What would you choose?

Chapter Ten

I got woken to what sounded like an explosion in the distance. It made me jump out of my skin. I fell out of bed and ran to the window. I pulled back the curtains and what I saw was horrific. "Mum?" Dad?" I shouted as I ran downstairs.

"We're out the front love," my mum yelled back. I went out the front and the sights were much worse than I originally thought. "Stay inside Autumn," my dad instructed but I ignored him and pushed past my parents. It's like I've been sucked into a dystopian film. It's like the sky was on fire but weirdly enough in the distance there's a part of sky that's black and full of grey clouds. The lightning was striking every two seconds. The storm was oddly only surrounding one building. I stepped out of my front garden and stepped onto the road that's now covered in sand. There was sand everywhere but my garden. The sun was blazing down on us and the heat was unbearable. All of the buildings around me were crumbling away and all the plants were now black mush just like uncle's flowers. It's like years and years of decay happened all in one night. There were no birds in the sky or bees buzzing around. There wasn't even another human in sight. They must've died in whatever caused all of this. The strangest thing about all of this was the fact that my house was left untouched. My house and garden weren't affected. I stepped back into my garden and it was as if the temperature returned back to normal. What's going on? "Hello?" My dad shouted but no one responded.

I started to run down the street. Not caring that I wasn't wearing shoes and was still in my pjs. "Autumn come back," my dad shouted concerned. I ignored him and kept running. I rushed around the place looking for a single sign of life. I couldn't find anyone. All of the trees were now just piles of black mush. Everything was destroyed. Nothing but broken buildings and smashed up cars.

I got home and my mum was dressing Tommy and my dad was trying to get the tv on. "Honey, you're finally home," mum stated.

"I couldn't find anyone," I responded.

"I tried calling people but the phone line is dead and the power's out," my dad commented.

"What's going on?"

"We have no idea honey but we'll be okay. We'll figure out what's going on. I bet the police will be round soon to explain everything."

"The world has ended so I doubt the police will care. What are we going to do? We don't even know what caused this. It must've been something really big and really bad to have caused all this destruction in such a little amount of time." I was starting to freak out.

"Honey calm down. Everything will be okay." My mum put Tommy in his highchair and hugged me tightly. "I promise I'll protect you and keep you safe." I snuggled up to my mum and didn't want to let go.

Suddenly, we heard screams of terror. We ran outside. We saw creatures surrounding a women. They were growling then one of them bit the women's arm. "Get away from her!" I shouted as I ran towards the creatures. My parents tried to grab me but missed my arm by an inch. The creatures turned their attention away from the women and faced me. "No. It can't be." The second they looked at me I knew exactly what they were but they can't be here. This isn't possible. However, with everything that's been happening it's possible. Hardlings. They started growling at me. I slowly walked around the creatures whilst they stared at me with murder on their minds. I grabbed the women's arm and slowly pulled her to me without taking my eyes off the hardlings. We stood there for a moment staring into their glowing green eyes. One of the hardlings snapped at us and then started sprinting towards us. "Run!" I screamed. We ran for our lives. We landed in my garden and fell to our knees trying to catch our breath. My parents came rushing towards us to try to drag us into the house. The hardlings launched towards us and right as they were about to meet the gardens edge, they were stopped in their tracks and thrown back as if they'd run into a wall. The hardlings kept trying to run into the garden and every time they ran into the invisible wall, a ripple effect appeared. There must be some kind of force field around the house grounds which would explain how the house was protected from whatever ended the world. Who or what is doing this? How is there a force field around the house? Why is it only my house? The hardlings kept trying to get in over and over again but having no success. Something in the distance roared and the sound of it sent shivers down my spine. The hardlings instantly ran towards whatever made that noise as if they were summoned.

My parents pulled the women into the house. I got up and was about to step through the door, I swear I saw Jay stood in the distance watching the house. I started walking towards him but my dad called me and I turned away for a split second and when I looked back, he was gone. Has Jay become real to? He can't be. If he'd become real then he would've come and seen me so I must be seeing things. I went into the house. My mum sat the women at the kitchen table and went off to get a damp cloth and pain killers. Now that I was having a proper look at this women, I realised it's my language teacher. "Miss Clementine?" She kept staring at the floor with a blank expression. She got bit by a hardling so I wonder if, like in my dream world, the bite will infect her. I don't know what to do. My mum came back and pulled up Miss Clementine's sleeve. "This may hurt," my mum pressed down on the wound using a cloth but the women didn't even flinch. "What's your name love?" Once again Miss Clementine didn't react.

"Her name is Sasha Clementine, she's my language teacher" I stated. My teacher started making weird noises. My mum didn't pay attention and continued treating the wound. My dad came in, "I wonder what those creatures were and do you think they caused whatever happened to the city?"

"They're called hardlings." I stated.

"How do you know?" My parents said confused.

"They're from my dreams." My parents looked at me as if I was crazy. "It's com..." Just as I went to talk the women started pulsating and jumped up. "Everyone back!" I screamed. The women became violent and tried attacking us. My mum jumped up and ran to my dad. Tommy was in the other room so he's safe. Miss Clementine lunged over the table towards us. We didn't have a kitchen door as downstairs was mainly open plan so we couldn't trap her in the room. I dodged out the way and sprinted towards the knife block. The women kept her attention on my parents and kept trying to attack them. I know what I have to do to protect my family and she'll be dead soon anyways so it's better to end things before she harms anyone. I grabbed a knife and without taking a second thought I plunged the knife into Miss Clementine's back. She dropped to the floor, started having a seizure and died within seconds. I looked at my parents, with the bloody knife still in my hands, and could see their fear be replaced with confusion. "What just happened?" My mum asked.

"I had to kill her." I stated. "She was infected and once infected by a hardling, you lose control, become violent and die. There's no cure so it's best to kill them before they hurt anyone." My parents looked at me with relief that everyone's safe but also with worry and disappointment over the fact I killed someone. Even though I'll now have that on my conscious, I'd do it again to protect my family. I'd do anything to protect them. My guess is I'll have to be protecting my family a lot, especially now the world has ended and the hardlings have taken over. I wonder if when the hardlings became real, the devil did as well. That would definitely mean the end of the world.