll be gone by lunch. For now though, I merely checked all the candles, replaced some, and lied down next to the couch on an old gymnast mat I used to play on when I learned martial arts. I closed my eyes but it took a while to finally drift off.

Tomorrow, things will be different...