DAY FORTY

Day forty

I had waited a whole day. My back hurt from being bent for two nights and a day. But I had to be sure that it was save to come out of hiding. I could not have risked getting caught. I had made a vow to keep to.

 

Upon the first light of the day I had slowly peeked out. When I had spotted no one I had slowly made my way to the front of the car and had climbed out. Immediately my dagger was out of its hilt and I kept it pointed in front of me at all times. Slowly I had made my way over to the building that my family had stayed in. The silence was deafening and my surroundings gave me a depressed vibe. It had felt so, abandoned. The door of my building was cracked open but no sounds came from within.

 

I had pushed the door open wider and had slowly made my way inside. A creature had come out of the shadows and its blackened hands had reached for me, red and hungry eyes had stared at me almost pleadingly. I had jumped away from it in fright but had been relieved to see that both of its legs had been chewed off and that I couldn’t attack me. But it did not much to ease my fear for I knew that this creature could easily sound the alarm. And so, I had slammed my dagger down into its head with all my might and had done my best to ignore the horrible squishing sound that had come from it.

 

Blood slowly gushed out of the wound and I pulled on the hilt of my dagger with all my strength. It was a curved dagger so it had hooked itself into the creatures brains and when it finally came out, remnants of the pink and chunky substance had followed it. Carefully, I had wiped my dagger clean on my pants. I made my way upstairs and came upon another creature, this one not so weak. It had jumped at me and almost bit into my shoulder but I had been quick to shove it off of me and swing my dagger.

 

My dagger had graced the creatures chest and a slight cut had appeared in its clothes and skin. The snarl that came from deep within its throat had been so threatening that it had truly rattled my bones. Again it had lunged at me and this time we both fell down into the floor. My head had banged onto the floor and for a second the creatures horrifying red eyes had disappeared from my vision and been replaced by black nothingness.

 

When my vision had cleared a second later I had quickly shoved my hands forwards and held onto the creatures cheeks in hopes of keeping his nasty teeth away. The stench of death and blood had been blown into my face and red gooey things were stuck in its teeth.  I had managed to shove him off of me and quickly searched for my dagger, not surprised when it wasn’t within reach.

 

Because I had been so focused on finding my dagger I had not seen the fist covered in blood headed my way. It had made contact with my cheek and knocked me to the ground. Immediately after I hit the ground I had felt its weight on me, holding me down. I had kicked my legs with all my might and had managed to land a hit on it in a rather sensitive spot. It had immediately loosened its grip and I hadn’t wasted a second in punching it in the face and pushing it off of me.

 

I had crawled over to my dagger and sliced it through the air as soon as I turned around. My dagger had missed the creature completely and the laugh that came from it had sounded so cruel.  However, it had not expected me to ignore the fact that I had missed and was easy to take down when I had jumped onto it and pressed it down against the cold floors.

 

I had raised my daggers and slammed it down right into its chest. I did not stop at once though and kept stabbing the creature until my hand and dagger were coated in its blood. Only then had I come back to my senses and looked down into its dead, red eyes. With shaking hands I had pushed myself off of it and crawled away, once again cleaning my dagger on my jeans.

 

Ignoring the blood on my face I had made my way towards my room and had peered in, rushing in and locking the door when it appeared safe. Sadly, safety was not given to me and something once again knocked into me. Cold and slimy hands had found their way up to my neck and had encircled it. I had been forced to look into the dead and bloody eyes. But the face those eyes belonged to, it had appeared so familiar, even with the ugly and uneven scratches that ran along its cheek.

 

It had not taken me long to realize that I was looking at the face of none other than my mother. That the woman that had raised me and loved me regardless of what others said and what I did was squeezing her hands tight around my neck. That the woman I had loved and cherished above all else was going to be my end. Tears had sprung to my eyes and I desperately tried to rip her bloody hands away from my throat.

 

“Mum, please” I had croaked.  ‘it’s me mum. Your eldest daughter, remember?” But when no recognition came dread had filler my body. Whatever it was that the sickness did to those it infected hid their memories far away together with their compassion. It had taken me so much difficulty to pry my mums hands away from my neck and even more to push her to the ground. Never had I thought that I would lay a harmful hand upon my own mother, if I could even still call her that. She had let out a horrifying screech as I forced her down when she tried to get up.

 

I had grabbed my dagger with shaking hands and had pressed the tip against her neck. I had remembered looking into her eyes and seeing nothing. No hate for what I was about to do, no guilt for attacking me. Her red eyes had been blank and I knew that whatever it was that was laying underneath me was not my mother, that my mother had died the day before. With that thought in mind I pressed my dagger into her throat and ignored the choking sounds she made as blood flowed into her mouth and lungs and took away her air. I ignored her dying and damaged body as I got up and made my way to the bedroom to grab a sheet for her, half hoping that it was someone else I had just stabbed in the throat with my dagger. When I came back into the hallway she was still laying there, choking on her own blackened blood.

I had taken my dagger and stabbed it straight through her chest. A squishing sound was heard as the dagger went in and a soft pop when it pierced her heart. My mum stopped choking and stared up at me until the last light left her eyes. If there even was any. The sheet had been thrown over her body in a rush and I didn’t even check if it covered her entire body. I had gotten up in a rush and closed all windows and curtains, I had checked all locks and rooms. Upon entering my parents room I came upon the most heartbreaking and horrifying sight there was.

 

There with her head on the bed lay my little sister. The rest of her body had slipped off the bed and at her feet lay my cats severed body. The white fur on my cats body was damp with red blood. Her neck was in a weird, bent position and one of her eyes was hanging out of its socket. One of her paws was missing and another one was facing the wrong way.

 

I had lifted my gaze from my cat, my baby, and had cringed when it fell on the bitemarks on my sisters legs. They were full of it and there were even chunks of flesh missing. The worst part was that her legs were still twitching. An obvious sign that she was still alive. I looked into her eyes and saw that a few blood vessels had already popped. She hadn’t been attacked that long ago and my worst fear was that it was my mum that had infected her. “Sis?” She had croaked with a soft and weakened voice and I had rushed over to her side to hold her small hand.

 

I had ignored the blood that coated it and the whimpers that escaped her small lips. “I’m here” I had cried. Slowly I had swiped her damp hair out of her face. “I’m here sweetheart.”

 

“Where’s mum?” she had asked.

“She’s safe. Don’t worry little sis” I had said.

“You will see her soon enough” I had promised.

She had looked up to me with an expression that told me that she knew exactly where mum was and what had happened to her.

“Mum tried to protect me, sis” she had croaked. “But she was too late. I tried to protect your cat. I know how much you love her. I didn’t see the monster when I went to pick her up. It had already killed her and didn’t waste a second in pushing me to the ground. When mum came in it was eating my leg. I don’t think it knew that I was still alive.”

 

“It hurts so much sis” she had cried. “I want dad and I want mum”

“Why did this happen to us? We didn’t do anything wrong, did we?”

“sometimes life is just cruel.” I had told her with tears streaming down my face and snot leaking from my nose.

 

“Will you promise me something?” she had asked.

“Anything baby sis. Anything to make you happy” I had promised.

“Don’t let me turn into one of those monsters. I don’t want to hurt other people. I want to be with mum and dad.”

 

And I promised. I promised that I would not let her turn into monster that could not feel, that killed mercilessly.

 

And so, when my sister finally closed her eyes and her skin had started turning black I drove my dagger into her heart. And I prayed.  I prayed that she would have a safe journey to wherever it was that her soul would go. That she would be happy with dad and mum and have no more pain or worries.

 

That day was not only the day I had to kill two of the three people I loved more than anything in the world but it was also the day that I locked my emotions away and became a shell of who I really was. I didn’t need a monster to infect me.

 

I didn’t need to turn into a murderous monster. While I would never just kill an innocent, I would never care for anyone else again. 

Author's Note

Let me know what you think of the chapter so that I may make improvements if neccesary